Regarding Wednesday's comic (which concerned the production of dubious promotional materials), an anonymous producer from an anonymous production company chimed in with the following:

I'm actually surprised that I'm still alive. I'm not referring to my well-publicized cold, which your well-wishing has made quite tolerable indeed. Well, that and Aleve, which (as it turns out!) contains high concentrations of goofballs. No, I'm talking about Taxes, that special time of year when the amorous avatar of our nation Uncle Sam gets that special gleam in his eye. I was not aware that one could pay their taxes in installments, I guess I just thought they sent six-legged robo-hounds to your house to prick you with their deadly tongues, which are also syringes. Don't mind me, it's the medicine talking. I do appreciate your indulgence with the late posts, once I feel better (and can stay awake all day) I'll cinch up the schedule again.

I don't know if they put goofballs in Aleve Cold and Sinus, or what, but I feel like a million dollars. It's like I'm floating high above the worries and cares of the world.

Lucasarts' recent announcement of a long awaited follow-up to their classic WW2 flight sims is the kind of music that soothes the soul, makes me reminisce about the days of ol', etc. If you're going to be digging around in the attic, Lucasarts, why don't you make a new Full Throttle ame while you're up there?

I don't really have much to say today. I do want to drop some Penny Arcade updates on you though.

Many of you have written in with questions on a variety of subjects.

Here's today's comic.

Sweet Jesus! The response from young and old alike to my last update is overwhelming. Each time I refresh my mail I have another 50 messages. I am getting a lot of mail from guys my age waxing nostalgic about having to blow on carts to make them work and sticking cardboard in your NES. I have also gotten a few mails which really surprised me. I would like to share one such message with you now. Matt here is twelve years old. That means that when I was playing Super Mario Brothers 3 Matt hadn’t even been born yet. When Samurai Showdown hit my local arcade he was barely three years old. And yet…*sniff*…He…oh just read the e-mail:

There is some very exciting news coming out of neogeousa.com right now. Their new Shadow4 system seems like it could be the answer to a lot of Neo-Geo fans prayers. You may have heard me mention before that you can generally purchase Neo games for the arcade machines much cheaper than you can for the home system. While it's true that the games tend to be less expensive playing them gets a bit tricky. You either need a full size cabinet like you would find in an arcade or what's called a super gun. A super gun is basically a device that allows you to hook arcade boards up to a standard television. The fine folks at Neogeousa.com have developed what is essentially a kind of specialized super gun for the Neo-Geo arcade board. Unlike most super guns though, which tend to be large boxes made out of plywood the Shadow4 is small and looks extremely cool. You can read all the information currently available on the system right here or at neogeousa.com. I am hoping to get my hands on one of these in the near future. If I am successful you can bet you'll see a full review of it here on the site. If it is built half as well as their Phantom-1 converter, which I purchased last year it will be one kick ass piece of hardware. Did I mention how pretty it is?

Many Canadians have expressed to me that it is very safe to eat food in Toronto. That couldn't be further from the truth.

In the adrenaline rush of tax-inspired terror, I forgot the other game we'd played at the MOP. I knew it was something.

• Warhammer 40k CCG: I don't usually mention this kind of stuff, even though I'm fascinated by many games of this type - but I've heard some amazing shit from my man Fodder up north. Cards have as many as four different functions, each power balanced against the other. I just wrote the company today about maybe seeing a demo of the game or asking a few questions, hopefully they'll get back to me so I can tell you more.

• Shining Lore: Shining Lore is a blah blah blah something something something. It looks like a fully three-dee Ragnarok Online I guess. Great. I'm only trying to draw your attention to their concept art, which I would describe as a "visual triumph."

• Puzzle Bobble Online: That's right, Puzzle Bobble - but online. Tiny dragons who harness the power of the bubble against itself. If you already know Japanese, you can go right there and start playing. If not - and my money is on not - hit this page "Hikash" whipped up for us, and give 'er a go.

• Undelicious: Heard about this one from my man Crow at the LAN. This is mainly of interest to those living in the northwest, specifically in King County - but I'm sure there's some analogue local to you. Have a restaurant you like to eat at a lot? Type their name into this form and find out why you should never eat out again.

• Flux: Also from the LAN, whenever Pork wasn't trying to get me to play Armagetron, he was trying to get me into Flux. Flux is a puzzle game that has some elements in common with PopCap's legendary Bejeweled, in that you click on things. Almost everything else is different.

This comic should evacuate any trace of continuity we had left. The G4 Network still hasn't contacted us about our valuable "Game Detective" property, which is unfortunate because I crave riches. Come back on Wednesday, when we will undoubtedly gush about Soccer Slam the whole time. I actually bruised my thumb playing it, which hasn't happened in years.

I just uploaded a new feature I have been working on called “Gabe’s big list of idiots!” It’s not all that big yet, but I expect it to grow.

I have seen mention on a few of the various forums I visit that there is now a King of Fighters 2001 ROM available. It certainly didn't take them long to dump it. It's sad because Playmore really seems to be working hard to revitalize the Neo Geo brand. With the re-release of Mark of the Wolves and Last Blade 2 on the DC and rumors of KoF 2000,2001 and Metal Slug 3 on the PS2 things are certainly looking bright. A KoF 2001 ROM can only hurt our chances of seeing those rumors become a reality. I never agreed with people who emulated Neo games but I could respect their point that they were not hurting anyone since SNK was so far in the crapper financially. However now that Playmore has taken over things have changed. I think it is important that we support their endeavors to breathe life back into the Neo Geo and it's games. If Playmore sees that there is an audience for these titles on new systems like the DC and the PS2 the possibilities are endless. A whole new generation of gamers will finally be exposed to great games like Samurai Showdown, Metal Slug, and King of Fighters. It's only through the financial success of these games that we can ever hope to see new titles in these series like Mark of the Wolves 2 and Samurai Showdown 5. Emmulation only serves to hurt the chances of these games ever becoming a reality.

I put the winners up here - thanks to everyone for entering, and I promise I'll have a more efficacious contest entry technology in place for the next one. Mad love goes out to Sanguine Productions, Sam at Exploding Dog, and Microsoft for making really cool shit.