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PAX East is canceled, online event planned for July
Another year, another PAX cancelation. But organizers are "cautiously optimistic" about in-person events later this year.
PAX South in San Antonio announced for January 23-25
PAX Prime, PAX East, PAX Australia and now ... PAX South. The new show will take place in January 2015. The announcement was just made at PAX East by Penny Arcade's Jerry Holkins. PAX South will run from January 23-25 at an undisclosed venue. "We've been hearing for years that those in the south had a tough time making it to the northern corners of the country," Penny Arcade President Robert Khoo explained during the conference. "PAX South has always been a matter of 'when' rather than 'if.'" This announcement makes us feel like we should start predicting future expansions to the PAX tour, since extra shows don't seem entirely out of the question. Anyone care to take a bet that PAX Antarctica is next on the list? What about PAX Atlantis, where Bioshock franchise owner 2K Games co-hosts the event in a recreation of Rapture, complete with splicers? Talk about untapped markets! Update: The location of PAX South is the Henry B. Gonzalez convention center. [Image: Penny Arcade]
PAX East 2014 panels bring you joy(stiq)
If you're one of the few that managed to pick up tickets to PAX East 2014 in the narrow window they were available, then your schedule of events is now available to view. The Joystiq staff will be at PAX East this year in full force, and they're even headlining the event's list of fascinating panels. If you're looking to maximize your odds at high-fiving folks like Joystiq's Managing Editor Susan Arendt, News Content Director Alexander Sliwinski or Reviews Content Director Richard Mitchell, you'll want to attend panels such as "Was I Wrong? Revisiting Controversial Reviews," "We didn't start the DLC fire, but we fed the monster. Now what?" and "Keep Your Opinion to Yourself: The Myth of the 'Objective' Game Review." We promise that not every panel will take multiple tweets to tell your friends about. When you're not attending every one of Joystiq's panels, the PAX East Indie Showcase appears to be a good destination for PAX-goers, as six mobile indie games will be on display this year. PAX East 2014 will be held in Boston on April 11 through April 13. [Image: PAX East]
PAX separates from Penny Arcade in co-founder's New Year resolution
Penny Arcade the comic is officially distancing itself from PAX, the yearly gaming convention held in Seattle, Boston and Melbourne. Co-creator Mike Krahulik announced the ideological split in a blog post, as part of his New Year's resolution to be less of "a bully." "You'll notice that it is no longer the Penny Arcade Expo," Krahulik writes. "It's outgrown us and it belongs to the gaming community at large now not just PA fans. Someday I expect to attend a PAX and not even be recognized. That's honestly fine with me. I don't want the material on PA or who I am to keep people from attending and enjoying PAX." Penny Arcade similarly distanced itself from the charity it started, Child's Play, when Krahulik and co-creator Jerry Holkins realized the comic's content was impeding the charity's outreach, Krahulik says. Child's Play is now its own organization that Penny Arcade supports from afar. Much of Krahulik's resolution stems from "a difficult year" where he received negative public attention for things he said on Twitter, the Penny Arcade blog and at PAX. In 2010, Penny Arcade ran a comic that made light of rape, and Krahulik and Holkins responded to outcry by selling merchandise supporting the strip – the "dickwolves" debacle. Krahulik and Holkins removed the dickwolves stuff from its stores, but on a panel at PAX Prime 2013, Krahulik said that pulling the merch was "a mistake." His statement reopened the wound.
Robotic chimp, metal dragon aid sick kids in Saints Row 4 charity DLC
Sure, they're a bloodthirsty gang of polysexual criminals, some of whom literally get off on violence, yet the 3rd Street Saints also have a softer side, and a recent agreement to aid Child's Play proves as much in typical Saints Row style. Here's how things work: If you pay a visit to Steam, you'll notice a new DLC pack for Saints Row 4 entitled "Child's Play Pack." All profits generated by sales of the $3 pack will go toward the Child's Play Charity, which seeks to outfit hospitals and family crisis centers with gaming machines in the hopes that kids might find comfort and solace in one of Mario's colorful adventures. That's the happy, heartwarming bit, but this being a Saints Row joint, you just knew things had to take a turn for the wacky at some point. Included in that $3 charity DLC pack are two new skins for the PC iteration of Saints Row 4, a metallic simian named Robochimp and Digital Dino, which is either a clear homage to Mechagodzilla or proof that creating robotic dragons is just too cool for any development team to ignore for long. Finally, the pack also includes a new vehicle, dubbed the "Retro Racer." It's not much of a vehicle, and looks like a cross between an amusement park ride and that bullet ship George Méliès shot at the moon in 1902. Still, in a world of weaponized dubstep and the vocal stylings of Biz Markie, this new ride barely registers as "quirky."
PAX East 2014 sold out
With 154 days to go before the actual event, PAX East 2014 is officially sold out. The annual expo is set for April 11-13, 2014, in Boston. "Sunday passes are gone! We are now entirely out of badges for PAX East 2014," tweeted the official PAX twitter this morning. So, that's it. We'll see you there if you're going. Actually, wait, did we get our tickets? Yikes! This is all so sudden. [Image: Nadezhda1906 via Shutterstock]
Limited Killer Instinct boxed version holds pins instead of a disc
Killer Instinct, the Xbox One-exclusive fighting game based on the 90s classic of the same name, is getting a boxed edition for $59.99, available only through the Microsoft store. There will be no disc within said box however, as the "Pin Ultimate Edition" is a joint venture between Microsoft and Penny Arcade designed for displaying Pinny Arcade trading pins. Each copy of the Pin Ultimate Edition comes with one Jago pin and one Killer Instinct logo pin, with room for others, which will be revealed during the game's first season of content. Customers who purchase the Pin Ultimate Edition of Killer Instinct still get the game. A download voucher for the Ultra Edition of the game, which includes all Season 1 characters, a season pass for all costumes and accessory packs, early access to all Season 1 content and a copy of the original Killer Instinct will be included. The case will double as a folio for a 16-pin set designed by Mike "Gabe" Krahulik. The Pin Ultimate Edition's page doesn't specify how many units are being produced, but pin designer Krahulik wrote in a Penny Arcade post that it's "not a lot." Pre-orders are currently live through the Microsoft Store.
PSA: Penny Arcade 4 is out today
Penny Arcade's On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 4 is now available on Steam, and is coming soon on Xbox Live Indie Games "as soon as the proper sacrifices are completed." The asking price on both platforms is $5, though you can snag it for $4.49 on Steam for the next week. If you haven't followed the Penny Arcade games, they've had a rather unusual development path. The first two were developed by Hothead Games. The third, initially canceled, was resurrected by Zeboyd games, creators of Cthulhu Saves the World. The same team is behind Rain-Slick 4 and, if the last game was any indication fans should be in for a treat.
Penny Arcade's On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 4 teases in first trailer
While we do have some idea of what to expect in Penny Arcade's On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 4, we have yet to catch a glimpse – until now. This teaser trailer from Zeboyd Games' upcoming sequel promises demonic trains and vast underhells; it promises a cadre of monsters to capture and throw into battle.Previously developer Zeboyd Games revealed this latest episode would not grace iOS, Mac or Android – all supported platforms for Rain-Slick 3. The upcoming fourth episode will launch on PC and Xbox Live Indie Games some time this spring for 400 MS Points ($5).
The Summoner's Guidebook: LoL melts special snowflakes
Never let it be said that I don't listen to feedback. Recently, one of you readers suggested that I write about following the metagame, and I thought, "Hey, why not?" This was largely spawned by the Penny Arcade comic suggesting that somehow, a player should pick the champion he wants without regard for what his team needs. Who actually believes that this is a good thing to do? League of Legends is a team game. Characters in LoL are designed with strengths and weaknesses. It is not only important but natural to pick characters that fit together. The natural evolution of this thought process is the metagame: a series of standard roles that characters can fill on a team. I've talked about meta before, and you guys seem to have differing opinions than I do. "Meta is for the sheep," you say. I don't think that picking the right man for the job makes you a sheep. I think of it more like running with the pack rather than being a lone wolf.
The Soapbox: The stuff from the stuff
There was a great quote from the second season of the short-lived sitcom Sports Night when one of the characters chastises a friend who's overreacting by saying, "You've got to be able to separate the stuff from the stuff." Translated from Sorkinese, it means you need to stop lumping everything into one generic category to be upset about and instead sift through what's important and what is not. I think this is quite applicable to the MMO community, as I see countless examples of people who just can't separate the stuff from the stuff. Everything, for some people, is a matter of utmost importance and worthy of a spontaneous riot on the same level as everything else. There are no degrees of importance; a mild nerf to a player's class is equally demanding of a 10-paragraph rant as a studio going back on its word just to screw players. Not everything is life or death. A sign of maturity is learning to pick your battles and to mellow out the rest of the time. Let's see if we can take some steps together toward that goal.
