PAX update

The $5 off ($45 total) preregistration price expires soon. The exhibit hall (PDF) looks much bigger than I remember from last year. Oh look, Brawndo is going to be there!

Also, they've announced the Keynote speaker: "screenwriter and developer Ken Levine"

What what? Ken Levine, (sort-of) famous writer (e.g. Frasier, Cheers, Wings) who has a sweet blog I sometimes read? I didn't know he was working as a game developer.

That's because he totally isn't. They meant Ken Levine, who worked on BioShock (among others). [Unrelated sidenote: BioShock was only $15 on Steam this past weekend. Crazy! That's how I found out about the Penny Arcade game, and now we're going in circles...]

Also also, MC Chris dropped out as a musical act, but Jonathan Coulton will be there! So will MC Frontalot, The OneUps, The MiniBosses, and some people I've never heard of (Anamanaguchi, The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets, Freezepop).

What brought about all this seemingly-random update nonsense? Because the "Describe PAX in Seven Words" contest winners are posted.

• Saw you across the room. Horde, right? (Victoria Worthington)
• Lights sway: A Sea of DS’ glow. (Lisa Johnson)
• Where gamers go to be as One. (Scott Platkus)
• I *STILL* haven’t finished all this ramen. (Phoenix Gabriel, that's me!)
• I fell and accidentally flashed Wil Wheaton (Kate Newman)
• I stand in awe. Finally, I’m home. (Wade Larson)
• I’m only anonymous in my basement? Sh*tc*ck! (Matt Thrailkill)
• And the best of the haiku entries: The Omegathon | Twenty Omeganauts Try | One Victorious (Sean Martin)

Now, of course, I've already been notified, right? Well, here's the thing about me: I've got such fringe luck (in both directions) that I've come to expect the unexpected. Like the time I won a free copy of a soon-to-be-released game (unexpected) only to have the game company fold before its release (unexpected). So I was fully prepared for this to be a trick by some prankster (I know how easy it is to spoof e-mail, since I am a total computer nerd). But there it is, my name, on the official PAX site. That makes it real. ^_^

Of course, now the horrible thought is that they think I'm the guy that won the "Win your weight in ramen" contest (same booth from which I got my case of ramen). I'm totally not. They're going to find out, and they're going to kick me out of PAX.