PAX Bits.

The Penny Arcade Expo (or PAX) is rapidly becoming one of the premiere gaming events in the world. Founded by comic artists Jerry Holkins & Mike Krahulik - whose web comic has been going an inconceivable thirteen years! - PAX is a grass-roots gaming convention with an emphasis on independent developers. The 2011 event just happened, and I just wanted to throw up two of the cool things that I discovered while watching the coverage this week.

The upcoming MMO The Secret World had a prominent presence at this year's show. Apparently it has been in development for years, but this was the first I'd heard of it. I don't play MMO's, as I lack the time to invest in them, but damn if these trailers aren't super cool.

Secondly, a company called Fun Bits Interactive (which is made up some of the people that gave us Fat Princess) have a new game coming for the Playstation Vita called Escape Plan. I think the best way to describle it would be, if Limbo had a love child with Tim Burton & Don Hertzfeldt, Escape Plan would be the result.

The Vita's new control scheme and how it lets you interact with the world intrigues me. Let's say for instance, you need to cover an electrified floor and there is a matress leaning up against the wall. You can now use the back touch controls to push the matress over onto the floor. I never thought I would buy a handheld device, but with games like this, I just may have to.