Well, that will save me some time three times a week.
I really used to love Penny Arcade, really I did. I still have my Black Mantle hoodie, a reminder of a time when they used to be actually kind of funny. Matter of fact, "I hope you like text" is still one of the greatest laughs I've ever had.
That was almost 5 years ago.
Now, I don't take the whole PSN being down mess as a personal affront any more than I do Netflix having intermittent server outages, or the Amazon's recent cloud server mess. I just say "WTF?! SONY FIX THIS SHIT!" - and I say it only once - and then I go about my day. Turns out there are still games out there that have deep enough single player modes that you can kill some time with them. Also, I have a full-time job and school, so it's not like I don't have stuff to do. Nor am I offended because of any "zomg How dare you insult my console of choice?" I've heard all the criticisms before, some valid, others not, so I've learned to tune it out.
But there's some remarkably unfunny shit here, and I don't mean "it offends me"...I mean the jokes fall flat. They've now made a T-shirt to commemorate this event, because for some reason I still haven't fathomed, this one is special. They've officially commented on this more than they have on the RROD or E72 errors of the Xbox 360 and the YLOD of the PS3. Maybe that's it. Maybe I'm don't occupy that wavelength where paperweights are still better than systems that are temporarily without online. Probably because that doesn't make any goddamn sense.
The t-shirt though...let me put it this way: If you're going to tell the same joke for a week straight, it had better be fucking hilarious. If you're going to make merchandise based on that joke? I don't even know how you would come to that point. Even if you thought the Kevin Butler ads were annoying affronts to your sense of aesthetic, wouldn't you kind of just ignore them after a point?
What is funny, however, is seeing whoever's bought this shirt having to explain it later.
"Dude...what is your shirt about? I don't get it."
"Oh, it's hilarious...PlayStation Network was down for about a week and a half, and this was their ad campaign at the time, so it's like we were sticking it to Sony! HAHAHAHA!"
*cue uncomfortable silence and funny looks*
Even worse, their incessant need to talk about this showcases their fall even more for me. I've never demanded PA be refined, distinguished gentlemen every step of the way, nor have I demanded every comic be pants-pissingly hilarious. But over the years, it's just become more and more apparent that we're not speaking the same language. I don't get their logic, and some of their attitudes for gaming are so retarded they take compact buses to school. Paying $120 for Final Fantasy XIII. Praising Kinect because of unofficial applications - many of which they'll never get to touch - or because their wives like it (...the fuck?). And again, the double standards.
Turns out, a long last, these guys are just two more gamers who ride into trollsville every now and then. I applaud the good they've done for the industry at large, but I don't need to read this any more. Their writing's gone way downhill, the art's starting to suck, and I can read this fanboy bullshit on every other website on the net.
Now, back to talking about games.
No comments:
Post a Comment