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May I be the first to point you to this penny arcade strip on the topic: Penny Arcade

This one says it all.

Penny Arcade

I'd like to introduce you to this wonderfull little thing called punctuation, here's something to get you started: http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2002-10 -11&res=l.

I suggest you also investigate the "comma", see, the English language isn't so hard when you try.

All in all, it's a nice finish, a nice rack (mount), but not huge. This is a work desk, not a lounging desk.

Still, it's given me ideas, perhaps it'll help you too.

(Yes, it's off the Penny Arcade domain. No, the link isn't to a comic strip.)

'Jim'

Gabe

'Jim'

Gabe

Penny Arcade had a funny comic about CompUSA and their "customer appreciation."

Sort of like this then?

http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2002-07 -22

My question is this: Are all arcade games violent nowdays?

Oh yes, especially the newest variants of Tetris.

"All I have to say is I hope this pay-to-play trend ends quickly. "

I don't have a problem paying for something. I pay for electricity and internet access, why not for a good online service? The only problem is that the only online service out there that might meet this, Xbox Live!, is already useless. No downloadable content, game stats not normalized vs. hours played (so all the 13-year-olds who can play 6 hours a day are #1), etc.

If I played online in Battle.net a lot, I wouldn't mind paying 5$ cdn a month for it. Or even a little more. If you work it out per day, it's nothing. Per day you pay around 20 or 30$ for rent, and 10$ for food and utilities. What's 20 cents for online play without advertisements, with no cheaters, etc?

"If Battle.net can be free, why can't The Sims online be free?"

Maybe you should tune in to sanity FM. If someone is offering a service, they can charge what they want for it. If it sucks, it'll go away. But there is no way that a service can exist and cost 0 dollars to run, someone pays somewhere. You pay with your eyeballs, and the advertisers who get your eyeballs bankroll your play time. Or perhaps economics wasn't one of your strong points growing up.

Seriously, the most common complaint I heard was "enough with the Star Trek already." Maybe if Berman had kept the quality up all along, things would be different, but after Voyager (which shamelessly exploited the Borg, as well as the last refuge of the incompetent producer: tits and ass), Insurrection (where not even the actors believed the premise, see here), and Enterprise (which shatters existing history, as well as throwing in more T&A), is it any surprise that people are sick of the series?

I didn't see Nemesis, because quite frankly, I don't feel like seeing an average Star Trek movie anymore. Hell, I'm not even sure I'd want to see a good Star Trek movie. I'm soured on the franchise. Maybe I would see an excellent Star Trek movie, but all in all, you'd have an easier time selling me on an all new sci-fi movie.

I can't believe that people haven't been talking about the rumor posted up at Penny Arcade (it's from two posts or so ago -- look for it). It involves the next holiday sales idea from Microsoft:

Selling tiny new XBox's (complete w/ built-in network adapter) for $99.

And the catch is you sign a two year contract for XBox Live. That's $9.95 a month for Microsoft, guaranteed, from each person with a new form factor XBox. Oh, I'm sure you could still get the new Form Factor and not pay the fee for two years, but you know they will charge around $150-$175 for it. And the $75 difference is huge a low middle class home where that is a lot to spend on your kids, and that's bound to be appealing.

This way, even if they lose on hardware in the short run, their subscription service will make it even out in the long haul. The $99 XBoxes will finally not make Microsoft lose money (due to hardware depreciation, ie, lower prices) and their subscription service will fuel new games and keep people playing their XBoxes.

I hate to devil's advicate, but that's a pretty damn good marketing strategy, if only taken for its orginality alone.

yep. Penny-arcade is greater than all

I'm a man

I'll be the judge of that.

Didn't your mom even tell you to stop? Or at least break out an extension cord?

Any thing that quotes this crappy site should be modded like those who link to goatse.

Penny Arcade said it best!

Best Misappropriation of tax dollars ever!

Penny Arcade said it best!

Best Misappropriation of tax dollars ever!

Penny Arcade said it best!

