I told him that AOE3's Home Cities are a kind of deck you construct, or that it adds an element of persistence to the RTS. These aren't complete lies, they're even sort of true - but he wasn't swayed by my buzzword salvos. He was punished for it. Don't share his fate! Let me offer you the information to graze at your leisure: the most interesting piece I've read on Home Cities is here, at Gamespy.

I wasn't aware of it at the time, but PAX tensions caused Gabe to chew right through the cap of his root canal in the night. He didn't know that's what it was, I think he just knew that there was torture in ample supply. That's being resolved this week, but I thought you might enjoy the conversation we had about it.

A couple months ago, when it was our presumption that we would be overwhelmed by public events, we asked what kinds of stories you would like to see. As I mentioned at the time, relying on base causation is a terrific benefit for a person trying to cartoon in bulk. Since we were able to do a comic during PAX, a procedure I am told was well received, we did not have need of the second storyline - but Twisp and Catsby were promised to you, and Twisp and Catsby you shall have.

Unbelievable. Have any of you seen what Gabe's PAX art is going for on eBay now? I'd urge you to take a look.

I figured I'd just wait until the entire week's worth of content was there, but I've really enjoyed 1up's "Cover Story" on Valve, their online platform, and their future plans. Pretty inspiring stuff. And it took a bit, but we're starting to see other companies who want to deliver content through it - Pirates of the Burning Sea and Sin Episodes leap immediately to mind, but I do wonder what's en route.

You can now bid on the original artwork for the PAX 2005 program. The winner will get the drawing as well as a color print of the finished image. 100% of the money will go to the American Red Cross - Alabama Gulf Coast Chapter - Mobile, AL.

I neglected to mention them, but a couple shirts went up this week. I thought I should probably do that.

Penny Arcade, you just succeeded in throwing the greatest video game convention ever. What are you going to do next? We’re going to…uh…Baltimore!

Our friend Steve over at Hypothermia has helped us with Child's Play in the past, and he asked me what we could give for a Katrina fundraiser - I offered up my own CTS print. You can find out how to donate at his site.

Pictochat signal permeated the entire convention, as anyone who attended was probably aware of, and from time to time naughty images would appear within that clean interface. I don't have a problem with that sort of... expression, but then I am possessed of a magnanimous character. Not everyone shares my view.

Tensions between Penny Arcade and Player vs. Player erupted in bloodshed last night on Dark Iron. I was questing with Kara and a couple guys from Annarchy and Keepers of the Wang last night around South Shore. We ran into three Horde up near the yeti cave, two of them around our level and one level fuck. They must have put the word out because they had backup with them in no time. We called for help from the other PA guilds and within thirty minutes this is what it looked like.

Red vs Blue also showed up to PAX, as they did last year, the only thing different really is that they were soused from the word go. During their panel, they wore hats which they assured us were filled with water, as opposed to Vodka, which is odorless and colorless.

For reals!

We actually completed the comic on stage, a process Gabriel assures me is terror itself, but he's at the doctor for a kind of pain I had never heard of, so getting ahold of the strip is difficult. It does feature the Messiah, and I hear some of you are into that. At some future point, this link will connect you to the strip in question, which I have entitled "Savor The Savior." It's not about holy communion, but I can understand why you'd be confused.

We are not merely suggesting that the World of Warcraft CCG is satanic - we are suggesting that it was literally designed by Satan.

Nobody can get them to work, but they have been "released," to the extent that even makes sense. My Xbox has been "donated" to PAX, it's in a crate with a hundred other machines, so I wouldn't have been able to play it anyway. It's actually a comfort to know it doesn't work.