Posts with tag penny-arcade

The webcomics community seems like a pretty cool bunch, specially when they all pitch in and help each other out. One of my favorite webcomics, PvP Online, often features guest artists to fill in for creator Scott Kurtz when he's away at some convention or just down with some bad bug. Just recently, he coralled the immensely talented Ramón Pérez, the genius behind Kukuburi, to do a guest strip while he was down with the flu.

That's nice, you say, but what's this got to do with World of Warcraft? Well, see, Gabe from Penny Arcade (aka creator Mike Krahulik's alter ego) apparently picked up some kind of bad bug during their PAX or Penny Arcade Expo, and some well-known comic folks such as Bill Amend and Kris Straub stepped in to help. The highlight is that World of Warcraft's art director, Samwise Didier, the man largely responsible for the look and feel of many of Blizzard's games also pitched in his contribution.

It has nothing to do with our favorite game, but it's freaking Samwise doing a freaking Penny Arcade strip! I mean, I don't really have to explain why I'm posting this, right? One of our favorite WoW icons doing a guest strip on one of our favorite webcomics (that occasionally tackles WoW) is so full of win it almost makes Saurfang cry. These sort of crossovers are so cool, you almost wish these webcomic creators would get sick more often. Ok, not really, but you know what I mean.

Have you heard about WoWathon? Three gamers have been playing WoW since August 1, broadcasting live in order to raise money for the charity, Child's Play. They are streaming live right now on Ustream and have been for 54 hours as of this writing. Starting from level 1, they have leveled their characters to 35 so far, all while responding to chatters.

They are not account sharing and have the blessing of their realm's GM, for those of you who are worried about them going against the ToS.

Child's Play is the charity that the guys at Penny Arcade put together to provide toys, games, books and cash to sick kids in children's hospitals. The WoWathon team's goal is to reach $5000 in fundrasing for the charity and are currently near $2300. If you wish to donate to help them reach their goal, please go to their website and click on the Chipin button.

We are talking to them now, so stay tuned to WoW.com for an interview with the team.

[Thank you to the many readers who have tipped us about this awesome event.]

Children's Week is here, and with it this year comes our friend Brigwyn's Child's Play auction. You can look through all of the available items in his on-site catalogue, or head on over to eBay and start bidding on whatever you like. All of the proceeds from the auction will go to help Penny Arcade's very worthy Child's Play charity, which goes to help put videogames in hospitals where sick children can play with them. Brigwyn himself has experience with their work (which he's written about over on his site), so he knows just what kind of good they can do.

And of course, we'll point out our own contribution to the auction page -- we've donated a free guest spot on our podcast, the WoW Insider Show. If you've ever wanted to tell me in virtual person how wrong I am, or encourage Turpster's already oversize ego, or weigh in with us during the Meat of the Show, now's your chance. With your bid there, not only are you helping children who are going through some terrible experiences, but you might also get the chance to speak your mind about World of Warcraft right alongside us on the show. Oh, and we'll poke around our WoW Insider prize closet for some other fun stuff for you, too -- maybe loot cards, a Turpster drawing, or whatever else we've got sitting around.

So please bid -- on our item or any of the others. There's also some loot cards, some items from BRK and other well-known bloggers from around the community, and lots of extremely fun one-of-a-kind WoW items (Sure, this original signed art by Cadistra of WoW, Eh? is nice, but a Hooter's t-shirt? That's Epic if we ever saw it). The bids are coming in already, so please get yours in there ASAP!

Happy New Year! While everyone has been a little off of their normal schedules due to the holidays, you may notice that some of your comics faves are absent this week. Fortunately, after digging a little deeper, I managed to come up with a sizeable list, including a comic that has not been previously featured on the Sunday Morning Funnies.

• Check out the latest from LFG.
• Behold, the Snowshaman! Okay, so this is not a comic, but it stands in place of a few that haven't updated recently.
  
• Awkward Zombie talks about the next patch and the Justice that it will bring.
• You should also check out The Root of the Problem from Awkward Zombie. Thanks for the tips Cameroo!
• Manic Graffiti presents Noobcow and the Winterlag. She's not the only one who is suffering from lag, disconnects, overpopulation, queues and general frustration either! Hurray for the holidays!
• NoObz makes some Resolutions.
• Wanted: Dead or Alive from Teh Gladiators.
• The Adventures of Disgraph T. Dwarf has not been updating due to some technical difficulties, and I have missed it dearly. Fortunately, Disgraph is back to some capacity until everything can be righted. Check out Episode 30: Notes from Northrend.
• Check out Snowball.exe from Penny Arcade.
• Be sure to check out the latest from Cru the Dwarf.
• There is a relative on the horizon on The Scout Report.
• World of Warcraft, eh? wishes everyone a Happy New Year.

