The new episode of Comedy.com's "Glitch in the System" features advice on using your Nintendo Wii as a toaster or a hiding place for porn now that there are no more good games coming out for it, plus more of host Jacob Sirof at Penny Arcade Expo, where he talks to Kotaku editor Brian Crecente about donkey punching and some folks promoting "Brothers in Arms" about getting shaved... down there. (I always keep it classy here on The Cut Scene)

(Produced, as always, by me.)

While going through footage I shot at Penny Arcade Expo (for other purposes), I found this "concert" I shot where Penny Arcade gurus Gabe and Tycho, along with their business manager Robert Khoo and a lady whose name I unfortunately don't know played "Any Way You Want It" via Rock Band 2 in front of a screaming crowd of geeks. I've seen less excitement at most of the live music performance I've ever been to. If you have any doubt that the Penny Arcade guys are major celebrities in the eyes of their fans, this "concert" footage should put those doubts to rest.

(On a related note, is there a generational divide between those of us who find this kind of performance to be fun for a few minutes and those who think it's just as good as a real concert?)

The latest episode of Glitch in the System features interviews at PAX with the Warhammer Online guys, some anti-violence in games crusaders, and Mario and Luigi themselves, as well as a probing quiz for the people getting free gas at the recent Mercenaries 2 promotion about whether they would follow the game's lead and kill Venezuelans for gas. If nothing else, I gotta say I love that Katamari costume at the beginning complete with the fake face.  I appreciate that she didn't go mainstream by dressing as the prince, but picked one of the obscure cousins.

(Produced, as always, by me.)

Remember those awkward lanyards at Penny Arcade Expo advertising "Ghostbusters: the Game," which currently has no publisher or release date after Activision passed on it following the merger with Vivendi?

I was interviewing Penny Arcade business chief Robert Khoo for a story about PAX running this weekend (look for it!) and he noted that Vivendi label Sierra signed up to sponsor the lanyards all the way back in January and sent them, with the Ghostbusters logo, back in June. But it wasn't until two weeks before the show (probably right after ActiBlizzard made its fateful announcement) that Sierra pulled out of displaying "Ghostbuster" (and, I assume, other games, many of which are now cancelled). Awkward!

As Khoo himself said, "We didn't have much of a choice as finding an alternate lanyard provider, so we just ran with it." Of course, one publisher or another is going to put the game out in 2009, according to licensor Sony Pictures, so as Khoo added, "SOMEONE out there is benefiting from it!" Just not the folks who actually paid for it.

I bet Activision Blizzard wishes Sierra didn't waste however many thousands of dollars it spent plastering "Ghostbusters: the Game" on every badge-holding lanyard at Penny Arcade Expo this weekend. Now that the game is without a publisher after ActiBlizz passed on it following its takeover of Sierra (get the whole story here), it's an expensive ad for a videogame with no release date. And you thought the demo's at Comic-Con a week before the game got negged by ActiBlizzard were awkward...

Outside of maybe Gabe and Tycho and a few of the top designers like Ken Levine, the person I saw getting the most attention on the show floor at PAX was actually a journalist. Talking to Brian Crecente for more than a minute was almost an impossible task because this kept happening:

Crecente (on the right) is of course very recognizable with his flowing locks. But still, it's pretty rare to see a journalist unable to go more than two minutes in a crowd without somebody asking for a photo, telling them how much they love his publication, etc. Goes to show you just how huge a cultural entity Kotaku has become.

I can't decide if it's the cigarette or the backwards cap that really vaults this to a whole new level of brilliance:

Geekier and less corporate than Comic-Con.

After just a few hours exploring PAX last night, before the real fun begins today, that's my first take. For those who don't know, Penny Arcade Expo (or PAX) is the annual convention in Seattle put on by the folks behind Penny Arcade Expo, the hit Web comic for gamers (for more on them, see our profile from the Videogame Impact issue and tie-in Q and A).

Yesterday I got the lay of the land in exhibit room, which looks more like the old E3 than E3 does anymore, and is most certainly bigger and more full of games than E for All was last year. I also enjoyed the wornderful examples of proud geekdom, including the guy (above right) who's bald with long blue hair and was wearing a kilt. That's my kinda crowd.

There was also some fantastic street music that, once again, could only happen at a convention like PAX: Some young musicians using their old GameBoys with new software to create electronic music. It's the first live example I've seen from the ChipTunes, or 8-Bit, scene, and it was pretty awesome. There was a nice crowd around the guys taking pictures and, in a few cases, dancing on the streets of Seattle with abandon. (that's them on the left)

Not quite as exhilirating was last night's Cryptic Studios party at the Seattle Public library, which, at least when I was there, had fewer than 100 people, with nobody getting into the spirit by wearing "City of Heroes" costumes. Maybe everyone was off seeing Jonathan Coulton in concert or at the geek movies festival instead. This may just be a crowd that isn't into corporate parties. Which is kinda cool.

After last year's rather dismal showing at IDG's inaugural E for All, organizer IDG swore that the show would go on and return in 2008. Joystiq has a very nice illustration of why that decision isn't looking wise.

Exactly two publishers are currently committed to attending E for All in LA in October, Electronic Arts and Microsoft. 32 exhibitors are listed on the E for All site, but the other 30 are all accessory and paraphenalia makers, game retailers, videogame schools and other non-profits (plus, of course, the inevitable Fatal1ty). If E for All is, as advertised, "the place where games and gamers" meet, it's looking like a pretty one-sided meeting. It's difficult to imagine attendees would be satisfied paying $35 for one day, $60 for two days, or $75 for four days with "Gears of War 2," "Dead Space," "Mirror's Edge," and possibly some early builds of games coming out in 2009.

But the really bad news for E for All is that almost every major publisher is attending Penny Arcade Expo this weekend. From Atari and Gamecock through Activision Blizzard and Nintendo, they're pretty much all there. The Penny Arcade folks are expecting 50,000 plus attendees in Seattle this weekend. (I'm going to be there too, for the first time, and am pretty damned excited).

Last year, E for All had 18,000 attendees who came to see three major publishers: Nintendo, Konami, and THQ. It's hard to see how things would be different this year. If they can't sign up more big exhibitors, IDG and the Entertainment Software Assn. (which gave E for All its endorsement after downsizing E3 last year) risk some major embarrassment in the wake of PAX.

For breakdown of which publishers were at E for All last year, which are there this year, and who's at PAX, check out Joystiq's handy chart.

Update: A rep for IDG sent me the following response:

At this point we'll just say that the show isn't over until Tiger hits his last hole in one, Microsoft has packed up its last Xbox, Target has sold its last Wii Fit, Fatali1ty has blown away his last opponent, and the World Cyber Games National champions are crowned. Further announcements are forthcoming and we are confident that E for All 2008 will be a great event for everyone in the gaming community.