The Xbox One did not win me over this console generation. I’ve said a lot of bad things about the console since it came out, although suggesting that playing an Xbox One during pregnancy is dangerous to the fetus, might be the worst. I’ve made no secret about the fact that I play all my games on the PS4, that I’ve really enjoyed the PS4 Pro and that I’ve actually outfitted my entire family with Playstations so that we can all play together. A few years earlier I was a huge Xbox 360 fan and refused to even touch a PS3 controller. I was ready to love the Xbox One but it ended up being a big clunky device that couldn’t tell if it wanted to be my cable box or my game system. It felt slow and unfriendly to use and I don’t think I played it more than a handful of times. It’s a testament to his character that in spite of all this, Major Nelson still wanted me to have an Xbox One X a few days before release. It has honestly been years since I even thought about the Xbox but I decided to see what they had done since I left and what the new hardware had to offer. Just to be 100% clear, this was a free review version of the hardware given to me by MS. It was the same package they sent out to the big review sites from what I understand.

Monsieur Gabrille got home from Aus sooner than I did; he'd beaten Super Mario Odyssey by the time I'd even started it. I had a fantasy that I'd begin my journey on the way home, but I had Picross on there, and… I had Picross on there. If you have the sickness, I needn't say more. And if you don't, you might not see how a grid with some numbers by it could take precedence over a new Mario game.

He really spoke these words and then immediately started laughing. "That's probably a strip," he said.

One of the questions I heard a lot about PAX Unplugged was, "will Unplugged have its own pins?" and the answer of course is "shit yeah!"

Here's the comic.

Here's the comic Kris and I put together for the Make A Strip panel on Saturday, which in every way that tracks with my normal life was actually sometime Friday. I couldn't tell you when. I'm getting on a plane here in a second that - once they close the doors on me - is gonna fly for a real, real long time.

I woke up at five A.M. terrified that I had not put up the post, even though I thought I had done the math correctly about when the post needed to be executed and have been thinking about it constantly for two days. It's not a joke! Next you're gonna tell me it's Friday where you live. What? That's true?!?

I started taking Lexapro almost exactly 10 years ago and it has truly changed my life. Before medication I was dealing with crippling anxiety. I went back and found my post from 2008 where I tried to explain what chronic anxiety is like. I know it’s hard for folks who don’t have it to really understand. The things I worry/obsess about are trivial to most people. My wife might be concerned about something for a few minutes and then move on with her day but I would lose weeks to what is essentially a constant state of panic.

We rolled around and laughed the whole time we were writing these, just like old times, secure in the knowledge that we were probably the only ones that would.

Because of how the gears of the universe catch, pause, and clang, Morak is heading down to Australia on a solo flight. And, because we aren't allowed to overlap in any respect, this is an untenable, ghost-ridden scenario for him while it's a magic carpet ride for me.

I try not to spend a hundred percent of my time thinking about the shambling chaos that gnaws at the periphery, but it's hard not to notice the symptoms.

Gabe has managed to spread this Battle Royale disease to Kara, and it infected all the people I used to play Destiny with. I've told him repeatedly: this is not the cool game to play. He doesn't have the receptors to collate this kind of data. So if I want to play a game with… anyone, I'm playing this.

After we talked about Fortnite: Battle Royale last week, Greazy-E installed it on the PS4 here in our office and a stream of people from the building found themselves drawn inexorably toward it. Except Kiko. Kiko is staying out on principle.

We have a bunch of cool pins coming to Australia this year, including a Mickey Mouse pin! We're also bringing an incredible selection of Nintendo pins to the show as well as the brand new Master Sword pin. Just take a look at all this cool stuff!

I love playing PUBG with Kiko on Wednesdays. We even have an Emote dedicated to that stream - a chicken drummie with the no symbol around it - that designates us as Team NeverRoast, a fraternal order dedicated to failure in PlayerUnknown's BATTLEGROUNDS.

I’m excited to finally announce that Acquisitions Incorporated is coming to PAX Australia this year! We’re switching things up for this adventure though and moving Ac Inc. to a "galaxy far far away". That’s right, Omin Dran has opened an AI franchise in the Outer Rim and we’ll be playing Fantasy Flight’s Edge of the Empire.