Webseries Review- Penny Arcade: The Series

By Melissa Voelker
I’m an amateur gamer at best and just started building my video game library within the last six months, but I’ve loved stuff that is gamer related for years. I watch “The Guild” religiously online when new episodes come out and I buy the DVDs as soon as they are available. And I love the web comic strips featured on Penny-Arcade.com. I’ll admit there are many jokes that go over my head because I’m not as in tune with the gaming industry as the target audience for this comic probably is, but I can still appreciate them and find them funny. I’ve actually learned some things about gaming from the comic that I might not have learned otherwise, and maybe I wouldn’t even have the interest in video games that I have now if I didn’t like the strip so much. It’s a thought to ponder at least.

A month or so ago I was catching up on comic strips on the Penny Arcade website and found that a webseries had been created showcasing the creators of Penny Arcade, Tycho (Jerry Holkins) and Gabe (Mike Krahulik), as well as their staff of game-loving, obscenity-spewing employees. Shot in a combination of documentary and interview style, this show gives an insider’s look at what happens behind the scenes at the Penny Arcade offices, how the comic strips are developed, and how special events such as the PAX gaming convention and the Child’s Play charity auction are run. Watching the webseries made me realize several things: 1) I want to go to PAX really really really badly (but this year its on the East coast instead of in Seattle which is close to me. Lame), 2) I’m jealous of the ease with which Tycho and Gabe think up jokes and stories for their comic strips, and 3) I want to work at the Penny Arcade offices. I have no idea what I would do there as my work skills lie more in the filing/answering phones/arguing with crazy people off the street line than in the gaming/selling/being awesomely funny line. But I noticed that their staff is very male, and I think an adorable female like myself could bring something new and interesting to the offices.

“Penny Arcade: The Series” is the kind of reality show that I will watch on a regular basis, because it is actually showing slices of reality. No one is being voted off of the island, no one is failing to bring the message in a model photo, no one is proving themselves less than the perfect drag queen, and no one is getting into a stupid fight with a bunch of other people just to get more camera time. In this reality series we get to watch real people do their jobs, experience events such as the birth of a child, and even attend swanky events with celebrities like Wil Wheaton. It is also nice to listen to Jerry and Mike talk about how they created a life around being nerds and gamers, even though they started out with people treating them not so nice. That is every nerd’s dream come true, to just be accepted and even respected for what makes them nerdy (well its mine, at any rate).

If I wasn’t so into the Penny Arcade comic I don’t know how into the webseries I would be, but I think I’d probably still find it interesting. There is enough other stuff going on around the Penny Arcade offices to attract attention and hold an audience.  And who doesn’t like to be a voyeur into someone else’s life once in a while? These behind-the-scenes glimpses of Tycho and Gabe’s day-to-day activities are pretty amusing.

There are currently six episodes of the Penny Arcade webseries, with another three set to be released by the middle of February 2010. You can also find the animated adventures of Kris Straub and Scott Kurtz making up cartoons in two episodes of Blamimations! on the same site. (Blamimations! is pretty funny, its worth your while to check it out.) PATV can be viewed here.

And if the Penny Arcade guys need any filing/answering phones/and dealing with crazy people off the street type stuff done, they should feel free to give me a call.

About Melissa: By day a mild-mannered tv station receptionist, by night a fighter of crime and corruption in the dirty streets of Spokane, WA . . . or maybe not so much. More like a hyperactive, anal-retentive daytime receptionist and a melodramatic, hyperactive nighttime fangirl who only wishes she could be a fighter of crime and champion of justice (except that would lead to getting my super costume all dirty and I hate doing laundry.) Though my intent has always been to write bestselling novels and live a life of wealth and luxury, putting my talents for snarkiness and word doodling together while letting my geek flag fly suits me just fine – for now.

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