With the Penny Arcade Expo over, MTV Multiplayer is taking a break from convention hopping for a bit. In addition to rolling out more PAX material, we had plenty more for you to read this week:

* Stephen Totilo played through most of “Spore” and collected his thoughts

* A scientist used “Spore” to demonstrate a better design for a human being

* Electronic Arts teased a giant white board of developers they hope to work with through EA Partners

* We premiered the trailer for a DS breakdancing game, “BC One”

* Stephen dived into the Nintendo Channel again and crunched the numbers on what people are playing on their Wii and for how long

* The lead designer on “Halo Wars” revealed his thoughts on “EndWar”

* EA Mythic’s VP discussed why “Hellgate” didn’t take off and why “Age of Conan” succeeding is a good thing

* Microsoft said they haven’t forgotten that “Halo” fans are anxious to learn more news about Bungie’s next

* Rare revealed eight must-do things in “Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise”

* I revealed my favorite indie game at PAX 2008

* We may have discovered the best in-game map in a video game yet

* I reminisced about my favorite memories and photos from PAX 2008

* Ever wondered why controllers never drop in price? Microsoft talked about why their controller still costs $50 — and why that probably won’t change

* Tracey John asked you to judge the layout of her apartment and it’s millions of gaming peripherals

* Start speculating on the Best of the Rest animal in video games!

* If you weren’t a fan of “LEGO Indiana Jones,” you might want to keep an eye on “LEGO Batman”

* Microsoft revealed who they’re going after with the new $99 Xbox 360 unit: Wii and PlayStation 2 owners

* We discovered a game character that looks suspiciously like Solid Snake…

* We chose “Shred Nebula,” “Stubbs the Zombie” and “Infinite Discovery” as the games we weren’t playing this week – what were yours?

* Were you suspicious of The Game’s “Madden” bragging? So were we. But it turns out he’s actually pretty good at the game

* Epic Games revealed that 80s cult horror movies are responsible for influencing the gore and violence of “Gears of War” and its sequel

* HBO employed video games as part of their viral marketing for the new “Entourage” season

* You probably don’t want to play “Left 4 Dead” by yourself

* Nokia’s Scott Foe told me how “Reset Generation” was supposed to be like crack, but it actually came out more like beer

* If you’ve ever wanted to read a critique of the box art for “My Dream Job: Babysitter,” Tracey John has you covered

* Sega finally delivered a crucial patch to “Super Monkey Ball” on the iPhone