I'm fairly certain we've got all the bases covered in our most recent strip. The only thing we missed was Charles Schumer, but if he said something noteworthy I must have missed it. The game he's talking about - 25 To Life - also lets you play as cops, but it's hard to imagine the man truly perceiving the fact. When the scene plays out in my mind, the contradiction literally tears his brain apart.

Maybe it's just because we've done comics on the topic for nearly seven years, but it's getting harder and harder to understand why violence in electronic games warrants such brazen showmanship. Presumably it's all about the kids, but they always trot out a line of dirty-faced kids when they want to get their own shit through. It's like bringing your son to a restaurant, and then saying it was his birthday so you could get the free Mile High Mud Pie. Maybe he gets a bite or something, but mostly you'd really like to eat five pounds of frozen cake and chocolate ice cream, and there's not really any nobility associated with that.

Doug Lowenstein always gets hauled out there to refute an hour's worth of misinformation in five seconds, but how he's supposed to do that is anybody's guess. He often talks about how it's a relatively new medium - he'll usually talk about comics or film - and these new mediums are intensely scrutinized for moral lapses, but that's not good television. When Jack Thompson salivates at the prospect of a "Columbine Times Ten" in prime time, your counterpoint can't be a reasoned argument that takes a historical context into account. It's just not how television works. You have to roll around on the ground and gibber about freedom and whatnot.

If they really want to come across as chivalrous defenders of virtue, they need to go after Wonder Showzen.

Have you ever seen this show? It's on your "MTV2." I don't really get offended, you should see some of the videos I have on my desktop for ready access, but if I was the sort of person who got offended for show and tried to get famous for it Wonder Showzen would be the tool I'd use to finally dismantle that pesky First Amendment. If Charles Schumer or some other professional scold were to bring this program to wider public attention, it wouldn't be like the Videogame Controversy, where they get up and yell, and then someone reminds them we live in The United States Of America, and everybody sits down with their hands neatly folded until the sequel. No. If the populace at large saw Wonder Showzen, there would be no public hearings, no televised debate, and certainly no warning. You would just wake up one morning and your television would be gone.

(CW)TB out.

boys say wha

I'll try it out later today, but it's an exploit for your PSP that allows homebrewed apps (read "emulators and illegal ROMS") to operate on your PSP, without the memory stick swap that could potentially injure the stick or the device itself.

(CW)TB

The pilot I mentioned in Monday's post just let me know he grabbed a copy of BF2 at Freazy-E's for $37.99, which is a good deal less than I'll be getting it for at EB.

(CW)TB

The votes are in.

Fans of my young niece Ann, whom I have dubbed Annthusiasts, won out soundly. This is pretty lucky, because that's the story we wanted to do most anyway. The story we wanted to do only slightly less was Dr. Raven Darktalon Blood, wherein our dark hero raids Hell's great library, where all man's sins are recorded. Maybe someday.

Div fans, no cute name, only lost by a very small margin and their fervent desire will be recognized with a strip featuring their inebriated idol. In the meantime, Twisp and Catsby will take up a story of their own, the details of which are already known to us.

It is probably for the best that people did not vote in great numbers for the World of Warcraft storyline, because it would have amounted to highly reverent fan fiction of the sort produced better elsewhere.

Thank you for exercising your democratic initiative.

(CW)TB

I have a bunch of stuff to announce, and more on Friday, but let's get to the matter at hand:

Forum Registration is back up, so if you're curious about something you can't discover on the main PAX site drop in and let 'em know.

Garage Games will be in the exhibition room, no doubt with a selection of quality games in tow. Garage Games is made up of some of the people who brought us Tribes, and more recently Zap, along with enabling a new generation of independent development with their Torque engine. So we're happy to have them.

The United States Army will be in attendance, in support of the America's Army game project. They initially wanted to bring a Stryker modular troop transport with them, but it was determined that the weight of the vehicle would destroy the foundation of the Meydenbauer. We may need to settle for a military Humvee. We'll see.

The Red vs Blue guys will be on hand, in the theater and otherwise. They have an entire booth for this year's event, and they'll be creating an entire episode of the show from start to finish on the showfloor. That seems like a cool thing.

We've also opened up 75 more "Bring Your Own Computer" spots for the LAN room, if you're one of those kinds of people. By which I mean my kind.

(CW)TB

The World of Warcraft website has a couple pretty interesting updates. The first is to their “under development” section. I am especially happy to see the new battlemasters that will allow you to enter Battlegrounds from major cities. I'm also happy to see the new improvements to the Honor System. The other interesting update was a forum post by Shane Dabiri. It mentions a few more ideas for future WOW content including assurance that an expansion is "in the works".

-Gabe out :0:

Q'Bicles is a puzzle game based on the odd rules and strange ratios of office politics. It was one of the games in the Slamdance independent games competition - check out this page of last year's winners to find some games you might not have heard of. I can guarantee that you'll see things you never expected.

Anyway, I'd heard that the Q'Bicles guys made a level based on the potentially sticky Comic Con scenario I mentioned, the one that looks like this:

I figured I ought to mention it. The demo with the level in question is available from their site.

(CW)TB

Don't know where they got it, but PSP Hacker has the second Gamma Pack available for Wipeout. It's fucking brilliant - two new skins and two breathtaking tracks.

(CW)TB

I really try not to put links up links to the exact same "funny" things people are already sending you in your e-mail, but I honestly couldn't help it. Click only if you want to see a dark power coursing through Oprah Winfrey.

(CW)TB