The memories of those who came of age in the eighties have become a kind of ghastly rummage sale, a tilled up cemetery where icons lay tilted over bones draped in ancient finery. Pork caught a preview of Transformers on Monday, and he claims that it is not, in fact, heresy - but I don't know how calibrated our respective tastes are. I was going to make a statement about how any constantly shifting image could entertain him, enthrall him, command him, until I realized that this viewing was late at night, in the twilight period we call Pork After Hours, when his medication wanes and his blood is frenzied by some dark moon. For him to have focused on anything at any time after nine o'clock is actually high praise.

If you would like to know if the iPhone is great, well, it is great. Worth waiting in line? There's no question. Yes, once you realize that iTunes simply doesn't work correctly on 64-bit Vista, and once you agree to eject yourself from your negotiated Business Plan and pay twenty times more, you will be able to see a map that displays nearby sushi.

When I heard Geometry Wars was coming to the DS and the Wii, I was wondering how they could possibly turn it into a full-fledged retail product.  Now we know - this all sounds great.

(CW)TB
 

Brent's story is that he quit Apple to secure a place in line, but as is so often the case in workplace disputes management tells a different story.

It's the sort of pun that will only work in American English, probably. Also, I believe it drastically increases the chances that I will be stabbed at some point, which I'm sure I would hate.

ThreeSpeech has always made me slightly uncomfortable. This, from their mission statement, is why:

The Goddamned Dorito people are now exhorting gamers to create game ideas based on chips, which I took as a powerful theological argument.  They suggest that gamers may find inspiration in their "iconic shape," by which I assume they mean "a triangle."  These "Chip Lords" can't even be bothered to make their own commercials anymore. They have heard about the YouTube MySpaces, and they want to get an oily tendril around participation culture.

 Gametrailers has a really nice HD version of the latest trailer for our game. You can check it out right here. I know it's not a new trailer, but it's much nicer than the YouTube version floating around.

-Gabe out

Two new shirts today.  One based on the Broodax Strips, which can be found here, and looks like this: 

Gabriel and Kara are thinking about moving, but only one of them is approaching things with the correct amount of dread. It is almost impossible to find a home these days which is not some unholy conduit - a winking anus of evil that acts as a revolving door for hell's starveling dead. But a hollowed-out ghoul in shredded wedding gown doesn't need to be a dealbreaker. Don't let a sundered soul turn your dream home into a nightmare charnel house!

Entitled "Birds Are Weird," it includes every comic from the year 2003 in addition to commentary, pertinent newsposts, the occasional travelogue, and so forth.

We've also put every book that's currently out into a single bundle, which is to say four books, and then slashed the price.  Or reduced it, at any rate.  It's an unbelievable value, etc. 

(CW)TB
 

There's a new Alternate Reality Game spinning up for Halo 3, God Damn them - God Damn them to hell. I know perfectly well that I am being subjugated by a sophisticated marketing effort, that the best one can accomplish in these games is to get a real good look at the teeth before the mouth closes around you. I type this even as the rabbit holes stand open in two other windows. I don't presume to speak for the entire species, but there is something about secrets that does bit the mind.

Ever since I closed the lid of my DS, sealing the Pokemon within and stunting their development, I have been expelled from polite society. I think Gabriel might have imagined that we would engage in furious battles during Recess, out on the Big Toy, until the bell rang for lunch. For a time, I hoped to take on a coaching role for other players, wise with my years (or perhaps weeks) of Pokemon husbandry - but Gabriel exclaimed that "a Pokemon trainer's strength comes from within," which I assume means not from me. Through some strange reversal of polarity, I am being ostracized for not befriending electric mice. It is a world dipped - perhaps even double dipped - in madness.

Months after it was necessary, Sony has thrown their blogging hat into the ring... of blogging. I've heard people compare it to Larry Hryb/Major Nelson's blog, but with a rotating "crew" of bloggers - like a public relations version of the Wu Tang Clan - it's more like Microsoft's Gamerscore blog. Which, coincidentally, I never read because it is run by a rotating "crew" of bloggers, like a public relations version of the etcetera etcetera. The mental image is that of a corporate hydra, the brand seared and scabbed upon its breast.

The Nerdcore rap crew Dual Core just released a new album. You can hit their site and listen to a piece of all seventeen tracks. I highly recommend the song "First One's Free" and not just because it's all about Penny Arcade.

-Gabe out

I get weird mail all the time. I thought this exchange was especially bizarre. Keep in mind I have no fucking clue who this guy is or what he's talking about.

from: Landon ****
to: gabriel@penny-arcade.com
date: Jun 12, 2007 10:47 PM
subject: hey


FUCK YOU


from: gabriel@penny-arcade.com
to: Landon ****
date: Jun 12, 2007 10:55 PM
subject: Re: hey


no fuck you


from: Landon ****
to: gabriel@penny-arcade.com
date: Jun 12, 2007 11:05 PM
subject: Re:hey


well done.  i absolutely hate you.


from: gabriel@penny-arcade.com
to: Landon ****
date: Jun 12, 2007 11:24 PM
subject: Re: hey


I will cry myself to sleep tonight on a huge pile of money.


from: Landon ****
to: gabriel@penny-arcade.com
date: Jun 12, 2007 11:55 PM
subject: please read and reply to...thanks.


well dude...i'm gonna take what you told me for the truth.  i'm now loggin'
off my buddies account (he didn't want me to, but he finally left so now i'm
gonna), cuz i want to trust you.  i feel that although you "hacked" my
account, you were the genius who made the program work and were also the
genius who figured out how to make it possible to have a great chance of
getting away with it, lol.  therefore, as a person who respects the shit
outta someone with a brain, i feel that i owe you at LEAST the respect of
trusting you one last time and giving you a chance to show your true worth
by being a man of his word.


again, kudos to you for what you have accomplished.  bill gates should watch
the fuck out for you, lol. you're a genius...and you definitely are a master
of your work.


Landon (aka Maltidian Versaille in Guild Wars)

When I'm on the fence about advertising a game, I just don't do it - but this is a case where the fence I was on had another fence on top of it, and I was sitting on that one.

Essentially, I'm not sure if we want to advertise for Casinos.  Actually, I'm fairly certain we don't.   But Skill City isn't a Casino exactly,  since it's not based on games of chance, though it does allow you to play games similar to Tetris or Puzzle Fighter or Bookworm for money.  You don't have to - you can also play their games for free, or for the game's internal currency.  In any case, I turned down the ads - but at the same time it seems like the sort of thing some readers may be interested in.  I imagine that as time passes, we'll see more original games like Antskrieg hit the service, but for now there are many familiar faces. 

(CW)TB