Gabe's heading out of town, going back over to Spokane to work on an article for Penny Arcade. He also wanted me to mention that he'll be hanging out at Merlyn's on Saturday, in case you were bored, which seems all too likely there. Spokane is a test market for eight or ten varieties of misery at any given time, the more potent depressions and existential crises that infect our nation and even the world start out in Spokane while they are tuned for maximum efficacy.
I tracked down their website here - when I left Spokane, it was about the only place you could really get dork stuff anymore.
Okay it looks like we’ll go ahead and have a little PA meet and greet in Spokane this weekend. I’ll stop by Merlyn’s comics and games at 19 West Main Street on Saturday at 1:00 pm. I’ll hang out as long as there are people there who want sketches or stuff signed. So if you live in the area come on down to Merlyn’s this weekend and bring all your friends. I couldn’t get a hold of my buddy who runs the joint but I’m sure he will be okay with it. I’ll try and bring some cool Penny Arcade stuff to give away if I can.
Half Life fans rejoice, Kiko has seen fit to bless us with a new design. Head on over to Gameskins to get your hands on his latest masterpiece.
The Cardboard Showdown website has been update with some pictures of their upcoming Penny Arcade MOD. I gotta say these guys are doing an amazing job. This month’s update shows off some of the character models and they totally blew me away. I told Tycho, this is exactly how I picture the PA universe in 3D. It’s like these sons of bitches are in my head or something because everything they’re doing is exactly how I would want to see it done. I can’t wait for this bad boy to get released.
Mainly for Gabe, but here's an article and a bunch of screens GamesDomain put up from the new Links. Won't be long now, it drops in about a month.
They aren't advertising with us anymore, but the Rubies guys gave me some kind of a code that is like a coupon for their game. Apparently, entering the referral code "FIVEFINGER" will guve you the first month for five dollars, that's after the ten day trial. So if you were thinking "I'd try that, but only if the first month were five dollars," boy do I have an offer for you.
The Playstation 2 version and the PC version connect to the same servers, which is pretty cool. Playing on the PC, Gabe asked someone for help on how to heal himself - and the felpful traveller told him to press the square button. After a fruitless search for this key he realized what had actually occurred.
Were you there at midnight for the N-Gage "Midnight Madness" event, or perhaps the slightly less prestigious but still very exciting "Dawn Madness" event? The guys we've talked at the stores around here have only pre-sold two or three of them, total, it's starting to look like the only "madness" lies in Nokia persisting in their game phone adventure.
What should I see on CNN Money this morning but an announcement by Vivendi Universal that Half life 2 will be delayed until April 2004, reportedly so they can rewrite the code that was stolen. Curses!
Ubisoft is apparently going to offer some kind of Special Pre-Order version that includes not only that content disk I've already mentioned about a billion times, but also it's own headset.
I really wish that these media outlets would stop pretending the N-Gage is a real game system.
As soon as it came out that I was enjoying RPG’s I was literally bombarded with email from gamers offering to guide me through this strange new world of hit points and random battles. When I talked about how I was really enjoying Final Fantasy Tactics Advance I got mail from at least a hojillion people telling me I needed to play the original on the Playstation. One of my favorite things to do is find awesome games buried in discount bins at obscure locations. So when I was at my local Fred Meyer (a store known for its fresh groceries, not its electronics) I decided I’d spend some time digging through their old Playstation one games. As I pushed aside copies of You Don’t Know Jack and Bubbsy 3D I saw it sitting right there. The game everyone had been telling me I “simply had to play” and for ten bucks even. Right next to it was a copy of FF:VII for the same price, what luck!
I don't know what the hell is happening with him, though it does look like the turn-based strategy RPG thing is now a permanent element of his construction. He came back from EB with copies of Final Fantasy VII and Tactics, and other than a slight altercation at the store he doesn't seem any worse for wear.
Someone, or someones I suppose, managed to get their mitts on the source code for not only Half Life 2 but apparently Steam and Team Fortress 2, which looks as though it might make up the multiplayer portion. Then Gabe wanted to discuss it on some rational level, which was, you know, embarrassing for him. I'm thinking about just releasing him into the wild, maybe putting out one of those feeders so he doesn't eat one of the neighborhood cats.
