Buying me out?
October 8th 2006 05:31
Category: Opinionated
I’m sure some of you may have heard of Penny-Arcade an online WebComic. Its name was probably inspired by the name from a TV channel nickelodeon. Kind of besides the point of this article but a Nickelodeon in the distant past was a cinema targeted mainly at children which cost a Nickel per view, like TV they had episodes of a series and the kids would watch a new one on a weekly basis. The name ‘Penny-Arcade’ was probably inspired by the ‘Nickelodeon’ name of both the TV channel and the actual Nickelodeons that existed however an arcade machine that costs a penny per game probably does not exist.
The topic of this article is a little more serious than names one chooses for a WebComic, it is about corruption that exists in the heart of the most innocent form of persuasive media in existence, comic strips. I believe the creators of Penny-Arcade, Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik literally took a 180 degree spin on their opinions about a certain companies products straight after certain events.
One would ask, why? Yes, why would two hapless people, strip artist and strip writer (self proclaimed ‘society’s waste products’), be influenced by an external medium rather than their own opinions when it comes down to making gags for strips? Well basically these two are running the most popular games related WebComic on the internet and are considered to be the two most influential gamers on the planet. Case in point, their opinions matter.
Their opinion on the original Xbox was made somewhat evident when they saw it for the first time, their opinion on its size didn’t change later on and they still made another three strips mocking the size of the controller, and more intriguingly in one case they also mocked the Xbox poster boy ‘Halo’. The biggest single piece of mockery they hurled at ‘Halo’ was at their satirical ‘awards’ ceremony, calling ‘Halo’ ‘Absolute Shit’.
However after receiving an invitation to ‘Some kind of Xbox thing’ and the memorable quote ‘Now, remember. Until they feed us, Halo was Awesome’ it appears Halo did become awesome, and all puns of the Xbox’s freakishly large controller went down the pipe. However in fairness that could probably be attributed to the fact it would have gotten boring redoing the same gag over and over. All the anti-Halo gags stopped after this visit and suddenly it was a great game, its sequel was one that was much anticipated and ‘Awesome’.
Normally I’d associate that with a change of heart, certainly this strip verifies it, and it was made before the Microsoft invite to ‘some Xbox thing’.
However more recently the writer of the strip, Jerry Holkins, started becoming hypocritical, defending the Zune for its lack of some features and excess of others stating simply that maybe in the long run it will come up with those missing features, when it really isn’t in his nature to defend anything that might lack something he so deems necessary even if it makes up for it, most recently he expresses his dissatisfaction with Sony’s up and coming Playstation 3’s games stating he isn’t interested in the bigger titles (Metal Gear Solid, Gran Turismo, Resistance: Fall of Man) and that even though it can surf the net and ‘make pictures look good’ he didn’t ask for it and doesn’t like the Playstation 3 because it has all these features because it is lacking in the be all end all for him, which is obviously games.
Yet he defended Microsoft’s upcoming (iPod copycat) Zune despite “things that seemed natural to expect, seeing as they are currently made manifest by competing devices - was sort of missing in action”. Well it didn’t save the Playstation 3 that it had such and such extra features since it lacked in what he found obligatory in games, yet Jerry Holkins thinks the features the Zune has its competition doesn’t will in fact make up for its lacking of what he himself said was ‘manifest’ of such devices such as the Zune.
Perhaps I am completely wrong, and I have to admit I don’t think I am basing what I am saying on anything than pure speculation and some random comic strips strung together in chronological order, I have a great respect for Penny-Arcade, from its snazzy name to its charity offshoot, ‘Childs Play’. Their strips tend to be humorous (as they should be) and I love Jerry Holkins somewhat satirical writing style.
In a way I have to ask myself, does it really matter they were bought out by x company? So long as the strips are funny, so long as they remain attached to a charity organisation they are really only helping the community more than they are damaging it with their biased views which even if biased fester in comical fashion which boosts their popularity and helps their charity organisation gain more donations, everyone wins.
The topic of this article is a little more serious than names one chooses for a WebComic, it is about corruption that exists in the heart of the most innocent form of persuasive media in existence, comic strips. I believe the creators of Penny-Arcade, Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik literally took a 180 degree spin on their opinions about a certain companies products straight after certain events.
Charicatures of the Writer (left) and Artist (right) of Penny-Arcade
Their opinion on the original Xbox was made somewhat evident when they saw it for the first time, their opinion on its size didn’t change later on and they still made another three strips mocking the size of the controller, and more intriguingly in one case they also mocked the Xbox poster boy ‘Halo’. The biggest single piece of mockery they hurled at ‘Halo’ was at their satirical ‘awards’ ceremony, calling ‘Halo’ ‘Absolute Shit’.
However after receiving an invitation to ‘Some kind of Xbox thing’ and the memorable quote ‘Now, remember. Until they feed us, Halo was Awesome’ it appears Halo did become awesome, and all puns of the Xbox’s freakishly large controller went down the pipe. However in fairness that could probably be attributed to the fact it would have gotten boring redoing the same gag over and over. All the anti-Halo gags stopped after this visit and suddenly it was a great game, its sequel was one that was much anticipated and ‘Awesome’.
Normally I’d associate that with a change of heart, certainly this strip verifies it, and it was made before the Microsoft invite to ‘some Xbox thing’.
However more recently the writer of the strip, Jerry Holkins, started becoming hypocritical, defending the Zune for its lack of some features and excess of others stating simply that maybe in the long run it will come up with those missing features, when it really isn’t in his nature to defend anything that might lack something he so deems necessary even if it makes up for it, most recently he expresses his dissatisfaction with Sony’s up and coming Playstation 3’s games stating he isn’t interested in the bigger titles (Metal Gear Solid, Gran Turismo, Resistance: Fall of Man) and that even though it can surf the net and ‘make pictures look good’ he didn’t ask for it and doesn’t like the Playstation 3 because it has all these features because it is lacking in the be all end all for him, which is obviously games.
Yet he defended Microsoft’s upcoming (iPod copycat) Zune despite “things that seemed natural to expect, seeing as they are currently made manifest by competing devices - was sort of missing in action”. Well it didn’t save the Playstation 3 that it had such and such extra features since it lacked in what he found obligatory in games, yet Jerry Holkins thinks the features the Zune has its competition doesn’t will in fact make up for its lacking of what he himself said was ‘manifest’ of such devices such as the Zune.
Child's Play is a charity is part of Penny-Arcade
In a way I have to ask myself, does it really matter they were bought out by x company? So long as the strips are funny, so long as they remain attached to a charity organisation they are really only helping the community more than they are damaging it with their biased views which even if biased fester in comical fashion which boosts their popularity and helps their charity organisation gain more donations, everyone wins.
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jkund17
Comment by Harmony Rocks
head for threads
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No, I don't think you're wrong. Yes, it does matter.
From what you describe. it looks like they've taken the strip from honest opinion and reduced it to cheap pandering.
Comment by Ahmed
Video Gamer Kids
Little Green Foosballs
PolyKicks
Cinema Three
Comment by Always Eighteen
Always Eighteen: Japan Edition
Comment by Ahmed
Video Gamer Kids
Little Green Foosballs
PolyKicks
Cinema Three
Comment by Anonymous
Comment by Harmony Rocks
head for threads
Harmony's Forum For You
Harmony's Forum For You
Comment by Ahmed
Video Gamer Kids
Little Green Foosballs
PolyKicks
Cinema Three
Not saying its good, but if a persons view is biased for the wrong reasons..
Comment by Ahmed
Video Gamer Kids
Little Green Foosballs
PolyKicks
Cinema Three
It faces that way here because i mirrored the image