Best Misappropriation of tax dollars ever!

see the new shape of fear this summer 2004

Penny Arcade is really hit-or-miss. Here are some that I found funny recently.

2002-09-02
2002-09-23
2002-09-27
2002-10-07
2002-10-18

-If

Penny Arcade is really hit-or-miss. Here are some that I found funny recently.

2002-09-02
2002-09-23
2002-09-27
2002-10-07
2002-10-18

-If

Penny Arcade is really hit-or-miss. Here are some that I found funny recently.

2002-09-02
2002-09-23
2002-09-27
2002-10-07
2002-10-18

-If

Penny Arcade is really hit-or-miss. Here are some that I found funny recently.

2002-09-02
2002-09-23
2002-09-27
2002-10-07
2002-10-18

-If

Penny Arcade is really hit-or-miss. Here are some that I found funny recently.

2002-09-02
2002-09-23
2002-09-27
2002-10-07
2002-10-18

-If

Plus their hard-hitting coverage can't be beat.

Of course.. this usually amount to "not much of a life, eh?"

Do you remember that one cartoon they did making fun of the guy's comic strip that laid out the plans of making money magically due to micro-payments? That was a classic. And recently their crack-addled CEO rendition of the Infinium Phantom vapor release? Good stuff. If anything, I'd just complain that today's comic was boring as hell. They could have atleast drawn the rats and the barrels (with maybe Tycho and Gabe-faces on all the rats)

This comic made me start my own Harry Knowles is a stupid fucker jar. I think I have to put $1 in for this move!

It made me think of a different P-A cartoon. Do they realy have games like that in Indiana?

Here's a short summary of the debate that lead up to this bill:

Here.

It's a good thing they're handling this, otherwise "first person shooter" games might start being produced, and all our kids would be turned into mass-murdering psychos.

But still, what does it all matter as long as userfriendly.org is still online?

To: Illiad

We respectfully ask you to delete all content hosted at userfriendly.org at your earliest convenience.

What's currently hosted there is, by its astonishing amateurism and outright offensive unfunniness, diluting the "User Friendly" concept currently used by parodies of boring and badly drawn web comics based on the incessant repetition of ancient tech support jokes and stereotypical anti-Microsoft zealotry.

These parodies are facing a bleak future, when there are sites like yours that are honestly intended to be "entertaining" by using even more tired clichés and even worse artwork than the parodies. How are parody authors supposed to survive if the objects of parody suddenly start to express the parodied traits even more extremely than the parodies?

http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=1999-04 -07
http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=1999-08 -20&res=l
http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2000-04 -17
http://www.somethingawful.com/features/usarfreindl ey/
http://www.somethingawful.com/jeffk/computarfunnys /comic-11.htm
http://www.somethingawful.com/jeffk/computarfunnys /comic-20.htm
http://www.somethingawful.com/jeffk/computarfunnys /comic-27.htm
http://www.somethingawful.com/jeffk/computarfunnys /comic-32.htm
http://www.somethingawful.com/jeffk/computarfunnys /comic-39.htm
http://somethingawful.com/inserts/articlepics/phot oshop/variety3/Eegah_comic.jpg
http://www.themushroom.com/mush0122/unfriendlyuser .html

http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=user%20fr iendly
http://internettrash.com/users/theepisodes/keenshi t.htm
http://rmitz.org/comics.html
http://www.amk.ca/books/h/User_Friendly.html
http://www.rdrop.com/~half/Creations/Writings/Rant s/ComicStrips.html

Enough already. Stop it.

But still, what does it all matter as long as userfriendly.org is still online?

To: Illiad

We respectfully ask you to delete all content hosted at userfriendly.org at your earliest convenience.

What's currently hosted there is, by its astonishing amateurism and outright offensive unfunniness, diluting the "User Friendly" concept currently used by parodies of boring and badly drawn web comics based on the incessant repetition of ancient tech support jokes and stereotypical anti-Microsoft zealotry.

