After several years' worth of trial shows in Seattle, the Penny Arcade team is ready for the main event. PAX East 2010 will take place in Boston from Friday March 26th to Sunday March 28th, and pre-registration is now open. Expect all the tournaments, concerts, and general frivolity of the West Coast original, with some sort of distinctive Eat Coast twist.

"We're bringing the craziness the fans have come to expect from PAX, but with an East Coast twist," said Robert Khoo of Penny Arcade. "Most of all this will be a place where you can be yourself with fellow gamers."

See? There's a twist. Having lived on the East Coast most of my life, I can only imagine he is talking about the lovely dirt we've managed to accumulate on this side of the continent over the years. The kind of Northeastern dirt I miss living in Atlanta, which has been much cleaner ever since it was burned down that one time.

Between now and December 31st, a three day pass for PAX East 2010 will run you only $45, saving you $10 off the at the door price. Head over to the show's official website for more details.

But before we get our chance one question remains: Which show had the best dress up?

Take your time, look through the pics of cosplay from Germany's Gamescom, Blizzcon, Penny Arcade Expo and the Tokyo Game Show and then cast your vote. Four will enter, one will leave.

"We are always concerned, but we're not tracking individual cases," said Gordon MacCracken, with the health department's Communications Office.

Penny Arcade Expo organizers told Kotaku earlier this week that there was a confirmed case of the flu at the show. Today PA's Robert Khoo said that number has jumped to nearly 100.

Last week there was an outbreak of the flu at Washington State Univeristy with 2,500 people feeling sick, according to KOMO News.

While MacCracken said it is possible that the outbreak at WSU and the cases reported at PAX are connected, he thinks it is doubtful. The university is located in the other corner of the state, he said.

MacCracken said that the state health department does not track individual cases of Swine Flu until they reach the level of hospitalization or death. But he added that doesn't mean it isn't serious.

"Seasonal flu is serious," he said. "Roughly 36,000 people die each year. [Swine flu] isn't necessarily worse, but that's not to say it isn't serious."

The National Center for Disease Control told Kotaku that don't track individual cases either anymore, leaving that to local doctors and health officials.

The Swine Flu vaccines aren't due to arrive in Washington State until next month, MacCracken said.

"If someone is feeling as though they are coming down with something they should try to stay away from other people and consult their doctor," he said.

People infected with Swine flu may be able to infect others from one day before getting sick to five to seven days after, according to the CDC.

Khoo says that he hopes that people will be mindful next year at PAX and make sure to use the hand sanitizer dispensers located throughout the show.

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The official PAX Twitter account wrote today "Just heard of our first test-confirmed swine flu case at the show. PLEASE if you feel symptoms (fever, etc) go to the doctor." That's potentially alarming news for the approximately 60,000-plus estimated attendees of this year's Penny Arcade Expo. We contacted Penny Arcade reps to get more details on the reports of Swine Flu.

"This is the real thing. If you get this number of people together in this close a proximity it is the perfect storm for these kind of wild fire virus spreads," Penny Arcade's Robert Khoo told Kotaku. "We just want to make sure everyone is informed."

Khoo said that the reported case came from a Boston-based game developer, one who confirmed contracting the H1N1 virus with a doctor. That developer contacted PAX officials with confirmation of the infection.

We contacted the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention to see if any other reports of Swine Flu infection had been reported from the show and are waiting to hear back.

As PAX officials already noted, we'd highly recommend seeking medical help should you notice any symptoms, which include fever, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. We'd also recommend reading more information about the virus at the CDC's web site.

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Want to be heard on Kotaku Talk Radio? Call us on the air LIVE at (347) 857-3782!

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It looks like Totillo and I are going to have our hands full when we drop in on PAX 2009 September 4th through the 6th in Seattle. Between the 43 hours of programmed events, interviews, appointments, concerts, and parties, I should be dead by early Saturday morning. Stephen will surely soldier on, however, bringing you coverage of everything from Friday's keynote speech from industry legend Ron Gilbert, to Sunday's flying over the country in the middle of the night, drooling on the passenger next to us.

