When you've got a big event coming up, it's important to have your agenda well thought out beforehand. Fortunately, the organizers of the ION Game Conference have already finalized the schedule. They've also announced a new set of speakers, to boot. More event details come your way in the full article, after the jump.

Another week is opening, and this means another hearty list of games to look forward to. Wii and DS gamers are sure to be the biggest winners this week as Nintendo once again owns this batch of releases. But of course, Sony and Microsoft aren't about to be left behind, as they too have their own little offerings of joy for the fans. Check out the full list of games coming out this week over at the full article.

Originally posted Jan 21, 2008 at 12:47AM

We all know everyone who's reading right now loves to play videogames. But are you a college student who don't know what to do after graduation? Or are you an OSY (that's out of school youth)? Or maybe, just maybe, you want a career somewhat related to videogames? Evergreen Events can help.

Accordingly, the events promotion company will be holding a series of vocational and educational events under the "Career Discovery" banner and the first of which will be focused on "Careers in the Game Industry".

Evergreen mentioned that it wants to encourage middle school and high school students to pursue careers related to writing, art, films, and animals.  We don't know about the last one, but videogames definitely fall under the first two.

Anyway, the said event will be attended by several industry luminaries and those who will attend will have the chance to interact face to face with them as well as try the newest technologies related to videogaming. It will be a day-long event to be held on March 24 in Bellevue, Washington at the Interlake Performing Arts Theater.

We listed the key speakers below and if you're interested, you can register via the Read link.

Key speakers for Career Discovery 1: Careers in the Game Industry are the following:

• Michael Austin - Hidden Path Entertainment
• Nelson Brown - Amaze Entertainment
• Kevin Chung - Amaze Entertainment
• Christopher Erhardt - DigiPen Institute of Technology
• Jess Lebow - Flying Lab Software
• Chris Taylor - Gas Powered Games
• Mark Terrano - Hidden Path Entertainment
• Robin Walker - Valve
• John Williamson - Zombie Studios
  

Penny Arcade today announced the grand prize for the Omegathon III, the three-day gaming tournament in which contestants must prove their mettle in a range of games undisclosed before the event. This year, the winner will drive off in a brand new 2006 Scion xB in Black Sand Pearl, featuring a game geek's dream package of a flipdown 15" widescreen monitor, Xbox 360 Premium System, 6-speaker sound system with CD/MP3 player, custom taillights and wheels with low-profile tires. Now that's a pimped ride!

Set to invade Washington State this August 25-27, the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) will feature a sponsors including Microsoft, Nintendo, Ubisoft, Mythic, Rockstar, Flying Lab Software, Wizards of the Coast, Creative Labs, The Behemoth, Intel, ATI, among others. PAX offers attendees a host of game-related conference sessions, parties, concerts and contests. In addition to a horde of game players from around the world, both enthusiast press and consumer press have registered to attend in force.

"The first year, the Omegathon champion received every PlayStation 2 game ever made. The next year it was every NES game ever made," said Robert Khoo of Penny Arcade. "This year, in accordance with the massive growth of PAX, we decided it was time to up the ante." Nice!