Ken Levine Gets First Word At PAX 08

The Penny Arcade team, having had Texas governor Rick Perry snatched out from under them by the organizers of E3, will have to settle for Ken Levine as their Penny Arcade Expo opener. Mr. Levine apparently made a game known as "BioShock" and is rumored to be working on a sequel to something called "X-COM." I suppose it could be interesting, but probably won't touch on southern state politics or the Texan gaming industry and its growth like many PAX attendees were probably hoping for.

Musically, Xbox 360 Fanboy reports that MC Frontalot, FreezePop, the MiniBosses, and Jonathan Coulton will all perform in some capacity at this year's PAX. Hopefully, they'll do a number on Texan financial development programs!

'Pimp supreme' Ken Levine to keynote PAX [X3F]

Penny Arcade Adventures To Xbox Live Arcade, Computers This Wednesday

If you somehow missed the news that the Penny Arcade/Hothead Studios joint Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness Episode One was hitting this week, here's your handy reminder. The debut episode of the adventures of Gabe and Tycho will set you back 1600 Microsoft Points should you buy from Xbox Live Arcade, with the Windows, Mac and Linux download a mere $19.95 via PA's own Greenhouse. I'm downloading it just to find out how "adult" this "adult humor" really is. If it's anything like the adult movies I watch and the adult situations in which I often find myself, it should be worth the price of admission.

Penny Arcade Adventures [Xbox.com]

Penny Arcade Game Impressions

Announcing the "Pax 10"

Yesterday Penny Arcade announced The PAX 10, a showcase of independent games that will be displayed as part of the upcoming Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) August 29-31, 2008 in cooperation with the DigiPen Institute of Technology.

They are looking for ten independent developers that are interested in seeing their games viewed by attendees, media and publishers at the Expo. A panel of 50 industry experts, including Penny Arcade's own Gabe and Tycho, will be selecting the ten submissions that they consider to be the best based on gameplay and "fun factor." Of the ten, one will be chosen "Audience Choice Award" by attendees.

Check out the details at the link below.

Brown Paper Tickets

E For All Returning In October, PAX Gets August All To Itself

Penny Arcade Game Gameplay Videos

I got a chance to check out an early build of the Penny Arcade Game when I was at PAX last year and really enjoyed it. The character customization was fun and the use of the old school turn based gameplay was a clever throwback to many of the games I loved as a kid. Now we have some new gameplay videos featuring a new comic book style interface at the bottom which replaces the more steampunk style one that I saw. Truth be told, I liked the old version of the interface more, but this one looks seviceable and certainly blends well with the cut scenes of the game which are also done in the same comic book style. I look forward to the game's release especially since it is one of a very few interesting titles that I can play on my Mac without having to switch to my Windows partition. Make the jump for two more clips.

Penny Arcade Closes Door On McCullough

When I first read Town Hall columnist Kevin McCullough's over-the-top, uninformed ramblings about the virtual sodomy rampant in BioWare's Mass Effect, I must admit that I got a bit angry. When the backlash and internet traffic he received caused him to issue a clarification of sorts, justifying his words while going out of his way to insult the gaming community, the reasoning behind this sudden personal hostility was readily apparent, though - as with many things in life - it took Mike and Jerry over at Penny Arcade to bring things into a focus so sharp as to risk getting eyeball juice all over your keyboard. The Stratagem neatly sums up the reasons why this will be the last article I write about McCullough, and could very well be the greatest artistic endeavor ever to contain the exclamation "Shit on a biscuit."

The Stratagem [Penny Arcade]

Child's Play Makes A Difference In Atlanta

Charity Gives Children Something To Play [CBS 46]

Child's Play Dinner Draws Big Money, Big Prizes

Penny Arcade's Tycho writes in today's update that last night's Child's Play Charity Dinner Auction raked in a cool $225,000 worth of donations. That impressive figure can be added to the $600,000 already contributed through previous contributions, making the one million dollar benchmark from the previous year's haul that much closer in sight. He writes that both Bungie and Valve brought their charitable A-games, with the Halo developer adding a "a USNC issue ordnance bag that contained literally every piece of Halo 3 merchandise ever created" to the auction pot. Also given to a lucky bidder, a set of Recon Armor from the game, items reserved for Bungie's inner circle.

Valve staffers made sure they weren't one-upped by Bungie, adding a tour of the Valve offices to the already sweet list of auctionable items. Way to give away money, diners. You did good.

The Dinner [Penny-Arcade]

Child's Play 2008 Launches, Dinner Dated

"For the first ten months of the year, our community makes, plays and breathes games." said Kristin Lindsay at Child's Play. "Our holiday drive is not only an opportunity to share that joy with those that need it, but it's also a great way to show the strength of our culture."

Gabe Overcomes Gym Incident, Drives Benz

One time in high school, someone broke into my locker and stole my stuff, so I had to wear gym clothes for the rest of the day. I developed humor as a defense mechanism. Now I drive a fucking Mercedes.