Today's Penny Arcade is a near perfect commentary on the Unity debacle.
Whole comic linked above, but here's the one-panel that is perfect.
this post was submitted on 18 Sep 2023
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Oh yikes. I mean I agree that the first panel is solid but the other two reminded me why I stopped reading PA. So often the "punch line" is just edgelord violence or insults.
Reminds me of the Hbomberguy video that really dissects "gamer comics".
The way this CEO operates is absolutely worthy of condemnation and viewing him through the lens of unfeeling cosmic horror is, if anything, a nicer take. But it's fair to say that people operating at that level of wealth have become detached from and profoundly alien to normal folk.
I don't think you're parsing this comic fairly or engaging with its content by labeling it "edgelord violence or insults."
Pretty much ALL of Hbomb's substantive examples from the video are from CTRL-ALT-DEL which is like ... the worst example imaginable. There's screenshots of PA's art, but beyond the one dumb gag about "stake me bro" he never really gets into PA's writing. ODD, THAT. Because if you actually read Jerry Holkin's posts, you'll find a level of writing that puts the lie to the notion that these are idiots making cheap, derivative work. Setting aside the fact that they've been doing this so long that they basically defined the genre.
And as an aside, really Harris, web comic artists as targets? You've done it, you've achieved the epitome of punching down. These and other extremely sane takes from the guy that brought you an almost 2 hour long video on the goddamn Roblox "oof" sound effect.
These and other extremely sane takes from the guy that brought you an almost 2 hour long video on the goddamn Roblox “oof” sound effect.
Or a 3 and a half hour video about how a game is just okay. If you don't know how to edit down videos to a reasonable length, then you're just wasting my time.
That's disingenuous as hell. It's about the motifs of the genre and what the game was aiming to accomplish after it's predecessor.
And the Roblox video was only 28ish minutes. The rest of it is on Tommy "my mother's very proud" Tallarico.
And both deserve the full 3 hours.
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That was a very interesting video though. Nobody's making you watch it, you're wasting your own time!
So from the game developer side, hbomber's video nails exactly why those comics exist. He gets into why the culture is draw to them and how it's a reflection of them. I was shown this from another dev and I've shown it to others. Everyone has come to the same opinion. Yeah, hbomber is absolutely right about gaming culture and gamers. It's really reflective in why the term hardcore gamer exists and why you jump so hard to defend the culture your are apart of.
Also hbomber isn't punching down, he's creating an informative video to help the culture around gaming grow. His channel is literally him doing that to several cultures. Including YouTubers.
You should give him a chance. Entirely watch the video and a few others. I'd give recommendations for some but I'm on Mobile in my way to bed. If you really want some though I can gladly give you some in the morning. Try to see them more as video essays rather than purely entertainment because that really doesn't give it a fair shake.
They've done the cosmic horror joke many times. I found it funny in my 20s.
Gabe's art has gradually deformed and is just horrible now.
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To be fair, that's not all the strips. That's the one the OP chose to show.
Like I'd say going through 20-30 strips only 2-3 were like that.
edit: here's a strip that I thought was pretty decent but isn't like the one in the OP
https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2023/06/09/conveniente
Well that one made me snicker lol. Maybe I am being too harsh. Idk, I used to read PA daily when I was in high school but at this point a few decades later, it's just something that I've grown out of so it seems pretty juvenile in retrospect.
This might be more of a "me" thing instead of "penny arcade" thing. 🤷
I found Jerry's writing to be exactly as it was. I no longer have a taste for it.
They're the "political cartoon" of gamers.
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Has Penny Arcade always been this hideous?
I'm so glad I'm not the only one that thinks this! I can see how and why it happened, as the art style became increasingly stylised and exaggerated over the years, but visually it's really, really not my cup of tea. It feels like what happens when you spend all your time just drawing the same thing over and over (ie, two specific characters) to the point that they become increasingly caricaturised and distorted.
No one else I know dislikes the art, and like... I dunno, it's a successful and well-loved comic that a lot of people enjoy. I don't begrudge them that success. It's just not a visual style that works for me. And it's kind of nice to know others have noticed the same thing and it's not just that my perception was completely off.
Yeah, it's better to do dinosaur comic and just don't change the art at all.
It feels Ren and Stimpy-tier, no offense meant but just the style of being overly garish without it being quite as warranted
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Right? I feel like it hasn't. My first thought on seeing the link was 'holy shit penny arcade still exists' followed swiftly by 'oh dear God what is this hideous malformation of my nostalgia' shortly after the art loaded.
It almost looks like the art style is doing a reverse Garfield. It's bizarre and hard to look at.
No. There was a time around when I was in high school where it had some really great art, and writing. To see what it is in 2023... is grotesque.
Shit... I wonder how the forums are faring? I used to be all over those back in the day.
Reminds me of Larry Ellison:
Do not fall into the trap of anthropomorphizing Larry Ellison. You need to think of Larry Ellison the way you think of a lawnmower. You don't anthropomorphize your lawnmower, the lawnmower just mows the lawn. You stick your hand in there it'll chop it off, the end. You don't think "Oh, the lawnmower hates me!" The lawnmower doesn't give a shit about you. The lawnmower can't hate you.
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Gosh, I kind of really hate their new art style.
So, it's probably worth clarifying some things. When we say that we don't understand why Unity is doing the things they're doing, it's not that we don't literally understand. We aren't confused about the reason: it's money and control. That's not the confusing part. Here's where the confusion actually roosts: in seeking those things, they've undertaken a course of action that stands to lose them quite a lot of both, and the outcome is completely obvious. This is the kind of genius maneuvre you and I simply can't comprehend.
It is quite rare to see modern Penny Arcade not suck, normally it's about the creator's midlife crisis and how he hates Millennials for being younger than him
Which is stupid AF cause aren't Millenials the primary audience for PA comics? Why would you insult your base?
That was basically my reaction, but this is what happens when you have money, and audience, and a midlife crisis. That's where there's a period of the comics where all that happens is the characters talk about all the expensive shit they've bought lately and shit on millennials, but not in a self-aware way....
Can you post an example? I've followed it for a while and I'm honestly having a hard time thinking of a single comic like that.
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CEO as cosmic horror is a concept with legs. This'll spice up my next cyberpunk campaign.
I think that would make more sense in a Shadowrun campaign.
I love that setting, but those mechanics. Ooof. Way too heavy. I actually meant the genre not the system. In reality I've been running The Sprawl but I'm looking for a narrative forward cyberpunk game that can accommodate urban fantasy.
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I'm a proponent of the idea that company charters and financial reports are world-warping rituals that turn the company itself into a self-aware, self-serving horror
That's an SCP, isn't it? A sentient corporation?
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PA art style peaked about 2003. Holy shit, they've been at this a while.
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It's just a wet mouth on a long arm that reaches down to hell
I haven't read penny arcade in years, but it brings me joy to see that the writing, at least, seems to be right where I left it. Now if you'll excuse me, I've a deep crow that needs feeding.
Let's not forget the CEO of unity was also EA's CEO during their peak scummy years. Like when they were doing what they could to discourage the used game market.
*edit: damned autocorrect messing up my typing
Add a ! just before the [ of the link to the image to make it into an embed looking like this ->
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Then where did Elon Musk come from?
The thing I keep thinking of is that Musk bought Twitter and destroyed billions of dollars of value with bad decision after bad decision, and this Unity thing is still dumber than all of that.
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I'd believe he's also an anglerfish-style lure from a Hell dimension. I think I'd be more surprised if that wasn't the case.
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