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Penny Arcade - Comic - My Old Friend

DogDog Registered User, Administrator, Vanilla Staff admin
edited September 2018 in The Penny Arcade Hub

imagePenny Arcade - Comic - My Old Friend

Videogaming-related online strip by Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins. Includes news and commentary.

Read the full story here


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Posts

  • OverkillengineOverkillengine Registered User regular
    Eh, PUBG has been kind of screwed for some time, it's hard to challenge a competitor that offers both "free" and "runs on potato".

    Blackout is just the jig on the grave.

  • KageraKagera Imitating the worst people. Since 2004Registered User regular
    PUBG always ran better for me than Fortnite on my antiquated Mini 4

    My neck, my back, my FUPA and my crack.
  • GMLyeGMLye Registered User new member
    Fortnite is free and yes it is kicking PUBG ass. But Fortnite is cartoon-ish 3rd person Battle Royale while PUBG is a somewhat realistic 3rd & 1st person Battle Royale. There will always be people out there that prefer their Battle Royale to be more realistic.

    Blackout is a somewhat realistic 1st person Battle Royale, that (almost guaranteed) will run better than PUBG, it will have (relatively) more & better guns & gameplay, it will also have the benefit of being bundle with a multiplayer COD & co-op COD zombie game.

    So yeah, I can see how worry the PUBG guys would be now.

  • LucascraftLucascraft Registered User regular
    I guess I need to pay a visit to the internet. I've never even heard of Blackout.

  • EnlongEnlong Registered User regular
    He's been there for 14 days.

  • wonderpugwonderpug Registered User regular
    Lucascraft wrote: »
    I guess I need to pay a visit to the internet. I've never even heard of Blackout.

    Yeah, it came out of nowhere for me as well this week. One minute, I've never heard of it and the next minute it's the hottest new thing.

  • LucascraftLucascraft Registered User regular
    So I guess it's a part of codblops 4? Is it a standalone product, or is it an integrated part of codblops?

    I was actually already on the fence about it. I've enjoyed the other Black Ops games, but I heard there was no traditional campaign in it, which has me worried. I tend to burn out pretty quickly on competitive FPS because I suck super bad at it, and I get frustrated by dying over and over because I'm so bad at it.

  • dennisdennis aka bingley Registered User regular
    Twitch VOD of Jerry and Kiko playing it last night.

    It looked pretty solid. At some point, I think Jerry said something along the lines of, "It's like PUBG, only it looks nice and is finished."

  • dennisdennis aka bingley Registered User regular
    Lucascraft wrote: »
    So I guess it's a part of codblops 4? Is it a standalone product, or is it an integrated part of codblops?

    Integrated. It's there instead of a single player campaign.

  • GONG-00GONG-00 Registered User regular
    COD perks as temporary buffs in lieu of PUBG energy drinks or pain meds seems like a neat iterative step.

    Black lives matter.
    Law and Order ≠ Justice
    ACNH Island Isla Cero: DA-3082-2045-4142
    Captain of the SES Comptroller of the State
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  • rembrandtqeinsteinrembrandtqeinstein Registered User regular
    I dont know anything about the battle royale genre but this comic is funny as hell, actual LOL

  • RatherDashing89RatherDashing89 Registered User regular
    PUBG not being free baffles me. I get that some people prefer brown "realistic" graphics in games, even if it seems pretty out of place in something as silly as a Battle Royale...but if PUBG is not made from free Unity assets, they have done a commendable job of making it look as much like free Unity assets as possible.

  • YoungFreyYoungFrey Registered User regular
    PUBG not being free baffles me. I get that some people prefer brown "realistic" graphics in games, even if it seems pretty out of place in something as silly as a Battle Royale...but if PUBG is not made from free Unity assets, they have done a commendable job of making it look as much like free Unity assets as possible.

    PUBG has been the top game on Steam for quite some time now. They have been over 1,000,000 current users for some time too (still are). More than any other game in history. So maybe they might not be the top game anymore, but they are still huge and making tons of money. Maybe at some point in the future when they are hurting PUBG might go free, but they are still one of the top games, period.

