True to the strange force that keeps us in perpetual opposition, any video of Gabriel must also be a video of me eating shit:

I think that Space Marine 2 is very good, in an obvious way that should be apparent to all! But it might just be that everybody has "their Space Marine" or Space Marine Equivalent Product (SMEP). Ryan has a soft spot for Marvel, and even after The Book of Boba Fett Gabe simply has no natural defense against Star Wars! He has repeatedly taken to the site to defend the virtue of Star Wars Outlaws, but my immortal warrior eunuch dolls are a step too far?! Come now.

Eleven years ago today we posted page four of the Tithe storyline! We were asked at PAX about our favorite creations over the years and I said that I think the Eyrewood is probably the coolest thing we’ve made in our nearly thirty years of work. It’s possible you missed the Tithe when it first came out. If that’s the case or if you just want to revisit it, you can start our investigation of the Daughters of the Eyrewood right here. 

-Gabe Out

My boys got me into Raingbow Six Siege a couple months ago and I have since gotten Jerry and Kara into it as well. It’s an incredibly difficult game but I am starting to get the hang of it. The other night I got my first “ACE” which is when you as a single player kill all five of the opposing team members. As an old man who just started playing I was very proud and had to share it here.

Thank you to the folks at Bandai Namco who hooked me up with some awesome Gundam Breaker 4 goodies. This package arrived for me just the other day and contains the game for PS5, a beautiful steel collectors case and a brand new Gunpla kit that I have already started building. Don’t forget the Gundam Base mobile tour is traveling around the country and will be landing in Redmond Wa, on October 12 and 13th. I plan on heading over there myself with the kids and checking out the festivities so say hi if you see me. I’ve also heard that Michaels craft stores have started selling Gunpla if you are looking to pick up kits locally. 

-Gabe Out

Morakh and Kara have been playing Ale & Tale Tavern for a minute now, I think it got surfaced in one of these incredibly frequent, increasingly niche showcases on Steam. They ended up getting hooked on the free demo "First Pints" which limits the full extent of the play area by situating you under a dome, reminiscent of the Stephen King thriller "Under The Dome." But that's the kind of thrilling intensity Gabe brings that kind of intensity to the dining room.

A wooly mix of Dune, Foundation, Catholicism somehow, and a uniquely British voice, the universe that underpins Warhammer 40k is something I can't really pretend to be a neutral observer on. My arc in the space is the same as a cautionary after-school special; I tried some at a party in 1993 and I have had a fever for the flavor ever since. Licensed excursions into the setting have a dodgy reputation; there's a lot of big ideas here and a unique voice that requires sort of a deft hand to execute. Games like Gladius, Mechanicus, and surprisingly the mobile game Tacticus all prove it can be done - basically, if it ends with -us it seems like we're in the clear. Shockingly, I never played the original Space Marine; I was nervous. I get this way sometimes about things I like. Space Marine 2, though? This is legit. I can understand why you might not want to take my word for it. But there's an inverse here, too - if it passes my test? Frankly, the game goes so fucking hard, so dense with real lore and crazy words, I don't know if it will mint new fans or repel them! That's how true it is.

I’m playing so much great stuff right now and new games I'm interested in keep coming out. After hearing about how great Space Marine 2 is from Jerry last night I am currently downloading it but I’m going to have a hard time fitting it in. I wanted to share where the bulk of my gaming hours have been going recently. 

Gabe unburdened himself yesterday, revealing all - and he apparently likes Star Wars Outlaws a lot now that you can save your game. Among other features, you have a "weird little guy" you can use to interact with the environment, and one of those interactions is robbing motherfuckers. People seem basically fine with it! I guess the thing we have to remember is that all these people were born, grew up, and now live inside Star Wars. There's so much weird shit going on at any given second - they got these toothy desert holes, they got bats that live inside worms that live inside rocks that float in space. Maybe gettin' a little crawled on every now and then doesn't register at all.

I continue to have a great time doing commissions  and so I am opening up another four slots for the month of September. If you would like to get your favorite character drawn by me now is your chance! I’m happy to draw your original character from a tabletop game like D&D or a character you created for an MMO. I’m also down to draw your favorite character from comics or video games. Originally I was just doing original characters but last month someone made an awesome request that made me realize I should expand my offerings. The request was for a 90’s era Cyclops and here's a “work in progress” peek at what ended up being one of my favorite commissions from last month. 

I just wanted to make a quick post about Star Wars Outlaws because there is so much bullshit about it out there. After playing basically all day yesterday I can say that this is a great Star Wars game. Beyond that this is just plain great Star Wars. 

Gabe has been experiencing the Hostile Gospel of on the job training in counterterrorism, and I've been trying to draft on his accumulated wisdom. In the manner of a pearl, there is a nettling grit that forms the center of it - and that is "getting your fucking ass kicked over and over." Inside all its Bond-tier gadgetry is a lethal, mean as hell shooter. So, it's difficult, but it also means that any round might be your round.

I had an absolutely amazing time at PAX West this year. Now that the show is over though, I have entered recovery mode where I replenish my batteries by being alone and playing video games. Before I get back to Star Wars Outlaws though I want to share some of my favorite things from this year's show.

Here is the strip that we drew for the Make-A-Strip panel, which (aside from being a twenty year PAX tradition) has become in recent years a platform to raise money for Child's Play.

It looks like I was wrong about the time for the Pin Trading community event today. It's actually at 3pm in the community room over in the Summit building. I'll have some pins to trade and I'm happy to sign stuff. Jerry says he will try and stop by as well so you might be able to catch both of us. After that I have a little break and then I'll be getting into costume and joining my friends on stage for tonight's Aquisitions Inc. live game!

-Gabe out

There's a bug on PS5 during the premium access period for Star Wars Outlaws where any time on an earlier version is essentially unrecoverable - the new version fixes it, but it can't fix the saves. Full-on progress locks tend to be pretty rare in released software, but the fact that it's connected to a higher cost version of the product makes it feel particularly bad.