Joystiq interviews Penny Arcade's Gabe and Tycho
by Christopher Grant 
{ Sep 3rd 2006 at 7:00PM }
Just about this time a week ago, we were watching the final two Omeganauts do battle in Tetris ... actually, it was more of a slaughter, but we'll leave that up to the history books. Shortly after the show was over, we got a couple minutes with the duo behind Penny Arcade, PAX, Child's Play, and now Penny Arcade Adventures. Of course we took the opportunity to ask them about the game (they're not talking), the PS3 (they're not buying), and the amount of time it takes to get that good at Guitar Hero ("you gotta have priorities"). Indeed.
Grab the admittedly large file from our servers below or embedded after the break. If you're still rocking the 56K, stay tuned for a transcribed version to be added to this post.
Watch me:
Penny Arcade Interview (.mov)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
VerdigriS @ Sep 3rd 2006 7:18PM
People are still "rocking the 56k"?
Dejital @ Sep 3rd 2006 7:26PM
I need their scholarship. T__T
Conrad @ Sep 3rd 2006 7:33PM
That was a great, entertaining interview! The video games scene needs more people like the Penny-Arcade guys.
Bryce @ Sep 3rd 2006 7:34PM
"People are still "rocking the 56k"?"
Some of us just have really crappy ISPs
T-Bag @ Sep 3rd 2006 7:52PM
Way to change my mind on the PA guys. I always loathed the bastards for being so successful, but now it's like I want to them to become more successful! Weird...
Kamizar @ Sep 3rd 2006 8:22PM
I demand a Joystiq T, alas I fear that they will forever elude me...
Matt @ Sep 3rd 2006 8:36PM
I've loved the Penny Arcade comic for years, so when the podcast came about I was hooked. This interview is the same, only strong. Like crack.
Andy Grey @ Sep 3rd 2006 9:15PM
Out of curiosity, how many joystiq readers are "still rocking the 56k"? Has joystiq done a poll recently, if not it certainly sounds like a good one to do.
Guess Who @ Sep 3rd 2006 9:35PM
Having never heard their voices, I have to say I expected Mike/Tycho to have a more... authoritative voice.
Haha @ Sep 3rd 2006 9:49PM
Lol.. Fucking ugly geeks.
Barry @ Sep 3rd 2006 10:38PM
Fucking ugly words, Haha.
Visage Of Vanity @ Sep 3rd 2006 11:01PM
- Haha,
Shouldn't you be flooding the market with Madden purchases or something? Go away, nobody likes you. :D
Fan @ Sep 4th 2006 12:10AM
I love the PA comics but I find their "moral" stand of not buying a PS3 so stupid it feels like someone is drilling a hole in my brain.
A moral stand? WTF? Lets go get our flags and demonstrate and shout slogans we must bring thies evil SONY corporation to its knees!
People with this attitude give me a head ache. And there are plenty of them around. Like the other day I went to a store to buy a mobile phone and I asked wheat the salesman thought of a particular phone I was eyeing. He answered that he did not care for that phone so I asked him why. He replied that he did not like the brand of the phone and that it was a moral stand. I really felt like beating him for his stupidity.
If you think its pricy then save some more money. If you dont want it dont buy it. But dont go around making a fucking crusade out of how you hate said company for nothing. Its a piece of electronics people, its costs money. Its not like SONY is tricking consumers with an inflated price. They are loosing money on each unit sold. And before anyone even mentiones Blu-ray I think you will see that one disc games are a great thing. At least thats how I feel.
Now please lets cut this mind boggeling hating and lets get back to what its all about, games. Games like Heavenly Sword, Motorstorm, Gitar Hero, God of War 3, The Naughty Dog Project, LAIR, Metal Gear Solid 4, Killzone, Ratchet and Clank and Zone of the Enders 3. These are looking to be great titles and they deserve the attention, the price point does not.
After all if you was to build a PC with the same capabilities that the PS3 has it would be ALOT more expensive than 5 or 600 dollars. So please lets cut the act and get back to what matters, the games.
bv @ Sep 4th 2006 12:42AM
Those shirts are fucking sweet. Great picture!
gexecuter @ Sep 8th 2006 9:56AM
you need a hug Fan?,because i can give you one....
Fan @ Sep 4th 2006 1:07AM
Hugs are allways nice.
Preferably it would be a group hug and you would bring Jade Raymond.
Mark D @ Sep 4th 2006 1:17AM
"Thank you for wiping off your sweaty hand."
Golden. :)
Brian @ Sep 4th 2006 2:13AM
Tycho/Jerry is much less verbose in person.
Joe @ Sep 4th 2006 3:09AM
Tycho and Gabe hate themselves.
Don Carajo @ Sep 4th 2006 3:56AM
I always thought the comic characters were supposed to be representations of themselves...but in the comics they both have hair and are young.
TehDestroyer @ Sep 4th 2006 6:03AM
@13
It's perfectly fine to take a moral stance against buying something. They don't "hate" Sony they disagree with the price point. They don't feel it justifies $600 so they won't buy it. Thats perfectly reasonable and is a stance many others are taking. FYI the only reason it costs that much money is because of the blu-ray drive. I would love to save $200 if it meant I would have to get up and switch my disc every six hours of gameplay.
Guy @ Sep 4th 2006 10:09AM
@13
"Now please lets cut this mind boggeling hating and lets get back to what its all about, games. Games like Heavenly Sword, Motorstorm, Gitar Hero, God of War 3, The Naughty Dog Project, LAIR, Metal Gear Solid 4, Killzone, Ratchet and Clank and Zone of the Enders 3. These are looking to be great titles and they deserve the attention, the price point does not."
