Tag: penny arcade

Tycho’s odd reluctance to meh out over China Miéville.

Odd post from Tycho over at Penny Arcade: I mean, I don’t really have any compulsion against saying that I find China Miéville’s work pretty uninteresting.  It’s definitely what I’d call smug, from what I remember of the half-book of his that I managed to get through before I realized that I was pretty much completely apathetic to either the plot or the characterization.

Apparently this is taboo: do China Miéville fans come by the houses of the heathen and throw rotten eggs, or something?  – I mean, I just assumed that the guy didn’t write books that I felt like reading; which happens all the time, and is obviously nobody’s fault in particular…

QotD, I Just Think That It’s Funny Edition.

Gabe of Penny Arcade, after rolling his eyes at the usual offscreen drama – and, having run a few VERY, VERY MUCH SMALLER* events myself, I can attest that there’s always offscreen drama – associated with this year’s PAX:

So that’s my response to our two completely fabricated “scandals” this year. I have to admit I’m surprised that these made it to the blogs but my killing and eating of a PAX attendee got no press.

Next time use salt: that’s always good for a freakout from that Mayor Bloomberg guy in NYC.

Moe Lane

*Seriously.  Several quantum levels smaller.  I’m not even sure why I’m even bringing them up for comparison (I do a lot of this via instinct, which I suspect is code for ‘completely random’).

I’m officially old, now…

…I can’t make myself be upset that the folks at PAX (Penny Arcade’s mega-gamer convention*) made a good-looking woman go and put on more clothing.  As the article notes, Penny Arcade has rules about ‘booth babes’ and ‘partial nudity’ at its flagship con; the cosplayer’s costume apparently broke the rules; and that’s pretty much it from my point of view**.

This apparently puts me in somewhat stark contrast to a lot of FARK Geek‘s comments section, but I kind of can live with that.  If only because a large section of them seem to want to rant about America’s hang-ups about sex… which is interesting, because I happen to know a bunch of social conservatives, and from what I can tell that sub-demographic largely does not obsess over the subject nearly as much as the people who want to bitch and moan about neo-Puritanism. Continue reading I’m officially old, now…

Penny Arcade & SOPA/PIPA.

As in, they’ve noted it today.  Interesting take on the whole thing, as seen through the lens of video gamers: more specifically, on how “odd” it was that the Entertainment Software Association managed to support a bill that its individual member companies all opposed.  Funny how that seems to happen a lot?

Now, I like PA quite well – more to the point, I have a healthy, perfectly reasonable fear of their wrath – so I am just going to note that there is in fact a reason why it seems like every politician who is explicitly disavowing this legislation has an R after their name, while pretty much all of the ones weaseling about it have Ds after theirs. It’s because blackouts are fine, but threatening primary challenges works a heck of a lot better.  Assuming, of course, that you have the reputation of following through on that sort of thing.  Which, well, the VRWC does.  And the netroots does not.  Something for the digital folks to think about, the next time that they need reliable allies for something.

Here endeth the lesson.

Moe Lane

I bitterly resent this about Mike Krahulik…

…I will likely NEVER be able to command the amount of professional fear and terror at the sound of my name that Mike can. Read this email thread (via AoSHQ) for an example of this: I suspect that Mike couldn’t believe his luck. After all, with great power comes great responsibility: the man’s not a bully. But if he’s got the opportunity to smack somebody else for bullying, well…

Moe Lane

PS: What? Ah. For the benefit of our non-gamer readers: Mike Krahulik is also known as Gabe of Penny Arcade. Trash-talking him when you’re a maker of luxury video game accessory parts is Not Very Bright.

Penny Arcade asks, “What is art?”

And notes that:

I don’t think I’ve ever read a definition for art that wasn’t stupid.  Generally speaking, when a person constructs a thought-machine of this kind, what they’re actually trying to do is determine what isn’t art.  I have always been white trash, and will never cease to be so; what that means is that I was raised with an inherent distrust in the Hoity and a base and brutal urge to dismantle the Toity.  This is sometimes termed anti-intellectualism, usually by intellectuals, when what it is in truth is an opposition to intellect for intellect’s sake.

I remember that when I was younger, I called myself an intellectual – until one of my friends gently told me that no, I was not.  At the time, I was offended; I stopped being so years ago.  Frankly, it’s much more interesting to be a nerd.

QotD, …Ouch. Just… Ouch Edition. (OK, I guess it’s the OTHER QotD)

(Via Penny Arcade) From GamespotUK, on some suspicious reviews of Jurassic Park – The Game:

Between the reviewers’ constant lionizing of Telltale Games, complete sentences, proper punctuation, and paucity of spelling errors, we began to suspect that the user reviews were not the product of actual players, but of Telltale representatives.

Dag, that smarts.  Largely because it’s true.  You’d think that a communication medium that requires you to learn how to type before you get out of grammar school would also require you to learn how to spell and write properly, too…

Moe Lane