  • NamrokNamrok Registered User regular
    The hype for Call of Duty's new battle royale mode definitely came out of nowhere to me too. It's like the right streamers played the beta, and suddenly everyone went crazy. I saw some article where a stock analyst was claiming it could earn Activision as much as $500,000,000 in microtransactions. Their stock jump something like 10% ish?

    I've seen some long time fans of COD saying this one finally has the right feel that the series has lacked for a while. Map flow has improved, the pace of a shoot out feels right, the weapons feel more balanced and the skill reward for good marksmanship feels better. I can't verify any of these things personally, but it sounds like the COD faithful have been amply rewarded.

  • Hahnsoo1Hahnsoo1 Make Ready. We Hunt.Registered User regular
    edited September 2018
    Chocholate Ice Cream? At least make it "Choochoolate Ice Cream" and have a train pun in there. :D

    Hahnsoo1 on
    8i1dt37buh2m.png
  • jungleroomxjungleroomx It's never too many graves, it's always not enough shovels Registered User regular
    YoungFrey wrote: »
    PUBG not being free baffles me. I get that some people prefer brown "realistic" graphics in games, even if it seems pretty out of place in something as silly as a Battle Royale...but if PUBG is not made from free Unity assets, they have done a commendable job of making it look as much like free Unity assets as possible.

    PUBG has been the top game on Steam for quite some time now. They have been over 1,000,000 current users for some time too (still are). More than any other game in history. So maybe they might not be the top game anymore, but they are still huge and making tons of money. Maybe at some point in the future when they are hurting PUBG might go free, but they are still one of the top games, period.

    PUBG's userbase has been reduced by 66% since early summer and they're now below CSGO and DOTA.

    There's reasons too numerous to note but it wasn't just because people got bored with it.

  • RatherDashing89RatherDashing89 Registered User regular
    I guess I phrased my statement wrong. If people are willing to pay, it's not surprising that the game charges. It just surprises me that so many people are willing to pay for a game whose only offering is a unique mode which is no longer unique, especially now that a free version of that game mode exists which has some thought put into its design. PUBG seems like it has the bare minimum of effort put into its theme. For the longest time I saw it advertised on Steam and genuinely thought it was an asset flip akun to The Slaughtering Grounds.

  • BahamutEosBahamutEos Registered User regular
    The post is pretty late. Hope everything is ok.

  • PyrianPyrian Registered User regular
    I feel like the comic would've been more on the nose if, instead of a couch, PUBG were collapsed on a giant pile of money.

  • NotoriusBENNotoriusBEN Registered User regular
    edited September 2018
    YoungFrey wrote: »
    PUBG not being free baffles me. I get that some people prefer brown "realistic" graphics in games, even if it seems pretty out of place in something as silly as a Battle Royale...but if PUBG is not made from free Unity assets, they have done a commendable job of making it look as much like free Unity assets as possible.

    PUBG has been the top game on Steam for quite some time now. They have been over 1,000,000 current users for some time too (still are). More than any other game in history. So maybe they might not be the top game anymore, but they are still huge and making tons of money. Maybe at some point in the future when they are hurting PUBG might go free, but they are still one of the top games, period.

    PUBG's userbase has been reduced by 66% since early summer and they're now below CSGO and DOTA.

    There's reasons too numerous to note but it wasn't just because people got bored with it.
    Namrok wrote: »
    The hype for Call of Duty's new battle royale mode definitely came out of nowhere to me too. It's like the right streamers played the beta, and suddenly everyone went crazy. I saw some article where a stock analyst was claiming it could earn Activision as much as $500,000,000 in microtransactions. Their stock jump something like 10% ish?

