It's Monday and that means there is a new First 15. In this one Tycho and I take a crack at a co-op puzzle game called Kalimba.

It turns out that running a press conference for a virtual reality thing is very hard when you can't actually communicate what makes it special in a normal video. It's similar to a few E3s ago, when the Playstation 3 was poised to herald an era of 3D. I can't remember: did that end up happening? It seems like it didn't end up happening. But the problem was the same: it would be like trying to tell someone about what it's like to be drunk, and then showing pictures of drunk people. It's incoherent.

I use Spotify for the same reason people used to use Xbox Live; their friends had it. Right? How much multiplayer do you want to play, and how much of that consists of you being ground into a powder by abusive strangers? It doesn't describe a truly authentic choice. Likewise, if I want to make sure I'm hearing a sufficient quota of weird-ass shit from the people I know, Spotify trivializes the "here is my playlist" process. Then I can split this playlist from the bottom to the top and throw out the garbage.

Our first week of the new and improved PATV continues with the DLC Podcast Show today. It's the same old DLC podcast but now you can watch me draw the strip as you listen to us write it.

We decided that we had to commemorate this bizarre crew somehow, and what better way to do it than to publicly shame my lack of everything that is required for valor. See if you can recognize any of the members of my incredibly high profile squad. The upper left and lower right are, in the manner of Bingo, free squares.

On Friday we launched a bunch of new shows on our YouTube channel and laid out a new schedule. Today is Monday which means there is a new First 15 available. This time Tycho and I sit down and play some Motorcycle club. Check it out!

My NINETY SIX year old GRANDMA just TWEETED me about my new YOUTUBE show.

Hatred really isn't a big deal. I don't mean, like, hating. Don't do that! I'm talking about the game Hatred, which is crazypants. If you want to know about it, it's basically a twin-stick shooter, which is whatever. I would never have known about it if there hadn't been such a breathless, plainly mercenary attempt to capitalize on the game's unvarnished, thoroughly amateur depiction of violence. That said, if someone is super good at Hatred call the police.

After a year long break we are finally getting back into producing Penny Arcade video content. We’re not just bringing back the old series though, we’re trying something brand new and honestly way cooler I think.

When we were running the original Club PA, in what almost certainly qualifies as Back In The Day, we would sometimes offer up bonus versions of comics or even exclusive ones. For a time, we did an extra strip altogether. It seems like if you are a member of a club called Club PA, maybe more PA is a good idea for that person. I understand such things are known as "incentives." Business is not my department! But an extra comic still seems like a good idea, so we're gonna do that. You'll get the new strip and a mini-post ("postito") that accompanies it in the Newsletter each month, though they'll eventually be archived for members on the site also. I really liked the first one.

There are tons of games I would like to write comics about, but there are a couple very specific challenges in this truly bizarre line of work. I am using the term "challenges" specifically for its hyperbolic thrust; I got it pretty fucking good here. But this is what I mean:

When I read that E3 was allowing "fans" to attend the show, and not merely those ostensibly associated with the journalistic edifice, I was like… well, yeah. I've been doing that with PAX for a decade or so and it's worked out pretty good. But fans means something very specific in this context: it means people invited by the exhibitors directly. Which gave me a second opportunity to say "well, yeah" in an incredibly short span of time.

The first part of the strip is absolutely true: his haircut man was not available. It's a continuum of human experience I'm not connected to in any way. I "cut my hair" the way a druid gathers mistletoe: under a full moon, with a scythe.

I was lucky with my own bandmates, actually; I was always the least reliable, least talented member, so disappointment tended to flow reliably in the opposite direction. I only played guitar at a couple shows, ever. I mostly just brought a microphone, or put it in someone's bag at practice so it would arrive without effort on my part, then hit the bar before the show to down a Snake Bite to sand the edge off my nerves. Then I'd hand a drink and a blank cassette to the guy at the board, and after the show I would listen to the tape on the way home, and make a thorough accounting of my failures.

They are available! I am by no means a golf expert; I come mostly for the buffet and the intensely shared fellow-feeling. For your calendar:

Last week I attended a special "Art Night" at my kid's school. I ended up spending the evening drawing with elementary school kids and had a great time. Here's some of my doodles: