Behold! Acquisitors, Part Two.

Because we are Kickstarter addicts, and our ravens see all, we caught wind of the Elder Wood Spellbook Gaming Boxes and began to covet them in earnest. We had a fantasy about them making an super fancy Acquisitions Incorporated themed one, maybe with corporate approved spell lists, equipment options from the company store, and other guidance for the franchisee. Then we remembered that Elder Wood isn't just, like, an old forest - they're actual people you can talk to. They wanted to do it, too. Time was tight with PAX Aus coming up, but Kiko put together a solid design and materials configuration, I wrote up all the flavor text, Toonhound Studios handled the art duties, and we were off to the races. If you want to see our official box - or any of their other rad stuff - check out the campaign, which only has eleven days left to go.

Because Gabe, who is also Mike, is now a 24/7 vomit fountain, we're going to alter some of the panels. In the future, maybe we can have a panel that focuses on vomit and engages all sides of the vomit debate, though I suspect we may have to find a place that sells Purell and tarps wholesale.

I will not be able to attend PAX Australia this year. It sucks. Now let me tell you why.

The original plan was to start running these next week, when were en route/at/leaving PAX Aus, but something came up that I'll let him tell you about. Long story short, getting ahead on the strip turned out to be a pretty Goddamn good idea.

In The Taken King, you can jump into a "Strike Playlist." For the uninitiated, it means that you strap into a kind of electronic ride where you are slotted with your team into a functionally endless string of mini-raids. This roster isn't super deep, but there are a few different ways for them to go down so it's mostly okay. For the players, I mean. They're fine. They get a steady stream of forgotten, borderline mystical hats.

This thing is coming up quick, which means I got to get some information out there. It's like this:

If you have a handle that some people don't like, Riot will give you a new handle. Then, you have two choices. Well, three. You can always keep the new name. You could also give them about ten bucks and change your name. Or, you can subject yourself to a psychological battery, play a bunch of games in the "stocks" of your new handle, and then take the survey a second time I guess to see if you have been rehabilitated.

Hey Pin Pals, here's a look at what we have cooked up for PAX Australia!

So, here's an index of the difference between myself and my friend Mork. If I see some words, I read them right away. I mean, I don't even "read" them as such. I absorb them and they are incorporated instantly. Mork, on the other hand, will buy a game because he sees the cover art and thinks it must be the sequel to Bravely Default when it is actually a totally other game called The Legend of Legacy.

It might come as a surprise to you but we don't have anything to do with the panels at PAX. They are submitted by you guys and we just try and make room for all the things you want to talk about. We are specifically looking for folks who actually want to speak at the show. So if you have a panel and you're ready to bring it to PAX South, let us know.

It's quite true! We were very nearly in Minecraft: Story Mode. I was very excited and told my son, in an effort to condense for him into a physical being, but alas it was not to be. Do you want to see what we would have looked like in there? I think it's pretty cool:

Here's a quick look at all the Penny Arcade content happening at PAX Aus this month.

It seemed like more of a Tycho line, so we gave it to him. Or, me. Whoever. Except that while I like watching the beta of Star Wars: Battlefront, I don't especially like playing it and haven't really sought it out.

Back in 2002 I wrote a news post about the multiplayer in the new Jedi Knight II game. I was apparently not impressed with the multiplayer and I suggested an alternative:

The rumor was that Dislike was en route to Facebook, but I don't think that was ever an authentic option and would corrode the service. It was eventually determined that Liking Things wasn't sufficiently granular, and so there are a raft of New Likings being rolled out. Except they're missing a few key inflections that apply to ninety-nine point four percent of posts.