These parodies are facing a bleak future, when there are sites like yours that are honestly intended to be "entertaining" by using even more tired clichés and even worse artwork than the parodies. How are parody authors supposed to survive if the objects of parody suddenly start to express the parodied traits even more extremely than the parodies?

http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=1999-04 -07
http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=1999-08 -20&res=l
http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2000-04 -17
http://www.somethingawful.com/features/usarfreindl ey/
http://www.somethingawful.com/jeffk/computarfunnys /comic-11.htm
http://www.somethingawful.com/jeffk/computarfunnys /comic-20.htm
http://www.somethingawful.com/jeffk/computarfunnys /comic-27.htm
http://www.somethingawful.com/jeffk/computarfunnys /comic-32.htm
http://www.somethingawful.com/jeffk/computarfunnys /comic-39.htm
http://somethingawful.com/inserts/articlepics/phot oshop/variety3/Eegah_comic.jpg
http://www.themushroom.com/mush0122/unfriendlyuser .html

http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=user%20fr iendly
http://internettrash.com/users/theepisodes/keenshi t.htm
http://rmitz.org/comics.html
http://www.amk.ca/books/h/User_Friendly.html
http://www.rdrop.com/~half/Creations/Writings/Rant s/ComicStrips.html

Enough already. Stop it.

But still, what does it all matter as long as userfriendly.org is still online?

To: Illiad

We respectfully ask you to delete all content hosted at userfriendly.org at your earliest convenience.

What's currently hosted there is, by its astonishing amateurism and outright offensive unfunniness, diluting the "User Friendly" concept currently used by parodies of boring and badly drawn web comics based on the incessant repetition of ancient tech support jokes and stereotypical anti-Microsoft zealotry.

These parodies are facing a bleak future, when there are sites like yours that are honestly intended to be "entertaining" by using even more tired clichés and even worse artwork than the parodies. How are parody authors supposed to survive if the objects of parody suddenly start to express the parodied traits even more extremely than the parodies?

http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=1999-04 -07
http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=1999-08 -20&res=l
http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2000-04 -17
http://www.somethingawful.com/features/usarfreindl ey/
http://www.somethingawful.com/jeffk/computarfunnys /comic-11.htm
http://www.somethingawful.com/jeffk/computarfunnys /comic-20.htm
http://www.somethingawful.com/jeffk/computarfunnys /comic-27.htm
http://www.somethingawful.com/jeffk/computarfunnys /comic-32.htm
http://www.somethingawful.com/jeffk/computarfunnys /comic-39.htm
http://somethingawful.com/inserts/articlepics/phot oshop/variety3/Eegah_comic.jpg
http://www.themushroom.com/mush0122/unfriendlyuser .html

http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=user%20fr iendly
http://internettrash.com/users/theepisodes/keenshi t.htm
http://rmitz.org/comics.html
http://www.amk.ca/books/h/User_Friendly.html
http://www.rdrop.com/~half/Creations/Writings/Rant s/ComicStrips.html

Enough already. Stop it.

why is userfriendly.org still on-line?

To: Illiad

We respectfully ask you to delete all content hosted at userfriendly.org at your earliest convenience.

What's currently hosted there is, by its astonishing amateurism and outright offensive unfunniness, diluting the "User Friendly" concept currently used by parodies of boring and badly drawn web comics based on the incessant repetition of ancient tech support jokes and stereotypical anti-Microsoft zealotry.

These parodies are facing a bleak future, when there are sites like yours that are honestly intended to be "entertaining" by using even more tired clichés and even worse artwork than the parodies. How are parody authors supposed to survive if the objects of parody suddenly start to express the parodied traits even more extremely than the parodies?

http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=1999-04 -07
http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=1999-08 -20&res=l
http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2000-04 -17
http://www.somethingawful.com/features/usarfreindl ey/
http://www.somethingawful.com/jeffk/computarfunnys /comic-11.htm
http://www.somethingawful.com/jeffk/computarfunnys /comic-20.htm
http://www.somethingawful.com/jeffk/computarfunnys /comic-27.htm
http://www.somethingawful.com/jeffk/computarfunnys /comic-32.htm
http://www.somethingawful.com/jeffk/computarfunnys /comic-39.htm
http://somethingawful.com/inserts/articlepics/phot oshop/variety3/Eegah_comic.jpg
http://www.themushroom.com/mush0122/unfriendlyuser .html

http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=user%20fr iendly
http://internettrash.com/users/theepisodes/keenshi t.htm
http://rmitz.org/comics.html
http://www.amk.ca/books/h/User_Friendly.html
http://www.rdrop.com/~half/Creations/Writings/Rant s/ComicStrips.html

Enough already. Stop it.

why is userfriendly.org still on-line?