Other highlights include the annual Rooster Teeth Red VS. Blue panel, the Pitch Your Game Idea panel, and Wil Wheaton presents: THE AWESOME HOUR!!1, in which Wil Wheaton talks about stuff for an hour. I'm betting he talks about stuff for an hour a great deal, only this time there'll be more chairs.

Check out the full schedule over at the PAX website to see if there is anything you'd like us to cover.

By nearly 100 they actually mean 90, with everyone from 2K Games to Zalman USA packing the show floor with stuff to see and do. Notable events include Bioware's first public showing of Star Wars: The Old Republic, demonstrations of Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed II and Splinter Cell: Conviction, and concerts and parties galore. Totilo and I will be there as well, so be on the lookout for his good looks and my astounding sweatiness. Seriously, it's like I am walking around with another me made entirely of water.

You want a full list of exhibitors? You can't handle the full list of exhibitors! But go ahead and try.

Full List Of PAX 2009 Exhibitors

- 1up
- 2K Games
- Aeria Games & Entertainment
- Alienware
- Alteil
- Ankama Games
- Antec
- Astro Gaming
- Atari, Inc.
- Bethesda Softworks LLC
- Big Fish Games
- Bioware
- Black Sheep Studios
- Blizzard Entertainment
- Capcom Entertainment, Inc.
- CCP Games
- CDV Software Entertainment USA
- Chessex
- Disney Interactive Studios
- Dolby Laboratories
- ECA
- Electronic Arts
- Eminence Group Pty. Ltd.
- Fallen Earth LLC
- Flying Frog Productions
- Flying Lab Software
- Frogster America
- Funcom
- Garage Games
- Geek Chic HQ
- Gunnar Optiks
- Harmonix Music
- Hi-Rez Studios
- Hothead Games
- Hudson Entertainment
- iGlove Inc.
- Ignition Entertainment
- ITT Technical Institute
- Jones Soda Co.
- Klei Entertainment
- Mana Energy Potions
- Mega64
- Microsoft
- Microsoft-XNA
- Mythic Entertainment
- Namco Bandai Games America inc
- Namco Networks America Inc.
- NCsoft
- Nexon
- Nintendo of America Inc
- NVIDIA
- Omni Consumer Products (Tru Blood)
- Oni Press
- Patriot Memory
- Phantom EFX, Inc.
- Pink Gorilla LLC
- Playlogic Entertainment Inc.
- Privateer Press
- Riot Games
- Rockstar Games
- Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC
- Runic Games
- SEGA
- Sony Computer Entertainment America
- Stardock Entertainment
- SteelSeries
- Sweet Kitty
- Swell Games / Simon Fraser University
- Telltale Games
- The Behemoth
- The Dreaming Comics and Games
- The Guildhall at SMU
- THQ
- TN Games
- Tozai, Inc.
- Tritton Technologies
- True Games Interactive
- Turbine
- Turtle Beach
- Twisted Pixel Games, LLC
- Ubisoft Entertainment
- Unknown Worlds Entertainment, Inc.
- Upper Deck Entertainment
- Valve Software
- Vancouver Film School
- Wacom Technology
- Warner Bros. Games
- Wizards Of The Coast
- Y-Bot Classic Video Games
- Zalman USA Inc.

All that and more in Seattle next month, September 4th through the 6th.

"This is an unbelievable moment for us," Penny Arcade's Robert Khoo said. "I wasted an entire family vacation one year trying to figure out how to win that stupid spitting competition."

This year's Penny Arcade Expo will take place from Sept. 4 through Sept. 6 at the Washington State Trade and Convention Center in Seattle. As with previous years, the show will include plenty of panels, a show floor packed with game demonstrations, the annual Omegathon gaming competition, and the PAX 10 indie game showcase. This year's musical performances will include Freezepop, Jonathan Coulton, MC Frontalot, Paul and Storm, Anamanaguchi and Metroid Metal.

Last year's show brought in 58,500 attendees, making it the largest gaming festival in North America.