    I've seen some long time fans of COD saying this one finally has the right feel that the series has lacked for a while. Map flow has improved, the pace of a shoot out feels right, the weapons feel more balanced and the skill reward for good marksmanship feels better. I can't verify any of these things personally, but it sounds like the COD faithful have been amply rewarded.


    snap impressions from the market for me is that:
    -Hey, we have a realistic battle royale
    -It actually feels finished and the gameplay is tight.
    -there is no cottage industry of chinese hackers killing the american and european servers.
    -Its a AAA company that might actually take cheating seriously.

    PUBG is still going to go strong for a while because it takes a while to bleed that large of a revenue engine.
    Fortnite took a large chunk of the Battle Royale audience, but Blackout is a direct competitor to PUBG and it's just better.


    tl;dr produce a better product and treat your customers properly or go bankrupt.

    NotoriusBEN on
    a4irovn5uqjp.png
    Steam - NotoriusBEN | Uplay - notoriusben | Xbox,Windows Live - ThatBEN
  • GeoffwithaJayGeoffwithaJay Registered User new member
    BahamutEos wrote: »
    The post is pretty late. Hope everything is ok.

    Yeah, i want him to not feel pressure to post if life just gets hectic, but the historic consistency makes me worry there was a serious problem.

  • LucascraftLucascraft Registered User regular
    edited September 2018
    Sometimes the industry takes a while to move on the hottest trends, because game development is complex, costly, and time consuming.

    But man.

    They sure have been quick to move on this Battle Royale trend.



    I'm still waiting for a big AAA developer's take on the Build/Craft/Survive genre. Conan Exiles is the closest thing we have right now, and I love that game. But I also feel like there is so much untapped potential in that genre. And whenever an AAA studio with more money than Solomon comes along and decides to invest in it, it's gonna be awesome.

    Lucascraft on
  • cB557cB557 voOOP Registered User regular
    I dunno if I'd say COD is realistic, per se. It's got more of a grounded aesthetic, but it's still pretty gamey and the trailer for the BR mode is really over-the-top. Fairly different beast from the mil-sim roots of PUBG. Of course, there'll probably be a lot of people who will jump from PUBG to COD because they chose PUBG over Fortnight for the aesthetic, but PUBG will always have its niche, like the mil-sims it comes from do.

  • jungleroomxjungleroomx It's never too many graves, it's always not enough shovels Registered User regular
    YoungFrey wrote: »
    PUBG not being free baffles me. I get that some people prefer brown "realistic" graphics in games, even if it seems pretty out of place in something as silly as a Battle Royale...but if PUBG is not made from free Unity assets, they have done a commendable job of making it look as much like free Unity assets as possible.

    PUBG has been the top game on Steam for quite some time now. They have been over 1,000,000 current users for some time too (still are). More than any other game in history. So maybe they might not be the top game anymore, but they are still huge and making tons of money. Maybe at some point in the future when they are hurting PUBG might go free, but they are still one of the top games, period.

    PUBG's userbase has been reduced by 66% since early summer and they're now below CSGO and DOTA.

    There's reasons too numerous to note but it wasn't just because people got bored with it.
    Namrok wrote: »
    The hype for Call of Duty's new battle royale mode definitely came out of nowhere to me too. It's like the right streamers played the beta, and suddenly everyone went crazy. I saw some article where a stock analyst was claiming it could earn Activision as much as $500,000,000 in microtransactions. Their stock jump something like 10% ish?

    I've seen some long time fans of COD saying this one finally has the right feel that the series has lacked for a while. Map flow has improved, the pace of a shoot out feels right, the weapons feel more balanced and the skill reward for good marksmanship feels better. I can't verify any of these things personally, but it sounds like the COD faithful have been amply rewarded.


    snap impressions from the market for me is that:
    -Hey, we have a realistic battle royale
    -It actually feels finished and the gameplay is tight.
    -there is no cottage industry of chinese hackers killing the american and european servers.
    -Its a AAA company that might actually take cheating seriously.

    PUBG is still going to go strong for a while because it takes a while to bleed that large of a revenue engine.
    Fortnite took a large chunk of the Battle Royale audience, but Blackout is a direct competitor to PUBG and it's just better.


    tl;dr produce a better product and treat your customers properly or go bankrupt.

