Penny-Arcade Surprises Me Again
The Penny-Arcade web comic and accompanying website have a great thing going on. We know that the Child’s Play Charity is an act of unmitigated selflessness that deserves nothing but praise. We know that their comics are often really funny even if you don’t own the system they happen to be writing about that day. Plus we know they deserve to do cool things like draw collector’s edition art books for high-profile games. This week, though, they did three things that surprised me and reminded me that they are thinking gamers that don’t always just put up with things they don’t like.
First, they rode to the defense of Assassin’s Creed after seeing it get decent but not great reviews. They re-explained their unusually personal advertising policy — which I’d almost forgotten about just because it’s been so long since they mentioned it — and how they firmly believed in the title from early on and still did as a finished product. It basically came down to this: a reviewer must not like the game because it’s not a point-A to point-B title, it’s more of an experience than a plot overall. They’ve been wrong before, yes, citing the second Prince of Persia title as an example, but that taught them to not advertise anything unless they got their very own hands on it and could endorse it as a gamer.
Second, they unveiled the ability to buy a high-resolution print of just about every comic ever made on the site with the click of a button. There are some hysterical comics in their archives that I am going to have to go and find. Kudos to them and I hope it works out great.
Third, they give props to Mass Effect only to call it just as much an argument against the Xbox 360 as for it. The game runs entirely from disc, as 360 games all do given that developers can’t assume the player has anything but a hard-drive-free Core system. This leads to very long loading times every so often, hidden as best they can be in long hallways and apparently incredibly slow-moving elevators even though the disc itself is a marvelous achievement since it’s packed with audio and in-engine cut scenes that make other RPGs need to go to two or three discs. The game is still great, though, so fans have nothing to worry about there.
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