In just a few short hours, PAX 2008 will be but a distant, awesome memory. Next week, we’ll be posting the interviews we shot (featuring the questions you asked) with Insomniac, Sucker Punch, and Hothead Games. We’ll also shed a little more light on the gameplay of Resistance Retribution for PSP, and recap today’s Blog Reader Meet-up (spoiler: it was awesome).

PAX isn’t really a “news generator” in the way E3 and Leipzig were, but if you read anything you’d like to share with the class, link out below.

The Defense Deparment's Virtual Army Experience game continues to make waves as it tours air shows and summer festivals.

In the latest flap, the Ohio chapter of Veterans for Peace agreed to drop its planned protest after Army officials agreed not to admit players under 17 to the interactive game, which depict a firefight between U.S. soldiers and virtual insurgents. The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports:

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Eurogamer reports that the Collector's Edition of THQ's Saints Row 2 will ship in a box which depicts a pistol mounted in a fancy gun case:

...in keeping with the game's general sense of fun and social responsibility, the box is shaped like a gun and you get a USB stick in the shape of a bullet...

 

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I’ve been busy with shooting interviews at PAX today, but now that I’ve got the chance to catch up, I just wanted to share an update on the SOCOM Confrontation public beta that was posted earlier today on SOCOM.com. Here’s the word straight from SCEA’s Seth Luisi:

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• Warhawk Operation: Fallen Star - While I’m ecstatic to be at PAX - it’s a bit bittersweet that I can’t be playing this right now…
• Savage Moon – Coming this Fall to PSN - Go hands on at PAX, if you can make it.
• Set Your Alarm: PAX PlayStation.Blog Meet-up Details - This just wrapped up, actually - look for an update soon.
• The Last Guy, Coming To a City Near You - An IGN Editor’s Choice winner.
• PlayStation @ PAX - Our guide to what we’re doing, and when.
• Penny Arcade Adventures: PSN, PAX details - Thanks for supplying us with questions to ask the devs. Interview on the blog next week.
• PlayStation Store Update - featuring The Last Guy and Warhawk Operation: Fallen Star.
• Day and Night Gameplay for Burnout Paradise - The final update coming next week. Thanks, Criterion!
• Life with PlayStation is on its way - Stay tuned for further updates on the blog.
• PLAYSTATION Store Video Content Update - Perhaps our biggest update since launch.
• Penny Arcade Expo 08: See our booth - Hopefully, you’ll be able to see it for yourself. If not… this’ll have to do!

Couldn't make it to Seattle for PAX?

Maybe Boston will work better for you.

As reported by GameSpot, the Penny Arcade crew has officially announced that they will be adding an East Coast PAX, beginning in 2010. The new show will be based in Boston.

GP: There's no truth to the rumor that game-legislating Mayor Thomas Menino will deliver the PAX 2010 keynote...

Recently, GamePolitics reported that Xbox and Rock the Vote would be teaming up on voter registration at both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions.

Here's some brand-new video footage of Guitar Hero being played on a big screen at a Rock the Vote DNC booth. We presume the game is running on an Xbox 360.

A friend attended the Democratic National Convention in Denver this week. Among the many items he snagged was a pamphlet from the No Child Left Inside Coalition, a group which seeks to foster environmental awareness and activity among young people.

That's all quite commendable. Less praiseworthy, however, is the fact that the group's brochure (obtained by GP) takes a cheap shot at video games in its opening paragraph:

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Toward the end of a Games, Politics & Policy panel I was moderating at PAX yesterday, a guy in the audience asked a question that was really more of a challenge. He wanted (demanded?) to know whether each of the four panel members and myself as moderator played games.

As it turned out, we did. Everyone explained their own gaming habits. I mentioned that I've reviewed games for more than a decade for the Philadelphia Inquirer and that if it's out there, I've probably played it. The questioner seemed satisfied.

But that particular question stuck with me after the session. The more I thought about it, the more frustrated I became.