Penny Arcade, working out exclusivity deals with (the admittedly dwindling number of) videogame publishers? Are you guys out of your minds?

Galactic Civilizations was an extremely satisfying star empires game that did pretty much everything I wanted from the genre, and converted many from the Master of Orion III camp. That it was essentially an independent game I could purchase directly from developer Stardock is also something I appreciated.

One can hardly keep up with the level of consolidation and treachery in the industry anymore. My interest lies more in what these companies produce, so by and large I'm content just let them slink around in the dark and kill each other. Product, not production. To cite just one example, I'm interested in fruit - but not botany or agriculture. So there you have it.

I mentioned last week that we sent a fairly terse set of questions over to Blizzard. They're a lot more direct than developers are used to receiving. The crazy thing is, the answers we got back were a lot more direct than the interviews out there usually receive. Funny, that.

Last night in my guild chat window, I referred to the Fantastic Four trailer as grotesque - which I believe puts me in the running for biggest Goddamn nerd ever. It's a post whose rigors I plan to take very seriously. One of the responsibilities I've inherited is the creation of smart-alecky comic strips, which impugn the motives of potentially noble people.

Today's product covers many subjects of interest and import to our demographic, not the least of which is the latest salvo in the Marvel vs City of Heroes thing.

Okay, so I’ve been getting a lot of mail about the prints that we will have available at Emerald City Comic Con. I am aware that people have started selling their prints on eBay already and I knew that was bound to happen. There really isn’t anything I can do about it since they own the print they can do whatever they want with it. However, I want to avoid a situation where someone comes to ECCC and buys 25 prints and then just puts them all up for auction. The best way we can think of to avoid something like that is to limit the number of prints one person can buy to two. That way you can come and buy your print and if you have a friend who can’t make it you can pick up one more.

Okay, so I’ve been getting a lot of mail about the prints that we will have available at Emerald City Comic Con. I am aware that people have started selling their prints on eBay already and I knew that was bound to happen. There really isn’t anything I can do about it since they own the print they can do whatever they want with it. However, I want to avoid a situation where someone comes to ECCC and buys 25 prints and then just puts them all up for auction. The best way we can think of to avoid something like that is to limit the number of prints one person can buy to two. That way you can come and buy your print and if you have a friend who can’t make it you can pick up one more.

Okay, so I’ve been getting a lot of mail about the prints that we will have available at Emerald City Comic Con. I am aware that people have started selling their prints on eBay already and I knew that was bound to happen. There really isn’t anything I can do about it since they own the print they can do whatever they want with it. However, I want to avoid a situation where someone comes to ECCC and buys 25 prints and then just puts them all up for auction. The best way we can think of to avoid something like that is to limit the number of prints one person can buy to two. That way you can come and buy your print and if you have a friend who can’t make it you can pick up one more.

Thank you for mailing me and letting me know what you think of the prints. A few people had problems with bending during transit but Think Geek is taking care of those cases. Overall it seems like everyone was blown away by the print once they got it. Pictures really don't do it justice. The laser etching process gives the whole image a sort of glow that is really awesome. I'm really glad that everyone who got one is pleased with the final product. As always we learned a lot from this first limited edition print and we're going to change some things next time.

I'm aware that Blizzard credited all accounts two days of free play because of this weekend's difficulties - and I appreciate it. I don't like saying mean things. On the other hand, I like to tell the truth. Sometimes those two drives conflict.

Ikea delivers the products from their slick periodical, that's true, but they also deliver from a shadow catalog of human waste. I've seen the effects, and they are indistinguishable from conventional explosives.

I always feel strange when I see the Evil Avatar has picked up something we said and is posting it as "news". I don't think of the stuff we post here as newsworthy.

I just wanted to say that I agree with Tycho on this one. My opinion is that WOW is the best MMO ever made. The problem is that I don't get to play it nearly as much as I'd like. I think it's important to note that the only reason we're so upset here is because we want so desperately to play Blizzard's awesome game. It's the fact that these server outages and crazy bugs are keeping us from their masterpiece that makes us so frustrated. Even when I am able to log in it's often the case that the terrible lag makes their game equally unplayable.

There is apparently a new bot for Counter-Strike: Source coming out today, and we have created a preview which details its unique technology. As for the rest of the comic, I wish that it weren't but it's essentially true. My D&D playin' ways were responsible for everything from failed souffles to the dissolution of my family to problems of the ear, nose, and throat.