You really must be joking. What names were rejected, that something like Wii remained vertical at the end of it?

The range of responses thus far have not been terribly surprising.  It's the usual camps, really, and I don't know if these positions exist throughout all of human dialogue or if they are local to our merry band, but they are known to me.  People who hate it because they hate X, people who hate it because it is not good, people who like it because other people hate it, people who like it because they are "above the fray," and people who like it because they like X.   The first million times I saw this scene play out I could always find some piquant flavor in the proceedings, something that made each conflict unique.   Now all I see is a kind of template superimposed over every motive, as though the argument were taking place between cells on a spreadsheet. 

I'm uncomfortable with it because I think a word of alien origin like "Wii" is phonetically ambiguous for most people, but I doubt that I represent some genuine constituency.  Nintendo clearly felt  the name was so cryptic it required a Rosetta Stone alongside to contextualize it, which doesn't really speak to its deep strength or intuitive character.  I believe, almost fervently, in their vision for the product - but I don't see any reason to do their public relations work for them.  Enunciating each syllable clearly, I would call this moniker a profound error in judgement. 

I'm aware that some people like it, or in any event they don't hate it.  I am not those people, but I think that I can live in peace with them as long as they do not try and honestly suggest that the Goddamn name is emblematic of togetherness.  What makes me mad isn't that Nintendo has chosen a name based on bizarre, interstellar philosophy.  It's that they chose a name that was and is so readily used to obscure and discredit the imaginative power of the system. 

Up until now, they've done an almost miraculous job maintaining enthusiasm for what is really a very unorthodox idea.  To be honest, I sort of thought this would be the easy part.   

(CW)TB out.

it's better this way

MC Frontalot, Penny Arcade's rapper laureate, has comitted himself to the rigors of a tour.  Is he playing near you?  Maaaaybe.  There is also a documentary being produced to chronicle his struggles etc., and for a taste of the aforementioned there is a torrent for the trailer here. 

Also, for New York fans of The Front, he is apparently having some kind of signing.  Observe:

"Front is doing a public meet & greet at Forbidden Planet comics in NYC (Broadway & 13th). Everyone who shows up can put one word on a list and then on the bus ride home he will write a rap that has all the words in it. Later, he will make a recording of it. Also, the person who puts in the best word (judge of best word: Front, duh) gets a signed Penny Arcade Expo 2005 DVD. There will be shirts and CDs too."

My goodness!  Our little Front, he is all growed up.

(CW)TB

I thought I’d post a drawing I did last week for my wife. This is her WOW character Kimbela. You can see my inks on top and then Joe Pekar’s incredible colors underneath.

 

Joe and I have collaborated on a bunch of projects recently that should start going live here pretty soon. I like coloring my own stuff but it’s a real thrill to see how someone else interprets what I’ve done. I’ve been lucky enough to work with some really talented artists who’ve always managed to make me look way better than I actually am.

We just had some of the artwork from the Penny Arcade CCG printed out on giant banners for PAX this year. Hawks colors on that project still knock me out every time I look at them.

 

Now try and imagine that about 10 feet tall and you’ll get an idea of how cool our new PAX banners are.

I know Hawk uses a Wacom Cintiq and I really wish he’d release a movie or something that shows him using the device. I’ve seen a couple other videos of people using the Cintiq but none of them really had the chops to show what the thing can do. It was like watching a monkey try to drive a Porsche. I need to see someone like Hawk put a Cintiq through its paces before I drop almost three grand on one.

Also, After wrapping up Outbound Flight I’m now reading the new Republic Commando book Triple Zero. Some of you might be interested to know it features Delta Squad. For those of you who don’t remember, that’s the squad you play as in the Republic Commando game. So if you were a fan of Fixer, Scorch and Sev you might want to pick up the book. They’re great characters and God only knows if Lucas Arts will ever give us another installment of that game. This might be your only chance to meet up with those characters again.

-Gabe out

We here at Penny Arcade make it a point to avoid politics for the most part and I don’t want to have that conversation now. But I did get this email today and I thought it was pretty amazing.

I was delighted to find your first book: Attack of the Bacon Robots, at a Base Exchange three days ago at an undiscloseable location in Iraq. I just thought you should know how much I appreciate it being there. There were three copies available, and I bought them all myself so they could make the rounds in our little tent city. I often read and enjoyed your comic back at home, and being able to see it again was tremendously cheering (I hope the next one comes out soon!).

Now, to give you an idea of where I'm coming from on this, let me outline what life is like here. We work long days, sometimes between 14 and 16 hours. Sometimes there aren't even proper facilities, like showers, for days or weeks at a time, much less anything resembling a recreation facility. When we're not under the threat of mortar attack, and there is a gap in our hectic schedules, we find ourselves painfully bored. Three to six month old magazines brought from home become treasured possesions that get passed from person to person with the exchange of favors. Things like chocolate bars and a case of beer are the realm of fondly remembered fantasy. Laughter is oftentimes a far too distant thing.

Your book made us smile, laugh, and remember that at home, life is still very, very free. It reminded us what we are fighting for, the kind of people who dream, and imagine, and make bizarre insinuations that elsewhere in the world would be forbidden and outlawed. We sometimes forget that there really is a place left that isn't destroyed, destitute, or full of hate.

Now, I know what you're thinking: "It's just a book, get over it." But it meant a lot for me and my fellow soldiers to chuckle for a bit and feel normal again. I just thought you should know.

Thank you, thank you, for making it possible for a bit of home to come to me. (And please forgive my spelling...there is no spell check in the desert!). Now, must get off the computer so the forty other people behind me can send an e-mail home to friends and family...

- Intel Ops Chick

 Regardless of what you or I think about wars or warriors, I’m proud that something we did gave some measure of comfort to people who are in a terrible situation and a very long ways away from anything they could call home.

-Gabe out

I don't expect difficulties like this to be a common occurrence, but coming up on E3 everyone here is basically going all the time - Kiko is our audiomancer on this project, and he had to finish up actual work before he could sink his teeth into yesterday's raw audio.  We're planning on maintaining the schedule next week, so that'll mean another one on Wednesday, and we've got a system set up on Gabe's laptop that should let us record and edit podcasts while we're at E3 the week after. 

I feel pretty bad about the whole thing, and I'm sorry.  The podcasts are my favorite thing about the site at the moment.

(CW)TB