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It was announced today that the Child's Play charity has raised over $1 million so far this year. The charity, created by Penny Arcade to aid children in hospitals all over the world, has already raised a total of $1,010,680.28. Said Child's Play project manager Kristin Lindsay, "With so may people out of work, we've been amazed at the huge response this year." The charity hopes to surpass $1.4 million by year's end, which would be on par with what it brought in during 2008.

Several events for Child's Play have been planned or have already taken place this year. Notably, the Desert Bus for Hope marathon pulled in over $130,000 in November, while Harmonix will be throwing the Ümloud Rock Band night fundraiser on December 9. Readers can find out more about Child's Play at the official website.

Relations between Sony Online Entertainment's John Smedley and the guys from Penny Arcade have clearly improved since the Donut Debacle of 2006. Smedley recently took a moment to talk to Jerry "Tycho" Holkins about Magic: The Gathering Tactics, revealing a few savory tidbits about the title -- the most delightful of which being the fact that the PS3 and PC versions of the game will be interconnected, allowing a player to use his account (and all his meticulously crafted decks) on both platforms.

Basically, if you've got a laptop, a PS3 and an unslakable hunger for thin, rectangular artifacts imbued with immeasurable power, then your social life and work ethic are about to be assaulted on all sides. Good luck with that!

After the recent announcement by the folks at Penny Arcade that PAX 2009 sold out the Washington State Convention and Trade Center, today they officially released attendance numbers for this year's Penny Arcade Expo. Speaking with Big Download, PA's Robert Khoo said 60,750 people packed into the convention center -- though he had earlier predicted "roughly 75,000" -- and that the show's organizers are looking into expansion plans for next year to accommodate more showgoers.

We'd say with the unveiling of PAX East, some people may very well have stayed home in anticipation of a shorter travel distance early next year over this year's Washington-based soiree. This might help explain the relatively small attendance growth from 2008's 58,500 people to this 2009's numbers. However, Khoo said he's surprised how many people plan on attending both PAX East and next year's PAX, umm, West. We'll see you a year from now, Khoo -- with facts!

At long last, the two culturally distinct worlds of ping-pong and trading card games have been fused into one aggregate superhobby. During the Penny Arcade Media Q&A Panel at PAX, the comic's illustrator, Mike Krahulik, explained, "We've been tinkering with a Paint the Line card game -- that has been quite a bit of fun in the office, so we'll see how that goes." For non-readers, Paint the Line was a series of strips the duo did in 2008 which tells the story of a global ping-pong power struggle. It's also a story of love and killer whales. There's a lot going on in there.

For those who aren't immediately turned on by this notion, Krahulik added, "Ping-pong played in CCG is surprisingly interesting." Draw one backhand swipe! Tap one ping energy! Discard one pong.

Those who were hoping to hear savory details about Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness Episode 3 during the Penny Arcade Expo (how appropriate!) are about to have said hopes dashed upon the rocks. During our recent interview with the comic's creators, Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik, we learned that no news regarding the game will come during the duo's Seattle-based gaming community event.

There's a reason for the game's non-appearance during PAX -- but Holkins and Krahulik were tight-lipped about what that reason is. Krahulik teased, "When you hear the announcement, you'll be like 'oooooh.' It'll make sense." Holkins articulately added, "You'll feel vigor in all of your limbs." We're fairly certain that's a good thing.

Joystiq has invaded the city known for Starbucks, Kurt Cobain, the Space Needle and, most importantly, the Penny Arcade Expo 2009! We hit the ground running last night with a pre-PAX Activision event (they aren't officially at the show), and got our hands on some games -- we'll tell you more later. Stay tuned for a lot more as we march through the halls, pausing only to record silly videos.

Having wisely decided against creating a fantasy epic set within the span of just a few hours, BioWare's Dragon Age is ripe for exploration in all forms of media. With Dragon Age: Origins set to arrive this November, the RPG maestros have drafted the internet's Penny Arcade to provide a new comic for the game's official website.

You can read the first part of "Witch Hunt" over here. For the full Dragon Age experience, marketers recommend you do so with an inappropriate Marilyn Manson track screeching in the background.

Even if you can't make it out to Seattle for the Penny Arcade Expo this weekend, you can show some solidarity with the new selection of Penny Arcade gear that's now available on the Xbox Live Marketplace for a buck per shirt. In addition to the stars' trademark looks, you'll also find some clothing inspired by the strip's secondary characters.

Also, just FYI, we came up with a pretty hilarious gag about PAX standing for Penny Arcade eXploitation that we weren't able to work in. All apologies.

[Thanks, Jimmcq]

If you hadn't already registered for this week's Penny Arcade Expo and were hoping to snag a pass at the door, you don't want to read this tweet. If you did, you'd see the dreadful words: "It's official! PAX 2009 is completely sold out!" Oh, sorry about that -- awkward.

