What happens when you take some of the brightest Advertising and PR students and combine them with some of today’s hottest video games? Well if you add a dash of Revolution 91.7, a pinch of flat screen TVs from Colortyme, and add a heaping helping of consoles from GameStop, the outcome is Gameathon 09! And that, my friends, is a recipe for awesome!

The Gameathon Expo at Western Kentucky University continued to grow this year in its fourth incarnation. For the first time (with a little help from Valve) PC games made an appearance alongside the big three consoles. If you’ve never been to Gameathon before, here’s how it works:

You can register online in advance (to guarantee your spot) or you can try your luck registering at the door. Competitors then go head to head for prizes like flat screen TVs and GameStop giftcards. If you’re like me and you’re not the competitive type, you can try out new releases and triple-A titles in the free play zone as well.

This year’s line-up in both the competitive and free play areas were top notch. Gamers went head to head for prizes in Halo 3, Madden 09, Rock Band 2, Counter-Strike, Guitar Hero World Tour, StarCraft, and Call of Duty: World at War. The free play zone was also impressive, allowing gamers to try out several more games, including Mercenaries 2, Super Smash Brothers Brawl, Street Fighter 4, Left4Dead, Guitar Hero: Metallica, and more. Expo attendees also had a chance to free-play the tournament games once that game’s event had finished. All in all, it was a great time! Everything went off without a hitch, or if not you sure couldn’t tell. And the best part of all, the event was free! Most competitions will charge you to compete, but thanks to the sponsors, this event was on the house, as well as the food and drinks. Several of my friends sometimes refer to our town as “Boring Green” but on this occasion it’s safe to say Bowling Green was anything but. Now that it’s over, there’s only one thing left to do… get ready for Gameathon 2010.

Gameathon is hosted annually by the Advertising and PR program at WKU. Visit them online at www.wkufusion.com. Bookmark www.gameathon.org to stay up-to-date on Gameathon 2010, and to register for next year.

Kevin “Mello Joe” Mercer is a former radio personality and a lifelong gamer. You can find him on Xbox Live and Playstation Network, Gamertag: Mellojoe. View the world as he sees it at www.youtube.com/user/mellojoe. www.myspace.com/charlesk