Meet Zero Punctuation's Yahtzee at Philly GameX Expo

Everyone's favorite caustic-tongued Brit with the sweet hat will be making an appearance as a special guest at this year's upcoming Games and Media Expo, held October 23-25 in Philadelphia.

Back in May, we were proud to announce that The Escapist had been chosen as the exclusive media partner for this year's GameX expo in Philadelphia - and that members of the team behind The Escapist would be there to provide coverage and to meet members of the community.

It might be relatively easy for most of the crew to make the drive (or flight) up from our home base in Durham, North Carolina, but it won't be just the locals making an appearance - Zero Punctuation creator Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw will be a special guest of honor at GameX, all the way from his home on the other side of the world in Australia.

"I'm excited to be taking the trip out to the U.S. for GameX and to rub shoulders with the industry," said Croshaw. "The success of Zero Punctuation continues to be as gratifying as it is frightening, but I'm looking forward to meeting up with everyone from the site. Most of them, anyway."

So if you're going to be in the area, stop on by! Not only will you get to meet the staff behind the coolest videogame site on the Web, you'll be able to say hi to the man who founded the Internet's most popular video review series in person! If not, well, you can always read the exclusive interview with him in this week's special-edition .PDF.

The full press release is below:

DURHAM, N.C.---July 15, 2009 --- Two-time Webby award-winning online video gaming destination The Escapist, the exclusive game media partner for the 2009 GameX, the Games & Media Expo, is proud to announce that video game review icon and creator of its groundbreaking series Zero Punctuation, Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw, will attend this year's event. As a VIP guest, Yahtzee will meet and greet with fans, sign autographs and participate in GameX's red carpet activities at the event, which is to be held October 23-25, 2009 at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Philadelphia, PA. GameX will mark Yahtzee's third appearance in the U.S. representing Zero Punctuation since 2007 (http://gamexpo.us/yahtzee/).

Yahtzee, an Australia-based writer, video game designer and journalist, is best known amongst the video gaming community for his work in Zero Punctuation, a weekly online web video series reviewing the latest video games, starring a British-accented stick-figure. What began as two video reviews uploaded to YouTube by Yahtzee out of boredom, has since, following The Escapist's acquisition and development of the series, become the most viewed video game review series on the web, acclaimed by both the industry and gamers. Every Wednesday, Yahtzee reviews a recent game using his trademark rapid-fire speech delivery, which was the inspiration for the series' name: 'Zero Punctuation.' Produced by The Escapist, the video shorts each feature a minimalistic look, with simple, black and white cartoon characters on a distinctive yellow background, illustrating Yahtzee's critical critique of the game, or games up for discussion.

"I'm excited to be taking the trip out to the U.S. for GameX and to rub shoulders with the industry," said Croshaw. "The success of Zero Punctuation continues to be as gratifying as it is frightening, but I'm looking forward to meeting up with everyone from the site. Most of them, anyway."

The Escapist's role as media partner provides GameX with access to a highly active online community of more than three million video game enthusiasts through cross promotional advertising leading up to and during GameX. At the intersection of online publishing and community platforms with unique social media elements tailored for its audience, The Escapist has more than doubled in size within the last year and boasts over 28 million page views each month.

"We are thrilled to have the opportunity to partner with GameX, and are especially looking forward to having Yahtzee in tow this year," said Alexander Macris, co-founder of The Escapist. "Zero Punctuation has become a household name within the video gaming community, and we are excited to be a part of an event that caters to our highly engaged and diverse consumer audience."

Fiona Cherbak, vice president of business development for GameX, adds, "The entire crew at GameX can't wait to welcome Yahtzee Croshaw to our show as a special celebrity guest. Yahtzee has a huge following due to 'Zero Punctuation,' and we know our gamer audience will be as excited as we are to meet him in person. In addition to his 'red carpet' activity, Yahtzee will be a featured guest at the official Escapist autograph booth."

Produced by Virtual Rush Gaming in Philadelphia, the GameX Games and Media Expo is a high-visibility entertainment, technology and media show featuring video games as its main attraction. Supported by NBC 10 in Philadelphia, GameX features pop culture elements such as advance film and TV screenings and trailers, celebrity guest appearances, high stakes game tournaments, robotics demonstrations, cosplay - the genre of community anime, animation festival, video art installations and live video game music performances, as well as gaming icons, industry professionals and hundreds of exhibitors and vendors.

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A brig hug? Is that something prisoners do?

I have this convention on my calendar. I was going to remove it as I'm unsure I can afford the event.

And then I saw this.

Damn it. Now I have to go.