I know that technically the “holiday season” has come to an end and we exist in a post holiday world now, but I think we could all still use some holiday cheer. That’s why I’d like to direct your attention to the Acquisitions Inc. holiday special that is available today on Amazon! This is a brand new adventure run by the incredible Chris Perkins and featuring AI players Jerry Holkins, Scott Kurtz, Patrick Rothfuss and myself. If you’re a Prime member the show is free and if you’re not, it will only run you $4.99. That’s more than three hours of D&D shenanigans for only five bucks!

Gabriel took ill, and had a vision; I have entered it into the archives for posterity, in case future generations may gain wisdom thereby.

It’s true that sometimes companies send me stuff. I guess I am what PR people call an “influencer”. If the stuff is dumb you never hear about it but occasionally I get something really cool and I’m happy to share it with you all. In this case I got two Star Wars drones from the folks at Propel and they are super cool.

The account at tycho@penny-arcade.com, having existed for several Ages as the Internet reckons time, is like a core sample of marketing evolution.

I had today's strip named "The Eyes Have It," even though we had a strip named that in 2000, because there has to be a statute of limitations on this shit. But then a Twitter Person claiming to be "Eric Baldwin" wondered why I hadn't named the strip "Vitreous Humor," which is an amazing name that I stole instantly.

When I woke up this morning, someone asked me on the Tweetzor if today's strip was based on this story, where police think what an Amazon Echo may or may not have recorded might be the key to solving a murder. It wasn't; it really was that Kara got one for Christmas and, in fact, really does like it and does play George Michael songs on it. But the strip could also be referencing Cayla, and how she is your best friend, but she is also best friends with companies that do voiceprint analysis for the law enforcement, military, and intelligence communities.

This was the Christmas of A.I. at my house. Pretty much everyone got some kind of thinking machine primed to kill. My youngest son Noah asked for and received from Santa a Hatchimal. This was a little robot creature that literally birthed itself from an egg in our living room. I have to admit to not being especially impressed with the Hatchimal. It makes some goofy noises and scoots around on the floor but overall I’m not too concerned with this thing taking over the planet.

2016 is fucking trash, and continues to be so.

There is a podcast where Mr. Gribs and I are trying to decide if we're going to go hard on this FF, and my counterpart confesses that he doesn't really understand the setting at all. We go into some of that confusion in a comic, actually: are these odd angles and juxtapositions intentional, or are they just a fucking mess, or are they the result of an interminable and troubled development cycle, or what.

Every PAX has things that give it a unique texture; The PAX South Indie Showcase - their version of the PAX 10 - is all tabletop stuff. It's a part of the show I definitely do not miss, and you shouldn't either. Here's a list of your favorite games, circa 2017:

Well, I was doing shit. I still am! But I felt strongly compelled to see the movie before this strip was released, just to head a motherfucker off at the pass. Technically, I could have headed them off elsewhere. That's true. But the pass is a very traditional venue.

I drew your kids as Lookouts.

We watched some Twitch IRL and then immediately - as in, like, a minute later - wrote this comic. What is Twitch IRL? Twitch IRL is not the other channels. That's what I was able to derive from the FAQ. I just play games on there, man; this shit is all new to me. I watched a stream where a silent woman ate soup for about fifteen minutes. There's a channel for it. But apparently if you were there, alone, and you didn't have soup, then you're the Mayor of Trouble Town. I'm still learning how to writhe in public; roll through the Hearthstone stream at 2pm PST to see what kind of hairy plum Josh makes me eat this time.

I would be remiss not to mention that if you purchase your PAX South Tickets by December 18th - this Sunday - said Tickets will be mailed straight to your house. This is a profound convenience, and you can rest in the pillowed softness that is not picking up your tickets at Will Call.

You know what? I think I DO like Final Fantasy XV. Enough to solicit aid from the Internet, which went more or less like a Web "It's Cancer" M.D. search generally does. I'm being uncharitable. In truth, their advice made me a thousand times fucking better at Final Fantasy, which I was playing one hundred percent wrong.

Our merchandise manager Lidija is always trying to get me to wear our stuff on the stream, but I never know what the official policy is on that. I don't mean our official policy, which is apparently "wear it," but the policy in general: is that like wearing a band shirt, if you are, yourself, in that band? But it was super fucking cold in the studio so I wore the Video Games sweatshirt and then I didn't take it off for two days. Its premium fit and maternal warmth made me come to believe it was my own skin, and I was thus loathe to remove it. Sizes for everybody, and there's even a new color. Behold!