In case you missed the update last week, the PAX website is now live. If you’re interested in attending PAX this year you can save yourself a few bucks by pre-registering. The price at the door for a one day pass is $15 and the price for a two day pass is $25. If you pre-register online you get a 10% discount. You also have the opportunity online to pre-register for any tournaments you’d like to take part in.

Microsoft buys Bioware? I don't believe it yet, but that makes way, way more sense than Rare.

Reader Appreciation Month went on hiatus for a brief period, and for that we apologize. We're back on track, though - here's a little Frank for your trouble.

Penny Arcade reader Jared Samborski has set up a gaming survey for his senior statistics class, and it would really help him if you would go and fill it out. Apparently, it's very difficult to get information like this out of companies, but it's the information he needs, so maybe we can give it to him.

Wow, there is a huge update over at the Cardboard Tube Showdown website. They wanted me to let you guys know that the project is not dead. Judging by the latest batch of screenshots they appear to be making some real progress. I think the new Porkfry character is especially awesome.

From: "-= Hawk =-"
To:
Sent: Friday, April 16, 2004 1:54 AM
Subject: MMORPG Question

The dialogue about World of Warcraft's new "Rest State" system is completely fascinating to me. It's one feature out of a ton in the new beta they just dropped - in case you are not an absolute news weirdo and don't know what I'm talking about, I'll give you the rundown.

Some of you asked for a larger version of the Saga of Ryzom artwork that’s in our new advertisement. So here you go:

Page eight of our sixteen page Splinter Cell:PT comic book is now online.

Though it was widely considered an April Fool's Day prank - along with playable Two-Headed Ogres - apparently the Goblin Tinker is (in fact) the real deal. He comes along with a new 1.5 patch for Warcraft III that will be going into beta shortly. People have been wanting me to mention their petitions or whatnot for a new Warcraft patch, I guess now I don't have to.

Tycho has come down with a pretty nasty cold, so I told him to take the day off and get some rest. I'll be logging into WOW occasionally just to make sure the son of a bitch isn't power leveling all day.

I promised I would deliver some tips for playing the merc side in Splinter Cell: PT multiplayer. So here you go:

I think it’s interesting that the “Gabe” wallpaper has had nearly 1000 more downloads than the “Tycho” wallpaper. What do you suppose that says about his worth as a human being? I have my own thoughts.