Penny Arcade Expo

BioWare's epic fantasy will be making the rounds at various comic cons and consumer expos across the glob starting in July and ending in early September. Here's the lineup:

July 22-26, San Diego Comic-Con (San Diego, California)
August 13-16, Gen-Con (Indianapolis, Indiana)
August 19-23, GamesCon (Cologne, Germany)
August 28-30, Fan Expo Canada (Toronto, Canada)
September 4-6, Penny Arcade Expo Seattle (Seattle, Washington)

Last year at PAX, there was a pretty spiffy Dragon Age booth set up near the entrance to the exhibit hall. BioWare reps were demoing the game for small groups of 10-20 at a time and giving everyone who got in a lurid orange t-shirt that's probably one of the softest swag shirts I've ever touched. It was probably one of the longer lines I've waited in next to the Fallout 3 hands-on exhibit.

This might be the only chance fans have to actually play the game before it comes out — BioWare hasn't said a word about an XBLA or PSN demo so far — so if you live near any of those venues and really want a look at the game before buying it, go check it out.

BioWare to Unleash Dragon Age: Origins 2009 Summer Tour [IGN]

While many of us would attend the Penny Arcade Expo 2009 even if it were one guy in an auditorium playing Metroid music on a harmonica, it's nice to know that so far they've got much more than that planned. More than 60 exhibitors are already signed up to show their wares, including big names such as Microsoft, Ubisoft, Blizzard, Valve, and Nintendo, none of which will be bringing Fatal1ty with them.

In terms of musical entertainment, this year sees the return of Freezepop, Jonathan Coulton, MC Frontalot, Anamanaguchi and new additions in the form of, Paul and Storm and Metroid Metal, the latter of which will be offering their new album exclusively at the show.

"Every show, we try to offer gamers new content, old favorites and the best overall experience possible," said Penny Arcade's Robert Khoo. "If you really think about it, we're easily the biggest show west of the Mississippi within the continental United States that focuses on games that isn't E3 or affiliated in some way with NBC. If you've never been to PAX, 2009 is your year to come."

And if you miss that year, then definitely come in 2010. Failing that, you'll probably want to wait until 2012. We can't say why - just trust us.

The OneUps and The Megas performed a free concert for participants of the Bay Area Game Jam a couple of weeks back. Sadly, their audience was rather small because the 24 hour time limit was almost up and there was still coding to be done.

But if you missed the concert, or missed out on Game Jam altogether, hit the jump to see their live performances.

Watch The Megas Concert in Music  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Watch The OneUps in Music  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

The OneUps are a crowd favorite, performing jazz improvisation of familiar tunes like the themes to ToeJam & Earl and arrangements of more obscure music in games like Castlevania III and Super Mario RPG. Check out their site here.

The Megas are a band that write songs exclusively about Mega Man. They've never been invited to PAX, but they've had a CD out for a little over a year and they have at least one dedicated fan who's developed dance routines for their songs — so hopefully, we'll see more of them. Check 'em out here. (Oh, and their front man was out of the country during this concert — give it up for Tour Ball and his amazing stand-in performance.)

The OnesUps' front man Mustin told me that the band wasn't given a reason why they weren't invited to PAX this year; but he did stress that their last two appearances had done a lot for the OneUps, so no sour grapes on their part. I couldn't get in touch directly with PAX organizers for comment on how they choose the lineup each year; but a PAX publicist told me that the organizers would announce this year's acts for both expos sometime soon. Stay tuned.

The Penny Arcade boys are giving the East Coast a little loving in 2010, with PAX East taking place at the
Hynes Convention Center in Boston from March 26th through to the 28th. So far there's no information on who is attending, which hotels are participating, or what you'll be doing should you choose to attend, but judging by the insane amount of fun the West Coast folks and migratory East Coasters have been having over the past few years, it shall be an event to remember, or not remember, depending on which parties you attend.

Those of you who are 100% certain you'll be free next March can go ahead and pre-register now, with one day tickets setting you back $30 and the three-day pass a bargain at $50. Pre-register early and secure your chance to tell everyone you've pre-registered early!

PAX East [Official Website - Thanks eye-shuh!]

But that's a problem easily solved, and the PA folks are all over it.

The bigger problem, as I see it, is in the expo's name and its association with Penny Arcade.

Penny Arcade Expo has the potential, the very likely potential, to become the one preeminent video game show in the country. It has the exuberant backing of developers and publishers, it has more than enough willing participants to go around and it has the blessing of the many folks who cover the gaming industry for a living.

