Voluptuous crimson

Add to Queue | Weekly DVD Column
I don’t have anything to add to this week’s column, but I’m sure we’re all excited about Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls… right? Everyone at work is going Thursday morning for free! Sadly, I will be on an airplane flying to someone’s wedding Thursday. Like I needed more reasons to hate going to weddings.

New Game + | Weekly Games Column
I’m proud of our columnists for skipping the easy, obvious pick in favor of something independent. Penny Arcade Adventures looks quite good… although I dread the appearance of negative reviews, which will prompt a certain short-tempered comic illustrator to use his site as a bully pulpit to insult the parentage of anyone who suggests the game is less than perfect. No surprises there, yes?


Edit: Good grief, let’s nip this in the bud before it gets any stupider. I’m not trashing Penny Arcade — I love the site and the comic and I have boundless respect for the way two normal geeks have honed their skills and turned a hobby into a globe-spanning empire. I was just remarking on the artist’s notorious habit of lashing out with shocking ferocity at people who say something he disagrees with, and I dread the inevitable “game critics are boils on humanity’s ass” screeds that will follow. It’s their good cop/bad cop routine. Mike is the volatile, direct one; Jerry is the cool-headed one who veils his anger and insults behind a labyrinthine construct of barbed words. Got it? Now, can we move on and just play their game? OK thanks.

18 thoughts on “Voluptuous crimson

  1. Were there any big incidents with Gabe and reviews other than the Assassin’s Creed thing? Because I didn’t think that one seemed terribly insulting.

    Anyway, I’ve been looking forward to Rain-Slick Precipice, big time. I think I’ll have to buy it as a graduation present for myself.

  2. What are you talking about? I love PA, I correspond with or talk to Jerry pretty often, and I’m looking forward to their game. But Mike/Gabe has a tendency to react violently against people who criticize his work or things he likes, and I’m dreading to a few weeks of wall-to-wall front page excoriations of critics who talk about the game in less-than-glowing terms. He has a tendency to launch blanket attacks that hit far more than his intended target, you see.

  3. Actually, they’ve already responded on the front page news a little to review scores…apparently (gamespot? IGN?) let slip an early review of around an 8, which is what they felt the game deserved. Still, let the reviewer beware if you lowball that score…or give it a thumbs-down…

  4. The recent podcast where “Gabe and Tycho” predicted that the game would get an “8” was pretty funny.

    And, Mr. Parish, you’re such a shrewd and insightful writer, I KNOW you can’t be surprised when people take something you say and run with it. Not by now.

  5. PA is a fine comic, but that one guy can be kind of a jerk. THEY EVEN DID A COMIC ABOUT IT. It’s not a secret. Also, the Games column continues it’s tradition of stabbing me in the heart by ignoring a significant football release… “UEFA Euro 2008”. Andy, why do you hate me? That and Star Soldier R are the only new games I’ll buy this week, and neither was covered. Just for that, I’m never including another film by your favorite actor, Dane Cook, in my column ever again.

  6. I didn’t see you trashing PA, but whatever.
    I’m really looking forward to Dark Precipice, hope it lives up to my PA fandom.
    Have fun at wedding :), Indiana will wait for you.

  7. I think Andy just ignores all shooter releases since he ignored Castle of Shikigami 3 last week too.

  8. When the first numbers came in, Gabe wrote a post (scroll down to the one titled ‘numbers’) that basically boils down to “just like our comic, some people like it a lot, some people won’t like it.” Hardly vitriolic.

  9. I still think $20 for this game is too much. I’ll pick it up for a bargain bin price in a month.

  10. Even better than the article on the wasting of food in the U.S. was the following article with pictures of a Hello Kitty Warhammer 40K army.

  11. I’ll have to check out “Ending The Game” too. I loved “The Game of Death”. Hell, I’m wearing a shirt with the movie poster imprinted on it right now.

  12. The download guy is moving right now and I’m moving next week. I was a bit distracted.

    Also shooters and soccer are dumb.

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