    PUBG is quite literally based on cheaters selling stuff in the steam store.

    It's not a cottage industry it's the whole damn enchilada.

  • NotoriusBENNotoriusBEN Registered User regular
    I fell off the PUBG news wagon months ago so I didn't know its just absolutely rampant now, @jungleroomx
    so yea. that point should be moved to spot 1 or 2 on my bullet list.

    a4irovn5uqjp.png
    Steam - NotoriusBEN | Uplay - notoriusben | Xbox,Windows Live - ThatBEN
  • dennisdennis aka bingley Registered User regular
    cB557 wrote: »
    I dunno if I'd say COD is realistic, per se. It's got more of a grounded aesthetic, but it's still pretty gamey and the trailer for the BR mode is really over-the-top. Fairly different beast from the mil-sim roots of PUBG. Of course, there'll probably be a lot of people who will jump from PUBG to COD because they chose PUBG over Fortnight for the aesthetic, but PUBG will always have its niche, like the mil-sims it comes from do.

    This is true. In watching Jerry and Kiko play, I saw plenty of zombies, a gun that shoots grappling hooks, and a freaking 1950s raygun. These things were fun, but they're not exactly in the realistic genre. They COULD use their engine to make a much more realistic version than PUBG, though. Just have a map setup that was No Zombies and Realistic Weapons.

  • TubeTube Registered User admin
    BahamutEos wrote: »
    The post is pretty late. Hope everything is ok.

    Yeah, i want him to not feel pressure to post if life just gets hectic, but the historic consistency makes me worry there was a serious problem.

    Jerry is absolutely fine, don’t worry. The post probably got gummed up in the cdn

  • BahamutEosBahamutEos Registered User regular
    Tube wrote: »
    BahamutEos wrote: »
    The post is pretty late. Hope everything is ok.

    Yeah, i want him to not feel pressure to post if life just gets hectic, but the historic consistency makes me worry there was a serious problem.

    Jerry is absolutely fine, don’t worry. The post probably got gummed up in the cdn

    That's good to hear. I was thinking about tweeting at him about it, but I keep jumping back and forth between GeoffwithaJay's point, and just wanting him to know it's missed and appreciated. I genearlly like his posts as much or more than the comic itself.

  • aardarfaardarf Registered User regular
    Tube wrote: »
    BahamutEos wrote: »
    The post is pretty late. Hope everything is ok.

    Yeah, i want him to not feel pressure to post if life just gets hectic, but the historic consistency makes me worry there was a serious problem.

    Jerry is absolutely fine, don’t worry. The post probably got gummed up in the cdn

    Yeah I was wondering about the post too. Not having it is like a solar eclipse.

  • Commander ZoomCommander Zoom Registered User regular
    Lucascraft wrote: »
    Sometimes the industry takes a while to move on the hottest trends, because game development is complex, costly, and time consuming.

    But man.

    They sure have been quick to move on this Battle Royale trend.



    I'm still waiting for a big AAA developer's take on the Build/Craft/Survive genre. Conan Exiles is the closest thing we have right now, and I love that game. But I also feel like there is so much untapped potential in that genre. And whenever an AAA studio with more money than Solomon comes along and decides to invest in it, it's gonna be awesome.

    Does Bethesda qualify? 'Cause they're definitely going that way with Fallout '76.

  • KageraKagera Imitating the worst people. Since 2004Registered User regular
    People pay for PUBG?

    News to me.

    My neck, my back, my FUPA and my crack.
  • dennisdennis aka bingley Registered User regular
    Jerry posted, for those waiting.

  • AegeriAegeri Tiny wee bacteriums Plateau of LengRegistered User regular
    Having seen Blackout, I can see why PUBG is in serious trouble now in terms of another game genuinely taking over its niche in the genre.

    The Roleplayer's Guild: My blog for roleplaying games, advice and adventuring.
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