@Sachin Agarwal: Well from what you said it looks like other people are going to be doing the "sucking" *wink* *wink*...Yeah I went there! =D

These guys started the whole web-comic-as a business sort of thing. I applaud and am happy for 'em.

Does that click fraud thing work up to now? Hahah!

excaliburps

Best part about PAX is Gabe and Tycho are out on the floors doing what everyone else is there to do. Playing the consoles and checking out the booths and getting swag. I bumped into Gabe on the floor literally, and he signed my pass. They carry sharpies around which I am assuming get used a lot.

MonkeyBiz

@Sachin Agarwal:

Hop on a train or find public transportation, if you can. I'd go, but transportation to Seattle is not cheap.

pastepunkjames

These guys never fail to impress me. Love thier work or hate it (personally I enjoy it), you have to be impressed by thier will and determination to become such a force. Entrepenuership at it's finest :).

Cogito

That photo reminds me of the Sears ad. So funny.

lumpi

I remember that pic from a long time ago. Still funny.

vid3oman64

@Pezdispenser: The first time I saw them I was a little disappointed. I expected Jerry to not be bald.
However, when I first saw Scot Kurtz, I almost cried or screamed in terror. I'm not sure which.

Ad-hominem

It's the standard pic that PA provides to mainstream publications that want headshots of the pair. It's popped up a bunch, and it never ceases to be funny.

(Still mad that my friend has a stupid wedding this weekend and I can't go to PAX. THAT'S TWO YEARS IN A ROW I COULDN'T GO BECAUSE OTHER PEOPLE SUCK. Ahem.)

Sachin Agarwal

I have to say, I love how they parody those idiotic "Gaming Pics" where the guy is holding the wrong controller. Unfortunately, the Seattle Times probably didn't get that joke.

I'm honestly impressed at the article, though. They never once referred to Gabe and Tycho as a Catholic School, and instead just presented the facts.

Ad-hominem

Sometimes I wonder if anyone out there gets disappointed that they don't resemble their comic strip counterparts.

Pezdispenser

@Z33: Professional *whats* though, is the question...

MrBionic

@MrBionic:

That's how professionals play.....

Z33

Is this the new Sears ad?

gadjet

and... errr.. is that the UMD sticking out of the back? *snort*

Yah, I'm hopped on coffee and it's Sunday. Sue me.

MrBionic

That photo is hands down hilarious. Gabe has his controller upside down! Also, PSP as controller. That's possible now isn't it?

MrBionic

Khoo is an awesome guy. I remember the days at Necrowombicon where we could just chill and play Halo together. Now he's walking around in a suit all the time calling all the shots and we would never get to play Halo. :(

dynendal

@ the pic:
they're doing it wrong!

Penny Arcade is amazing. Even their strips which aren't considered classically funny become funny after a while because the style grows on you.

The latest one about star wars wasn't that funny, but i still got enjoyment out of the style.

Crawl to China

Heh tycho looks like uncle fester.

greeble

i'm going to PAX :D

it's going to be awesome

fightinfilipino

As a Seattleite, all I have is this to say: The Seattle Times is perhaps one of the worst papers I have ever known, with journalism on par with a junior high school.

I think I have met either one of them or both of them at certain times in Seattle, but it's hard to tell as Uncle Festerians are a dime a dozen in that city, and lanky glasses-wearing people are about a penny a hundred. At least they've got the Seattle anti-tan.

denki

lol at first i thought they were just idiots doing another of those "extreme" gaming commercials until i realized how big of a parody their pic actually was. kudos. ive been reading their stuff for hella long. i like their old days of writing about mostly the pc though.

maraxusofk

They really do look like Bunsen and Beaker.

Kid-A

@Kid-A: Win Sir!

Weasel3689

Been visiting PA weekly since the early days, big time supporter of them.

Would like to make it to PAX one of these days.

sir_carrot

@Pezdispenser: Me... I was greatly disappointed. Seriously... Knowing this now, though, I'm going to have to make a comic with me as a character where I'm a black man with red hair named "Frank". That's the character I made for myself on rockband, anyhow. I'm also quite muscular and don't have a "beer belly" in the slightest.

bobtheduck

I met them at this year's recent Comicon down in San Diego (a few of my coworkers are friends with the fellas and they tried wringing info from us about our project) and I gotta say: good people.

It's rare to not encounter the head-up-the-ass hubris that most people in this industry have.

