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Gaming Industry's Acclaimed Zero Punctuation's Ben 'Yahtzee' Croshaw Comes Face-to-Face With Fans at 2009 GameX, the Games & Media Expo

Posted on: Wednesday, 15 July 2009, 07:00 CDT

DURHAM, N.C., July 15 /PRNewswire/ -- 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 again 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.

About The Escapist

Founded in 2005, The Escapist (www.escapistmagazine.com) is a leading video gaming destination offering video game enthusiasts high-quality, innovative and exclusive content. The mouthpiece of the gaming generation, The Escapist aims to capture and celebrate the contemporary video gaming lifestyle and the diverse video game culture by way of in-depth features and thought provoking articles authored by leading video game authorities, as well as cutting-edge video shorts, engaging forums and robust and innovative social media elements tailored to its audience. Honored with both a Webby Award two years in a row in 2008 and 2009, and Webby People's Voice Award in 2008, The Escapist is responsible for the web's most viewed video game review series, Zero Punctuation, in addition to introducing the first-of-its-kind Internet Film Festival for Gamers and the March Mayhem game developer competition. The Escapist is part of Themis Group, Inc.'s online media arm Themis Media, and currently generates over 28 million page views each month.

About GameX

The Games and Media Expo, www.gamexpo.us, is a national game consumer show and 'pop culture' festival produced by Virtual Rush Gaming in Philadelphia, designed to draw from local, regional and national audiences of game players, film and TV fans, comic book buffs and tech enthusiasts.

About Zero Punctuation

Zero Punctuation, www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation, is a weekly video-review column by Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw produced by The Escapist. The series began as a hobby for Ben Croshaw, who posted two quick videogame reviews to YouTube, prompting The Escapist to develop those reviews into Zero Punctuation, hiring him to produce the reviews as a weekly series. Reviews are released every Wednesday. Yahtzee is best known in this series for his generally scathing reviews of mainstream games, as well as often extremely "colorful" comparisons and rapid-fire speech. Zero Punctuation currently generates over 10 million page views each month.

SOURCE The Escapist

Source: PR Newswire

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