I was about ten minutes into the Saints Row 2 demo on the Penny Arcade show floor last week when it hit me: The game didn't feel like a GTA rip-off.

It was still free-roaming and featured detailed 3D avatars. It still had plenty of running and gunning. But the vibe, the feel of the game didn't have the same GTA-ness to it that, to many, marked the first Saints Row a Grand Theft Auto clone.

I actually mentioned this to the Saints Row folks on hand and they agreed with me. Even the marketing for the game has been geared toward differentiating the free-roaming shooter from GTA.

But it's hard to put your finger on exactly how the games are different when playing Saints Row 2. It sort of feels that GTA and Saints Row were both heading down the same road and at some point GTA veered off in one direction and Saints Row headed off in another.

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You wanted The Conduit, you got it. I waited in line twenty minutes on Saturday to get my hands on the Wii-exclusive shooter (definitely one of the shorter waits at PAX this year). And after screwing with the Wiimote sensitivity in-game, I set out through the demo level to try and shoot me some aliens.

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Tristan and I were walking past the Nintendo booth yesterday at PAX when we noticed that they had demo stations for Wario Land Shake It set up.

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I'm sitting in the cavernous main hall of the Washington State Convention waiting for Penny Arcade Expo 2008 to officially kick off with Ken Levine's keynote.

Levine, compatriot and family (including in his parents) are actually sitting right next to me. They're all very nice people. Hit up the jump to follow along as Levine wows us.

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Odd timing or a reminder that while GameStop may not be listing the game anymore, Ghostbusters The Video Game still exists?

Tagged on every lanyard at Penny Arcade Expo was the game's name (glow in the dark) but, alas, no release date... or publisher.

Today's the day - the fangirls are out in force and the cosplayers are carousing in every nook and cranny of the convention centre. I've only been in Seattle for about four hours and already I've counted 41 utilikilts and 19 sets of cat ears. The favoured motif this year appears to be Naruto, with the odd smattering of old school Nintendo characters.

I'd love to post pics of all of this, but man friend has wandered off with my USB cable.

So here I sit in Handheld Lounge C, waiting for him to return (hopefully with beverage), counting up the swag I managed to accrue in the half hour I spent in the Exhibit Hall. So far, I've got 16 random scraps of paper (possibly stickers) and four buttons for games I've never felt the urge to play. If you're around, come and find me - I'm the incredibly tired looking girl with the red, white and blue stars on her shirt.

There's a lot to take in here and I'm only one woman - so help me out, readers. What games should I go after and what panels should I hit up? (Check the schedule here.)

Hit the jump to find out what it feels like to wait in line for two and a half hours. Why didn't I apply for a press pass?

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Last week it was the Games Convention, earlier this week it was the Democratic National Convention and now we're off this morning on the road to PAX... wasn't that a musical?

Keep your eyes peeled on this post as we continue to update it with all of our coverage leading up to the big show and than through-out the day updates during the show.

Pre-Show Updates
Examining the Penny Arcade Expo Show Floor
Penny Arcade Announces "Fatal1ty" WON'T Be at PAX
Behold...The Omegathon!
Penny Arcade Expo Sched Hits
Play Xbox 360 Left 4 Dead at PAX, PC Version in France, Germany, UK
Seattle Times' Pre-PAX Profile of Penny Arcade
D3 Invades PAX 2008
Microsoft Unveils PAX Schedule
PAX Road Trip: T-Minus 2 Days

D3 Publisher will be bringing Puzzle Quest: Galactrix, Naruto and Bangai-O to the Penny Arcade Expo later this week.

This year's Penny Arcade Expo seems to be an interesting mix of announcements, unveilings and games that aren't just dated, but already available at stores. It's as if some of the publishers and developers in attendance haven't gotten the message yet: PAX is kinda a big deal.

Full D3 break-down on the jump. The only thing on the list I'm looking forward to messing around with this coming weekend is Galaxtix.

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With less than two weeks before I need to get on the road to drive to Penny Arcade Expo, I figure now is probably the time to see if anyone is interested in joining me for a two day drive to Seattle and all things Penny Arcade. Unlike those hardcore trekkers partaking in the Cross Country Supertrip, my plan is to break the nearly 1,400 mile drive up with my wife and son over two days.

We plan to leave the Denver area the morning of August 27 and drive about halfway (which will put us somewhere in Idaho, likely near Heyburn). Then the next day we'll drive the rest of the way to Seattle. That's two 10 hour or so treks.

If anyone is interested in meeting up with us in their own vehicles drop me a line at editor at Kotaku dot com and we'll figure out which parking lots to meet in. I'd rather not detour from the drive, so if you're interested you'd probably have to meet up with us along the way.

I figure this year is a dry run. If things go well, and there's enough interest, next year I might try expanding it to a longer route and even see if we can throw together some sort of on-the-way pit stop with food and games. So I also need to know whether this sort of thing appeals to you at all or if it's just a really bad idea. Go crazy in comments.

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You've heard us ramble on and on about how very much we love co-op cinematic survival shooter Left 4 Dead, now you'll finally get a chance to see why.

Valve today announced that Left 4 Dead will be playable on the PC by the public at the upcoming Leipzig Games Convention, Festival du Jeu Video and PC Gamer Showdown. Better still, the Xbox 360 version will be unveiled at Penny Arcade Expo where it will also be playable. I'm told Valve will have two 4-person games set up at their booth. If I were you I'd head straight to Valve when the PAX doors open to try and avoid lines.

I'm already pretty jazzed about the PC version, so I can't wait to see how the game has translated over to the Xbox 360 version. It's a pretty sweet surprise that the worldwide debut of the console game will be at a public event.

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