The creators of what must surely be one of the most well know webcomics in the gaming community, Penny Arcade, have given us much enjoyment since the strip’s inception. There has been the comic itself, with its colorful observations on both the gaming industry and the life of a gamer in general(with a hefty chunk of imagination thrown in), along with the regular news about events in the gaming industry on the front page of the Penny Arcade website. They are also the organizers of the Child’s Play charity, a not-for-profit institution which seeks to better the lot of children in 40 different hospitals all over the world.

An impressive state of affairs, it must be said, but that it is not the only impact that Tycho and Gabe have left upon the world. There is also the Penny Arcade Expo which, since it’s founding in 2004, has served as place where gamers of all creeds and paths may meet and congregate safely and without fear of ridicule. Since the inception of this very worthwhile yearly event, the Penny Arcade Expo has grown exponentially in size in popularity with the result that, for this year’s PAX, there will be one of the biggest names in gaming making the keynote speech in Seattle this year.

News has spread all across the Internet that for PAX 2008, the Creative Director for the Bioshock project at 2K Games, Ken Levine will be kicking off the event with his keynote address. Ken won’t be the only big name at the event this year, though. Despite that no official schedule of events has been confirmed yet we do know that the Omegathon gaming tournament will be returning to give 20 random PAX attendees a chance to try their hand at a variety of gaming mediums from CCGs, to tabletop games, console games, and everything in between. The winner of this event will receive a trip for two to this year’s Tokyo Game Show, along with $5,000 dollars to spend when they get there. The winner will also receive what has been described as home heather system of other-worldly proportions to use when they get home.

A number of well known musical stylists will also be appearing at this year’s event. Johnathan Coulton, celebrated most recently for his laid back interpretation of many video game songs such as Valve’s now legendary “Still Alive” song from Portal will be attending, along with MC Chris. These two will also be joined by Freezepop, The MiniBosses, MC Frontalot, The OneUps, and finally the The Darkest of Hillside Thickets will be taking turns on the stage to entertain the attendees during the three days of the event.

Robert Khoo, the big brain behind this big event, stated that “Obviously, Ken is pimp supreme” and “that we’re super excited to have him open up the show."

So are we, friend, so are we.

The Penny Arcade Expo will commence Friday, August 29th, at 2:00 PM and last until Sunday the 31st at 6:00 PM. Stay tuned right here to TGR.com for more information on PAX 2008 as it comes in.