angusjack

So today's Penny Arcade has turned out to be more controversial than the "raped by dickwolves" incident. It's also something worth talking about because we've been heading towards something like this happening for a while.

While I don't particularly like the idea of buying something used and having to pay extra for features that should be out of the box I'm not going to sit here and claim this is the biggest injustice in the world. The original creator of any product is under no obligation to have a relationship with a person who buys their product second hand, it is as simple as that. If you buy a Ford used from Bob Ryan Ford does not have to honor the warranty. If I buy a used copy of Madden, while I would want to have online multiplayer out of the box EA does not have to provide that service to me. And yes that is what they are doing, providing a service. They run the servers and they have a right to say "you didn't pay us you don't get use this".

Truthfully that's tough shit and if you're just trying to save money then it probably does feel like you're being fucked. But here's the thing, game devs and publishers are getting fucked too. Looking at this like they're just a bunch of fat cats robbing from the poor is silly. They're in the business of making money and when their products get passed around in a used market, especially when there is a good chance the people buying used would have been new customers, well then they're getting fucked.

Gamestop's used games business is the reason they're so big. It's become such source of profit for them other large retailers like Walmart and Best Buy are trying to get in on the used market too. Gamestop has created this situation, plain and simple and I hope this fundamentally changes their used games prices. The irony here is people defending Gamestop's used games trade don't realize it was never really good for the consumer anyway. Here's a common scenario to consider: You pay a full $60 for a game, two weeks later you've beaten it and you aren't going to keep it around for multiplayer so you take it to Gamestop to sell it. They offer you $15 dollars for it because it's a popular title, but that's store credit only so they actually only give you give $12 in cash. Walk back the next day and you will see that same game on the shelf for $50. You know how much it cost for them to get that game new from the publisher? I guarantee it wasn't 12 fucking dollars. People get fucked by Gamestop like this every day. But because they got 12 bucks they don't seem to care. Not exactly the rich robbing from the poor, more like the devious stealing from the dumb. As for the person who says they'd rather just pay the $50 for a used copy than the full $60 you are still taking a risk buying used. I've bought $50 used games before, to get home and find them scratched or missing a manual. You do save $10 bucks but personally at that range I'd rather buy new and know that I have support for game rather than just nothing.

I do feel bad for the guy who's trying to make some extra cash and goes online somewhere to sell his old games as well as the person who buys from him. There is nothing wrong with what they are doing. Now the value of a game resold will have to factor in whether or not features with have to be purchased digitally. That sucks, there's no way around it. But throwing your arms in the air screaming about a bunch of "corporate dickheads" is a narrow perspective.

Also because it's my birthday MUSIC:











Yeah I had too much VIno. Since I made that, yeh

Harvey Pekar died this morning.

The hardest part about writing about Harvey Pekar is trying to figure out who I am writing about. Pekar was and open book, he never tried to hide himself and much of his career is built on his self exploitation. That is not a bad thing by the way, but it does make for a man open to many interpretations. Was he a crank? A nutcase? A genius? All of the above?

Harvey Pekar wrote about life, his stories in American Splendor could be sad, sweet, funny, or tragic and often they were more than one of these things at once. While he was not a philosopher, his writing would often tread the same water ("Why are we here? Does it even matter?"). David Letterman made him famous, but he hardly understood what made Pekar tick. He thought Pekar was doing an act, another bit for his show. The truth was Pekar was more genuine than just about anyone who's ever been in the public spotlight.

His lasting legacy, for me at least, will be the way he helped change comics. It was not a loud revolution; he simply did things his way and showed other people they could as well. When you look at indie (or alternative) comics his influence is apparent, but anyone who has done creator owned work in the comics industry has Pekar to thank for that chance. Only towards the end of his life did Pekar work with one of the the Big 2, and that was with DC's Vertigo imprint. That was about as mainstream as he could get, and as close as he could come to "selling out".

After I first saw American Splendor the movie I told myself I would read more of his work. While that was true I still feel like I haven't read enough. That's the best place I feel I can leave this. You'll probably read much better written obituaries for Harvey Pekar in the next few days. We'll see if other people can say who Harvey Pekar was.

(Read this article for more context on the rest of this.)

When I first heard of Blizzard's RealID I was for it. I like the idea of people not being able to throw stones at others anonymously over the internet. This goes especially for a community like WoW where the forums have become this weird pass time for people who have nothing better to do that troll the internet and complain about minutia. I thought people were just being paranoid when the initial response hit. Gamers are very protective of their online handles and for some reason I thought that this, with a little paranoia, was driving the backlash. Then I saw Friday's Penny-Arcade and read this article linked to by Tycho.

I was dumb for not seeing the obvious. I've been playing WoW on and off for almost the full 5 plus year run of the game at this point. I've also played other MMOs like Everquest and Asheron's Call so I know how these communities work. It is hard to describe how creepy some of these people can be. A few years ago in the pages of Computer Gaming World Jeff Green wrote a column detailing an experiment he did. Jeff had always played a male character in Everquest up to that point, but he had begun to notice how female characters in game got different treatment from other players. Jeff then created a new female character just to see if he was right. Within minutes of entering the world he was hit by whispers from other players offering gear, advice, even asking him if he (she in their minds) wanted them to do quests for him. As Jeff continued to play the character he found some of the guys he encountered were keeping up with him. As soon as he'd log on they'd message his character, asking him what he was doing, if he needed something etc.. Now this can be interpreted as innocent bullshit, but we all know better. The Internet Male is a lonely guy, and lonely guy can become a scary thing.

There are other examples of this type of stalkerish behavior out there, most far worse than this. The point though really is what keeps the dam from breaking and this stuff turning really nasty often is the wall of anonymity that these games provide. It is more common these days for guys to just assume that a female character in game is a guy (often this is correct) but when evidence is presented to the contrary things change fast and people get treated differently. RealID would provide the worst part the community (a small part, but they don't have to be large to present a threat) with information that could lead down a dangerous path. I don't think that's hyperbole either.

Blizzard was right to reverse its decision. Sad as it is WoW players were right to stand up and say that they didn't trust the WoW community. I just realized this may be the most damning thing about MMOs today.

Epidsode:

Legends

The Justice League: Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, J'onn, Flash

The Justice Guild of America (Justice Society of America):
Green Guardsmen (Golden Age Green Lantern)
Black Siren (Black Canary)
Streak (Golden Age Flash)
Catman (Wildcat, with a little Dick Sprang Batman in there too)
Tom Turbine (Mr. Terrific, Golden Age Atom)

Villains:
The Music Master (The Fiddler)
Dr. Blizzard (Icicle)
The Sportsman (Sportsmaster)
Sir Swami (The Wizard)

Ray Thompson (Roy Thomas)

This will solve sooooo many B.O. issues at various cons in the next year.

Shirtless Kirk Cologne

Episode:

Fury
The Team: Wonder Woman, Hawkgirl, Batman
Villains: The Injustice Gang, Aresia

Episode:

The Brave and The Bold
The Team: Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, Wonder Woman, Batman, J'onn
Villain: Grodd

Trying new stuff this one.

Episode:

War World
The Team: Superman, J'onn, Green Lantern, Hawkgirl
Villain: Mongul