The Rise, Fall, and Continued Decline of Penny Arcade

[ManekiNeko]

What happened to this once great video game comic? I remember a time when it was consistently funny and relevant, but lately, it's been so self-absorbed and irrelevant. Out of the past five comics, only two have been specifically about video games. The rest consisted largely of Tycho and Gabe (wrongly) assuming that their own personal hobbies and pet peeves were far more entertaining.
It's also tastelessly violent... in a recent episode, Gabe stuffed a book in Tycho's mouth and punched it through his head. Uh... ha ha? Maybe I'm not the best judge of humor, but I guess I don't understand what makes decapitating your best friend so hilarious.
Does anyone here still enjoy Penny Arcade? If so, you should explain to me why you like it, because as it is now, I don't just understand its appeal.

JR

[Drexel923]

I love their comic and have been a fan for a while. I think the comics are still funny for the most part but one thing has changed. It used to be that you could just read the comic and you would get everything. But now, to get the joke you usually have to read the news segment that inspired the comic. Thats not neccearily a bad thing, but you almost have to do it now to really get the jokes.

[ubersaurus]

That stuff is hilarious. It's not in any sort of decline, because even their non-game comics are great. I loved the AT&T customer service droid LOL

[portnoyd]

I agree with JR. Penny Arcade was great, and this was even 6 months ago! Recently, it's taken a HUGE downswing where the comics seem to be written by two other people besides the real Gabe and Tycho. PA has always had oddball comics (Carrot Cake Soup?!), but it hasn't been until now that it's become way off base.

But it has always been tastelessly violent. One of my favorite PAs is the Daytona strip, and the subsequent flash video of it. Hehe.

dave

[Ed Oscuro]

Ironic that after their "latest adorable attempt at relevance" comment they, themselves are looking quite irrelevant. There's been some rough stuff in there time and again, and sometimes it's a bit annoying to see a book review-comic in lieu of an actual comic. Didn't see that latest comic until you mentioned it--goes with the Cardboard Samurai, I suppose.

Penny Arcade's biggest issue is that the guys think their word is special. It's insulting. I was quite taken (and intrigued) by GameSpy's "25 top overrated games" column for the simple reason that GameSpy owned up to overhyping a couple games--Black and White for the grand finale. No, Penny Arcade missed that because they were too busy foaming at the mouth that Donkey Kong Country recieved a blow. It's an overrated games list--not a list of games that were bad. Some of the choices don't sit well with many American gamers--Final Fantasy IV (though this is a choice I agree with), anyone? Truly foolish and shortsighted. GameSpy should be praised for taking some steam out of the fanboy machine, and while it's true that their writers aren't the world's best they most certainly aren't slouches.

I also liked their "nobody cares about Scott Kurtz" comment, especially with the "we like helping the underdog" follow-through (I think the phrase "little guy" was used). And times when they pay self service by throwing in their tired old Monty Python-esque madlibs (Peanut Butter Monkey), or in-jokes, rather, has never been something that sits well with me (check out the Splinter Cell: Adjective Noun (http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2003-05-26) strip.

People aren't going to Penny-Arcade solely to read strips about games anymore. Penny-Arcade has built up a cult of personality, and as I've discovered it's annoying not only in online forums but in comic strips as well.

However, I would point you toward this old news strip on PvP:

http://www.penny-arcade.com/news.php3?date=2001-04-11

The progression from blind anger to seeing things as they are.

Hopefully, this is just a phase for Penny Arcade. I hope so. That said, they've lost some respect from me and many others.

...I think this monitor's about to explode. Gotta go find another.

[Sotenga]

I still enjoy PA. Sure, it may be on a slight downward slope, but if I can generate some laughs from it still, then it's not dead. Unfortunately, we can't expect everything to last forever. Anything that was legendary won't be like that forever. It had to fall off at some point. However, I find that it hasn't hit that point just yet.

Off the record, I really liked the claw shrimp one for some reason. LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL

[maxlords]

They're more hit and miss than they used to be, but I don't have a problem with em overall. It is a bit frustrating when you have to read the talk to get the comics, but overall, the comics stand on their own. It definitely still has it's moments and I still read it. I have no issues with the violence either. It just is.

[Needle]

I still read Penny Arcade every day it comes out. I don't think there's any denying that the comic strip has taken a step away from "Games" and taken a step towards "Usually About Something That a Gamer Would Find Interesting But Possibly Not". After five years, you have to expect some kind of growth. Artistically, there's been a lot of growth. At the same time, they're probably sick of doing comics about games all the time.

As was noted above, Penny Arcade has kind of mutated into something else. Tycho and Gabe (the real people, not the comic characters) kind of represent the Everyman of Modern Generation Gaming. The only difference is that through their comic, they have gained some insight into the industry, and have an open platform with which to discuss it. Given their popularity, they've managed to stay pretty cool about things.