What in the blue goddamn hell are you talking about, dude?? The price point doesn't matter?! Horse shit. The price point matters moreso than the games do, as the price point is going to be the main reason that most people do or do not buy the console, not the games. $600 is a lot of cash to shell out for a system that may or may not suck. Doesn't anyone here remember the Sega Saturn, which was a technically superior system than the Playstation, but it was a nightmare for the 3rd party developers to code for. Does this ring a bell?? The Cell CPU and it's 7 SPE's...yeah, this seems like it's going to make the architecture real easy.
Keep in mind I know NOTHING about programming and the like. This is all just conjecture on my part, based on what I've read online about the Cell. So I could be wrong.
And yes, in this instance, it is okay to take a moral stand against Sony. Me personally, I don't feel that Blu-Ray is that big of a deal, and further more, I'm not down with Sony shoving yet another proprietary format down my throat, which they are doing. Sony seems to have this overwhelming desire to not only control the medium(in Blu-Ray, it's the Sony/MGM film library), but the distribution(Blu-Ray) and the playback unit as well(BR players). No other company out there does that. If you can find one, let me know. Also, the arguement that Sony is selling the console at a loss is a moot point, as all consoles are sold for a loss. Everyone knows the money is made in perpherials and games.
We also know how well Sony has done with proprietary formats in the past. Beta-Max, MiniDisc, UMD. Also, take into account their inability to deliver on the promises they make: didn't they claim the PS2 was going to deliver "Toy Story-like graphics"? Wasn't the HDD for the PS2 supposed to have all sorts of MP3 options that were eventually scrapped??
I want the PS3 to be as badass as it looks on paper and at least as good as the PR guys at Sony are telling us it is. If it's that good, then it's going to be the single greatest game machine ever. However, I have ZERO faith in Sony when it comes to these matters. They're incredible at talking, but when it comes to backing it up...not so much. And honestly, do we need all those features in a game system? If the games are the most important thing, then why all this interest in "convergence"??? Do we really need Blu-Ray?
NaviePoo @ Sep 4th 2006 10:58AM
Gabe and Tycho -- refugees from good oral hygiene.
Contrary to their beliefs, Mountain Dew and Ho-Hos do not acutally polish and whiten teeth.
schtum @ Sep 4th 2006 1:21PM
@Fan
Let's try to keep in mind that these guys make their living by being funny, so you should expect them to use comically inflated language about a "moral stand" when really they just think it costs too much.
As for you cell phone guy, there are plenty of legitimate reasons to take a moral stance against a company. Maybe they have unethical business or labor practices. Lots of people don't buy Nike sneakers because they use sweatshop labor. Apple recently had to defend themselves from charges of running iPod sweatshops. It's okay to think of more than just yourself sometimes. Some would even say it's the mark of a mature, decent human being.
But if they're just bitching about the price and aren't trying to be funny, then you're right, those people are tools.
Chris Larson @ Sep 4th 2006 2:30PM
A great interview. I met Tycho, right after the MS press conference at E3. He was walking by and I was on the phone. I hung that phone the hell up, and shook his hand. He had some rip off cabbie deliver him to the wrong address. Anyway, I've always been a fan of the site - these guys really know how to foster community.
TheDragon @ Sep 4th 2006 4:25PM
In response to the babbling against their "moral stand":
I plan on buying a PS3 only because I know it will deliver eventually. It certainly won't at launch, though. I should not buy a PS3, though. And neither should anyone else. It's Video Gaming. When did we decide to let the companies turn video gaming into something not affordable? Sony's saying "Oh, it costs so much because it's more than a game console, it's a computer." Guess what, Sony. I have plenty of computers in my house, My HTPC, laptop, and desktop do the work I want them to do on the PC end. If they want to put the market out of the reach of your AVERAGE gamer, they're doing a good job.
And joystiq, find someone a bit less stumbly to do your next video interview. While I love seeing the questions answered and faces put to the news posts of my favorite webcomic, the interviewer was just a bit to awkward. It was as though he has a speech impediment.
C. Grant @ Sep 4th 2006 11:36PM
Thanks TheDragon, next time I'll stand down and we can get a G4 host up there.
Merus @ Sep 5th 2006 8:22PM
Gabe and Tycho the comic characters weren't supposed to be them originally. They were just supposed to be two guys. They got called after the creators when they realised they were just using their characters as mouthpieces.
Go back and look through the early archives. Tycho drew a comic as a last-ditch attempt to give the characters dimension by naming them. I guess it's not canon?
Jordan Running @ Sep 5th 2006 12:10PM
Great interview, but next time you might want to set it up so you're not towering over them like a golem. Jerry looked like his neck was starting to hurt.
Staticneuron @ Sep 6th 2006 6:24PM
Moral Stand....
Mike (Gabe) bought a $500 HD-DVD player a few months ago. PA had a comic about it. Then at PAX they say paying $500 for a console that includes a Blu-Ray player is "Grade-A Bullshit"?
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2000/12/15
Maybe they're right, just like last time.
annon @ Oct 7th 2006 3:16AM
"29. Moral Stand....
Mike (Gabe) bought a $500 HD-DVD player a few months ago. PA had a comic about it. Then at PAX they say paying $500 for a console that includes a Blu-Ray player is "Grade-A Bullshit"? "
Perhaps you don't realize that gamers (unlike them) arent ritch. Ie: Sure, he can buy a HDDVD for $500.... but broke ass student gamers like me can afford the $500 for a new system. Him afording a system has shit all to do with the price of a PS3 being the same.
His logic is flawless, you dumb shit.... just think a little harder and understand that you arent all that smart.