This weekend sees the return of the Penny Arcade Expo – now officially North America’s largest public gaming festival as this is the first year since it’s inception that the event has completely sold out. That’s right, 75,0000 geeks are prepared to invade the Washington State Convention Center over the next 3 days. Someone open a window.
Amidst playable demos of upcoming games, an industry conference, music concerts, freeplay areas, industry parties and game tournaments we’ll be reporting with daily roundups and live Twitter updates of whatever booth babes we happen to come across, so keep checking back.
In the meantime, here are some panels we’re planning on attending.
Prepare to Drop
Join members of the Bungie team for an in-depth look at the soon to be released Halo 3 : ODST and discussions around the game’s development. Project leads will guide you through a demo showing off the game’s key features and what makes playing as an ODST different from prior Halo games. Learn how the game went from conception to completion with a small team and a very short development cycle.
Panelists Include: Joseph Staten (Creative Director, Halo 3 : ODST, Bungie), Paul Bertone (Design Director, Halo 3 : ODST, Bungie), Curtis Creamer (Bungie), Brian Jarrard (Community & PR Director, Bungie)
Star Wars: The Old Republic live demonstration
On Saturday at 3:30pm in the Main Theatre BioWare and LucasArts will present the first-ever live public demo of The Old Republic in the United States. Make sure to get in line early because there will be exclusives galore for attendees only.
Borderlands!
Come ask questions and see never before seen pieces of the co-op Role Playing Shooter being released October 20th. Talk directly to the President and Creative Director of Gearbox Software.
Panelists include: Randy Pitchford (President, Gearbox), Mikey Neumann (Creative Director, Gearbox), Steve Gibson (Vice President, Gearbox)
Penny Arcade Makes a Strip!
Ever wonder what goes into making a Penny Arcade comic? Join Gabe and Tycho in the main theatre, and take part in creating Monday’s hilarious comic.
Penny Arcade Q&A #1
Make sure to get there early for this one, as its one of the most well attended panels of the show. Two mics on stage, two mics in the crowd. Line up for your questions and Gabe and Tycho will do their best to accommodate! And god, please no “who would win in a fight” questions. If you can’t make this particular Q&A, be sure to catch the second Penny Arcade Panel.
RoosterTeeth
You, us, Saturday evening at 6pm. Let’s be honest, you don’t have a date so just come to our panel and we can all be sad together. Just replace the word sad with the word drunk.
Spike Sneak Peeks
Every week Spike TV delivers huge world exclusives across the Video Game Awards, GameTrailers TV and GameTrailers.com. Now all that excitement comes to PAX for the first time and you can be in the audience! Join Spike’s Geoff Keighley and special guests for exclusive, never-before-seen demos and footage of the hottest upcoming games. You won’t see this footage online or on TV you have to be at the panel to see it! Guests will include Tim Schafer with Brutal Legend and Naughty Dog with a brand-new look at Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.
Panelists Include: Geoff Keighley [Moderator] – (Host, Game Trailers), Tim Schafer (Founder, Double Fine), Amy Hennig (Creative Director, Naughty Dog), Chet Faliszek (Writer, Valve)