But what it doesn't have is a neutral jumping off point. PAX has the words Penny Arcade in the title and while for me, and tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of people like me, that's a bonus, there are still lots of people out there who hate the strip, the people associated with it and anything whatsoever that has to do with Penny Arcade, Gabe, Tycho and, yes, even Fruit Fucker.

What this means is that they have a fractured potential audience. While most PAX attendees are unified by their love of gaming, they're more unified by their love of Penny Arcade. Sadly I think that means the show's potential audience will remain fractured as long as Penny Arcade is the central theme, preventing PAX from becoming the Games Convention or Tokyo Game Show of the United States.

There are some solutions. I think that it would be easy enough, especially with a second, east coast, PAX looming a few years away, to just change the name of the show and let it grow into its own entity. Another option, presented to me by one of many industry types I talked to about this during the show, is to just officially rename the show PAX. In other words remove the meaning behind the acronym and have it take on a meaning of its own. In a few decades, maybe just a few years, people would wonder what PAX stood for and why the show is called that.

While most of the people I spoke to at the show eventually came around to my way of thinking, acknowledging, no matter how grudgingly, that yes there are PA haters out there and nothing will ever get them to the show, I do wonder how true that really is.

How many among you didn't attend PAX strictly because it's the PENNY ARCADE expo as opposed to a video game expo? How many of you would have gone if it was called something else?

What I think everyone can agree on is that the U.S. needs a single video game show for the public, and not the many that now litter the gaming landscape. We need a TGS, a Leipzig. The real question is will E3 get it's act together and fill that shrinking void or will a show like PAX become the show to rule them all.

Hit the jump for hazy, disjointed hands-on impressions for Infinite Undisovery, Animal Crossing: City Folk, Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World, Damnation, Rise of the Argonauts, Lord of the Rings: Conquest, and Mirror’s Edge.

I literally got no more than 10 minutes with each title in the Exhibition Hall and with the exception of The Conduit, I didn’t get to chat up the demo-keepers for the usual details a journalist needs to report on her games. But since most of these titles are coming out soon, already have demos available or were previewed at E3 and Leipzig only a week or so ago, 10 minutes is really all you need to get to know a game for yourself, if you’ve been following it in the news.

Above: Tabletop... meh.

I bee lined for Infinite Undiscovery first thing, since it’ll be the first thing I buy in that list of games. This action JRPG is the closest replacement Square Enix has offered me to replace Kingdom Hearts, and while I could deal with the lack of Disney, I’m not sure I could deal with the art design. Like Lost Odyssey, everything was proportional and colors were muted for a more realistic-looking experience – to me, it seemed ugly, but we were only playing in two areas that weren’t very well-lit (caves and stuff). The combat served me well enough – button mashing is what I expect when someone says “action” RPG. I sort of liked that you could be strategic when it came to setting up your primary party and your secondary party, and even a third party to have in reserve – but then I realized all of these characters were onscreen with me as I ran off to locate hidden energy crystals. Talk about crowded! At least Goofy and Donald weren’t so far up Sora’s ass, you couldn’t see the boss.

Despite not being able to see the demo boss, I took him out in short order (the save featured over-leveled characters, huzzah!) and gave up the controller to the girl in line behind me.

Above: You catch more bees with honey... and more gamers with food.

Then it was on to Animal Crossing: City Folk, but that was only because the line for Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World was longer. Animal Crossing: City Folk looked like it was directly imported from the GameCube Animal Crossing, with a larger town area to run around in and different NPCs. I was the most fugly-looking little boy with a beanie and I spent most of my time in the demo, running around and trying to find my house so I could empty my pockets. Failing that, I just settled for dropping cherries, fossils and decorative end tables to make enough room in my inventory to put my watering can away.

Then the line for Symphonia abruptly got shorter, so I made my move. However, the guy ahead of me got his hands on the controls and played Dawn of the New World for a solid 23 minutes straight. Other people gathered around me, fidgeting, wondering when this guy would give it up – but nobody wanted to be the asshole who asked for a turn. So I watched him play and marveled that he couldn’t seem to get the motion controls to work. How hard could it be to point the cursor at the flower and press A to trigger the flower bridge? He kept getting attacked from behind as he struggled, and most of the battles he spent mashing on the artes button to send his character into aerial attacks. Dude didn’t even bother to change his elements the way Nintendo Power says you’re supposed to…

Finally, I got my turn and wandered around the world map, trying to trigger the flower bridges. But the motion controls sucked and I found myself piddling around just as much as the guy ahead of me had. The only difference was I gave up after only 10 minutes instead of making the poor bastards behind me wait another half hour.

