Want to know a secret? We here at Penny Arcade HQ are fucking addicted to Ping Pong. I don’t mean the game by Rock Star either. I mean the real deal table in the basement shake hand or pen grip forehand loop Table Tennis. In talking to some of our friends around here we discovered that our love of the sport is not unique. If you live in Seattle or you came to PAX you should know about Pink Godzilla. They run an import game store downtown and they also happen to have their own internal Ping Pong ladder. When they found out we had our own ladder they immediately began the shit talking. A challenge was issued and the match went down last Friday.

The first part of this strip is from an actual conversation. I'm pretty sure he was joking, though.

Not unlike your local furniture store, Penny Arcade is having a fire sale. We haven’t “lost our lease” or anything like that but it’s still true that “everything must go!” Think Geek has been really incredible to us but we’ve decided to take our store and our merchandise in house. Sometime in early March we’ll be launching our very own Penny Arcade store that will be integrated into the site.

I don't know whose fault it is exactly, mine or theirs, but I won't be installing Vista anytime soon. I would like some crazy shit to happen when I minimize, something don't get me wrong. I want my windows to go Waja-wajow(!) if possible. But if there's a great reason to "trade horses midstream" (or whatever the going metaphor is) I haven't discovered it.

So, yes, I do like it, but there's something I don't understand.

The demo they just put on Live is pretty short, and it is set in Mexico, a venue that was already questionable when they plowed it up again for Rainbow Six: Vegas. R6:V's cover implementation was a revelation, and I think we were also hoping to see GRAW graduate to something a little more fluid - but what do you do? R6 doesn't have the natural terrain, and it doesn't have the reconnaissance features and other field ordnance options.  People are already wondering what separates these two franchises nowadays, and I could provide a comprehensive analysis, but as much as it might rile the hardcore I think standardizing some elements of the interface could be great for both games.

Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime cuts an imposing figure. Forum denizens are routinely shocked by the adulation this man receives, but if you have ever seen him, it isn't especially shocking. He seems to project beyond himself, exerting a kind of Reggie Field that dogs and many birds find unpleasant. Hearing a man speak with this much drive and confidence about an imaginary plumber is sort of enthralling.

I told Gabriel a Joystiq operative had played Mario Party 8 in Japan recently. Much of the entry is given over to an exhaustive description of Hotel Chan-Chan, a "love house" where the author spent his time (and, apparently, several thousand dollars). But in the slender margins of that erotic journal we do get an idea what the Wii could mean to the franchise.

There are two things I must mention.

First, Gabriel liked the cover for book four (entitled "Birds Are Weird") so much that he wanted to make a poster of it, and it's not worth arguing with him when he gets like that so we let him do it.  It is, even now, awailable!

Also:  PAX preregistration opens today, and since we've had a couple of these now you probably know if it's something you'd like to attend.  You save ten dollars over the door price, which is, like, ten bucks.  This is money you could put toward some other purpose!

(CW)TB

I uploaded the comic early, as many of you noticed. I entered the wrong number in the update field. You may also have noticed that the spelling in these posts has really gone to hell. So, that's numbers and letters. I hope to one day discover a set of pictograms with which I can manage some baseline fucking proficiency.

I mentioned the Nerdcore Rising documentary a few weeks ago and I know a lot of you were interested in it. Well the girls doing it have decided to help build interest in the film by highlighting one of the many nerds they met on their journey each week. They call it the Nerd of the Week and the first Nerd is actually PAX. I'll go ahead and plug the Youtube version in right here so you all can check it out. I think they did a fucking incredible job cutting this together.

Gabe keeps coming into the Goddamn office with his Goddamn tales of high adventure, telling me about how there's tokens or some shit in Burning Crusade now, or maybe tiers, and other words I had scoured from my consciousness. He also says there is hot new five-man content, which initially sounded like pornography. The comic is correct - I purchased it in a moment of weakness. As I must often approach you, the cherished reader, to apologize for this or that indiscretion, it may be more appropriate to say that I have moments of strength which are suspended in cowardice and moral decay.

I know Child’s Play is over but we had a few items here at the office that we didn’t get auctioned off earlier. So if you’re still feeling generous here are a couple cool auctions to check out.

Well I’m back from Hawaii and feeling pretty damn good. Kara and I realized a few months ago that we’d never really taken a proper vacation. We go down to the Oregon coast every summer but that’s just a few hours away and even in the summer the beach there can be pretty cold. Other than that the only time we travel anyplace is for a convention and those can hardly be considered vacations. So we decided it was time to go someplace warm and relaxing for a change and so we spent five days on Maui.

And so, our own pilgrimage comes to a close. Thank you! I think we all had fun. I should stress that "we" refers to your cruel hosts, Gabriel and myself, who over the last eight years have tormented you thus with such dedication and enthusiasm.

The third chapter in our saga of dismay and dismemberment is now available.