Don't forget: if you're in Chicago, and like helping sick kids and playing videogames, you should definitely come out to the Child's Play benefit tonight at Plan B, just north of North and Milwaukee, off the Damen Blue Line stop.

I'll be there, there'll be an open bar and raffle prizes, including a few good giveaways from our friends at SwagDog, local developer (they've got an office out near Western and Belmont) Midway will have their latest games available to play (including a MK vs. DC tournament, I believe), and it should be an amazing time. There are plenty of tickets left, and even if you can't grab a ticket, I can probably get you in at the door. Just tell them you're with WoW Insider, and I'm sure we can work something out.

Plus, it all goes to support Child's Play, the charity started up by Penny Arcade that donates videogames to hospitals for kids to play while there. There are a number of events going on around the country (including the big dinner in Seatlle where Blizzard is giving away that employee-exclusive statue). But of course the one here in Chicago will be the best: you'll be able to have a great time, help a worthy charity, and talk Warcraft with me (when I'm not trying to figure out the Joker fatality in MK vs. DC, that is).

The event starts at 7 over at Plan B, at 1635 N. Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago, IL 60647. Bring a friend and I'll see you there.

Blizzplanet (with a shiny new design) reports that the big Child's Play auction this year is going to feature a special prize from Blizzard: a bronze statue of the Wolfrider that was given out to Blizzard employees. Child's Play, as you may know, was started by the guys over at the Penny Arcade webcomic, and collects money every year to purchase videogames for sick children in hospitals all over the country to play. Their annual dinner auction in Seattle is always a huge event (and Tycho and Gabe are always there), but there are also lots of other local events going on, including one here in Chicago that I'm going to be attending for WoW Insider, where we'll give away some Warcraft stuff from friends of ours like Swagdog.

If you happen to be in Seattle, though, and have some money to spend on a Wolfrider statue, this could be an awesome collectible. As we said, they were previously only handed out to Blizzard employees (though a few have leaked out to the public already), and there is a much larger version that will be installed outside Blizzard headquarters (I believe they have another copy in the lobby already).

Very cool piece of art that will be auctioned off for a very good cause. The auction's going to be held on December 9th -- seats are $125, and of course the statue will go to the highest bidder of the night. We'll keep an eye out to see what it eventually sells for -- our guess is not cheap.

Our list of WoW-related web comics this week is longer than usual, and includes a Penny Arcade comic strip that had the WoW Insider staff cracking up.

Humor

• Penny Arcade shows us The Diplomatic Route.
• Mijikai, Shover of Kids petitions Blizzard on Dark Legacy Comics.
• There are Limits to My Maturity, GU Comics.
• Raid, NoObz.
• A long battle was fought and won on Sluggy Freelance.
• As a bit of a tribute to Flintlocke and his return, on The Adventures of Disgraph T. Dwarf, it's a showdown, with Disgraph vs. The Flintlocke.

Humor with a storyline

• From The Adventures of Blanc comes Skinning Training.
• Emissary - page 3.
• The characters of LFG meet up with Rojave.
• Noobcow and the Obligatory Mount, from Manic Graffiti.
• Answers and Questions from The Road to BlizzCon.
• He Breaks on Damage, Teh Gladiators. This one features Thrall.
  
• Flintlocke vs. The Horde presents Orc's Best Friend.

As expected, Penny Arcade did show up at the Seattle Darkmoon Faire last weekend, and also as expected, Tycho did bring a raid deck. He also, surprisingly, dressed up for the role -- apparently he worse the cape they'd depicted in the comic while running the Molten Core game (though he couldn't find a skull pin to go with it). Sounds like a lot of fun. Upper Deck has coverage of the event, though we couldn't find any mention of the Penny Arcade guys.

Another thing Tycho mentions (and that makes it into the comic today, NSFW) is that even for people familiar but not fanatic about the game like them, entering these tournaments can be really tough -- there are tons of solid decks and strategies out there, and if you haven't done the research, someone who has can very easily trounce you. They even mention a "three card infinite damage combo" that players can use. Unfortunately, that's way too far over my TCG strategy head to actually tell you what it is (maybe commenters can help), but it seems like for new players especially, these formal TCG events might be a little tough to get into.

Still, the Darkmoon Faire events are fun, even if you're not playing at the top of the heap. UDE has lots more news about upcoming events on their website.

15 Minutes of Fame is our look at World of Warcraft players of all shapes and sizes – from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about at 15minutesoffame (at) wowinsider (dot) com.

