Look like E3 won't be the only place to get your hands on Nintendo's upcoming wares this summer...

Nintendo has confirmed that it will be an exhibitor at this year's Penny-Arcade Expo, to be held in Seattle, Washington from August 26th - 28th. The Penny-Arcade Expo, an event founded last year by the creators of popular gaming blog/comic website Penny-Arcade, will feature an exhibition hall with many major publishers showing their games directly to the gaming public. Thats right, it is open to the public (i.e. all gamers.)

The Big N's involvement this year can only be seen as a hugely positive sign that Nintendo is making the effort to reach out to its fanbase of hardcore gamers, of which the PAX attendance will largely be comprised of. During PAX 2005 (the event's first year) the exhibition hall was dominated by Microsoft, the only one of the Big Three willing to reach out to common gamers at a smaller scale gaming event than an E3. Microsoft did not make a token appearance, holding a special exhibition with the likes of (unreleased at the time) Halo 2, Jade Empire and Fable, all playable. Hopefully Nintendo plans a similarly intimate approach, and maybe it helps that like Microsoft, they are actually headquartered in nearby Redmond.

While we can only speculate at this time what Nintendo may choose to exhibit at the event, some good guesses would include a playable Zelda: Twilight Princess (perhaps even a more mature build since the event will be held three months later), the lilliputian Gameboy Micro, and a host of the strong title lineup for both the GameCube and the DS that graced E3. If Nintendo goes the extra step, they may even have full wireless DS setups and the DS Download stations featured at their E3 booth. The event truly ought to prove a wonderful gathering place for DS gamers seeking multiplayer challenges and new wares. Who knows, maybe even our new little buddy, the Revolution, will make a cameo appearance (just like it did at E3, ahahaha. Joke.)

In addition to their PAX showing, Nintendo will likely continue their recent tradition of hosting a small booth of playable games at the San Diego Comic Convention in July, the largest Comic Convention in the world. Despite the event's focus, in recent years parts of the show floor have come to resemble a mini-E3 due to the presence of a number of the industry's largest publishers including Nintendo, Sony, Konami, Activision and many others. The event has even been known to mark the debut of several titles, although we should not get our hopes up for some surprise new Nintendo offerings.

Either way, at least if anyone is planning a trip to Seattle, Washington this August you may want to reconfigure your itinerary to include a healthy dose of new and upcoming Nintendo gaming goodness. More details to come as they are released.