January 21st, 2008 by Aegies
When the guys at Penny-Arcade announced that they were releasing a game based on their personas, there was a mix of excitement and trepidation across their fanbase. Penny-Arcade is an enterprise founded on dick jokes, video game humor, and, well, integrity. You get the feeling reading both the comic and their regular musings that they The Guys Who Will Play It Straight with you, the ones who are willing to look ridiculous or be proven wrong if it’s the right thing to do. This, combined with their self deprecating charm, has taken them from gaming schlubs to internet icons over the course of more than 8 years. The announcement that they would enter an arena that has been the source of years of scorn and comic material would put more than a few questions on the tip of any reasonable tongue.
And yet, for months, I’ve felt as though the situation is a tightrope they’ve walked gracefully. They don’t pimp the game on their page very often, save for when they’ve reached a substantive milestone, and they generally let the game speak for itself. I’ve defended them in private and on the nets, as I’ve felt that they’ve earned some leeway to try to make this thing that they care about without charges of sellout or hypocrite. Unfortunately, they’ve officially done quite a bit today to lose a lot of that respect from me.
