I'm out of town at the moment, my home utterly colonized by Genshin-addicted teens building their PAX West cosplay. I played it a million patches ago, so I don't even know who these hot boys they are trying to emulate even are. Tell me if this helps narrow it down: they have a novel hair color, an approachable androgyny, and radiate a safe sort of danger.

One of the things that’s so great about Penny Arcade is that it can be whatever Jerry and I want it to be. 24 years into the comic and sure it’s mostly about nerds doing nerd stuff but sometimes it’s an epic fantasy story about kids in a dangerous forest or a Sci-Fi western with heavy religious themes. Well it can also be a 1980’s cartoon about kids who unlock powerful “MECKS” through the use of music cassettes and a special tape deck. Check out Tape Mecks!

I don't even know what's going on with this Skull & Bones shit. Now that I'm a million years old, I try to comport myself with slightly more decorum than I did as a younger person. I was essentially one of those weird demons from Hellraiser. Now, I'm still a demon, but more like the kind of demon you might encounter if you call a service line for help with a networked printer.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is actually… very normal Star Trek, which shouldn't be startling in any way, except they stopped making it.

I have been doing a ton of drawing recently and the majority of it has been for the upcoming Marvel Snap card game! 

A comic wasn't even part of the deal; outside of the occasional strip auctioned at Child's Play, it's almost not a thing. Except that Gabriel couldn't believe anyone would make a game where the size of the word you spell is converted into damage, but there have already been a couple games like that plus that's what I do in real life. But yes! Writer's Block is a real game, one I did not develop or fund, in fact, they're gonna pay me to play it, even though they know in their heart of hearts I woulda done it for free. That's very nice of them!

The Penny Arcade iRacing league continues to grow as we enter its second year of operation. The league has over 300 drivers now and a regular schedule of events all week long. I always drop in for the Thursday night race which you can watch tonight on Twitch starting at 7:30PT! 

the show is really starting to come together behind the scenes, and we've just opened up Applications for new Enforcers at hashtag PAXWest 2022.  If you've ever been to a show that doesn't have Enforcers, you know the difference, and you can be part of it.  If it is your intention to join this hallowed order, it is a simple matter: you just head over to PAXWest22.com/Enforcer and make your will known.    

(CW)TB

It's bad for him to have a dork store so close, but it's bad for me too because I gotta drive by this thing on my way to his house. Technically, I gotta drive by it twice - once on the way, and once back - so they've literally got me coming and going. In my arrogance, I always assumed that was mere euphemism. But now I'm trapped between Scylla and Charybdis!

I feel for Ron. I don't even experience it anymore, to be honest - that… omnipresent malevolence. I'm conscious of it but it doesn't really touch me. I'm sure that's bad. I'm probably not the best person to ever draw breath, but purely as a ratio I've invested those breaths in other people more than I have myself. Eventually the caricatures become so cartoonish that it's a trivial matter to distinguish them from the truth.

I haunted their booth like a wailing spectre at PAX, and it was full almost the entire time. This is a really interesting take on building toys AND tactics, with an AI deck that can drive opponent ships. Come check it out!

I’ll be playing in this along with my eldest son Gabe who I call Gorb and who is turning 18 yo this year cuz I am very old. https://t.co/dgDlXxfdhw

— Gabe (@cwgabriel) July 1, 2022

(CW)TB

Ron Gilbert was talking about Monkey Island, but he's not gonna do that anymore because people were mean online. Which… I think they're always doing that. I don't observe this in order to absolve it; I've worked here for like twenty-five years or something and it's been like this from the jump. There had been threats of death, mutilation, and unspeakable violence almost from the beginning, but the earliest specific one I can remember is when I suggested that Final Fantasy VIII's "Draw" system didn't really do anything for me. I feel like, you know, the punishment doesn't really fit the crime there.

I think Valorant is pretty cool, but mostly to watch. In practice, it's like a Counter-Strike I'm even worse at. I'm never confused about why I died, but I'm not sure there is a training montage with enough buttressing power to get me legitimate on this one. I made my peace with it.

What are you doing on Wednesday? 

The title dates me substantially; there was a kind of bubble bath that was marketed as a woman's portal to a realm of luxurious pleasure. I need a type of cleansing bubble that operates exclusively on the mind.

Oh boy, oh boy!  Eric keeps bringing cool people into the studio.  Join Kiko and I as we learn the new version of Car Wars tomorrow afternoon.  Here's the thingy with all the stuff:

Tune in tomorrow from 3-5pm PT for a special #sponsored look at Car Wars Sixth Edition! @SJGames will be dropping by to show off all the latest automobile carnage, live on https://t.co/A9BCAQYM4H! pic.twitter.com/BQwHvtT6WV

— Penny Arcade (@PA_Megacorp) June 27, 2022