Ron Gilbert, MC Frontalot, RoosterTeeth, more confirmed for PAX AUS
Monkey Island and Maniac Mansion creator Ron Gilbert will give the keynote at the upcoming PAX Australia, Penny Arcade has announced. Gilbert most recently worked on The Cave for Double Fine, and will kick off the Penny Arcade Expo's Australian branch with a "storytime" session, presumably about his work in the glory days of adventure gaming, creating the SCUMM interpreter, and his most recent work on DeathSpank and at Double Fine.Other announced guests for the show include musicians The Protomen and MC Frontalot, and video makers RoosterTeeth are also set to appear – and we're sure founders Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik are headed down under, too. PAX Australia is set to take place at the Melbourne Showgrounds on July 19-21, 2013, and there are still tickets available for the first two days right now.
Penny Arcade 4 coming to PC, XBLIG, no more Mac, iOS, Android
Penny Arcade's On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 4 is coming only to Xbox Live Indie Games and PC. Despite the previous episode's Mac, iOS and Android ports, developer Zeboyd is leaving other platforms in the darkness this time around."Our mobile games and ports haven't done so well so the new PA RPG will only be on PC and XBLIG. Apologies to fans of iOS/Mac/Android," Zeboyd's Robert Boyd tweeted. "We'd love to put our games on every platform available but we're a two-man operation and want to be able to keep making new games."As for those new games, Boyd recently revealed the team's planning a "sci-fi/spy RPG" with a woman protagonist. Zeboyd has to finish up Penny Arcade 4 first, though, with the game expected to launch springtime, costing $5 on PC and 400 MSP on XBLIG.
Penny Arcade's On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 4 details emerge
Details on the fourth game in Penny Arcade's On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness series were revealed in a recent IGN interview with Zeboyd Games' Robert Boyd and Bill Stiernberg. For starters, Rain-Slick 4 will be less linear compared to the third game, as Boyd said the team has "added more optional areas" and have "tried to add more secrets and secondary routes to the main dungeons." The overworld will be "freely explorable" as well. Zeboyd's involvement as developers grew from its experiences with the third game, as Boyd noted they "had a lot more creative control over how the game and the story turned out with this one." Boyd said the two-man team plans to work on a "sci-fi/spy RPG" that involves a "distant future setting, female protagonist, on-map battles, more animated sprites" and a "cool level-up system" after Rain-Slick 4 is completed. Penny Arcade's On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 4 will launch this Spring on PC for $4.99 and the Xbox Indie Game channel for 400 MS points. %Gallery-177329%
Daily iPad App: Penny Arcade The Game: Gamers vs. Evil is simple but excellent deck-building action
Playdek is a developer that's caught my eye recently. They're the folks behind what I think are the best card games on the App Store, including the great Ascension (which Gary Games, now called StoneBlade Entertainment, actually designed but Playdek brought to iOS), as well as the excellent Nightfall and Summoner Wars. Their latest title is an adaptation of Cryptozoic's deck-building card game based on the Penny Arcade webcomic, and just like the other titles, it's a full-featured, well-made game that feels right at home on the iPad. The game is not the best deck-building game I've ever played. The process, if you've never seen it before, is that you spend some currency cards to buy other cards, which then add in to your deck and unlock various actions and extra currency for you every turn. It's essentially a board game, though you're moving cards around, and Playdek more or less just sticks to digital versions of the analog cards rather than adding a lot of extra digital fluff to the game. But this company is now so familiar with these types of games that the tutorial is great and all of the movement is very intuitive as you play. The added theme of Penny Arcade can be a little off-putting if you don't like the comic or its dark and often gross humor, but the core game itself is solid and fun. Just like all of Playdek's other games, there are multiple options for playing the game itself, and you can play with any number of AI players at various difficulties, or go online to play against other humans. I would like to see a few more cards in the mix, but just like the real-life card game, the proceedings are very expandable, and so you can expect to see some more packs added in the future, probably via in-app purchase. Even with just the included content (available for US$4.99 on the App Store), this is probably one of the most accessible games of this type out there. Try this to see what you think, and if you like it as much as I do, you can move on to a more complicated game like Nightfall, or the very impressive SolForge, set for a release later on this year.
