We didn't have our photographer with us on the last day of PAX, so I took some bad CyberShot pics of the final round of the Omegathon tournament, which traditionally is shrouded in secrecy.
The last few contests had all ended with simple retro games: Pong, Combat, and Tetris. Arriving on stage, Tycho and Gabe teased that they were having trouble setting up the "ancient machines." But then a video teaser of Halo 3 kicked in, and the game music rock cover band The Minibosses suddenly appeared on stage playing the game's theme song.
It was the single most impressive thing I'd seen all weekend -- I felt like I was back at the Video Games Live concert, with 5000 screaming people at my back. There are some videos at Penny Arcade.
Bungie had set up Halo 3 as the final game of the contest, and went even further than that -- they had new levels that had never been unveiled before, and new weapons that no one had ever used. The match that ensued was probably the most exciting Halo 3 match I'll ever see, mostly because there was a trip to Tokyo and $5000 on the line. Pictured above is winning competitor "Accolon", at the moment of victory.
