In addition to 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.

It was also announced that Alex St. John will keynote PAX06. St. John's keynote entitled "The Prehistory of Xbox," will address the legends and anecdotal stories of the evolution to Microsoft's Xbox as experienced by the man behind the "Manhattan Project." A former Microsoft employee, whose exploits have been chronicled in books such as "Renegades of the Empire" by Michael Drummond, "Opening the Xbox" by Dean Takahashi and "Masters of Doom" by David Kushner, today St. John runs WildTangent, an online game publishing company.

"Last year's PAX was like a big party with 9,000 of your closest friends," said Penny Arcade's Robert Khoo. "It's hard to imagine, but PAX '06 is on track to be even larger and more outrageous."

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.