Robert was about 15 hours into the new Star Ocean when I left him yesterday, and he was pulling off some pretty cool shit - inventing items and securing patents on them for sale across the galaxy, pulling off hot combos and hanging out with nymphs. He and Gabriel do agree on one thing: it begins with nearly three hours of merciless boredom, after which point you probably deserve whatever great game might exist beyond that bleak expanse. One of them said things really start to look up around hour fifteen, and one of them began to roar and paw at the air. I'll let you guess which is which.

Want to take a Penny Arcade trivia test? Well if you do, then go here.

I’ve been really busy with PAX but I wanted to make sure I uploaded a sketch dump this week. There isn’t much but you can see it right here.

ALL FUCKING DAY!

I did not fashion the Darkspur. No man did.

The other day I told Tycho that we needed to write a comic strip. He thought for a few minutes and then said “I have an awesome idea!” I assumed that he meant he had an idea for the next strip but I quickly realized that wasn’t the case. He moved to his desk and disassembled the scissors. Then, using a rubber band he attached one of the blades to the end of his cardboard tube. Then he spun around and waved it in my face proclaiming that he had fashioned what he referred to as the “DarkSpur”.

I wanted to really quickly direct your attention to a few sites that have PAX write ups and photos. If you are interested in that sort of thing check out:

We couldn't let the Acclaim bankruptcy go without comment, though we initially let it slide thinking about the ordinary gamers who lost their jobs there. They don't have anything to do with Acclaim's malevolent Public Relations mongrels, and it wasn't they who hatched the Titty Bike genre either. Then, we remembered that we have absolutely zero social conscience and love to say mean things.

We announced this at PAX, but now the PA Presents page has been updated with a new project. Brady Games upcoming World of Warcraft guide will actually be full of comics by Tycho and I. These are funny comics that will help teach new users some of the skills they will need to play Blizzard’s new MMORPG.

Kiko snapped some great photos of the convention, and Gabe went ahead and handled the commentary for each one - they're here, if you want them.

Now that I can see time does, in fact, continue - even after events of such magnitude that they warp space-time - I can start being excited about the games that find their way to stores. Pikmin 2 is just such a game - also, people in the second Q&A panel asked for a "watch" strip, and we have done as commanded.

There are quite a few more things to discuss, and I'll get to them all eventually - Red Vs Blue, and of course, our mighty Omeganauts - including Omeganaut Prime Sean Celaya, and his noble opponent Kevin Potter, who I have a feeling we'll be hearing from again.

It has always been my greatest fear that one of you will engage me in conversation when I'm going to the bathroom. It's not something I ever expect to happen, you understand - I don't think you're clamoring for the opportunity, it's just something I worry about. Thus far, we've been to cons where there was a certain percentage of readers among the attendees and it hasn't happened yet. In my apparently infinite wisdom, we chose to hold a convention populated almost exclusively by the readership. So it's starting to look less like my greatest fear and more like my secret wish.

It is not uncommon for Gabriels to deploy sophistry in the service of their goals, truly epic feats like sitting on the couch or watching television. In these situations, I can be counted on to act as his barely responsive interlocutor.

I like to play World of Warcraft. When I play this sort of game I tend to get attached to my character and I don’t really feel comfortable making new ones. I’m not sure exactly what it is, but once I’ve got my guy I stick with him no matter what. As each new patch comes out Blizzard opens up new classes for play. Once I started my Warlock though I never really saw any reason to switch. I guess that makes me a shitty beta tester, but I don’t really care. Besides, there are so many fucking hunters in the game right now it’s ridiculous. I was in Westfall yesterday and it was like Noah’s fucking ark.

I got this update from RedMachine regading the West Coast Super Trip. I’ll just go ahead and post it here: