To kick off this morning, Penny Arcade, the organization behind PAX, announced the date for both this year's edition of PAX West and PAX Unplugged.

For starters, PAX West will again be returning to Seattle, Washington later this summer. The convention is set to kick off on August 30 and will last until September 2. As it normally does, this schedule coincides with the Labor Day holiday in the United States.

As for PAX Unplugged, the third edition of the tabletop gaming-focused show will occur in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the end of the year from December 6 until the 8th. PAX Unplugged will be the 50th PAX convention to date and will also take place in a larger expo hall this year.

If you're looking to get tickets for either convention, they should go on sale this month. Penny Arcade says that PAX Unplugged tickets will begin going on sale next week on May 9. For PAX West, a specific date in which tickets will begin to go on sale hasn't been given yet, but it is said to occur later in May.

Having been to a handful of PAX shows myself in the past, it's definitely the gaming convention I'd recommend going to the most. Unlike E3, PAX really caters well to the fan experience and gives you more than enough opportunities to play some upcoming games and meet new people. PAX West specifically is a really fun convention that I'd encourage you to go to if you're at all interested in heading to Seattle later this year.