I was talking with Batjew a bit this morning. He is a huge fan of the Guilty Gear series as well. It looks like we are both going to order ourselves one of these fighting sticks today. It’s hard to find a good fighting stick for the PS2. I’ll let you know how this one performs once I get it.

Last night everyone decided to watch some French romantic comedy. I have a hard time sitting through these kinds of movies when they are in English so I escaped into the computer room about half way through. It was right after you find out that the girl and the boy like each other but right before the misunderstanding that makes them think they don't like each other.

Over at Gabe's yesterday, I mentioned that Guilty Gear XX was one of the most complete, satisfying experiences in any genre. Thinking back on it, that may have been hyperbole. I was drunk with victory at the time I said it, so that might be connected.

I talked to the lady from Entertainment Weekly again and this time I didn’t hang up on her. She says the article on PA should appear in the issue that hits stands next Friday. That’s one week from today. I don’t know how robust it will be but some people asked about it so I thought I would share the info I had.

Kiko and his lovely wife are visiting us this week all the way from San Diego. The cool thing about having Kiko here is that he loves 2D fighting games as much as I do. Sure Tycho will sit down and play a fighter with me for a few minutes but I know his heart isn't in it. I don't know exactly when he stopped liking fighting games but I know the last fighter I can remember us both playing together in a very serious way was Tekken 3. Fighting games continued to come out after that and he never really seemed interested. The more I think about it the more I think that after Tekken 3 aliens may have taken the Tycho I know back to their mother ship and replaced him with some kind of mandroid. Sort of like Last Starfighter only I doubt he's off saving the galaxy. They probably just needed him for some kind of intergalactic Iron Chef show where human is the secret ingredient. He always did look especially juicy.

We only know two people who don't live within a half an hour of us, and with Kiko's arrival a couple days ago they've both been here in the last three weeks. We have decided to celebrate this event as we celebrate all other things, which is to say, play videogames. We also play videogames when we are not celebrating. I'm not really unhappy with the system, I'm just making a note of it.

I was absentmindedly reading Blizzard's interview with the Ghost team when I saw something that brought me into the present moment.

I got a lot of mail asking me to respond to Scott’s rant over at PvP. So I went over and read it this afternoon and I wasn’t really surprised. I am sure you are looking for me to do some kind of point counterpoint shit but that’s not going to happen. Instead of coming away from his rant upset I am mostly just disappointed. See we have had a sort of friendly rivalry with Scott for something like four years now. We’ve chatted on the phone a few times and I met him in person once or twice. The thing that always stood out about Scott to me is just how much alike we are. You wouldn’t know it if you only read his comic strip but Scott is a son of a bitch just like me. We both enjoy saying things that piss people off. He cusses like a sailor and talks shit about everyone and their mother. And I think that is why we have always gotten along pretty well. What I never understood though is why we hardly ever see that side of Scott in his comic strips. I think that Kurtz is at his best when he is being satirical. His parodies of other webcomics are still some of the best work he has ever done. When Scott actually puts some of himself into his comics the stuff he comes up with is really special. I’m not saying I don’t like PvP, I think it’s generally a pretty good read. I enjoy the occasional fart joke just as much as the next guy, but It’s just that when I see a rant like this from Scott it reminds me what a fucking firebrand he really is. Sure I think everything he wrote is total bullshit but that doesn’t change the fact that I respect him for saying it. He knew it would piss people off, he said it anyway, and I’d bet dollars to doughnuts that son of a bitch cracks a little smile every time he gets another hate mail about it. Then I look at his comic strip and it just feels so watered down in comparison. I know you like to cuss Scott, I’ve heard you do it. Just write shit for God’s sake. I mean it’s not like we don’t know what S#!% is anyway. Just spell it the fuck out man. I know you have opinions. I’ve heard you say some stuff about Keenspot that is not only vicious as fuck but balls on accurate. Scott is probably the finest cartoonist in the medium of online cartoons right now. He can outdraw anyone else in the game. Many of you never saw the artwork he did on his other comic strip Wedlock but he had something fucking magical going on. All I’m saying is, why not put a little of that piss and vinegar you show in your rants and in real life into your comic strip. If he combined the razor sharp wit that I know he has with the raw artistic talent we’ve all seen the man would be unstoppable. Like Juggernaut, only he wouldn’t have a suit or anything. I mean he could get a suit but he wouldn’t really need it. It would just be like for show.

I wish I could say that things like this were the extent of my family's deep madness.

I will admit that MAVAV had me fooled for a little while as well. It wasn't until I took a look at the site again the next day with Tycho that we realized it was a joke. It turns out it was a school project. David Yoo spills the beans on his little hoax here.

Many of you are sending me copies of e-mails that you sent to MAVAV. There is no need to get so upset. Check out Tycho's post above, the whole thing is a joke by some clan.

Well I am back from my vacation and it feels damn good to be home. I am desperately trying to get caught up on all the game news I missed and answer all the e-mail I have here.

The server for Mavav.org traces here:

I hope you won't be too angry, we have stopped the year-end countdown in favor of a new comic. I can just tell you where things would have gone. Third is Sega's brave foray into synaesthesia, Rez, and I am glad of the opportunity to say the word Synaesthesia again. Second was Splinter Cell, universally adored by our crew - keep an eye out in March for the first freely downloadable expansion. In our estimation, Metroid Prime takes the top spot for games in 2002. God only knows what alchemical formulae were leveraged to bring it about, but it is plain that mystical forces were involved.

We're proud to bring you the 53rd Annual We're Right Awards, now in progress.

Welcome back to Penny Arcade's 53rd Annual We're Right Awards, where the second day is just getting underway.