Penny Arcade

Ikea delivers the products from their slick periodical, that’s true,
but they also deliver from a shadow catalog of human waste.  I’ve seen the effects, and they are

href="http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2005/01/19">

indistinguishable from conventional explosives.

Since we talked last, the idea that some of the servers in World of Warcraft don’t function properly - specifically, the ones with the largest populations - has even hit one of the majors.  There are servers out there that work all the time I’m told, indeed, I’d say that’s the most common response I have received to my statements on Monday.  For me, that information occupies the same disposable conceptual space as sports trivia.  I’m glad your server works.  Mine doesn’t, and I’m assuming that were our situations reversed you’d want my help expressing your grievance.  On high pop servers, the queue system is back.  If you picked it up sometime after the initial launch, you might not know it - but that queue system (think Fileplanet) was in initially, and was removed.  Clearly, it was there toward some purpose.  I wonder which of the recent problems are related to that.   

The deep wisdom of Final Fantasy XI’s “World Pass” system has finally been made real to me.  It seemed authoritarian at the time, and it is, but balancing load is a concern that should be weighted higher than player convenience.  It may be that Blizzard was trying to avoid segregating guilds and whatnot, or perhaps even avoid the stigma of World Pass style systems altogether - but the only way to manage this kind of thing is to make a hard rule, fold your arms, and when players complain to you about it, just shrug and look bored. 

It’s possible that you heard the same rumor - that they might allow a one-time move to a server with a lower population.  I don’t know if there’s any truth to it, but I’d be hesitant.  I know it’s kind of strange, but the names I see in the green chat channel are practically a feature of the game now.  My guild is about half my play experience.  Unless they can initiate some kind of wide-scale exodus that ferries the whole crew, it’s not something I’d be into.       

We sent them a list of questions for an interview.  Interview might not be the best word.  Interrogation might be closer.

(CW)TB out.

there’s nothing in this world that i’d rather do

I’m aware that Blizzard credited all accounts two days of free play because of this weekend’s difficulties - and I appreciate it.  I don’t like saying mean things.  On the other hand, I like to tell the truth.  Sometimes those two drives conflict.

It should be said that what I want to do is play World of Warcraft with my friends, without the joy of each session driven out by technical anomalies.  Anything I say is meant to hasten that glorious day. 

(CW)TB

Thank you for mailing me and letting me know what you think of the prints. A few people had problems with bending during transit but Think Geek is taking care of those cases. Overall it seems like everyone was blown away by the print once they got it. Pictures really don’t do it justice. The laser etching process gives the whole image a sort of glow that is really awesome. I’m really glad that everyone who got one is pleased with the final product. As always we learned a lot from this first limited edition print and we’re going to change some things next time.

We’ve decided that since the demand is obviously there, we’ll go ahead and do three limited edition prints each year. We’re also planning on bumping the print run up to around 750. In addition we’ll give you a lot more notice before the prints go live and maybe even break them up into groups that are sold over the course of a few days to give people on other sides of the planet a chance to get one. Pretty much all these ideas came in from readers which I appreciate.

I know a lot of you were upset that you weren’t able to get your hands on this T&C print. We’re considering releasing it as a regular poster. This would allow those of you who are simply fans of the artwork to still get the chance to hang it up on your wall. I’ll keep you guys posted and let you know if we end up running with that idea. Also we still have forty nine prints that will be available at the Emerald City comic con.. My guess is that there might be someone willing to take orders via the forum and then pick up a few for people who can’t make it down. All I ask is that if your planning on doing something like this, please don’t gouge people on the price. I don’t mind if you want to take a little extra for your trouble but please don’t get crazy.  We are going to break them up and offer half of them on the first day of the con and then the rest on the second day of the con. It will be first come first serve on both days. The numbers we have available are 2 through 49. Obviously if you want a lower number you’ll want to be at our booth early on the first day.

Like I said we plan on doing more of these prints this year. You can expect the next print around the time of the San Diego comic con in July. It looks like that will probably be a Gabe and Tycho print along with a few supporting characters perhaps. Then the next one will be out later in the fall and my guess is that print will be the CTS.

In other news, Gabe is four months old now and doing great. He’s actually turning into a little person now with a personality and everything.

What people don’t tell you is that when they are born they really aren’t babies. What you get at the beginning is a screaming, flailing shit machine. After a few months they start to turn into something more closely resembling a human being.

-Gabe out

Okay, so I’ve been getting a lot of mail about the prints that we will have available at Emerald City Comic Con. I am aware that people have started selling their prints on eBay already and I knew that was bound to happen. There really isn’t anything I can do about it since they own the print they can do whatever they want with it. However, I want to avoid a situation where someone comes to ECCC and buys 25 prints and then just puts them all up for auction. The best way we can think of to avoid something like that is to limit the number of prints one person can buy to two. That way you can come and buy your print and if you have a friend who can’t make it you can pick up one more.

I know that I had mentioned earlier that we’d allow people to come and purchase multiple prints for friends that can’t come but that system seems ripe for abuse. Obviously not everyone who wants one of these prints is going to be able to get one. That’s just the way it is with a limited edition item like this. What I’d like to do is make sure that the people who do buy them are doing so for themselves or for friends and not to make a quick buck on eBay.

-Gabe out

Okay, so I’ve been getting a lot of mail about the prints that we will have available at Emerald City Comic Con. I am aware that people have started selling their prints on eBay already and I knew that was bound to happen. There really isn’t anything I can do about it since they own the print they can do whatever they want with it. However, I want to avoid a situation where someone comes to ECCC and buys 25 prints and then just puts them all up for auction. The best way we can think of to avoid something like that is to limit the number of prints one person can buy to two. That way you can come and buy your print and if you have a friend who can’t make it you can pick up one more.

I know that I had mentioned earlier that we’d allow people to come and purchase multiple prints for friends that can’t come but that system seems ripe for abuse. Obviously not everyone who wants one of these prints is going to be able to get one. That’s just the way it is with a limited edition item like this. What I’d like to do is make sure that the people who do buy them are doing so for themselves or for friends and not to make a quick buck on eBay.

-Gabe out

Okay, so I’ve been getting a lot of mail about the prints that we will have available at Emerald City Comic Con. I am aware that people have started selling their prints on eBay already and I knew that was bound to happen. There really isn’t anything I can do about it since they own the print they can do whatever they want with it. However, I want to avoid a situation where someone comes to ECCC and buys 25 prints and then just puts them all up for auction. The best way we can think of to avoid something like that is to limit the number of prints one person can buy to two. That way you can come and buy your print and if you have a friend who can’t make it you can pick up one more.

I know that I had mentioned earlier that we’d allow people to come and purchase multiple prints for friends that can’t come but that system seems ripe for abuse. Obviously not everyone who wants one of these prints is going to be able to get one. That’s just the way it is with a limited edition item like this. What I’d like to do is make sure that the people who do buy them are doing so for themselves or for friends and not to make a quick buck on eBay.

-Gabe out