Ron Gilbert To Keynote 2009 Penny Arcade Expo

Pioneering adventure game designer Ron Gilbert will deliver the keynote address at this year's Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle, event organizers have announced. The designer follows in the footsteps of BioShock creative director Ken Levine, who keynoted the popular convention last year. Penny Arcade Expo 2009 is being held September 4 to 6 at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center. It is the fifth annual consumer gaming show held by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik, writer and artist behind the Penny Arcade online comic. Best known as the creator of the Monkey Island series and primary designer of its first two games, Gilbert currently serves as creative director of Hothead Games, where he is working on his own upcoming DeathSpank and has contributed to the Deathspank-developed game based on Penny Arcade itself. In addition to his design work, Gilbert founded the developers Humongous Entertainment and Cavedog Entertainment, producing games such as the Putt-Putt adventures and Chris Taylor's Total Annihilation. Said Robert Khoo of Penny Arcade, "I wasted an entire family vacation one year trying to figure out how to win that stupid spitting competition." There was no comment as to whether Khoo ever discovered you have to spit the green stuff you drink through the crazy straw.