Penny Arcade Interview

Interview by Sim

1. First off, for all the viewers out there that aren't "in the know" concerning Penny Arcade (hereby referred to as PA)... tell 'em what PA is and what you do.

Gabe: Well, PA is a comic that Tycho and I do together. It appears 3 times a week online and now you can also catch it every month in OPM (official playstation magazine) and CGW (Computer Gamming World). I persoanlly draw and write the strips. Tycho also writes the strips as well as maintains the web site.

2. So, do you enjoy doing the comic now, more or less than when you first started?

Gabe: I enjoy it more I think. Don't ask me why.
Tycho: I've never been happier about it. I can barely remember what it felt like when we were first doing it, actually. We never meant for it to turn out the way it did.

3. Gotta ask this. What are the plans on PA merchandise? Any books, shirts, or action figures in the works?

Gabe: We are working on two different T-shirt designs right now. We also are looking into stickers.
Tycho: I'll be setting up the PayPal thing soon enough, so keep your eyes peeled. I'm pretty excited about it. Our merchandise strategy thus far has been to make stuff that we want to have, just make a couple hundred extra :)

4. Now for the beef of the questions. What is your absolute favorite game of all time?

Gabe: I was put on this earth to play Wetrix. But besides that I really liked Metal Gear Solid (MGS).
Tycho: It changes from time to time, but in the end it's alays the same: Wasteland.

5. What games/demos are you playing right now?

Gabe: I am playing a lot of Virtua Tennis, also Unreal Tournament (UT).
Tycho: In no particular order: UT, Diablo 2, Deus Ex. I want to do the Icewind Dale thing but I can't fit it in :(

6. What game are you looking forward to the most?

Gabe: There are a lot of good games to look forward to. Tribes 2, Jet Grind Radio, MGS2...
Tycho: Oh, the usual suspects: Tribes 2, Halo, Sims Livin' Large, Elite Force... I could go on. :)

7. Where do you stand on the new netcode featured in the latest patch for Half-Life? For it, against it, or un-biased?

Gabe: I don't play half life.
Tycho: I lost my God Damned CD, and my replacement has not yet arrived. There are vocal critics and enthusiasts, I know that much :)

8. Where do you stand on the whole "consolve vs. pc" argument?

Gabe: I was born a console gamer and I'll die a console gamer.
Tycho: I'm the other way. He's a little bit country, I'm a little bit rock and roll.

9. What are your feelings on the X-Box?

Gabe: They really haven't showed enough for me to make a descision about it. The tech demo looks hot but it all depends on the games.
Tycho: I'm with him. Hard to say yet.

10. If you met John Romero, would you shake his hand, kick him in the nuts, or just cut his hair?

Gabe: Do I have to meet him?
Tycho: We tried to do just that, actually! When we saw that he was doing autographs with Killcreek at E3, we got in line right away. Gabe did a little sketch, and we were going to have him autograph it if we could, but he left when we were only like five people away.

11. Roughly, between you two, how many zombies have you killed?

Gabe: Not nearly enough.
Tycho: Your crude "numbers" are ill equipped to depict such concepts.

12. I'm on dial-up, using a pathetic 33k analong modem. Does that really make me "worse than Lepers"?

Gabe: Yes.
Tycho: Search your feelings. You know it to be true.

13. Can you release any secrets about any upcoming projects with you and GameSpy involved?

Gabe: I do new work for them every week. If you go to gamespy chances are you will see something I drew.

14. And finally, will you ever stop playing games?

Gabe: Nope.
Tycho: Wild dogs couldn't drag me away. Well, maybe if they were *really* wild.

Thanks a lot guys!

You can check out their comic strip along with daily news at www.penny-arcade.com. And if you get really obsessed with the comic, you can always join the Penny Arcade Cult. Can you guess who's the leader?
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