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This is the 'Cardboard Tube Samurai' in Tekken 6

by Ben Gilbert { Jun 20th 2009 at 5:30PM }

Picked up by way of the Gamertag Radio forums from the alleged Twitter account of Tekken 6 -- we know, we know -- it was confirmed this afternoon that the image you see above of Penny Arcade's Cardboard Tube Samurai is, in fact, the real deal. Where, you ask? Well, of course, Mike "Gabe" Krahulik's Twitter account, where he twote, "Yes this is for real. Cts costume will be in Tekken 6!"

He is, of course, referring to the Cardboard Tube Samurai and probably not the cartoon time-traveling simulator we already know will include everything in the universe. Take a look after the break for the exciting Twitter snapshot where Gabe revealed the truth.

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Ron Gilbert to give keynote speech at PAX 2009

by Griffin McElroy { Jun 3rd 2009 at 2:45PM }

We consider the creation of the SCUMM engine to be a historic event that's on par with the invention of the light bulb or the discovery of fire, so forgive any and all typos you may find within this post -- it's tough to type while squealing and flailing your arms about. A press release just landed in our inbox which revealed the keynote speaker for the 2009 Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle, WA -- it's Ron Gilbert, inventor of SCUMM and creator of Maniac Mansion and the first two Monkey Island games.

A collaboration between this adventure game luminary and the pair of comic-producing philanthropists isn't too surprising -- after all, Gilbert did consulting work on Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness. Surprising or no, we're still buying two passes to show how awesome we think this is. (No, you can't have the other one. It's symbolic.)

First PAX '09 details revealed

by Alexander Sliwinski { Apr 23rd 2009 at 3:15PM }

PAX is set to begin September 4 in Seattle, and today the organizers revealed some of the first details of what revelers can expect at the geek-a-palooza. The event is expecting over 60 exhibitors, including Microsoft, Nintendo, Valve, Blizzard and many others. Sony isn't currently listed and we've contacted the publisher to ask if it plans on attending.

The nerd herding event will also feature performances by Freezepop, Jonathan Coulton (sing "Brookline!"), MC Frontalot, Anamanaguchi, Metroid Metal and Paul & Storm. Registration is already open, with a three-day pass costing $50. Remember, this is one the few events where having the best-looking velvet dice bag makes you cool ... don't be the guy that shows up with dice in a Ziploc bag.

European PSN releases for April 23

by Jem Alexander { Apr 23rd 2009 at 1:00PM }

Plenty of content to choose from today on the European PSN Store. PS1 releases continue with two uninspiring titles, and there's another torrent of DLC to grab for all your favorite games. There are also a couple of PS3 demos to check out and PSP owners have a couple games of their own to pick up.

Choose your platform to view the corresponding release list:

(Note: Continue past the break to view both release lists.)

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First Penny Arcade Adventure brings full humor at half price this week, more April deals revealed

by Alexander Sliwinski { Apr 6th 2009 at 11:00AM }

Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness ~~Turbo HD Remix~~, Episode One is on sale for 800

over the next 168 hours (give or take a few). At $10, the bite-sized RPG is worth the cost of entry for fans of the genre -- enjoying the Penny Arcade comic isn't a requirement.

Microsoft also makes note of some upcoming deals. Next week, starting April 13, (please make these long titles stop) Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 Co-op Collection will infiltrate Xbox Marketplace for 320

. The following two weeks will offer Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09's "Spyglass Hill Golf Course" and then NBA LIVE 365 at 400

and 560

, respectively.

Gallery: Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness (XBLA)

PAX East registration is open ... only 356 days to go until show

by Alexander Sliwinski { Apr 4th 2009 at 1:00AM }

With a little under a year to go, PAX East registration is now open. Taking place March 26-28 at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, a three-day pass will cost $50, while individual day passes are $30 -- add $5 if you're planning on picking up your tickets the day of the show. So far, no exhibitors, participating hotels or schedule of events are posted. Take it from a Bostonian, you can stay in any hotel near a T stop (we should probably do a post detailing this) and make it to the convention center in under an hour.

If you're planning on going to GDC, don't worry, that show takes place March 9-13 in San Francisco. It'll certainly be interesting to see how game marketing and PR treat this new high-profile East Coast gaming convention. Team Joystiq will be there in full force ... considering a third of our staff is within driving range.

[Via Kotaku]

Penny Arcade creators honored by Washington State senate

by Griffin McElroy { Mar 6th 2009 at 5:50PM }

Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik, founders of Penny Arcade, are legendary folk heroes to much of the gaming community. For ten years, they've served as unparalleled industry commentators, strong vocabulary enthusiasts, and proponents of citrus-assaulting robots. However, these virtues recently took a backseat to their more charitable contributions to society when Penny Arcade was discussed on the floor of the Washington State senate, where legislators adopted a resolution honoring the two men for their philanthropic exploits.

Senate Resoultion 8640 ennumerates the achievements of Holkins and Krahulik, such as their successful webcomic reaching its 10th anniversary, the launching of the Penny Arcade Expo, and the $4.5 million raised for improving the lives of hospitalized kids with Child's Play. While we're sure they would have preferred a law being passed in their name which mandates the death penalty for people who drop out of online games when they start losing, it's still a pretty cool gesture.

[Via NeoGAF]

PSA: PAX 2009 now accepting your registration

by Kevin Kelly { Feb 19th 2009 at 3:10PM }

Where can you discover the wonders of puppetry, rap with game developers, ogle cosplayers, and hang with the Luddites in a three-story annex of board games -- all while getting quality time with upcoming games? If you answered, "PAX," we salute you. If you said: Poughkeepsie, New York, we'll give you a second guess.

