They had to throttle the podcast down to 40k or so, because it was burning up the equipment at fully one hundred megabits per second.  Between no podcast at all and a podcast that takes longer to come down, we opted for the latter.  Also, I just uploaded a new version of the cast altogether, with a couple edits and "Gabe's" volume a little more normalized.  We wear the microphones differently, which creates a much more pronounced disparity than I would have expected.  The new file being copied probably resulted in a few partial downloads - sorry about that.  Also, fixed the ID3 info. 

Update:  Um, the throttling seems to be truncating the files.  I'll let you know when it's "cool."

Ultra Mega Update™:   Utilizing a strange metallic disc discovered with a buried pharaoh, we were able to resolve the issue. 

Five new servers are being installed today.  The new hardware should hopefully put us out ahead of curve for a while.

Hopefully.

(CW)TB

I'm hoping this means good things for me - Namco Bandai just released their next-gen E3 lineup, and Culdcept Saga is on there.  It had been announced recently in Japan for the 360 of all things.  This is precisely the sort of game the Xbox seems to repel, quirky Eastern marvels with a strategy bent.  As I have mentioned, the satirical entity "Salad Master" is based on Culdcept, and Culdcept is actually more ridiculous in some ways. 

I mentioned it because I'm almost desperate in my anticipation, but also because it would give mean excuse to link the Babelfish translation of the site.  Automated translations are usually pretty good for amusement purposes, but this one is especially rich.  Don't forget to visit the different menu items.  You'll thank me.

(CW)TB

A new episode of Downloadable Content - The Penny Arcade Podcast has been made available.  As always, you can subscribe to our iTunes compatible feed here.

To be a PAX Volunteer?  To, as we say, take the black?   Are you Enforcer Material?  If it sounds like something you'd be interested in, then by all means - fill out this form and mail it over to Kristin Lindsay, who you may come to know as Princess Red Dot.  Saturday is the last day we'll be accepting applications, after which we'll board the Prize Bus and go from state to state presenting huge checks.

Okay, not really.

(CW)TB

No doubt there is considerable enthusiasm for the rumored couple minutes of Halo 3 at this year's E3, but I couldn't help thinking about the Goddamn deathmarch the people over at Bungie have been in for what has got to be going on eight years now. I guess I shouldn't invent motivations for them.  As people are bored by the time we have created the third panel of a comic, we may represent a statistical abberation. Maybe they still like Halo.  You know?  Maybe they are unstoppably enthusiastic.   Maybe they are angels and they can fly around the fucking room. 

I don't expect difficulties like this to be a common occurrence, but coming up on E3 everyone here is basically going all the time - Kiko is our audiomancer on this project, and he had to finish up actual work before he could sink his teeth into yesterday's raw audio.  We're planning on maintaining the schedule next week, so that'll mean another one on Wednesday, and we've got a system set up on Gabe's laptop that should let us record and edit podcasts while we're at E3 the week after. 

I feel pretty bad about the whole thing, and I'm sorry.  The podcasts are my favorite thing about the site at the moment.

(CW)TB

We here at Penny Arcade make it a point to avoid politics for the most part and I don’t want to have that conversation now. But I did get this email today and I thought it was pretty amazing.

I thought I’d post a drawing I did last week for my wife. This is her WOW character Kimbela. You can see my inks on top and then Joe Pekar’s incredible colors underneath.

MC Frontalot, Penny Arcade's rapper laureate, has comitted himself to the rigors of a tour.  Is he playing near you?  Maaaaybe.  There is also a documentary being produced to chronicle his struggles etc., and for a taste of the aforementioned there is a torrent for the trailer here. 

Also, for New York fans of The Front, he is apparently having some kind of signing.  Observe:

"Front is doing a public meet & greet at Forbidden Planet comics in NYC (Broadway & 13th). Everyone who shows up can put one word on a list and then on the bus ride home he will write a rap that has all the words in it. Later, he will make a recording of it. Also, the person who puts in the best word (judge of best word: Front, duh) gets a signed Penny Arcade Expo 2005 DVD. There will be shirts and CDs too."

My goodness!  Our little Front, he is all growed up.

(CW)TB

You really must be joking. What names were rejected, that something like Wii remained vertical at the end of it?

I have these strange lumps in my body that grow every year. I mostly try to put it out of my mind, but they do stir occasionally, like kittens below the skin. I sometimes wonder what is inside them.

We actually wrote Monday's strip a little ahead of when we usually would, so secure were we in the idea that Silent Hill was legally bound to bring the heat.  After you have shuffled past the spent cartons of this or that, the movie snack graveyard, and eyes have begun to adjust to ordinary light levels, that "conversation" everyone always has begins.  That's something we wanted to recognize.  When we returned from the theater, a place we now associate with darkness and pain, we wrote the strip that we eventually posting - I like the new one a good deal better.  Just the same, in the way that the podcasts illuminate scaly or vestigial comics, I thought I might as well post the other script - the one from that sun-dappled kingdom of shapeless potential, before we'd seen the film in question.

Frame 1:

Tycho:  Listen, I'll get my coat.  I'll go see it with you.

Gabe:  <i>No. You already had the critical after-movie talk.  With
Blake.  (ptoo)

I spit on his name!

Tycho:  I don't know what you're talking about.

Frame 2:

Gabe:  You know, you come out of there, high on <i>movie, and you're
talking about all your favorite parts.  It's the <i>digestion.

Gabe:  That's what I'm talking about.  That's what I <i>want.

Tycho:  You'll see.  It'll be like I never even saw it.

Frame 3:

Gabe:  Oh, man!  How awesome was that part!  The one with the <i>guy.
When he <i>emerged?  Wasn't it cool?

Tycho:  Yeah, I guess it was cool.

<i>Yesterday.

(CW)TB

When last we spoke, I was considering the timing and severity of my punishment. You see, I'd just won some kind of contest to see Silent Hill early, and I'd gotten it into my head that the universe would do me some injury for it.  The turnaround on this one, cosmically speaking, was brisk. I was not yet prepared for the idea that the blessing and the curse might be concomitant.

So Downloadable Content: The Penny Arcade Podcast is number 4 on iTune’s list of the most popular podcasts. We’re actually right behind ESPN and right above Happy Tree Friends. Bet you little fuckers aren’t so happy now huh?

When good things happen to me, it is hard to enjoy them because I am sure I must suffer an equal amount at some future time. I don't know where this idea came from.  I don't actually believe that there exists a comprehensive spiritual physics.  All the same, this imagery is so vivid that it must have some origin beyond my transient mortal equipment: a blinding God of polished brass, one hand heavy with my blessings, the other exquisite palm raised in imminent violence. 

I edited the files so that all the information is in the ID3 now, so for those who download the files directly everything is now in place. iTunes really makes it look like everything is there, even when it is decidedly not there, so that's where the trouble came from. Also, I put in a couple new tags that help the feed itself resolve on aggregators aside from "the big dog."

(CW)TB