This year's keynote speaker at PAX 2009 will be legendary game designer Ron Gilbert. Ron is responsible for a  ton of great games that have been released over the years including Maniac Mansion and the first two Monkey Island games. He's been in the industry for over 20 years, co-founded three game studios and was inducted into the Computer Game Hall of Fame.

Sounds to me that this keynote presentation will be just as good, if not better, than Ken Levine's speech from last year. No one can ever top Wil Wheaton's speech from PAX 07, though.  

Oh God. A little over two months to PAX now. Are you excited?! Remember, PAX tickets are limited this year so better get them while you still can! Will we see you at PAX?

PAX 2009 KEYNOTE SPEAKER REVEALED

Look Behind You, a Three-Headed Monkey!

SEATTLE - June 29, 2009 - PAX 2009 organizers humbly announced today that industry legend Ron Gilbert will grace the stage as keynote speaker at the sixth annual gaming festival to be held Sept. 4-6 at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center.

Legendary storyteller, game designer, programmer and producer Ron Gilbert has created countless classic video games, including the seminal LucasArts works Maniac Mansion and first two installments in the Monkey Island adventure series. His more than 20-year career in the games industry encompasses co-founding three game studios, creating the famous SCUMM scripting language and being inducted into the Computer Game Hall of Fame. He is currently creative director at independent development studio Hothead Games in Vancouver, Canada.

"This is an unbelievable moment for us," commented Penny Arcade's Robert Khoo. "I wasted an entire family vacation one year trying to figure out how to win that stupid spitting competition." Gilbert joins an illustrious group of past PAX keynote speakers, including noted geek icon Wil Wheaton and innovative game designer Ken Levine.

In addition to the highly anticipated keynote address, numerous panels and game demonstrations, Omegathon and The PAX 10 independent games showcase, PAX 2009 will offer attendees an unparalleled musical experience with performances from Freezepop, Jonathan Coulton, MC Frontalot, Paul and Storm, Anamanaguchi and Metroid Metal. As if all of this weren't enough, PAX organizers further confirmed that this year's Exhibition Hall is down to its final availability. Prospective exhibitors interested in securing these last coveted booth spaces can write to paxsales@paxsite.com for more information.