What keeps you playing the game? Especially in light of Wrath's option of seeing all the upcoming new raid content in a 10-man version, friendship is proving to be the tie that binds many WoW players. Small guilds who've felt locked out of raiding content and players who don't care for the atmosphere in groups large enough to chew through 25-man content at a steady clip are reconsidering their options.

This week, 15 Minutes of Fame offers a view from a player who's making exactly that journey, all the way from June 2005 and onward into Wrath of the Lich King. Myrena of Mug'thol is one of those players who's tried to "do it right" for years, trying out different methods of cobbling together scattered friendships, real-life work schedules and end-game raiding goals. Today, Myrena is looking forward to the opportunity to chill with friends in Wrath, nibbling their way through the game in a more intimate group. Peek inside Myrena's WoW evolution and find out why Wrath appears to be such a plum to players like him.

If you've never been to Upper Deck's Darkmoon Faire event before, it's a pretty good time. It's obviously a lot more fun if you're a fan of the WoW TCG (as they have open-to-close tournaments and events going on), but even online game players will find something to do -- UDE sets up an event realm provided by Blizzard, and they sometimes even have leveling and instance contests as well.

Upper Deck is holding a Darkmoon Faire event in Seattle next weekend, June 13-15, and they sent along a note letting us know that the guys from Penny Arcade are going to be there in attendance. Both Gabe and Tycho, you'll know if you're an avid reader of the comic, are fans of the card game, and while Upper Deck isn't clear about what they'll be doing there (all they tell us is that the guys will "partake" of the gaming), it's not hard to expect that at least Tycho will be eventually running a Molten Core raid game.

Should be fun -- if you're around Seattle and get to stop by the Seattle Center next weekend (it's free to visit the event, and various tournaments have different costs associated with them), definitely take pictures and let us know how it went.

Penny Arcade, those funny WoW comic guys, are giving away a metric ton of loot, via a contest, that they've gotten for the WoW Trading Card Game. Things that they're giving away include "four boxes of boosters, tournament playmats, a Winterveil collector's box, deckboxes, sleeves, two binders, three raid decks, three starter decks, and one of these awesome dice chest things." That's a ton of stuff to be handing out. But it gets better.

They're also handing out an X-51 Nether-Rocket card to each winner. You can get your very own Rocket Mount!

Three lucky winners will be quite happy. What's the contest they're holding? From the site: "you must write a short story, set in World of Warcraft, and this story must be precisely ten words long." It's so simple and so easy you just have to chuckle. Head on over to their site for more information on how to enter the contest.

Of course, you'll have to go up against a certain WoW Insider writer on this one, since I've already submitted my story: "A casual paladin casually walks up and one shots Illidan."

Good luck!

Welcome once again to Reader WoWspace of the Week! Now I know a lot of people like 'em messy, but as some have noted, we just don't get too many messy ones. It seems like we generally only get them when they're clean. (Of course, you have to wonder if we couldn't market WoWspace participation as an effective office organization tool!) This one comes to us from Aryc Ogre, who didn't send in his character name, server or anything, but his case makes us wonder if he isn't the prot Paladin from this recent Penny Arcade comic. For his story and lots more pictures, be sure to join me after the break!

Our good friends at Massively beat us to the punch on this one: as seen on Gabe's (of Penny Arcade) little blurb yesterday, Gallery Nucleus in Alhambra, California is holding an "Art of Blizzard" Benefit Show for Child's Play, the charity started by Penny Arcade to buy and donate videogames to children in hospital. Additionally, Blizzard artists and developers will be in attendance at the event, and Upper Deck will be there demo-ing the WoW TCG (which is probably where some of the art comes from) as well. And the art is going to be from all of Blizzard's different games, not just World of Warcraft.

The PDF press release has more info, and admission is free to the public. I don't think any of our correspondents are in the area, but if you're around and get to go, be sure to take pictures and send them along to us. It definitely sounds like a fun event, and it's always great when developers put their time and work in to help out a worthy charity.

Penny Arcade posted a joke about Figureprints driving people back to play WoW, but today's commentary (by the always insightful Tycho) shows that it wasn't just a joke-- the PA guys have sold their souls back to Blizzard. The game has changed a lot in the past few years, and I admit-- going back to play my Hunter, which I've been doing lately, has made the game almost completely new for me. From all the talent changes to all the new items and the midgame updates, it's almost a brand new Azeroth for anyone coming back to the game.

PvP Online, another popular webcomic, has been running a "return to WoW" comic series as well-- 'tis the season, apparently, to come back to Azeroth. Besides all the changes and the new content, the only other reason I can think of is that there's not much else out there in terms of really established MMO experiences-- everybody else is still getting up to running speed when most WoW players already know what they're doing and how to do it. Are we in the middle of a World of Warcraft cultural resurgence right now?