Penny Arcade continues with their comical interpretations of all things technological. As one of the original successful web-comics, they have been commenting on everything from John Romero's hair to their latest impression of video gamers as we near the launch of the Nintendo Wii.
Thus, for eight years viewers have watched Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins become better artists and Tycho and Gabe call out gaming companies and be controversial, angry, murderous, romantic and most of all, extremely funny.
We have also seen the site rise to 1,682 on Alexa. That's what you call creating a buzz around your artwork.
Penny Arcade can be blunt, but I think one of the comic's best traits is its ability to be implicit. One of my favorite comics is an oldie from 1999. I was reviewing the latest generation of what was then seperate 3D computer graphics cards, and the technology leader was a company called 3DFX. Their Voodoo 3D technology was a gaming standard for years. Well that company crashed big time. It was a true "here-today-gone-tomorrow" situation. Penny Arcade captured the scenario perfectly in their Jan. 29, 1999 comic.
It is also interesting to note that Penny Arcade was one of the first weblogs. To this day, the first thing the viewer sees on Penny-arcade.com is not the day's comic strip, but the day's news update. Since inception, the site has been a source of daily technology and gaming news with links to news stories and information on the latest trends that continues to be place to find common sense in a world with a lot of fluff.
The Penny Arcade team has also done considerable charitable work, raising over $650,000 for toys, games and monetary support for children's hospitals.
Today's comic (9/21), about the launch of next generation gaming consoles, was especially entertaining for me in the way they portrayed Sony and Nintendo fans who are both nervous and excited about Wii and PS3. Check it out and make sure you read the news posts!
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