In disgust, I wandered over towards the back of the Exhibition Hall, maybe to get another look at the Pink Godzilla store, but I got turned around and wound up getting my hands on Damnation – since there wasn’t a line. I’d read a little bit about the game and knew that it was supposed to be this big, open-world adventure that featured acrobatic-type stunts and stuff. But I hadn’t read anything about cowboys, so I was surprised to see myself playing as one – gun slinging some far-off enemy I couldn’t figure out how to target (yeah, yeah, I don’t do shooters, so kill me). A small cluster of 12-year-olds formed behind me and one of them told me to use my “spirit vision” to target the sniper I was having trouble hitting. When I couldn’t figure out how to do it, I handed over the controller and watched to see what he would do – but I’d left him in a bad place and the sniper took him out three seconds later.

Above: Mountain of Pink Godzillas!

I wandered away before the demo level restarted and found myself staring at Rise of the Argonauts. And my only question is: how have I not heard of this game before? I’m totally down with mythology and I even suffered through God of War and God of War II just because I get a fangirl’s thrill of watching Zeus interact with Hera (it’s like the original soap opera). The game is still in early days yet, so the graphics were a bit chunky and the frame-rate was crap – but it played pretty well as far as movement. The environments were rich with detail and the cartoon-ish style of the characters totally worked for me; so I was really loath to give up the controller after only 10 minutes. But I didn’t want to be a dick and there were a lot more games to play.

Later, I felt bad because I realized I hadn’t actually experienced any combat in Rise of the Argonauts – I just ran around a hallway and made slaves open doors for me. But when I went back for a second bite at the apple, the line had suddenly swelled to ten people (I guess that E3 Game of the Year Nominee sticker above the demo table got some attention). However, it turned out man friend had played through the demo from the start and he filled me in on what I missed later.

Apparently, this game is ultra-violent between light attacks and execution moves. “Like Ninja Gaiden II?” I asked. “No,” he said. “Like Conan – except all the animations are canned.” He totally dug the big ass mace, the big ass shield, the big ass spear and the smaller-ass sword. You can switch weapons in the middle of the combo, so if you start out hacking someone with a sword, you can finish by pulling out the mace and caving in a guy’s skull. “It’s a pretty big deal,” said man friend. The combos didn’t feel really fluid to him, but we agreed that that had more to do with the game being in early development stages as opposed to the game potentially sucking.

Oddly enough, man friend was sold on the deep-looking advancement system. I had Googled the game for info about the god-based affiliations, but he was talking about aspects related to astronomy. Whatever that means. I don’t care, because I’m totally going to get this game just based on my 10 minutes with it – never mind man friend’s experience.

Next up was Lord of the Rings: Conquest – and that’s only because Mirror’s Edge had a line out to next week. My man friend volunteered to start waiting while I wandered off, and the closest console available was where I wound up. There wasn’t much of a wait to play Conquest – I assume because everyone’s already seen it. Even I’d already seen it at EA’s last Showcase event; and not much has changed between then and now – it’s still a Star Wars: Battlefront-style of action game where you can get by with button mashing. It’s pretty, though.

Man friend stood on tiptoe and waved me over to him. I dashed, thinking he’d gotten his chance at Mirror’s Edge, but it turned out he just wanted to vent. Some Parkour expert had cut ahead of everyone in line and was being given the royal treatment by the demo handler. The guy right behind Parkour dude got a consolation shirt, but the rest of the the jilted line-waiters had to suffer.

“It’s because of his shoes,” I consoled my man friend, staring at the funky-toed footwear the Parkour guy was sporting. It certainly wasn’t because this guy was good with games – he died like half a dozen times. To be fair, the demo level started you off with a pretty serious jump and if you botched it, down you went. But after that, he was getting shot because he wasn’t running up stairs fast enough to get away and he kept over-balancing on the part where you’ve got to walk across a cable stretched between buildings.

