Today’s comic strip is another one taken right from real life. About a month ago I decided I wanted to turn my garage into a classic arcade. I spent huge chunks of my youth in places with names like Electron Palace, Tilt, and Wonderland. I imagine the same desire that drives another 35 year old man to buy the car he could never have as a kid is the same one that made me want to fill my garage with games from 25 years ago.

Arcade Cabinets are less magical than they seem. We associate them with feats of mystical transfer, of impossible travel, because they are close by when the magic occurs. But they're not doors; they are more like door frames. The guts are typically one of a few standardized boards tuned to whatever experience the owner has decided upon, hooked into a screen, and also wired to a plate where button holes of various configurations have been punched through. Because the meat of that plate is functionally invisible, like so much of the cab, the solder is often, uh... enthusiastic. Let's go with that. There are buckets inside to hold children's money until a slightly agitated veteran of the Vietnam War comes to wring them out. At least, that's what I remember.

Because it it a true PAX, it must also have an Omegathon - just as it was written in the ancient scrolls. We've made the calls, and the players are locked in, but what will they be playing?!? I have the answer. The rounds are, in order:

In my opinion there is almost nothing that is not improved by making it turn based. RPG’s, Fighting games, Root Beer. I love dem turns. Arena of Heroes is a turn based MOBA and I’ve been having a lot of fun with it today. Like any MOBA it’s free and this one you can play on PC, Mac or iPad. How about a Windows 8 version for tablets?

The official page is up now, and there's super cool stuff on there. Antichamber I knew about before - indeed, I have it installed! - but Black Annex, DUET, Fractured Soul, InFlux, and MacGuffin's Curse were all new to me.

I'd just like to state for the record that I actually really like the tile shit. I’m still 100% in love with my Surface Pro, especially after the last week. We've been in the process of moving into a new office and for a while we were in the new space but none of our stuff was here. The new office has a large lobby area that we have filled with couches and so everyone just hung out there with their laptops. It was actually really fun having everyone in the same space but it’s much harder for me to work that way since I make the strip on a big ass Cintiq. Thanks to the Surface Pro I was able to hang out in the lobby with everyone else and draw all week though. I produced a bunch of strips and even the new Daughters of the Eyrewood artwork I posted, all on my Surface.

I think I've already said it, but it's relevant, so I'll say it again: the times when I would upgrade an operating system simply because another operating system is available are over.

We thought it would be fun to submit some, but they're actually in-game now - we thought it was going to be a couple weeks, minimum! Anyhow, they're in there. The game is rad, also - I think Zeboyd did a hell of a job.

Some new Daughters of the Eyrewood art. I think this will end up becoming the cover for the PAX Prime guide this year.

I hadn't really followed the Ouya very closely, other than to note the supernatural sum generated by its Kickstarter. I have a lot of machines that can play games, so if someone tells me they are making one also, I am usually fine saying "cool" and then waiting to see how things shake out.

Here's the new Gabeart:

Thanks to the Kickstarter a while back we don’t have that many ads left on the site. We still try and make sure that the ads we do have are for games worth checking out. Even then it’s awesome when we get ads for a game I am incredibly excited about. I discovered Duel of Champions a few months ago and I have played it nearly everyday since.

I can only play The Last of Us in short bursts.

At root, if someone wants to know if they're welcome at PAX, we've got a strong record on that front: we have panels every show that advance this very conversation, precisely because they're submitted by attendees. We don't define the show because we can't. It is, in many ways, not our show.

I’ve spent the last few days trying to apologize to people I hurt. I’ve been doing it via email and I’ve given out my phone number a lot. I realize I was wrong and I’m genuinely sorry. I also realize I can’t possibly apologize on the phone to each and every person I hurt. I’m going to keep trying, but I’ve also decided to personally make a donation to the Trevor Project of $20,000.00. I also plan to keep interacting with people on a personal level and I understand that will be an ongoing process. In the meantime I’m hoping this donation will do some real good for a group that desperately needs it.

Okay let’s talk about what happened yesterday.