The new paradigm for loot in multiplayer action RPGs has been altered somewhat. Skeletons still explode with cash and prizes, that portion has been rigorously maintained. But the merchandise they drop essentially drops separately for each player, so you never have to worry if you picked up the wrong thing or got somebody's money or any of these other bookkeeping things (like Inventory Tetris) that used to be considered gameplay.

One of the things we wanted to to do with The Penny Arcade Report was to accompany it with an expressive visual aspect, and to that end we secured the services of Dabe Alan. We knew about him from his excellent resume, already: he applied for Erika's job, back in the day. I think he does great work in general, but I want to praise him specifically for the pictures he took at Bungie. Seriously, just shit hot.

This was a goofy joke when we wrote it at eleven or so yesterday morning, though it became less hilarious as the day progressed. During "normal hours," the failure of Blizzard to recall that Diablo is a popular game was a boon: I have my own shit to write. But later, when I began to prowl for leisure activities, and it occurred to me that I might utilize the sixty dollars of congealed entertainment I had recently purchased, I was not able to. And then I was, and then I wasn't, and then no wait it's still okay now it's back. Requiring that players be online is one thing - but we are! We're online right now! They're the ones who aren't online. Who watches the watchmen?!?!

In place of the word Anathem - which is the actual name of a book by Neal Stephenson - I inadvertently typed Anathema, a word that means "someone or something intensely disliked or loathed."

Neal Stephenson was my favorite author for a very long time, and The Diamond Age remains my favorite book, even if I can't read any of his newer books with so much as an approximation of enjoyment.

It's back, and everything you could possibly want to know (including how to submit panels) can be found at the official site.

Gabriel and and frequent collaborator Scott Kurtz were talking about how Draw Something barely meets the criteria for a game. Gabriel is not as good at Pictionary as you might think: he can draw, certainly, but when you apply a time pressure his whole shit falls apart. Drawing Quickly is a very particular skill, one you must choose at the time of character creation, and he took the traits "Abrasive" and "Annoyingly High Metabolism" instead.

Sometimes it’s nice to take a break from the normal nerd uniform of a T-Shirt and jeans. When you want or need to look a little nicer we’ve made First Party. These are well made pieces that can put a little class in your wardrobe while still representing your love of games.

Do you know what that is? It's kind of cool: ShiftyLook is essentially a series of webcomics (and now a podcast) by a ton of people digging way, way into Namco Bandai's back catalog. They have a bunch up now, but they've got a wider Dig Dug series on the way they roped Scott and us into. Looking forward to it.

It's entirely true for me, and for Gabriel, and perhaps even for you; there's seven point six gigs worth of wholly inert Diablo 3 dormant on one of our fixed disks.

The 2012 Child's Play golf tournament is halfway sold out now. I've decided this is my year to really get back into the game. I haven't played seriously in about 15 years. I played high school golf as a young man but I got sick of the competition and gave up the game to focus on my art. I love the game though and in just the last couple of weeks I've probably been out four times. I'm not shooting like I was when I was 18 but I'm having a blast and I'm getting better each time I go out.

I was super excited about Mobile Frame Zero, to the extent that I was sort of bummed when the Kickstarter succeeded because I loved going back for updates and seeing what people were building. I had a chance to recapture the old magic today when the rules preview popped up in my mailbox: you can grab them too, backer or no, and play games this week if you want to! It's conceptualized around Lego, but you can use whatever you want to. You aren't going to get in trouble, or anything; there's no international body that governs this.

I’m playing a lot of Tera right now. This is always when I regret playing a beta as I push through all the content I already saw. I’m playing a Sorcerer now though which is a change and that takes some of the sting out of doing all the same quests again. As of last night I finally hit the point that I got to in the beta (around level 18).

No, you can't actually name a star after a person. Well, you can, but nobody else will know about it and it doesn't matter. But what if you actually could, for reals?

Please come in and sit down. We need to talk about PAX Prime.

There is something we pay attention to here that you probably don't, but after I tell you, it's entirely possible that you'll play along: we like to the play "the preview game."