Here is a little Half-Life 2 comic for you. I'm writing this post at 11:30pm on Sunday, wondering idly to myself whether the game I have purchased on Steam (as well as the one some readers purchased in stores) will become available at midnight tonight, on the 15th, which is technically the "ship" date. Since it has already been "shipped" in a sense, and since most stores have the fucking thing and are just being told not to sell it, the term is absolutely incoherent anyhow. Basically, I'm wondering if I'll be up doing the same thing tomorrow night.

Gamespot's "Final Hours Of" articles have always really entertained me, and they've got one up for HL2 today. Gonna head over there now.

If we behave as civilized people do and omit Prince of Persia 3D from the true continuity of the series - relegating it to the realm of the misremembered and apocryphal - I can rightly be called a fan of the "whole shebang."

I updated the PA Presents page with teaser images for a couple of our new projects as well as a new wallpaper. As you can see we are doing two projects for Brothers in Arms. I can’t say anything about the first one except to say it’s not what you expect. The second one is similar to what we’ve done in the past. It’s an eight page story and tells the incredible if perhaps slightly exaggerated tale of one “Jumpin’ Jack”, a soldier in the 101st airborne.

I'd heard the rumor about there being no hard disk in the new Xbox, I've heard the rumor after that where it is suggested that you will store your content on a separate, Microsoft created "iPod killer" portable drive as well. Until Wednesday, I hadn't heard that Microsoft was planning fully three machines. Actually, we've heard that there are no less than three and a perhaps as many as six new versions of the Xbox hardware - this information is, of course, from our Truth Department. It needn't be said that this department abhors lies and strives in all things towards greater accuracy.

One of the bonus feats given to our people - at the very moment of character creation - is the ability to focus on something to the exclusion of all else, indeed, the exclusion of our own welfare.

There is a considerable amount of Halo wisdom to be imparted, and it may take the rest of this week and lo even unto the next week. I've had time now to check out the multiplayer a bit, though not as much as I'd like - I think I understand the system now at least, which took some doing.

Anyone who is on Microsoft's press list received an email on the sixth of this month, describing with a fastidious precision the sorts of things you can't say in your reviews. When taken in aggregate, these taboos cover virtually everything I want so desperately to tell you. Sorry. On the other hand, I don't have a copy of the game any more than you do - my playthrough was based largely on skullduggery. Not the leak, you understand, and certainly final code but still not precisely through official channels. So the release version of multiplayer - the only thing one can realistically depict without fear of reprisals - is a topic utterly outside my knowledge. So, now I have to apologize again. I do strive to be useful to you.

It is very strange to think that - with the acquisition of a house - I am now in possession of my own horrifying basement, which I am loath to enter.

When I said that Kara and I played Shadow Hearts 2 together I should have been more clear. Kara stole the controller from me around hour 12 and then I watched her play for the rest of the 50 hours it took us to beat it. So when I heard that LOTR: The Third Age had Co-Op I was pretty excited. I know that it's limited and amounts to me getting to control a character during random encounters and not much else but at least it's something. FF IX had the same feature and when you're talking about games that take forty or fifty hours to beat, the ability to occasionally input some commands is a real treat.

Fixes:

Grabbed Lord of the Rings: Third Age yesterday, and regardless of anything that is implied by the strip I'm perfectly happy with it - probably because I know what it is and I don't expect it to reform the genre. It is a delicious electronic pork rind, and I'm going to sit right here on the Goddamn couch and eat it.

Gabriel would be angry with me if I did not at least mention the Episode III teaser they have over there at File Rush.

I’m getting a lot of positive mail about today’s comic strip. It’s nice to see that Mr. Period has so many fans. Don’t forget you can show your love for him and the rest of the bad boys of punctuation with our “Adventures in Grammar” shirt. We even have one for the ladies.

Don't be startled by any biological impossibilities you see on your way home, bizarre creatures with no rung to cling to in any natural hierarchy. They are no doubt a result of the improbability shockwave generated when we agreed with IGN earlier today. Hopefully, these twilight freaks will crawl away and die gracefully somewhere out of sight.

My routine for the past few weeks has been pretty much the same. I get home from a long hard day of work at the PA building around 5:00. Then Kara and I play Shadow Hearts 2 until 9:00. Then we give the baby a bath and we all go to bed. Can you believe that? I go to bed at 9:00 at night. Jesus. It used to be that I didn’t even start playing games in the evening until 10:00. Oh well, at any rate we’ll be finishing up Shadow Hearts tonight. We’ve been trying to do all the side quests before we attempt the final battle. When it’s all over I think we’ll have clocked about 50 hours. It’s been awesome from start to finish, I still highly recommend it.