“Why is everything red?” Parkour guy demanded. Clearly, he hadn’t read up on the game… Then the PS3 overheated and I thought he’d give up and go away. But the demo handler – anxious to please – restarted the demo for him and ran through the level to get back to the point where he’d left off.

I checked my watch. It’d been more than half an hour with just this one guy!

Finally, he finished the level and the line moved up. At long last, we got our turn with the game and I let man friend take it since he’d been a dear about waiting in line. Man friend says the controls were a lot simpler than he thought they’d be. He was really impressed by the sense of moment and speed – the faster you went, the better it felt. And the combat was very minimal, which fit in with the rest of the game. He disarmed at least three guys and stole their guns – but “it didn’t feel right” so he threw each firearm away and kept running. He also didn’t really use the “bullet time” feature because it made the free-running feel less fluid (even if it did make disarm moves look cooler). The little touches impressed him the most – the multiple paths through environments, the way Faith touched the wall before rounding corners. I thought it was kind of dumb that you had to punch open doors, but he didn’t seem to mind.

My favorite part? The dot they added to the middle of the screen to reduce motion sickness. Seriously – a life-saver.

Man friend finished the level in 10 minutes and I pried him away from the console, stressing my etiquette about not taking too much time. I felt like I had been pretty efficient with the whole day, but when I check my watch again, I realized three hours had gone by and I hadn’t even seen half the games on the floor.

And that’s why I’m glad Crecente had his magic yellow badge and that I had three friends with me at the convention. Because there is no way one PAX-goer could ever do it this year all without some way to cut in line or some way to be in four places at once.

Stupid Parkour guy…*mutter, mutter*

The Conduit, in case you’ve never heard of it, is a futuristic sci-fi shooter aimed at core gamers. That might seem weird, then, that it’s only on the Wii, but developer High Voltage Software is convinced that the Wii is where it’s at for shooters on the count of the controls being so intuitive. I wasn’t going to argue with them on that point, but I heard myself muttering “Not Red Steel – please not another Red Steel…”

Chief Creative Officer Eric Nofsinger (who was running the PAX demo) heard me too. “Oh no,” he said. “Definitely not that.” He showed me the menu wherein players can set the Wiimote sensitivity for everything from turning speed to reticule motion when firing. This is great for klutzes like me that tend to flail when being shot at, but it didn’t do too much for the realism of shooting, really. The Wiimote has limitations, after all, most of which Red Steel demonstrated. At length. *sigh*

I didn’t have too much success actually killing aliens Saturday, but that had more to do with me getting lost in the demo level than with difficulty. The guy before me had stopped playing at some point in a narrow hallway and I had a hell of a time finding the fallen-in wall that was my exit. Once I finally got out onto a street, a shot cutscene showed me a big spider-looking boss that I was supposed to kill. I shot at it with my glowing orange gun and for a moment, I felt like I was 14 again, playing Turok on my N64 (but here, the environments weren’t drawing in and there was no disco code to make the aliens dance).

The next day, I revealed myself to Eric as a Kotaku correspondent and got to watch him go through the whole demo so I could see what it really looked like from start to finish. Eric started out on a destroyed street littered with broken cars and was almost immediately confronted by aliens running towards him. A few headshots solved that problem, and we moved on to the dark hallway and then through to an alleyway out onto a street where the demo boss waited (and I don't need to tell you he did a much better job killing it dead than I did the day before).

Even though The Conduit was only in pre-alpha, it already looked way better than Red Steel. Certainly not as good as Metroid, but then, as Eric said, “That’d be like saying you’re better than Jesus.”

I asked about Wii MotionPlus because in theory that’d solve the realism problem. Eric told me Nintendo hadn’t handed over the goods quite yet, although they were expecting to get their hands on dev kit materials this week. At least Nintendo had been helpful in providing High Voltage with a way to incorporate a Wii chat for online multiplayer.

Eric went on to say that the idea was to create an in-depth shooter that didn’t dump a bunch of cutscene exposition on you. The actual cutscenes between levels will be short, sweet and to the points and, for people who have to have a story with their shooters, the levels are all peppered with little things you can find and interact with the get more of the story (radio broadcasts, TV shows, etc.). Kind of like Cloverfield, only without the motion-sickness camera.