To: Illiad

We respectfully ask you to delete all content hosted at userfriendly.org at your earliest convenience.

What's currently hosted there is, by its astonishing amateurism and outright offensive unfunniness, diluting the "User Friendly" concept currently used by parodies of boring and badly drawn web comics based on the incessant repetition of ancient tech support jokes and stereotypical anti-Microsoft zealotry.

These parodies are facing a bleak future, when there are sites like yours that are honestly intended to be "entertaining" by using even more tired clichés and even worse artwork than the parodies. How are parody authors supposed to survive if the objects of parody suddenly start to express the parodied traits even more extremely than the parodies?

http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=1999-04 -07
http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=1999-08 -20&res=l
http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2000-04 -17
http://www.somethingawful.com/features/usarfreindl ey/
http://www.somethingawful.com/jeffk/computarfunnys /comic-11.htm
http://www.somethingawful.com/jeffk/computarfunnys /comic-20.htm
http://www.somethingawful.com/jeffk/computarfunnys /comic-27.htm
http://www.somethingawful.com/jeffk/computarfunnys /comic-32.htm
http://www.somethingawful.com/jeffk/computarfunnys /comic-39.htm
http://somethingawful.com/inserts/articlepics/phot oshop/variety3/Eegah_comic.jpg
http://www.themushroom.com/mush0122/unfriendlyuser .html

http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=user%20fr iendly
http://internettrash.com/users/theepisodes/keenshi t.htm
http://rmitz.org/comics.html
http://www.amk.ca/books/h/User_Friendly.html
http://www.rdrop.com/~half/Creations/Writings/Rant s/ComicStrips.html

Enough already. Stop it.

why is userfriendly.org still on-line?

To: Illiad

We respectfully ask you to delete all content hosted at userfriendly.org at your earliest convenience.

What's currently hosted there is, by its astonishing amateurism and outright offensive unfunniness, diluting the "User Friendly" concept currently used by parodies of boring and badly drawn web comics based on the incessant repetition of ancient tech support jokes and stereotypical anti-Microsoft zealotry.

These parodies are facing a bleak future, when there are sites like yours that are honestly intended to be "entertaining" by using even more tired clichés and even worse artwork than the parodies. How are parody authors supposed to survive if the objects of parody suddenly start to express the parodied traits even more extremely than the parodies?

http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=1999-04 -07
http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=1999-08 -20&res=l
http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2000-04 -17
http://www.somethingawful.com/features/usarfreindl ey/
http://www.somethingawful.com/jeffk/computarfunnys /comic-11.htm
http://www.somethingawful.com/jeffk/computarfunnys /comic-20.htm
http://www.somethingawful.com/jeffk/computarfunnys /comic-27.htm
http://www.somethingawful.com/jeffk/computarfunnys /comic-32.htm
http://www.somethingawful.com/jeffk/computarfunnys /comic-39.htm
http://somethingawful.com/inserts/articlepics/phot oshop/variety3/Eegah_comic.jpg
http://www.themushroom.com/mush0122/unfriendlyuser .html

http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=user%20fr iendly
http://internettrash.com/users/theepisodes/keenshi t.htm
http://rmitz.org/comics.html
http://www.amk.ca/books/h/User_Friendly.html
http://www.rdrop.com/~half/Creations/Writings/Rant s/ComicStrips.html

Enough already. Stop it.

A new GBA?

