PAX Omegathon Grand Prize Revealed

August 11, 2006, 4:48 pm EDT
Total comments: 17

Gabe and Tycho are going to give someone that's really good at games the car to prove it.

PENNY ARCADE EXPO ANNOUNCES OMEGATHON III GRAND PRIZE

Last Gamer Standing Wins a Customized Scion xB at PAX'06

Seattle, Washington -- August 11, 2006 -- As pre-registration swells to 40 percent over last year's attendance at the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) gaming culture festival, Penny Arcade today announced the grand prize for the Omegathon III, the annual three-day gaming tournament in which contestants must prove their mettle in a range of games undisclosed before the event. This year, the winner will drive off in a brand new 2006 Scion xB in Black Sand Pearl, featuring a game geek's dream package of a flipdown 15" widescreen monitor, Xbox 360 Premium System, 6-speaker sound system with CD/MP3 player, custom taillights and wheels with low-profile tires.

Set to invade Washington State this August 25th-27th, PAX will feature a heavy-hitting lineup of top sponsors including Microsoft, Nintendo, Nvidia, ArenaNet, America's Army, Turbine, NCSoft, Atari, Ubisoft, Mythic, Sabertooth Games, Foundation 9, Rockstar, Flying Lab Software, Wizards of the Coast, Creative Labs, The Behemoth, Intel, ATI, Garage Games, AMD, and Red Octane among others. In addition to booths filled with pre-release games galore on its show floor, PAX offers attendees a host of game-related conference sessions, parties, concerts and contests, including the grand-daddy of game challenges, the Omegathon. In addition to a horde of game players from around the world, both enthusiast press and consumer press have registered to attend in force. Industry luminary Alex St. John is slated to deliver the show's keynote, entitled "The Prehistory of Xbox."

"The first year, the Omegathon champion received every PlayStation 2 game ever made. The next year it was every NES game ever made," said Robert Khoo of Penny Arcade. "This year, in accordance with the massive growth of PAX, we decided it was time to up the ante."

About Penny Arcade Expo

Started by videogame-oriented comic strip creators Gabe and Tycho in 2004, Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) is a 3-day, round-the-clock celebration of games and game culture. It includes an exhibition floor filled with playable demos of games that won't be on shelves until next year, a conference program of game industry speakers on topics related to gaming, music concerts, game tournaments and more. For more information visit www.pennyarcadeexpo.com.

About Penny Arcade

Equal parts online comic and commentary, Penny-Arcade (http://www.penny-arcade.com) covers videogames in a way that is genuine, insightful, and respected by the gaming community. What started as a hobby for Jerry "Tycho" Holkins and Mike "Gabe" Krahulik has, over five years, grown into an online phenomenon that serves 45 million page views a month to millions of readers worldwide. In addition to the comic strip and PAX, Penny Arcade Inc. also manages Child's Play (www.childsplaycharity.org), a gamer-driven charity for sick kids in Children's Hospitals across the world.

Talkback

wanderingAugust 11, 2006

Gabe and Tycho have nothing on Oprah.

CericAugust 11, 2006

You know that prize is sort of a let-down from Every PS2 game made and every NES game made.

WuTangTurtleAugust 11, 2006

I agree, I think Every NES game is worth more than a Scion and Xbox 360.

I guess a car isn't that bad though.....however if it is one of those half van looking scion things I sure wouldn't want it, they look like cr@p.

vuduAugust 12, 2006

So PA has teamed up with Pimp My Ride? That's ... ug.

CericAugust 12, 2006

Quote
"The first year, the Omegathon champion received every PlayStation 2 game ever made. The next year it was every NES game ever made," said Robert Khoo of Penny Arcade. "This year, in accordance with the massive growth of PAX, we decided it was time to up the ante." About Penny Arcade Expo

Now that I've reread that I'm sort of offended. He's pretty much saying that are hobby is worth less than a car. "Every PS2 game" is worth a lot more than car and especially "every NES game". That takes a long time to collect. Not to mention the history and if they had all their cases... blah....

vuduAugust 12, 2006

I think they're just trying to spin it in a positive light.

It would be pretty impossible to give away every NES game again because of the unique circumstance of last year. (If you're not familiar, someone was ebaying their collection of NES games which included every single one ever made except for like five or six impossible to get ones. PA won the auction.)

CericAugust 12, 2006

Yeah I know that's how they got them last year. But didn't they actually assemble the PS2 collection? I mean there still all the handhelds, the more obscure systems, SNES, N64, Cube, XBox just to name a few.

PaleMike Gamin, Contributing EditorAugust 12, 2006

Just because I like feeling special...

Did you know I was in the omegathon last year? =P

CalibanAugust 12, 2006

But you didn't win.

PaleMike Gamin, Contributing EditorAugust 12, 2006

True. It was sad.

UltimatePartyBearAugust 14, 2006

How far did you get?

PaleMike Gamin, Contributing EditorAugust 14, 2006

I lost at f'ing mario kart...

Yes Mario Kart.

I was robbed.

CericAugust 14, 2006

Pale... What type of reviews do you do?...

PaleMike Gamin, Contributing EditorAugust 14, 2006

I don't understand the question.

CericAugust 14, 2006

I know your staff now I was just wondering want do you tend to write about around here? (I rarely look at who writes what.)

Edit:

I found these with the search

1. PREVIEWS: Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime 08/07/2006 CST by: Mike Gamin
Save Slimenia from the Plob!
2. PREVIEWS: Super Smash Bros. Brawl 07/10/2006 CST by: Mike Gamin
It won't be a Wii launch title, but it will be a brand new game.

On a side note I'm looking forward to Rocket Slime and Brawl... So so far I'm looking forward to all the games you've previewed that I know of... Good Job.

PaleMike Gamin, Contributing EditorAugust 14, 2006

Oh. I kind of go where I'm needed. I'm writing a review for Break 'em All for DS right now.

I also spend a lot of time updating game profiles and such.