I tried to represent what I thought was the best work done in Year One. I know I probably missed some that other people thought were excellent, but I was looking for classics here. I personally have used "You can't unistall evil!" in many a conversation, so I voted for Mortyfied. Right now its surprisingly close between Halo and Patch, I hope we get a winner by next week.

Funniest one IMO because IT'S TRUE.

Not to keep flogging a dead horse... (bur proceeds anyway)

This is the main problem I have with these cartoons. I'm guessing that people have been complaining that ATI is "screwing" or "raping" customers. OK, fine - ATI screws customers; they simply STATE THE FACT...creating a robot that "rapes" customers at night while they are asleep. There's nothing even remotely subtle about it - they don't even seem to try to say it in a clever way.

The same thing applies to the other cartoons, eg. PATCH PARADE. Everyone who plays PC games knows that they're often released unfinished, or unpolished, and require multiple patches that can be downloaded within days/weeks of release. So here we have a cartoon where someone cannot play their game because they are waiting for the PATCH! HO HO! The "joke"? The game wasn't even in the BOX!



I understand that humor is very subjective... but gawd! Also, swearing doesn't add anything to the comedy value, if anything, it makes it sound even more desperate for laughs...

Having said that, Penny Arcade has a pretty tough audience - nerds like me, posting on Internet forums

pwned!!!!!!!111!!!11!!!

Penny Arcade is like the Family Circus of online comics..





"And it's always there, in the lower right hand corner, just waiting to suck. "

The CompUSA comic is a pretty good example of why PA has gone down the toilet -- most of the recent comics don't even contain "jokes" as 99% of the general public would understand them, they're just opinions (in this case "CompUSA customer service sucks") expressed in an 3DGY manner and more often than not just reiterate opinions expressed (in more detail) in the blog. The comic itself is redundant. What's the joke in that particular comic? CompUSA customer service is so bad they actually beat up the customers! Which would be mildly funny if they hadn't put the punchline in the very first panel.

Well i have to at least step in and voice my love for PA. They are the only site other than dvdtalk that i check every single day. I love the comics, news, "rivalry" with PvP-Online and swearing. I just wish they would come out with another book since i already have the hardback of their first year of comics.

I actually use each new strip as my desktop wallpaper and would love to snag them all and use them as a screensaver as well.

heh, that CompUSA comic really happened to me. Or rather, thats how I feel when I go to a certain retail store that won't be mentioned that has to do with games and stopping. I got a chuckle out of that, partly because it is 100% true. And the one with the Best Buy guy that keeps asking if he wants a strategy guide.

Site note: Those comics look really different compared to now, their artwork has really improved if those are from last year. I still really like the clawshrimp one even though its not about gaming, although I can't really explain why I find it funny, I just crack up when I see it.

Anyway I voted for the Patch comic, just seemed funny to me, i'm not a big PC gamer and thats one of the biggest reasons why.

I think PA are normally humourous. Like any comedy based on current affairs, the humour fades with time however which is part of the reason why the ones from 5 years ago aren't that great anymore (although it's true that art and writing have both improved also). Of course the pc patch one is timeless and I would have thought most people would know someone who gets just a tad bit too obsessed/excited with the technicals of a game before they have any idea of what it might play like (the halo one).

My favourites would probably be the XBox one about the grizzly bear controller (love the original controller but that one is just too funny) and the one on Shenmue which anyone who's played the game would surely appreciate!

I always liked the BMXXX comic they did.

Could you point me to the grizzly bear controller and the shenmue one?

I thought the CompUSA one was lame as well. It was, however, really funny to see the guy getting punched

This would be a good point if that comic wasn't from the year 2000. Their writing style hasn't changed all that much in 5 years. Maybe your sense of humor has just atrophied from lack of use?

So what you're saying is that PA has always been bad? Thanks for the tip, I won't spend too much time digging through the archives for the funny stuff then.

In all seriousness, I plead guilty to not noticing the date on the CompUSA strip, but I will defend to my dying day my contention that, on average, the recent strips are a hell of a lot worse than the stuff they were coming up two years ago. Even one year ago for that matter.

Shenmue: Wow!
Warning: if you haven't played the original shenmue for at least a bit you won't find this funny.


Ursine Adventures
I enjoyed this one just because of all the bitching about the massive xbox controller at the time (which I actually like!).
Almost True
Kind of a followup to the grizzly bear one.

The shenmue and grizzly bear one were funny. PA doesn't ALWAYS suck.

They were kinda funny

Less than 24 hours to go. If you haven't voted yet, do so now or forever be silent.

Since we're on the subject of the rare PA that doesn't suck, I'm rather partial to:

Something Else To Buy

and

May Not Be Spelled Correctly

Something else to buy was ok, but May not be spelled correctly was funny as hell.

I love PA. Maybe it appeals to me because I do play a lot of games and I understand all the comics. (regardless of the newpost) It's completely wacky and totally silly. It helps that 2 good friends of mine are like a real life gabe and tycho.
my favorite of all time:

I play a lot of games and understand the comic (most of the time) and STILL don't find most of the slightly entertaining..

HOWEVER.. that Diablo 2 one is great, one of my favorites.. I can't believe I forgot about that one!!

for the year one poll how could you forget about DIVX? My favorite disgruntled piece of hardware

Divx kills
divx = dead
Hair City
feeling hot hot hot