A blue, black and grey PS3, Wii and Xbox 360 will go to the winner and runner-up of this year's Omegathon, with the winner also landing themselves a trip to the Tokyo Game Show.

If you're hitting the show and not one of the lucky few selected to compete in the Omegathon you can still get your hands on some PAX-themed goodies.

Among the stuff you can buy is a DeathAdder mouse from Razer with a PAX logo slapped on it. Only 400 of these were made and they'll set you back $60. A Collectors Edition copy of On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness Episode One, which comes with a shirt, a keyring and a die, will also be on sale at the show.

Penny Arcade

How do you follow up a weekend full of gaming competitions and fun? Why with a completely kick ass game-off with one of the most highly anticipated games of the year of course!

The Omegathon is a Penny Arcade tradition dating back millions of years and while normally competitors would go head to head with olde school games, this year Gabe and Tycho had something new up their collective sleeve, Halo 3. As you can imagine when it was announced, the crowd went crazy apeshit bonkers and it was a few minutes before I could actually hear anything again, even now my ears are still ringing. Also on hand for the festivities were nerdcore favorites The Minibosses who entertained the rapturous crowd with their version of the Halo 3 theme before the final showdown.

Contestants Accelon and MNC Dover jumped into the action with great aplomb and before long they were fragging each other left and right over two heretofore unseen maps loaded with even more heretofore unseen weapons. The crowd, of course, could barely contain themselves and with the amount of people crowded into the room it was a bit difficult to see what was going on save for the giant screens hanging over head.

The battle was fought hard with both players performing admirably, but in the end Accelon prevailed, taking down his opponent with a deadly blow from his Plasma Sword. His reward for all this hard work was a trip for two to TGS and a fat $5000. Gabe and Tycho then took the stage, presenting each of the warriors with their own samurai swords (Hatori Hanso no doubt) before sitting down themselves for their own fight to the death. (That would be an in-game fight to the death, not a real one. Sorry to disappoint.) The big winner this time was Gabe, pwning Tycho five to two and sending the crowd into deafening applause heard the world over.

And thus ended PAX. The crowd streamed out of the auditorium and scurried back to their hotels, swag and purchases in hand to pack their bags and head to the airport with the satisfaction of a conference that was not only fun and friendly, but distinctly well played.

For those who have just lost hours and hours practicing your Pac-Man, take solace knowing Pac-Man is a timeless classic and your time was well spent and at least you weren't practicing Jenga Wii.
Omegathon News [pennyarcade]

He told me he plans on keeping the fully-loaded car he won and selling his 1996 Chevy Cavalier.

Last year Garroutte took home a sweet Alienware PC from PX05 for landing as runner-up in the competition. He also garnered a free entry into this year's Omegathon.

The Omegathon, for you non-Paxheads out there, is the annual gaming competition held at Penny Arcade Expo. Each year Penny Arcade randomly selects 20 attendees to participate in a multi-game, multi-day competition.

The final game is always a secret until it is unveiled on-stage moments before the final showdown.

This year the game was old-school favorite, Tetris.

Garroutte decimated the competition, winning by default without clearing the required 30 lines, because the other guy bricked out in both games.

Garroutte, a 20-year-old from Greeley, Colorado, said he was relieved when he heard the game was Tetris because it was the game he was hoping they would wrap-up with.

But to get to those final rounds he had to make it through Dice Land, Geometry Wars, Quake 2, Guitar Hero 2 and Mario Kart DS.

Garroutte, who works in Centennial Village, a village that shows life on the high plains from the 1860s to 1920s, says that as soon as the list of games was announced he started training.

Every day he would come home and spend a couple of hours playing through the games, all but Dice Land, which he says is based entirely on luck.

Turns out the only one that gave him any real trouble was Quake 2.

"I was behind for a bit on that, and worried," he said. "But I went into this whole competition with a fatalistic attitude.
"If I didn't die, I mean literally die, in a round I thought I was doing pretty good."

Brian Crecente

The Omegathon finals were a pretty anti-climatic affair. I talked to Will "LeRoy" Garroutte afterward (he's a Colorado native) and he said he didn't even realize he had won at first.

He said it took a second for it to sink in.

He was last year's runner-up, which meant he won an Alienware system and got automatic entry into this year's competition. I told him I suspected he threw last year's competition because he knew the prize was going to get better this year and he wanted a free computer AND a free car. He just laughed nervously.

I just threw up some video showing the unveiling of the final game for the competition (Tetris) and Leroy's domination in the first round of the... final round. That's domination with a capital D. Brian Crecente

MC Frontalot and Mini Bosses are taking the stage later on tonight. But before that can start they're going to be doing a little bit of Omegathon competition. This one to be held on Guitar Hero... II I'm told. Liveblogging to follow on the jump.

Robert Khoo and Jerry just took the stage to shred a little on Guitar Hero II. Oooooh man, the game crashed. Well it is a beta. Man, they're playing STP on expert.

Nice, Jerry just ended the song by smashing the guitar into pieces on the stage.

OK, stage four of the Omegathon is starting. For you PAX newbs out there, the Omegathon is the annual gamer contest held at PAX. Each year, Penny Arcade selects a random group of gamers to face off in a series of pre-selected games. The winner gets a big ass prize. This year it's a gamed up car.. truck... thingie.

They're going to call all the remaining eight up in pairs, only four advance from this round. One down, three to go. Next up, two playig Anthrax's Madhouse. The third group is coming up to do Kiss; Strutter. And now the final two take to the stage to play You Really Got Me by Van Halen.

Jerry just invited MC Frontalot and front man for the Mini Bosses to take the stage for a little Guitar Hero II action. Face off.

I'll post the video later on tonight, concert's about to start.