Relevance is in the eye of the beholder. Each comic is relevant as they see fit. If that has nothing to do with games... apparently that's okay.

[Ed Oscuro]

The only difference is that through their comic, they have gained some insight into the industry, and have an open platform with which to discuss it. Given their popularity, they've managed to stay pretty cool about things.

The "sick of doing strips about video games" is OK, and personally my dislike with it is feeding back into my sense of taste (after all, I'd be more open to comics related to the collection scene than I am to comics about the latest Dune book's failure to live up to its namesake).

On the other hand, the arrogance and sense of self-importance I've noticed coming from there in recent times has been a bit overpowering. I'd venture to say that they've not managed to stay "pretty cool about things," from my perspective. I'm not giving any slack for "they do this on top of a job" or anything else. Sure they're representative of the average gamer--but I didn't notice Moliere throwing around catch-phrases like "Splinter Cell: Peanut Butter Monkey" with abandon.

I'm also quite concerned about the story between those folks and GameSpy. At one time Gabe was GameSpy's in-house artist and drew up the Daily Victims--now Tycho's saying "Assholes or retards. Which is it, Gamespy? Take your pick." I don't take that sort of stuff lightly, and I don't think the phrase burning your bridges comes close to the sort of damage this thoughtless ranting has incurred. (Note also that they often bash Kurz, who is completely unoffensive if you use PA as your yardstick for abuse).

A bit more variety than Mike Myers, but ultimately annoying just the same.

True that I was quick to jump on the anti-PA bandwagon, but there's a reason for it.

[WiseSalesman]

I still read Penny-Arcade all the time, but, no, it's definitely NOT what it used to be. I'd say the average one good comic per week. I once spoke up about the decline of the comic, as well as the increasing "i'm write because I have a hit webcomic" attitude of the proprietors back when I was a regular on the PA forums. Usually, when you criticize the comic on those forums, Gabe or Tycho come in to defend themselves. in this particular case, however, I was immediately jumped upon by almost every forum member, the thread reached over 12 pages long, but the creators reamined strangely silent. Maybe they themselves realize this as well.

[Needle]

On the other hand, the arrogance and sense of self-importance I've noticed coming from there in recent times has been a bit overpowering. I'd venture to say that they've not managed to stay "pretty cool about things," from my perspective. I'm not giving any slack for "they do this on top of a job" or anything else. Sure they're representative of the average gamer--but I didn't notice Moliere throwing around catch-phrases like "Splinter Cell: Peanut Butter Monkey" with abandon.

I'm also quite concerned about the story between those folks and GameSpy. At one time Gabe was GameSpy's in-house artist and drew up the Daily Victims--now Tycho's saying "Assholes or retards. Which is it, Gamespy? Take your pick." I don't take that sort of stuff lightly, and I don't think the phrase burning your bridges comes close to the sort of damage this thoughtless ranting has incurred. (Note also that they often bash Kurz, who is completely unoffensive if you use PA as your yardstick for abuse).

A bit more variety than Mike Myers, but ultimately annoying just the same.

True that I was quick to jump on the anti-PA bandwagon, but there's a reason for it.

I don't really have any issues with what you noted. Sure, there is an air of self-importance. I have noticed it too, and it really took off the second Gabe started his "Cardboard Tube Samurai" thread of comics. Gabe had noted that he was getting a little bored with the comic and was looking for ways to spice it up. From an artist's standpoint, if you're getting bored with your work, then you need to correct it and move on. If you can't correct it, then you need to trash it and move on. This may sometimes come across as self-importance (and yes, sometimes it is) but it's ultimately necessary to keep the material fresh, not so much for the audience but for the artist. I'm not about to take any guesses on how Gabe feels about this, because it would be a baseless hypothesis at best.

While on the topic of audience, you also have to question how the audience has changed over the years. There's a pretty direct correlation between the size of your audience and the LCD of your audience. Simply put, Larger Audience = Stupider Audience. Yes, that's a horrible generalization, but I'm willing to bet there are a lot more "l33t d00dz" reading Penny Arcade now than there were three years ago. If success is the bottom line, then you need to pander to the lowest common denominator at least some of the time.

Anyways, this is more of a Devil's Advocate standpoint than anything. I think my ultimate answer to the original question is: Yes, there's a decline in Penny Arcade, but it may be a necessary evil.

[Anonymous]

Personally, I look forward to the posts more than I do the comic. For me the comic has always been a bit of an afterthought when I go to the site. Tycho's posts are always interesting, and despite the nature of the comics, always about games.

Gabe flys off the handle a fair bit too, but both guys are intelligent, and they usually bring up interesting vg news.

[Blendo75]

No, Penny Arcade missed that because they were too busy foaming at the mouth that Donkey Kong Country recieved a blow. It's an overrated games list--not a list of games that were bad..