They made a fan out of me and I was glad I had a chance to meet them. PA FTW!

resvrgam

Man, I could've gone to PAX. Lousy luck.

Dave Silva

@Kid-A: I believe that the world needs far more Bunsen and Beaker.

Far more.

MrBionic

Be warned, Kotaku. I've advised the head of the Enforcers to put you guys to work.

justhesh

Love the picture. Reminds me of the Sears one, for obvious reasons. LOLed at Jerry H. with a PSP.

man in gauze is king ramses II, actually

oh god just a few more days

SO EXCITED

GC

I didn't know what Click Fraud was, so I looked up Wikipedia.

"There have been arrests relating to click fraud with regard to malicious clicking in order to deplete a competitor's advertising budget"

Malicious clicking eh?

gdf

@excaliburps: I'm sure it's a lot more difficult to pull off since businesses in general are a lot more tech and web savvy. There's probably things like IP/cookie tracking to curtail such efforts.

cowondinosaur

They are cool as hell, even during the early days when the fourm goers were so out of control, Gabe didn't want to bring the fourms back after they went down following a crash/Bagal/Nads post count exploding the database. Regardless of his personal feelings/con flict with some of the fourm users and all the shit we would stir up (I know i'm not the only one who remembers the Movie Comics war, the banning of Frankie on the fourms (Hi C.T!) from Bungie during his Halo 2 promotion tour, the furry vs PA/PVP/Everygamingwebcomiconearth fights)

PAX is the only gaming con i'd be willing to invest my money to go to, but a Fla to Seattle trip = WHOO HOO OMG MY BANK ACCOUNT. Pity i'll have to be making 6 figures before I could get a commission out of Gabe these days..

Foxstar Sixtail

The duo behind the comic are really warmhearted fellows.
Definitely will be fun to meet many more friends at the show.

kadosho

@Pezdispenser:

I DO! i keep wishing gabe was a cute, black haired, unstable guy. i'd make him my boyfriend and cook him some monte cristo sandwiches!

Beximus

From my 1 time meeting them at Las Vegas Comic Con is Oct. 2003, Tycho was really cool, while Gabe was kind of a douchebag unless you were "an artist."

MSUHitman

How is it possible that I am from Seattle and for five straight years have ALWAYS managed to be out of town on PAX weekend? I must have angered an Okami who wields a monstrosity of a controller, steering me every which way but home. Maybe she's using a Jaguar pad . . .

pigz0011

Jerry, Mike - this industry needs you.

i_9

The thing that most imitators don't seem to understand is that Penny Arcade the comic is an Editorial. A very funny one at times, or completely indulgent, but it isn't a serial and it isn't really about the characters. That's where the copy-cats fall flat: Penny Arcade is a statement on the industry. And they've even grown to the point where companies care about what they think. That's a powerful position. But will they use that power for good or for better?

rezlow

It's not a one on one interview if you sit down with both of them. Unless they interview each other and you just listen.

Also, buildings are evacuated, not people.

Jay

@Jay

I think that is purely dependent on what you just ate.

VendettaUF

I think Khoo must have a big set. He went up to two semi successful people and basically told them they where not making enough money and here is how I can make you more. These guys also started one of the best charities, Child's Play [www.childsplaycharity.org] It is a great cause that everyone should help out with.

Stonewall78

PAX 2008 BITCHES.

Where is the Kotaku drinking fest gonna be?

balls187 upside yo head

@MSUHitman:Gabe get bothered to draw lots of people shit with nothing in return (Not like the typical con goer could pay him what he should be charging) so after a while of that, I can see him not wanting to deal with people save for other artists.

It's just a artist mindset thing, more so at ComicCon, Artists largely want to swap doodles with other artists.

Foxstar Sixtail

@VendettaUF: HAHAHA touche!

I love Penny Arcade more for the editorial posts than the webcomics, which can hit or miss, so I am a big fan of Uncle Fester/Bunsen. His commentary is top notch, and his insights are articulate and well-researched; even if you don't agree with what he's saying you can be sure his opinion is based on facts and not, as with most other bloggers, based on a headline they read in passing on their RSS feed.

therage33

@MonkeyBiz: They're not Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, they don't get swarmed in the street by rabid fans.

Poo_and_Weeeee

I maintain that they didn't even like vidja gaymes until they started the strip, and realised they could make thousands by making a comic about their wordier, more self-confident and attractive alter-egos. Emphasis on egos.

Poo_and_Weeeee