So yes, it's official -- the PAX website has even updated with the news. We spoke with show organizers who assured us that they'd "love to let more people in," but that the venue itself has reached capacity based on the number of passes sold. (They're expecting roughly 75,000 attendees, up from last year's 58,500.)

Looks like it's time to register for PAX East and start pricing airfare to Boston. Or, y'know, you could always borrow a friend's pass. We're sure they won't mind; heck, you shouldn't even ask.

In celebration of the upcoming Penny Arcade Expo, this week's Xbox Live Marketplace Deal of the Week is none other than Gabe & Tycho's second adventure: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode Two. Normally 1200 ($15 USD), the Hothead Games' episodic RPG has been reduced to 800 ($10 USD) in Microsoft funny-money.

The sale also begs the question, "Where da heck is Penny Arcade: Episode Three?!" Hopefully Hothead Games and the guys at Penny Arcade will be able to tell us all about the next game in the series when PAX 2009 kicks off on Friday, September 4. Make sure to keep refreshing Joystiq all weekend long as a slew of our minions will be on hand for the community friendly event.

Queue up the XBLM Deal of the Week: Penny Arcade - Episode 2

How often is the Xbox Live Deal of the Week actually exciting? Not this week, at least, but it will be this month! On August 24, Microsoft will offer something pretty tempting: Grand Theft Auto: The Lost and Damned for 1200 ($15), 5 bucks off the normal asking price for the Grand Theft Auto IV expansion.

If you're the guy who bought GTA IV on 360 but hasn't picked this up yet -- and you don't want to wait for Episodes from Liberty City -- now's a great time to pick up a new set of missions to give up on halfway through the game, in favor of just doing awesome bike jumps.

The announcement also reveals that a deal for Penny Arcade Adventures Episode 2 is incoming, so ... you know, don't buy it yet. Also, a Halo 3 Dashboard theme that you really don't need to buy ever.

At last, the terror-inducing gauntlet of games that participants in this year's Omegathon must navigate has been revealed by a recent press release. Listed below are the six rounds that will serve as the unforgiving battlegrounds for twenty contestants (who are named after the break) -- we can't wait to see how tournament-style Bookworm Adventures will play out.

Blood will be shed, boys will become men, girls will likewise become women -- and only one will triumph with tickets to this year's Tokyo Game Show (and $5,000 in walkin' around money) clutched in their victorious paw.

• Round 1: Mario Kart Wii
• Round 2: Bookworm Adventures
• Round 3: Halo 3: ODST
• Round 4: Unnamed rhythm game (DJ Hero or The Beatles: Rock Band, perhaps?)
  
• Round 5: Connect Four
• Final Round: ?????

While we were already aware of some Penny Arcade / Tekken 6 cross-pollination, we didn't realize how far it went. In addition to Penny Arcade's fabled Cardboard Tube Samurai appearing in Namco's upcoming fighter, it looks like Gabe and Tycho have created a comic for the game as well. The first page of the comic is available now and we can safely say that you don't have to know anything about the Tekken storyline to enjoy it.

If you're like us -- always amazed that fighting games have story lines -- that's a good thing. All you need to know is that someone made an army of kangaroos and Jin Kazama Kazuya Mishima isn't happy about it. Enjoy.

The Penny Arcade Expo exhibitor list is in, and it's a hefty one with nearly 100 attendees scheduled to visit the Seattle gaming convention. Gamers can expect plenty of hands-on action with the hottest (and probably not so hot) games of the year, including a slew of panels and special demonstrations.

LucasArts will showcase the first stateside live demo of Star Wars: The Old Republic and sponsor a cantina for community members to meet various staff and developers. Although delayed until 2010, Splinter Cell: Conviction will also continue to be demoed for attendees, alongside Assassin's Creed 2. Plus, traditional PAX events return with another round of the indie game showcase (The PAX 10), parties to crash throughout Seattle's downtown core and two nights of music from the best in nerdcore -- a genre iTunes has yet to recognize. Fascists!

PAX 2009 hits Seattle from September 4-6 at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center. A list of exhibitors you'll spend hours lining up to see can be found after the break.

Penny Arcade's Mike "Gabe" Krahulik has announced that he and Jerry "Tycho" Holkins will be special guests on Xbox Live's 1 vs 100 this Friday evening. During the live show, set to begin at 7pm PT / 10pm ET, Gabe and Tycho will be online along with the usual host, Chris Cashman. Krahulik notes that the show will include some Penny Arcade related questions and players will be able to call in with questions for the webcomic creators. Also, given the timing, we're fairly certain there will be at least a little PAX talk.

Who knows, with the Penny Arcade crew on deck, maybe we'll see a few episodes of Penny Arcade Adventures given away as prizes. Speaking of, might we suggest you call in and ask when we can expect Episode 3?