Does the new one still cut through a tomato and exorcise Daemons? Also, I need to be sure that the new one still won't cause leprosy and blindness.

A nice article on what its really like to be a game tester.

For a good personal account of game testing and the medium, check out this entry at Penny Arcade. It's a good description of the ups and downs of being a game tester.
--

For a good personal account of game testing and the medium, check out this entry at Penny Arcade. It's a good description of the ups and downs of being a game tester.
--

To be true to the original, you should write "radiation detection wrist watch!!! more like celda"

I've heard that the color gameboy screens do exactly this, and are very low-power to boot. So, I can't help but wonder why no one has come forward with a `front-lit' monitor, and sold each for several times what they are worth.

If you'd used one, you'd know why.

More like Celda.

bang!!! tch-tch-tch!! tch-tch-tch!! tch-tch-tch!! whack! thump! AAARRRGGGHHH!! MUST KILL MAVAV!!!!!!!!! DIE MAVAV DIE!!!!!!!

No, vidiogames don't make violence.

Well, that certainly explains this.

The site is convincing enough that Tycho and Gabe (the creators of PA) weren't even entirely sure themselves:

"But as regards the dreaded Mavav, I think we have very little to worry about.

In fact, I am prepared to call it a hoax.

I hate moms just as much as the next guy, but that site doesn't have the taint of mom. It has the taint of fancy lads trying to get your blood up. No articles. No privacy policy. Some of the language and word choice rings false. The hyperbole takes a step too far, even for a concerned parents site, to hold any water.

Here is my backup plan: If it does turn out to be real and I just didn't believe it, well, that's because I've reached this, like, hyperspace, higher plane of cynicism where all reality and the people in it are a ridiculous pageant for my amusement.

Well, that certainly explains this.

The site is convincing enough that Tycho and Gabe (the creators of PA) weren't even entirely sure themselves:

"But as regards the dreaded Mavav, I think we have very little to worry about.

In fact, I am prepared to call it a hoax.

I hate moms just as much as the next guy, but that site doesn't have the taint of mom. It has the taint of fancy lads trying to get your blood up. No articles. No privacy policy. Some of the language and word choice rings false. The hyperbole takes a step too far, even for a concerned parents site, to hold any water.

Here is my backup plan: If it does turn out to be real and I just didn't believe it, well, that's because I've reached this, like, hyperspace, higher plane of cynicism where all reality and the people in it are a ridiculous pageant for my amusement.

I think Penny Arcade covers this topic best.

ALL Online RPGs are like this.

There are a couple of reasons to make multiplayer games. First, it's a cheap way to get good AI. Good AI is hard, and it's easy to slap a people in chairs.

Second, there can be positive interaction, like chatting with friends. That can be good for the player experience.

Third, and this is not insignificant, it's much easier to stop piracy if the player *must* log into a server to play.

Okay. That pretty much sums up the pros of multiplayer gaming. Now for the cons.

First, player interaction can be pretty negative. I think Penny Arcade saidit best: "And those you encounter online are, almost as a rule, complete and utter cockmongers." Players will happily cheat, get angry and harass people, attack connections, etc, etc.

Second, multiplayer games with a central server frequently have monthly fees.

Third, single player games can be played...well, just about forever. If you loved X-COM, you can still sit down and play a good game of it. Players of the (much more recent) Weapons Factory Quake 2 mod are far more difficult to find.

Fourth, a computer can lose and lose and lose, and doesn't care. Players generally like to win more than half the time, which doesn't work too well for competitive multiplayer games (and purely cooperative games, while really neat, are *very* rare). So if players are playing an RTS, someone is probably getting unhappy.

Fifth, multiplayer games are much more open to failures. Firewalling, network problems, a slow connection, traffic from other users...all can contribute to be a real annoyance to the player playing the game.

Sixth, multiplayer games (with a *few* exceptions, like play-by-email games) must be real-time. To avoid inconveniencing other players, there is no pause feature. You can't get up and stretch or answer the door or do what you want whenever you want.

Seventh, it's very difficult to do a reasonably good plot-based multiplayer game. I can't think of any multiplayer games that use plot to much advantage.

