Lastly, Maarten and I have been trying like mad to get some reasonable encoding quality and rates for the videos around here before E3. If anyone wants to improve the videos around here and knows linux command line video encoders and how to get good quality VP6 video... yeah, that would be great. We are pretty much lost and suck.

Steve Gibson

Steve Gibson is the cofounder of Shacknews.com. Originally known as sCary's Quakeholio back in 1996, Steve is now President of Gearbox Publishing after selling Shacknews to GameFly in 2009.

From The Chatty

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Demius

 reply
July 2, 2008 6:03 PM

Zero punctuation

I didn't see it mentioned so for all you late.. evening... readers... whatever we call ourselves..

WebComics
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/108-Webcomics
- shavenewok
  
   reply
  July 2, 2008 6:12 PM
  
  he's doing a talk in Melbourne on Wednesday, should be good
- Magus
  
   reply
  July 2, 2008 6:21 PM
  
  Hahaha, I love how he bashes Penny Arcade and ctrlaltdel
  - Arcanum
    
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    July 2, 2008 6:23 PM
    
    And VGCats. And probably others I'm unaware of.
  - ctlaltl33t
    
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    July 2, 2008 6:24 PM
    
    You love it cuz he's absolutely correct
  - Vincent Grayson
    
     reply
    July 2, 2008 6:31 PM
    
    Where did he bash PA? Didn't he pretty much say that everything *but* Penny Arcade is shit?
    - Arcanum
      
       reply
      July 2, 2008 6:32 PM
      
      No, he just said every video game comic is copying PA. He then enumerated the formula and said all video game comics suck.
    - Magus
      
       reply
      July 2, 2008 6:41 PM
      
      He said PA was successful, he never said whether PA was shit or not. But his suggestion on a successful comic was to have one guy who can draw really well, and have another guy who can write a whole bunch of nonsense.
      
      I'm not gonna argue for it either way, but I will say that PA is the funniest one out there imo. But even they have shitty comics - fairly often. There are a few times though, that they make some genius strips. The unhorse one is pretty great, for example.
      - mobab
        
         reply
        July 2, 2008 6:45 PM
        
        The thing about PA, from what I heard, it's usually based on what they talk to each other about. Sometimes, their conversation just isn't funny.
        
        Arcanum
        
         reply
        July 2, 2008 6:46 PM
        
        Sometimes it's funny...if you get some obscure reference.
        
        dantastic
        
         reply
        July 2, 2008 8:58 PM
        
        nope its never funny
        
        seven
        
         reply
        July 2, 2008 11:21 PM
        
        The last 6 - while very well drawn - are not even "chuckle" funny - they're just... "there". I'm not sure why they have so many comics that aren't particularly funny - maybe they don't intend to run a funny comic strip, and I just assumed they were going for laughs each time. Or maybe Tycho spends too much time masturbating to the sound of his own keyboard clacking to bother writing succinct and clever humour.
        
        Consistent humour is certainly possible - just look at The Daily Show, and The Colbert Report - they're 4 times funnier than PA at it's best, and they deliver night after night.
        
        There are still great PA strips - just not as many as you'd imagine there should be considering it's Tycho's full time job to just write for the comic. He's just nowhere near as talented in his field as Gabe is.
        
        JINKY
        
         reply
        July 2, 2008 11:32 PM
        
        i don't know i think the pokemon one is pretty funny, the last frame is great
      - locater16
        
         reply
        July 2, 2008 10:33 PM
        
        PA is one of the few comics I really like. The only other really good video game comic is Eegra. That guy can make almost any other comic look sane though.
  - sm00v3d
    
     reply
    July 2, 2008 6:32 PM
    
    I think he said that everyone was basically trying to be Penny Arcade
  - JINKY
    
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    July 2, 2008 6:33 PM
    
    he didn't seem to be bashing PA that much, he was bashing every gaming comic BUT pa
  - SpaecKow
    
     reply
    July 2, 2008 6:38 PM
    
    I don't think he's bashing PA, PA is on a level above this shit. This is really targeted at CAD and others like VGCats etc are just collateral damage because they happen to be shitty in exactly the same way.
  - riptyde
    
     reply
    July 2, 2008 6:39 PM
    
    I wonder if the "if you cant draw, just take attention away from it with ridiculous amounts of text" bit was a jab at Qwantz.
    - Arcanum
      
       reply
      July 2, 2008 6:40 PM
      
      Could be. Hadn't thought of that.
    - Deathlove
      
       reply
      July 2, 2008 6:48 PM
      
      There are tons of webcomics that do walls of text with shitty drawing.
    - DOOManiac
      
       reply
      July 2, 2008 6:50 PM
      
      or xkcd
      - kevp
        
         reply
        July 2, 2008 6:56 PM
        
        ^^ what I thought (there are two stick figures doing it on the panel behind him when he says this)
      - naios
        
         reply
        July 2, 2008 7:15 PM
        
        http://www.xkcd.com/157/
        
        Somehow I don't think riptyde's statement applies here.
      - riptyde
        
         reply
        July 2, 2008 8:02 PM
        
        ah, didnt think about that one
      - uglysad
        
         reply
        July 2, 2008 10:05 PM
        
        But xkcd and Qwantz aren't video game web comics.
    - Deathlove
      
       reply
      July 2, 2008 6:56 PM
      
      http://www.fullyramblomatic.com/features/goodcomics.htm
      
      He likes Dinosaur Comics, so...you know. High five to all the cool kids! Let's all go read Octopus Pie!
      - ctlaltl33t
        
         reply
        July 2, 2008 7:07 PM
        
        So sad that Spamusement and PBF aren't around anymore
        
        Deathlove
        
         reply
        July 2, 2008 7:13 PM
        
        There's a Spamusement knockoff called A Spam A Day but it's not terribly good. Better art, though.
        
