If you follow the games industry at all you’re no doubt aware that this weekend is PAX — the Penny Arcade Expo, one of the many extraordinary endeavors hosted by the absurdly talented and almost offensively awesome Penny Arcade.

How I hate them.

Anyway, the 40,000 people who head up to Seattle for the show consider it a pretty big deal, and several of those 40,000 people happen to work at Harmonix. So next week brings a suite of new tracks in honor of PAX performers past and present, from Freezepop to Jonathan Coulton to newcomers Paul and Storm. First, Freezepop Pack 01:

Freezepop	Get Ready 2 Rokk
Freezepop	Less Talk More Rokk
Freezepop	Science Genius Girl

And if you can manage to get those candy-coated ’80s synth hooks out of your head, you may be interested in this trio of other geeky/funny/smart artists in The PAX 2009 Collection:

Jonathan Coulton	Re: Your Brains
MC Frontalot	Origin of Species
Paul and Storm	Opening Band	N/A

And if that weren’t enough, Harmonix is also dishing out four tracks that debuted on the portable Rock Band Unplugged. And the fact that one of them happens to be on the just-released Guitar Hero 5 is purely coincidence, I’m sure.

3 Doors Down	Kryptonite
AFI	Miss Murder
Audioslave	Gasoline
The Jackson 5	ABC

Release details are notably different from what we’ve come to expect, so pay attention: These tracks will hit 360 and Wii on Tuesday the 8th, and arrive on PS3 on Thursday the 10th. Pricing is also unusual: The Freezepop and PAX tracks are all just a buck (80 MS / 100 Wii), with no savings when buying as a pack. (In fact, you actually pay two cents more on PS3 for the convenience.) The other four are the usual $1.99 (160 MS/ 200 Wii).

Special to those of you at PAX: I hate you. I hate you so much. Have fun, and I hope to be able to join you next year.

[photo: Rick Webb]