I definitely got the feeling that the actual shooting was the star of the game. Not the story, the graphics or the multiplayer – although, that could change as The Conduit moves into the beta phase and actually adds multiplayer. And if what Eric said about aiming at core gamers is true, then The Conduit might be just want the doctor ordered for the Wii’s ailing shooter release list.

Screens below and keep your eyes peeled for a trailer later today:

In the game you play as Frank, a hapless alien armed with only a Plasma Leash. Fortunately he has the frighteningly large and easily frightened blob-like pet Maw. Frank can use his leash to guide Maw around to eat thing and clear paths, but despite being nearly all teeth, Maw is an easily frightened creature. So Frank has to spend a lot of time bulking up Maw and dealing with obstacles that the creature won't face.

The game has a lot going for it. First there's the amazing personality built into the game. The Maw and its lead creature are sure to win over the hearts of gamers as they play through it. The game itself is a nice combination of unique mechanic and fun puzzles. To take on many challenged gamers have to move Frank around which, in turn thanks to the leash, gets Maw to move around. But the fact that you don't have total control over Maw and can merely suggest where it should go, adds a whole other level of challenge to the game.

While seems big enough to take on everything in the game if it wanted to, the fact that everything even slightly close to his size, makes the game much more challenging. Often Frank will have to find ways around scary creatures to move Maw along through the game. Frank can use his leash on other creatures, he can also use it to occasionally grab some items for puzzle solving.

Maw grows as you feed it, it also takes on the powers of the things it eats. So when he sups on a fire creature he temporarily gains the ability to shoot out flames.

The Maw seems to have that pleasing mix of fun graphics, engaging character art and interesting game mechanic that virtually insures success. The game is due to hit the Xbox Live Arcade next year.

The Maw

The One-Ups did well, as usual. And if I can keep my eyes open and my nose shut (this place smells like one giant sweaty fart), maybe – just maybe – I’ll get to hear Still Alive before the night’s out.

In the meantime, I’ve got fuzzy concert pictures that depict just how crowded, bright and insane it is here tonight at PAX 2008. I don’t know how the Minibosses are going to follow this act tomorrow night.

Bonus points if you can guess which ones were taken with man friend’s iPhone…

I'd love to post pics of all of this, but man friend has wandered off with my USB cable.

So here I sit in Handheld Lounge C, waiting for him to return (hopefully with beverage), counting up the swag I managed to accrue in the half hour I spent in the Exhibit Hall. So far, I've got 16 random scraps of paper (possibly stickers) and four buttons for games I've never felt the urge to play. If you're around, come and find me - I'm the incredibly tired looking girl with the red, white and blue stars on her shirt.

There's a lot to take in here and I'm only one woman - so help me out, readers. What games should I go after and what panels should I hit up? (Check the schedule here.)

Hit the jump to find out what it feels like to wait in line for two and a half hours. Why didn't I apply for a press pass?

11:30 – entered convention center

11:40 – got lost

11:43 – called Boss for instructions

11:45 – located Plebeian admission line

11:47 – loud popping noise, followed by ominous boo echoed by everybody in the line for no better reason than just because

11:50 – waiting in line… concert wristbands not yet distributed

11:55 – demolished swag bag, will seriously consider attending Fallout event

12:00 – consumed bawls “water”

12: 15 – failed to connect to PaxNet free internets (this sucked last year, too)

12: 20 – manipulated man friend into using Shiny New iPhone to secure internets

12:25 – am contemplating Puzzle Quest over hacked Final Fantasy VIII

12:50 – elbowed in back, must destroy nerd with dumb hamburger hat

1:00 – gave up hope of internet, played Puzzle Quest

1:15 – no less than five people have asked what I'm playing

1:30 – lost feeling in lower back, over-stuffed purse is to blame

1:34 – inflatable ball launched, volley count reaches 99 before it is dropped, much booing

1:45 – inflatable ball is assassinated - oh the humanity!

1:55 – urge to kill rising (seriously, if that kid gave his sister one more wet willie by reaching OVER my shoulder, I was going to kill him for her)

2:00 – doors open to muddled pandemonium

2:15 – concert wristbands obtained, urge to kill subsides