        Rag and Bone Man
        
         reply
        July 2, 2008 9:43 PM
        
        I'm just going through some of the Spamusement comics.
        
        So much hilarity.
        
        http://spamusement.com/index.php/comics/view/313
        http://spamusement.com/index.php/comics/view/315
        http://spamusement.com/index.php/comics/view/316
      - Arctic Fox
        
         reply
        July 2, 2008 7:12 PM
        
        He also has xkcd on that list.
        
        Deathlove
        
         reply
        July 2, 2008 7:13 PM
        
        *'s means he really likes it.
      - JINKY
        
         reply
        July 2, 2008 7:42 PM
        
        no star on achewood and xkcd is on there, i no longer like him fuck zero punctuation forever
        
        riptyde
        
         reply
        July 2, 2008 8:03 PM
        
        I still have yet to ever understand a single achewood strip that has ever been drawn.
        
        JINKY
        
         reply
        July 2, 2008 8:06 PM
        
        i used to not understand or care about it, then i started reading it from the beginning and after like 100 strips i realized how genius it is
        
        Deathlove
        
         reply
        July 2, 2008 8:18 PM
        
        skip the opening stuff and just start with The Party storyline. After that it is all gold.
        
        are you subscribed to the twitter feed as well?
        
        JINKY
        
         reply
        July 2, 2008 8:37 PM
        
        i read some of it and it was kinda funny but i kind of hate twitter
        
        Deathlove
        
         reply
        July 2, 2008 9:07 PM
        
        plug it into your RSS reader and you never have to look at the twitter website agaaaaaaaain
        
        Delusional
        
         reply
        July 2, 2008 9:43 PM
        
        Science has recently discovered that achewood is literally the opposite of funny.
        
        JINKY
        
         reply
        July 2, 2008 10:00 PM
        
        please don't insult things you don't understand
      - shavenewok
        
         reply
        July 2, 2008 7:46 PM
        
        Dr McNinja needs more love
        
        Deathlove
        
         reply
        July 2, 2008 8:04 PM
        
        fucken werd
    - OverloadUT
      
       reply
      July 2, 2008 7:40 PM
      
      He specifically said in his blog that he enjoys Qwantz as well as Perry Bible Fellowship.
      - zakk
        
         reply
        July 2, 2008 7:46 PM
        
        of course, just because he enjoys it doesn't mean he won't take a jab at it
        
        OverloadUT
        
         reply
        July 2, 2008 7:48 PM
        
        That's true.
        
        OverloadUT
        
         reply
        July 2, 2008 7:48 PM
        
        But I think the jab was at CAD, as that is one of the biggest problems with CAD.
      - pyide
        
         reply
        July 2, 2008 8:08 PM
        
        those aren't really gaming comics, are they?
        
        this whole episode was about those specifically, not web comics in general, no?
    - Fayk
      
       reply
      July 2, 2008 9:22 PM
      
      Except Qwantz is well written - that's the entire basis of the comic, really.
      - seven
        
         reply
        July 2, 2008 11:15 PM
        
        exactly - Qwantz is surprisingly well written.
- [deleted] 297564118
  
   reply
  July 2, 2008 9:21 PM
  
  [deleted]
- c0bra
  
   reply
  July 2, 2008 10:02 PM
  
  http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2001/3/5/
- Boxelder
  
   reply
  July 2, 2008 11:08 PM
  
  Oh the irony.
  - seven
    
     reply
    July 2, 2008 11:14 PM
    
    dear lord - deliver us.
- Malku
  
   reply
  July 2, 2008 11:23 PM
  
  Man I love that guy. He's not like the guy with glasses (what a douche) because he doesn't grid his insults together. He does them over itme, and for that I love him. He can hate what he loves and that makes him a good man.
  
  This is my opinion so please don't tear me apart over it
- moe6
  
   reply
  July 2, 2008 11:40 PM
  
  I HATE the new web player they use. it just never fucking loads for me now.
  - ctlaltl33t
    
     reply
    July 2, 2008 11:54 PM
    
    This one is better than the previous one for me in FF3, but I still have to load it in an IE tab if I want to watch more than one video there
- seven
  
   reply
  July 2, 2008 11:51 PM
  
  heh - C&H has shit to fuck art - but it can be funny for a daily comic: http://www.explosm.net/comics/1323/
  - seven
    
     reply
    July 3, 2008 12:14 AM
    
    heh - looks like they thought poorly of the miscarriage comics, too: http://www.explosm.net/comics/1310/
  - RikiTiki2
    
     reply
    July 3, 2008 12:19 AM
    
    D: