Penny Arcade

We have sponsored streams today, a couple of them more or less back to back, one for a game I own but have been too intimidated to learn and one for a game I have taught many people to play. It's all happening on our Twitch thing. Thanks for stopping by, Level99! The first is Millennium Blades, a board game about collectible card games(?). In the fiction, a CCG - also called Millennium Blades - has been in print for over a thousand years. The game starts on pre-release night, and as the…

The last time I really took PC gaming seriously was honestly around the time the comic strip started. So, about twenty years ago I guess. I can still remember keeping up to date on the latest improvements in Voodoo graphics cards. As time went by I played on consoles more and more until I had fallen off the PC entirely. I usually had a laptop or something that could run a game or two but I lost track of where the technology went. About a year ago I decided I wanted to give PC gaming another try…

EA's premium digital offerings - EA Access on Xbox and Origin Access on PC - grant early play for their titles. Except when it doesn't work, and you got the same error message people were getting in the betas. I once suggested that EA games came with "free misery," nearly ten full years ago, and it's a policy they've maintained with pride. The problem isn't with subscription services or VIP access or whatever; it's their bits, they can apportion them however they want. And clubs are fun,…

The main new things I've learned about Apex Legends are as follows: one, the Wingman is the return of the old Pistol from Halo. Remember that? How it was a pistol, but also kind of a sniper rifle? Yeah. Except here there's also a mod for it called a Skullsplitter; I'll let you tumble to its purpose on your own. It is surprisingly, perhaps even comically effective. Two, the Ping system we already said was great is even cooler than I thought, because it works in places I never thought…