A panel of 50 industry experts, including Penny Arcade's own Gabe and Tycho, will select the ten best submissions in terms of gameplay and overall "fun factor" for inclusion in The PAX 10. Winners will be announced in July and invited to show off their hard work in the PAX 2009 Exhibition Hall Sept. 4-6 at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center.

"We were absolutely amazed by the quality and diversity of games submitted in 2008," said Robert Khoo of Penny Arcade. "I'm excited to see what the community of indie game devs have in store for us this year. Good luck to everyone!"

Microsoft, EA, Ubisoft, Bioware and over 20 other exhibitors are already signed for this year's Exhibition Hall; industry professionals interested in reserving booth space should write for further information. First details of PAX 2009 programming will be revealed later this month, but badges are already selling three times faster than in 2008. As a reminder, attendee badges are limited this year and will sell via pre-registration at www.paxsite.com, closing on Aug. 15 (to be shipped to attendees) or when sold out.

PAX is a three-day celebration of games and gamer culture. The festival includes an exhibition floor filled with playable builds of upcoming tabletop, console, and computer games; a conference program of game industry speakers; music concerts; freeplay areas; industry parties; game tournaments and more. Since its inception in 2004 the show has doubled in size year-over-year, growing from 4,500 attendees to 58,500 in 2008, making it the largest gaming festival in North America.