I've looked at the shift towards online games with a profound lack of excitement. Sure, it's great for game companies, but it isn't all that great for game players.

Already, game companies are so eager to get on the game bandwagon that they've thrown a glut of games into every "fad" multiplayer genre that's come out. Three years or so ago, it was multiplayer FPSes. Everyone and their brother had to have a multiplayer FPS. More recently, a glut of "realistic" multiplayer FPSes has come out. There was a *huge* explosion in MMORPGs...and companies kept entering a market that they knew was already saturated.

Few really good single player games have come out in the past few years. Max Payne -- I didn't play it, but it was so cinematic that I watched a friend play through the entire game. Very impressive piece of work, sold very well...and yet, unlike multiplayer games, it didn't spawn twenty clones the next year.

The single-player RPG market for the PC is also pretty weak. There's a few, mostly obscure games. Arx Fatalis is pretty impressive. Blade of Darkness.

Kind of sad, the shift away from single player games. It used to be that you could play a fifteen-year-old game. People did too, and loved the nostalgia. Pac-Man, 1943, Centipede. Four years from now, all of today's games will be dead, because there will be almost no one playing them. [penny-arcade.com]

ALL Online RPGs are like this.

There are a couple of reasons to make multiplayer games. First, it's a cheap way to get good AI. Good AI is hard, and it's easy to slap a people in chairs.

Second, there can be positive interaction, like chatting with friends. That can be good for the player experience.

Third, and this is not insignificant, it's much easier to stop piracy if the player *must* log into a server to play.

Okay. That pretty much sums up the pros of multiplayer gaming. Now for the cons.

First, player interaction can be pretty negative. I think Penny Arcade said
it best: "And those you encounter online are, almost as a rule, complete and utter cockmongers." Players will happily cheat, get angry and harass people, attack connections, etc, etc.

Second, multiplayer games with a central server frequently have monthly fees.

Third, single player games can be played...well, just about forever. If you loved X-COM, you can still sit down and play a good game of it. Players of the (much more recent) Weapons Factory Quake 2 mod are far more difficult to find.

Fourth, a computer can lose and lose and lose, and doesn't care. Players generally like to win more than half the time, which doesn't work too well for competitive multiplayer games (and purely cooperative games, while really neat, are *very* rare). So if players are playing an RTS, someone is probably getting unhappy.

Fifth, multiplayer games are much more open to failures. Firewalling, network problems, a slow connection, traffic from other users...all can contribute to be a real annoyance to the player playing the game.

Sixth, multiplayer games (with a *few* exceptions, like play-by-email games) must be real-time. To avoid inconveniencing other players, there is no pause feature. You can't get up and stretch or answer the door or do what you want whenever you want.

Seventh, it's very difficult to do a reasonably good plot-based multiplayer game. I can't think of any multiplayer games that use plot to much advantage.

I've looked at the shift towards online games with a profound lack of excitement. Sure, it's great for game companies, but it isn't all that great for game players.

Already, game companies are so eager to get on the game bandwagon that they've thrown a glut of games into every "fad" multiplayer genre that's come out. Three years or so ago, it was multiplayer FPSes. Everyone and their brother had to have a multiplayer FPS. More recently, a glut of "realistic" multiplayer FPSes has come out. There was a *huge* explosion in MMORPGs...and companies kept entering a market that they knew was already saturated.

Few really good single player games have come out in the past few years. Max Payne -- I didn't play it, but it was so cinematic that I watched a friend play through the entire game. Very impressive piece of work, sold very well...and yet, unlike multiplayer games, it didn't spawn twenty clones the next year.

The single-player RPG market for the PC is also pretty weak. There's a few, mostly obscure games. Arx Fatalis is pretty impressive. Blade of Darkness.

Kind of sad, the shift away from single player games. It used to be that you could play a fifteen-year-old game. People did too, and loved the nostalgia. Pac-Man, 1943, Centipede. Four years from now, all of today's games will be dead, because there will be almost no one playing them.