We're in Spokane for the Fourth of July, and presumably sometime after, as we wait for a break in the Bloodstorms to make our escape.

I wonder what the mix would be like at a convention devoted exclusively to Call of Duty. I got so good at muting the people who play that game that it became a kind of game in itself; I could mute more than one person per second at my apex, it was a point of pride. That shit is wall to wall brigands.

I’ve had a few people ask about the Alienware laptop in the strip. Some people want to know if I have one and if so, do I like it. A couple have even asked if I am getting some kind of payment for putting it in there. It’s probably worth mentioning that advertisers can not purchase space in the comic strip. That’s just not something we offer. The truth is I do have a couple Alienware machines and as far as my experience with them, it’s been sort of mixed.

It's true: you can see for yourself!  Well, technically, it's $112,099.73, but who's counting?  Me.  I am counting.

League of Legends is still a thing, that rare creature whose appeal slices through so many distinct strata that it can build consensus even in our fractious crew.

It really does!  Friday is the last day to register.  We just added a bunch more sessions to the almighty Schedule, too, for your perusal.  

I recorded today's stream:

There is really the most incredible offering of Bungie treasure going on now on eBay, in a sequence of unstoppable charitable auctions.  Some fairly shocking things in there, including original concept art for what we now understand is Halo.  Just amazing.

I read on Krizz Kaliko that Microsoft was ”rumored” to be approaching developers about Free To Play games on their service. But they aren’t rumored to be, as the steel mask of Kakrotticus knows full well - they are, because Free to Play doesn’t represent some rapidly plumping metastasized future. It represents the flowing and present ultranow.

They're cranking away over there for Child's Play, beavering for real, and I got to show them some love.  "Love" (in this case) being a euphemism for money.  I also feel real love for them, of course.  Incandescent love!  But that is more difficult to enumerate, and it doesn't buy anybody any toys. 

We’ve got two items available for pre-order on our store right now and each one sports a a little bonus for purchasing early.

It is an episode about your hosts.

When something arrives at the office for Gabriel there is a sort of dance that accompanies it, a small one, a festival in miniature to which he is the sole attendee. I saw this ritual peel away yesterday, peel and flake, like old wallpaper.

Tycho and I will be the fame in tomorrow’s Game with Fame event on Xbox Live. We will be playing Magic The Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalker 2012 Friday, June 24, from 1-2 PM PT (4-5 PM PT). If you would like to try and grab a game with us, send a friend request to Duels2Gabe or Duels2Tycho.

So I was actually able to get into the current friends and family beta for Star Wars: The Old Republic. It wasn’t too hard since technically I do have a friend over there. The tricky part is that Bioware, like a lot of places thinks of PA as “media” and they don’t want media playing it yet. I explained that we aren’t media, we prefer to think of ourselves as “enthusiasts”. They let me in but I had to pinkie swear that I wouldn’t talk about the game here on the site, or anywhere else for that matter. I’ve been playing it for a little over a month now and last week I asked if I could share some of my impressions with you all. It took some begging but finally they agreed and to their credit they didn’t ask to see what I was going to write first. Honestly they had no idea what I was going to say which must have been a little scary considering this is PA, but lucky for them I actually really like their game. So this isn’t a review or anything even close. What I’m playing is the beta and honestly changing all the time. I just wanted to share some of my impressions.