Final Penny Arcade 3 DLC on Steam this week, card game coming to iOS
"The Beginning of the End" is the final set of free DLC coming to Penny Arcade's On the Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness 3, and Zeboyd Games has announced that it's arriving on PC and the Xbox this Thursday, December 20. The DLC, which aims to fill in the story between the first three episodes, will bring a new playable character to the series, along with new enemies and new spells to fight them with.As you can probably tell by the title, the DLC will set up the final game in the franchise, which is due sometime in 2013. This week, "The Beginning of the End" will only arrive on Steam and Xbox Live Indie Games, but Zeboyd says it'll be out for iOS, Android and Mac very soon.And elsewhere in interactive Penny Arcade news, Playdek and Cryptozoic have created a digital version of the Penny Arcade deck-building card game – it's coming to iOS this week as well. Penny Arcade: The Game: Gamers vs. Evil will be out on Apple's platform tomorrow for $4.99. There are so many different options out there to play with the Penny Arcade license that they should probably upgrade it to a nickel at some point.
MechWarrior Online and Penny Arcade team up for game promotion
Geek favorite webcomic Penny Arcade and developer Piranha Games have a deal for you, but be warned: Space Ostriches might be involved. Piranha announced that players now can grab a free one-day premium time upgrade for their MechWarrior Online accounts. This premium time awards players with 50% more experience and 50% more C-bills while it lasts. The Penny Arcade team penned a two-page pilot safety manual with crucial tips for the game to go with the promotion. Comic co-creator Jerry Holkins said that he took the project partially because of his lifelong interest: "I used to play BattleTech at lunch, when I was in high school. There's a lot of meat in MechWarrior Online, a lot to know, and we wanted to see if we could cover some of the basics in a way that could help people get the most out of it." [Source: Piranha Games press release]
Daily iPhone App: Penny Arcade's On The Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 3
I've become a big fan of Zeboyd Games recently -- their last title, Cthulu Saves the World, is a really well-designed (and funny!) love letter to the Japanese RPGs of yesteryear. Penny Arcade is a very popular video game and pop culture webcomic that's released three games now, and Zeboyd was hired to work on the last one, entitled "Penny Arcade's On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 3," which is now available on iOS for both iPhone and iPad. And, in short, it's also really great. As you can see in the video below, it hits all the right notes for a retro RPG, including a party wandering around an overworld and stumbling into gorgeously rendered turn-based battles, a full equipment and progression system, and a great chiptune soundtrack. Plus, the game also takes Penny Arcade's slightly warped and very knowing sense of humor and translates it well to an interactive environment. And Zeboyd even left room for some nice innovation, in the form of a very slick item system and a very well-designed class system, too. Penny Arcade's third game was great when it came out on the PC and Xbox, and while I think the best way to play it is probably still with a controller, iOS's touchscreens work also, especially with the experience Zeboyd picked up from releasing Cthulu Saves the World on Apple's mobile platforms. At US$2.99, Penny Arcade 3 is a must-grab for anyone who's a fan of Penny Arcade, this retro style of RPG or just an awesome bargain on iOS (this version also includes all of the DLC costumes from the Steam release, for no extra charge). Zeboyd is quickly moving through the ranks to become one of my favorite game developers, and it's because of quality, filled-out releases like this.
Penny Arcade 3 now on Mac, iOS, & Android, free Seamstress DLC live
Penny Arcade's On The Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 3 is now raining down on iOS, Android, and Mac. All versions include the free Lair of the Seamstress DLC which trickled concurrently onto Steam and Xbox Live Indie Games, as well as the Fanfiction Pack dropped earlier this year. The Android and iOS versions storm in at $2.99, with the Mac version a spot more at $4.99.The Lair of the Seamstress DLC includes a new dungeon, which Zeboyd says can be entered when all your classes are Level 40 or higher by "going to the top floor of the Class Shrine." There's also a new zombie-themed costume pack, almost as if to tie in to some horror-themed annual holiday.
PAX coming to Australia, PAX Prime extended to 4 days next year
During the Q&A session today, Penny Arcade proprietors Mike "Gabe" Krahulik and Jerry "Tycho" Holkins confirmed that PAX is indeed coming to Australia. On top of that, the duo announced that PAX Prime would last an extra day next year.And for all of you hopeful for a UK stop on the PAX tour, it's something Penny Arcade is thinking about. "We want to go there," Krahulik responded when grilled by someone from the UK. Regardless, the duo doesn't have anything specific to announce right now.
