Uh-oh! I hope our friends from Left4Friends didn't catch this. PAX sources are now reporting that they do have a confirmed case of the H1N1 virus (commonly but misleadingly known as Swine Flu) from their recently-concluded Washington event.

Another action-packed week for QJ with QuickPeek 88. Price cuts happened, hardware sales charts came out with their results, and developers and publishers alike came out once again from their magical gaming factories to hawk their wares at the PAX 2009 event held in Washington. You don't wanna miss this trip so jump right in to this week's QJ QuickPeek edition after the jump.

Exciting past couple of weeks, eh? The price cuts mad rush continued on this week with Microsoft joining in on the bandwagon. Meanwhile, Nintendo's sitting prettily and quietly, choosing the status quo, because, hey, they're on top in the status quo. Wouldn't want to change a thing about that now, would you? It's also one event after the another, from E3 to GamesCom to upcoming PAX and TGS. If this does not revive interest in the industry, I don't know what will. This latter half of the calendar year is just bursting at the seams, and we've got a portion of all that action here in this nice little bundle for you stamped as QuickPeek 87.

We had E3, then GamesCom, then PAX is coming up next, and then right after that, we have Tokyo Game Show! It's events season alright, and every time we can't wait to see what the pubs and devs are bringing along with them to show off to us. Capcom's got their list down pat already, so it seems. Via their Unity twitter, they've announced that they have "several" new game announcements in store. It sure is nice to see that they're always kept busy for our entertainment.

Everyone sure had a lot to say this week, from analysts to company execs, all the way to the President, and even the regular commenting folks. Action-packed is the most apt word to describe the past seven days, I believe. A lot of controversies have been courted too, and quite frankly, the gaming scene did happily oblige for some. Don't just take my word for it. See all that you missed below. You'd want to catch up on this one definitely.

Penny Arcade has released a schedule of activities for this year's Penny Arcade Expo (PAX). If you're planning to go to the event, we recommend checking it out so you can plan out your own schedule in advance.

IDG Entertainment is sending word that instead of August, this year's E for All Expo has been moved to October. This news should serve as a relief for those worried the the event may conflict with PAX's own schedule for 2008.

Details are in the full article. Just click the "read more" link below.

It's never too early to reserve a place in the next Penny Arcade Expo (PAX). It was announced today that the event will be accepting registrations as early as January 2008. The last PAX had 37,000 gamers roaming its floor. Tickets were sold out so early registration may be a good idea.

PAX 2008 will be held on August 29 to 31 and attendance is expected to double again. "Again" because attendance has been doubling ever since the first PAX. The attendance grew so large that the last event was held in the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle just to fit everyone in.

Next year's PAX will mark the expo's fifth year and will continue the tradition of game exhibitions, conference programs (about games of course), concerts, tournaments, freeplay gaming and general fun times for everyone and all in the gaming community.

This may be one of the hard evidences of Nintendo DS's immense popularity among the handheld market: Almost every handheld gamer in Penny Arcade Expo 2007 (PAX 2007) had a DS, but there was nary a PSP in sight. Well, almost. A Wired reporter eventually found a lone PSP owner, and that's after he spent some time searching for one.

Most of the handheld gamers present in PAX 2007 were found lounging on enormous beanbags on the hallways, entertaining themselves with multiplayer DS games and Pictochat.

The Sony PSP and Nintendo DS are both very good and competitive handhelds, but it is rather a bit disconcerting to find out that Sony's multi-media handheld wasn't at all present in PAX 2007, given the fact that the place was packed and full to the brim with gamers. Or maybe they were just protective of their PSPs like that?

More PAX 2007 updates to come!

Namco Bandai's coming to Penny Arcade Expo 2007, and it's bringing a gigaton of games along with it for some good old hands on gaming. For those of you attending PAX 2007 which starts tomorrow in Seattle, you can find Namco Bandai at booth 616.

Perhaps the biggest highlight to grace their booth this year is the photorealistic Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation for the Xbox 360. Namco is setting the game loose for competitive and cooperative fighting on Xbox Live with multiplayer supporting up to 16 players so be ready to set the skies on fire.

Another highlight although in a completely different genre is Beautiful Katamari (also for the 360), whose multiplayer supports up to 4 players. Another game that would probably have you rolling to Namco's booth is Dynasty Warriors: Gundam that mixes the world of Gundam with the hack and slash gameplay of Dynasty Warriors.
   
Other games the games publisher will be showcasing are Eternal Sonata, Tales of World: Radiant Mythology, Culdcept SAGA, .hack®//G.U. Vol. 3: Redemption, Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Heroes, Naruto: Uzumaki Chronicles 2, Time Crisis 4, Warhammer Battle March and collections of classic Namco Bandai games for the Wii and Nintendo DS in Namco Museum DS and Namco Museum REMIX.