The Penny Arcade Expo is one of our favorite gaming events, hands down. The East Coast version of PAX won't launch until 2010, so you've got one more opportunity to make the pilgrimage to the original Seattle location. Lucky for you, registration opened today! You can pick up a three-day badge for just $50, and pre-registrants are also eligible to participate in the Omegathon gaming competition. The grand prize: all-expenses-paid trip to the Tokyo Game Show and, uh, other prizes. Plus, we'll be there!

Video Games Live premiering 'Halo 3: ODST' tune in Seattle this weekend

by Alexander Sliwinski { Jan 19th 2009 at 10:59PM }

Video Games Live has announced it will debut music from Halo 3: ODST at its Seattle show this Saturday, January 24. The symphonic treatment will be given to the music heard in the ODST trailer, along with standards to the experience. Halo composers Marty O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori, plus members of Bungie, will attend the concert and take part in a post-show meet and greet.

Tickets for the concert are still available. Oh yeah, Gabe and Tycho from Penny Arcade will also turn up at the post-show festivities. So, brush off your tuxes for a night at the symphony.*

*You don't really have to wear a tux ... just have some class and don't show up in shorts and a J!NX shirt.**

**We love J!NX.

Child's Play charity brings in a whopping $1.4 million

by Griffin McElroy { Jan 17th 2009 at 4:15PM }

The annual Child's Play charity fund is known for accumulating outlandish quantities of money from the gaming community -- this year was no exception. Button-mashing altruists not only met the charity's lofty $750,000 goal, they nearly doubled it, bringing in a total of $1,434,377. For those keeping track, that's enough to buy over 10,000 DS Lites, about 6,500 Core 360s, or like, two or three PS3s. (We keed!)

While there is certainly cause for celebration considering that generous gamers surpassed last year's impressive $1.3 million haul (and in the middle of a recession, no less), there's no time for laurel-resting. Child's Play, the 1988 cinematic masterpiece, garnered $33 million in gross revenue. Let's see you beat that one, you magnanimous so-and-sos.

Penny Arcade: Episode 2 gets patched

by Andrew Yoon { Jan 15th 2009 at 2:00PM }

Ask and ye shall receive. Penny Arcade Adventure: Episode 2 has been patched so that the game will no longer create glitched save files. Good news, yay! However, PS3 Evolved is saying the patch does not fix save files that have already been corrupted. Those that were unfortunately afflicted with the glitch will have to restart the game from the beginning. Boo!

Prince of Persia: The Penny Arcade storybook

by Xav de Matos { Dec 24th 2008 at 6:15PM }

Penny Arcade is known for creating promotional art for upcoming games they are excited about. Having worked with Ubisoft in the past, it was no surprise when we heard Penny Arcade was working on a Prince of Persia themed story. Taking things in a slightly new direction, Penny Arcade's Prince of Persia tale has been captured into a storybook video for you to watch. Sit back with a warm cup of hot chocolate (or whatever you kids drink these days) and check out this short story the recounts a familiar legend from the new Prince of Persia.

Penny Arcade: Episode 2 features game-ending glitch, patch coming next year

by Andrew Yoon { Dec 24th 2008 at 9:50AM }

If you planned on playing Penny Arcade Adventures: Episode 2 this holiday break, you may want to wait. Many users are reporting a gltich which renders their save files completely useless. Selecting a corrupted save file will freeze gamers on a permanent "Loading" screen.

The problem has since been identified, and will be patched soon. However, due to the holidays, SCE QA is taking a little break. That means this patch won't be available until the new year, in January. Right now, it's unclear if a patch will fix any current save files. Considering the Penny Arcade Adventures aren't too long, starting over shouldn't be too bad -- but we're sure players would rather not.

American PSN releases for December 18th

by Jem Alexander { Dec 18th 2008 at 8:50PM }

Are you prepared for a massive torrent of content? This may be the longest list we've had to type up and, though there's plenty of stuff you keep you busy til next week, there is one glaring omission in the list. Where's Lumines Supernova? Nevermind, we're sure it will be with us soon. In the meantime we've got Crash Commando and Penny Arcade 2 to keep us entertained, not to mention the demos, PS1 games and massive amount of downloadable content. Here's the full release list:

Playable Content

SuperSonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle Cars price drop (now $9.99)
Crash Commando ($9.99)
Penny Arcade Adventures episode 2 ($14.99)
Metal Gear Online demo (free)
Sonic Unleashed demo (free)
Castlevania Chronicles PS1 game ($5.99)
Rayman 2: The Great Escape PS1 game ($5.99)

Add-on Content

LittleBigPlanet "Santa Hat and Beard" costume (free)
LittleBigPlanet "Festive Pack" ($2.99)
High Velocity Bowling "Darryl" character ($0.99)
High Velocity Bowling "Gage" character ($0.99)
High Velocity Bowling "Beatrice Holiday Costume" (free)
High Velocity Bowling "Carl Holiday Costume" (free)
Hot Shots Golf: Out Of Bounds costume pack 3 ($2.99)
Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm "Storm Pack 5" (free)
Guitar Hero World Tour DLC (listed after the break)
Rock Revolution DLC (listed after the break)
Karaoke Revolution DLC (listed after the break)
Rock Band DLC (listed after the break)

Your first download? The Uncharted 2 trailer. Obviously.

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Penny Arcade Adventures Ep. 2 coming to PSN Dec. 18

by Alexander Sliwinski { Dec 18th 2008 at 8:15AM }

The PlayStation Blog gives word that the second episode of Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness will be available today on the PSN.

PAA: OtR-SPoD: Ep. 2 features Trophy support and, unlike the first installment, the option to change difficulty settings. The fruit-fracking mini-RPG will cost $15 and should be available as soon as the PSN update occurs later in the day.