Please come in and sit down. We need to talk about PAX Prime.

There is something we pay attention to here that you probably don't, but after I tell you, it's entirely possible that you'll play along: we like to the play "the preview game."

After a long, long stretch of games which more or less attempted to duplicate World of Warcraft, games whose white ribs now reach up out of the sand or have taken on some twisted new form - there's a crop out there in various states of completion that is showing us some new things. Well, thing.

The rumor of some kind of Playstation all-stars battle royale has finally molted, becoming fact, in a new game called Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale. Maybe it's good, I don't know. It's certainly competent in its execution. Whenever it comes time to compare dicks, I mean Exclusives, Sony wins that kind of fight. So it's odd that this looks like some Go-Bots tier Johnny Come-Lately type shit.

I've played a lot of Trials already, like, a lot; mostly during a period where Gabriel did not use computers for games which were not Massive and/or Multiplayer, so he had no idea what he was getting into. For developer RedLynx, Trials is more genre than specific title: I own three games from them, make that four, and they are all very... trialsy.

Our second annual Child’s Play golf Tournament is coming up on June 8th. It’s actually the Friday after E3 so if you’re in LA for the show already, why not stay and play golf with us for Child’s Play! You can watch some footage from last year’s event over on PATV. It was an absolute blast and I can’t wait for this year.

We usually try to go somewhere after a PAX, and we do, but after the last PAX East retreat it became clear that Penny Arcade is made up of Young People on one side and Families on the other side, and young people are feral as a category. It wasn't a good match; with our new Separate Vacations technology, they can go to their rave parties and puff on cheeba while we can go about the business of creating a lasting culture. Gabriel had gone to something called a Great Wolf Lodge at one point, and did not die, which seemed to recommend it as a destination.

A decade ago, I linked to Guild Software's spaceship MMO Vendetta Online, which promised multiplatform play in addition to its stellar shenanigans. They're still going, and they're looking for new blood. To that end, they have me a huge bank of month-long trial codes to dispense. Simply approach the Code Dispenser Machine for yours.

Functionally speaking, the comic is about Hero Academy but we may expand the viewport to include the entirety of our whole entire relationship and these sweeping arcs are retained.

With our Warmachine tournament well and truly over, the original tabletop group has begun to clamor for a return to Pursuit of Destiny - the D&D campaign that, for many of them, marks their first true investment in a character. As my role lies largely on the Narrative and Performance axis, I'm ready to start carving this fucking bird.

I used to suggest books to Gabriel purely in order to Civilize him. I would select a book as though I were selecting a whip and then I would beat the shit out of him with my whip-book. We're far more aligned now, and so suggestions can more easily flow in either direction. His taste level has improved considerably, no doubt a function of my tutelage and proximity, while my own taste level has been seared irreparably by his gutter filth. The happy medium, from where I am sitting, is a literary slaughterhouse.

we had some great panels this year at PAX East. I always enjoy our Q&A’s because they are such a rush. Going on stage in front of four thousand people with no idea what you’re going to talk about for the next hour is fucking wild. If you could see me backstage before the curtain opens you’d see me jumping up and down with nervous excitement. Our final Q&A of the show on Sunday was truly special. If you’d like to see me cry on stage you can watch it right here:

Even if it is your job to like games, it is entirely possible to miss them because as a result of time's specific and intractable properties. For example, and there's a nontrivial shame factor involved in this announcement, I just started playing Dungeon Raid. It's almost a year old. It looks like Match 3, but it's not exactly; it's like a four dimensional slot machine crossed with the Lament Configuration. Gabriel discovered it in the grip of a terrible fever; I can only imagine how its themes of subterranean terror must be enhanced.

I was talking to Keek and Mike about a dude I'd met at PAX in the tabletop room, while he was painting some terrain he'd brought. I recognized it (and him, actually) from Kickstarter immediately, and I wished him success. I was telling them about it under the presumption that the Kickstarter was already over, because I'd seen it a long time ago. It's not over, it turns out - there's about eighteen hours left on it, which means you can get some pretty amazing buys on a bunch of really sharp accessories were you so inclined.

I'm not on excellent terms with my body, but if I stay moderately clean and flood my sinus cavity with jets of warm saline it is generally able to withstand illness. Not so for my collaborator, whose earthly form is now being converted entirely into mucus.

Being old is weird, and I don't like it necessarily, but I'd still take it over being young. Both axis are laden with intractable bullshit, but in the latter half of your life people can at least recognize your fundamental humanity.