Whoa there. Now Gabe and Tycho had that one absolutely right. Gamespy was strongly implying that DKC wowed everybody with it's graphics at the time and that there was nothing else to it, which could not be further from the truth. That game plays like a dream and it has very unique controls considering how samey most 2-D platformers are. It absolutely oozes playability. I'd put it up there with Super Mario 3. Gamespy was just out of ideas for their article and took a cheap shot at a fantastic game.

[Ed Oscuro]

No, Penny Arcade missed that because they were too busy foaming at the mouth that Donkey Kong Country recieved a blow. It's an overrated games list--not a list of games that were bad..

Whoa there. Now Gabe and Tycho had that one absolutely right.

So Yoshi's Island wasn't similarly deserving of attention? If you'd read on, one of GameSpy's reasons for putting this one on the list was that it stole the spotlight from Yoshi's Island. For good or bad, that's an essential ingredient to their choosing this title.

What I wanted to highlight was that the Penny Arcade guys stuck on that single point and essentially disregarded the rest of the article as being relevant. Their "must be assholes or idiots" shows that they were more than willing to completely ignore GameSpy's choice for #1 Overrated Game, which was apparently picked in part because GameSpy realized they were heading up the ranks of the B&W hype machine.

@ Needle

Yes, there's more than likely something to that. I don't think the PA guys are stuck with a certain mindset, though. They're capable of growth (and I hope they are) and I'd like to see more of that shine through at times. I for one have a good deal of respect for the way in which they've managed to find so much to talk about (at the right time) in regard to the current industry, and quite often they're right.

[Scoots]

Personally, I look forward to the posts more than I do the comic. For me the comic has always been a bit of an afterthought when I go to the site. Tycho's posts are always interesting, and despite the nature of the comics, always about games.

Gabe flys off the handle a fair bit too, but both guys are intelligent, and they usually bring up interesting vg news.

Agreed. I think "Tycho" is an excellent writer and has some interesting things to say. Yeah, it's opinion and I don't always agree with it, but I do find it intrguing enough to read. The comics...eh. Don't do much for me, typically.

[NE146]

So if this Penny Arcade sucks now but used to be good.. what are the 'good' ones? (date ranges). It looks like they have an archive of previous comics. I wanna read some good ones :D

[Ed Oscuro]

That's the thing, it's all hit or miss. You either get it or you don't. One thing's for sure--the writing is a high point of the site, be sure to hit the "News" button (if News is available for the strip; some of them don't have news.)

[Anonymous]

http://www.penny-arcade.com/news.php3?date=2003-11-26

Relevant or no, raising 8,000 dollars in less than a day for children's hospitals show the kind of power and sway that Penny Arcade has. On that same page you can see the cardboard tube in the new Legacy of Kain game hidden as an homage to Gabe's Cardboard Tube Samurai (something I'm not particularly fond of. I'd say it's their least 'relevant' idea to date).

[Jorpho]

I've never liked Penny Arcade much myself. Yes, there's nothing else quite like it, and the video game industry is a prime target for satire, but the humor is just too lowbrow.

[Arqueologia_Digital]

Sorry, but i have to make that question, because here doesn´t exists that kind of machines, so...what are "penny-arcades"??? :embarrassed:

Thanks

[WiseSalesman]

Main Entry: penny arcade
Function: noun
Date: 1908
: an amusement center having coin-operated devices for entertainment

It's not a term that's really used anymore. However, the discussion here is about the COMIC Penny Arcade, which you can find here (http://www.penny-arcade.com).

[atomicthumbs]

All I have to say is this...


I love that Peanut-Butter Monkey!!!

[AB Positive]

I guess I'm one of the few here that still enjoy their comics to this day. I don't know how to explain it, but they just somehow think similarly to where the total random acts make sense to me.

And what they're doing for their local children's hospital is amazing.

-AG

[Arqueologia_Digital]

Main Entry: penny arcade
Function: noun
Date: 1908
: an amusement center having coin-operated devices for entertainment

It's not a term that's really used anymore. However, the discussion here is about the COMIC Penny Arcade, which you can find here (http://www.penny-arcade.com).
Right, thanks! ;)

[Six Switch]

Sure PA use to be better but I still find almost all of their comics funny.Better or worse I'll still be reading every Monday,Wednesday,and Friday.

[SoulBlazer]

I just posted a rant about the only online comic that I read on a regular basis, Nuklear Power, so I'd say most of the same stuff I was complining about could also be applied over here. :)

Actually, it could also be a case of the opoiste problem -- like the guys but hate the strip where in my case I love the strip but hate the guy. :D

Penny Arcade? I've read a few of them when I heard it was a good one. Most of them, though, I either don't get or don't find funny. Oh well. ;)