This past weekend we attended the Reubens down in Las Vegas. Tycho could not make it but I went down with Robert and our ladies to see what it was all about. On Friday the girls hung out on the strip while Robert and I went to check out the panels. The first one we walked into was something like “how I got two million dollars in free advertising!” Robert and I sat down and almost immediately we were uncomfortable. I’m not going to say the guy’s name because the entire focus of his talk was how he is able to get free publicity all over the place. I’d rather not give him anymore since I think he is a shameless monster. He showed some videos of himself on various local morning news shows circa 1989 and explained that you should always be trying to tie yourself to local news events in order to get on tv. He told us all a story about how “excited” he was when Elizabeth Taylor died because his wife’s family had some photos of the actress as a young girl. He ran to the papers with these on the day she died and used them to promote his animation business. It was at this point that Robert and I stood up and walked out.

John Carmack's bit about game stories, which are often porn stories, was controversial in the way that true things tend to be. It isn't always this way, and it doesn't have to be, but it often is.

Whenever we come up with something dumb, something that's supposed to be a joke like the game in the strip, a lot of times it starts to grow on me. I don't know! I think there's a lot of headroom there.

We'd only played about ten minutes of Ghost Recon: Future Soldier when we wrote the comic, but it was enough time for someone to ask me What The Situation Was, and whenever they do that this is always the conversation I hear in my head. It's ineluctable. I have to say the whole thing out loud, too. If I don't say it out loud, things begin to thicken up there. I can feel the words forming a clot in my brain.

Now that you can play Diablo III, you probably should. Sometimes you won't know if there is a problem with your computer or a problem with Blizzard or a problem with The Internet, that happens, but you can often click on things and then things will come out of the things, which is something all sentients deeply crave.

Ben wrote up an article on the game already, which I think you might enjoy. But of my favorite things about it is the incredibly genuine person behind it. Watch this YouTube video, clearly converted from VHS or something, where he teaches you how to play his game.

The new paradigm for loot in multiplayer action RPGs has been altered somewhat. Skeletons still explode with cash and prizes, that portion has been rigorously maintained. But the merchandise they drop essentially drops separately for each player, so you never have to worry if you picked up the wrong thing or got somebody's money or any of these other bookkeeping things (like Inventory Tetris) that used to be considered gameplay.

One of the things we wanted to to do with The Penny Arcade Report was to accompany it with an expressive visual aspect, and to that end we secured the services of Dabe Alan. We knew about him from his excellent resume, already: he applied for Erika's job, back in the day. I think he does great work in general, but I want to praise him specifically for the pictures he took at Bungie. Seriously, just shit hot.

This was a goofy joke when we wrote it at eleven or so yesterday morning, though it became less hilarious as the day progressed. During "normal hours," the failure of Blizzard to recall that Diablo is a popular game was a boon: I have my own shit to write. But later, when I began to prowl for leisure activities, and it occurred to me that I might utilize the sixty dollars of congealed entertainment I had recently purchased, I was not able to. And then I was, and then I wasn't, and then no wait it's still okay now it's back. Requiring that players be online is one thing - but we are! We're online right now! They're the ones who aren't online. Who watches the watchmen?!?!

In place of the word Anathem - which is the actual name of a book by Neal Stephenson - I inadvertently typed Anathema, a word that means "someone or something intensely disliked or loathed."

Neal Stephenson was my favorite author for a very long time, and The Diamond Age remains my favorite book, even if I can't read any of his newer books with so much as an approximation of enjoyment.

It's back, and everything you could possibly want to know (including how to submit panels) can be found at the official site.

Gabriel and and frequent collaborator Scott Kurtz were talking about how Draw Something barely meets the criteria for a game. Gabriel is not as good at Pictionary as you might think: he can draw, certainly, but when you apply a time pressure his whole shit falls apart. Drawing Quickly is a very particular skill, one you must choose at the time of character creation, and he took the traits "Abrasive" and "Annoyingly High Metabolism" instead.

Sometimes it’s nice to take a break from the normal nerd uniform of a T-Shirt and jeans. When you want or need to look a little nicer we’ve made First Party. These are well made pieces that can put a little class in your wardrobe while still representing your love of games.

Do you know what that is? It's kind of cool: ShiftyLook is essentially a series of webcomics (and now a podcast) by a ton of people digging way, way into Namco Bandai's back catalog. They have a bunch up now, but they've got a wider Dig Dug series on the way they roped Scott and us into. Looking forward to it.