After dabbling in a bit of Freedom Force - which I would follow up later with rather a lot of Freedom Force - we wanted to do something along these lines. The game has these great backstories for each character, like proper comics should - you can check out the one for the melancholy “Man-Bot” on the official FF downloads page. When I’ve played more of it, I’ll have more to tell you - but at the moment, I’m completely infatuated with it. And hey, the EB website was wrong - the Bonus CD I got for pre-ordering came with three new models, not just skins. Max Sneddon (from Irrational Games Australia) intimated that new meshes and skins may be available soon, which is cause for celebration. I think of the models I have currently as a palette for inventing new personalities, so anything that broadens that gradient is welcome indeed.
Talking to Scott earlier today (we were exchanging Freedom Force tips, if you must know), he said he’d be doing a few comics on the game as well, so you may want to give PvP a looksee this week if it isn’t already in your schedule.
Got a few mails from people about Gabe’s Gunvalkyrie comment in the last comic, taking that to be The Official Position of Penny Arcade or telling me I suck at videogames for thinking it difficult. As for the accusations of sucking, I can dig it. Gunvalkyrie is the kind of game that makes you say brash things about your abilities, because being good at it actually means something. As regards the supposed Official Position of Something or Other, it’s just not true. I love GV. I can pull off shit in that game that would fuck your brain. I suppose a comic where I say “Gunvalkyrie is a good game, but it’s an acquired taste” and then Gabe says “So is Poop” (or something to that effect) might have better captured our relative positions, but for my bit I wanted to write about the game directly instead of writing dialogue about the game. That’s my prerogative. Watch out, I might do it again.
You know the drill. The following items can be found on the Internet.
Color Consoles: Apparently, a favorable review from IGN has given them more work than they could ever hope to accomplish - so I place this link here for future reference. They install region switches, stylish new LED’s, or apply any one of a hojillion colors to your system. It’s pretty neat. By themselves, those services may not have garnered them the link - particularly when they seem to be closed, for the moment. When I read that they would be installing Portable Monopoly’s Afterburner product, I was like, yeah. This needs to go up.
Lik-Sang: Hell, these guys can do you one better. For a hundred and ten bucks, you can guy a GBA with the Afterburner already installed. A word of warning: Don’t go to this site right after you get paid. They will take you for every cent as surely as they had mugged you in the street. Along with absolutely everything you have ever wanted in your whole life, they also have the GP32. Yes, that’s right. The handheld gaming system they give you in heaven.
The Parlor: The Parlor is bad-ass. It is also a short film. Those of you who have already seen it, I don’t care. Those of you who haven’t seen it yet, you’re in for a treat. They say bad words and talk about bad things and some of the people are from Spokane. Rub some dirt on it and watch the Goddamn movie.
Jjukil’s Open Letter To Enix: If you were looking forward to the release of Dragon Warrior IV Remix for the PS, but now you’re mad because they aren’t going to put it out anymore, maybe you’ll know what he’s talking about.
At the recent Game Developers Conference, Penny Arcade reader Chris Port was able to secure the following - from Warren Spector and to yours truly:
Who does he love, again? I’ll give you a hint: It’s me.
(CW)TB out.
you don’t own the situation, honey
