Stop the presses! We are like, so totally stoked right now. Cut to the 14:28 mark of the latest Penny Arcade podcast, "Making an Impression." So speak'th the cartoon-inclined hosts:

"Hey, Disincentives won best webcomic for that week."

"Yeah, we did ... it's always nice to win."

"I feel like champion (my fri-end)."

Oh yeah, baby, that's right, we're famous enough to be on the second-greatest podcast around! So while we clutch the (CW)TB signature we have written on the back of a business card from when we ran into Tycho at GDC 2007 (note: thanks for putting up with our "trade show noob" geek-out 14 months ago, T-Bo), check out our picks for the week's best game-related webcomics; voting is after the break.

• Multiplayer (Sharcbate)
• 02 (Super Effective)
• So Close, Yet ... (2P Start)
• Ancient Ways (Angry Stick)
• My Greatest Achievement (Dueling Analogs)
• Koffing and Weezing (Monday Night Crew)
• Life Strategies (Penny Arcade)
• What it Should Have Been (Game Boyz)
• Game of Chance (Digital Unrest)

Next week, the Joystiq crew will pack their precious belongings (a laptop, some clothes, and a towel) before flying off to the 2008 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. So now seems about as good a time as any to reflect back on last year's GDC for a taste of what's to come. Sure, there's a dearth of playable demos when compared to E3 or TGS, but what other trade show can say they redefined the role of adhesive in internet conversations?

Keep reading for our remembrances of the keynotes (what's Game 3.0 again?), last year's big news (Harmonix and EA are doing what?), the sessions and interviews (the Wii is how many Gamecubes duct-taped together?), and the whole culture of GDC (Miyamoto made quite a splash).

We're definitely not big-time executives getting driven around everywhere, so make no mistake about it, running around and covering GDC can be exhausting! Need evidence? Well, in the picture above you'll see the blogger photo-frenzy that occurred one evening after our dear editor Mr. Grant passed out cold of exhaustion (no liquor or pharmaceuticals involved). Sure, there's a lot of news and business related things going on at GDC, but we still find time to have some fun and write about the cultural things going on within the industry.

There was definitely one big name at GDC last year who requires no introduction: Miyamoto. People waited in an incredibly long line last year to hear the father of Mario, Link -- and in many ways, Nintendo -- speak. Some people had life altering experiences after meeting with his holiness, while others showed their love by simply serenading the man; however, the best use of Miyamoto's time at GDC was certainly his guest appearance in a Mega64 skit where he gave an award-winning performance as a man faced with the horror of seeing his own creation in cos-play form.

GDC is always a hotbed for game-related news, and 2007 was no different as a flurry of announcements made during the annual event gave attendees plenty to talk about while waiting in line for sessions or sipping unspecified beverages in a haze of drunken exhaustion. Let's take a look back at which announcements came to pass, which were left unceremoniously forgotten, and which ones still have us scratching each other's heads like a pack of spider monkeys.

It was at GDC 07 where EA finally broke the silence and confirmed that it had slipped into bed with rhythm game virtuoso Harmonix with plans to publish the studio's next game. That game, of course, was Rock Band, though at the time the future of that announcement was the subject of much debate. After all, it's still popular to look at EA as an evil megacorp, and the partnership between it and indie fave Harmonix was not met with universal acclaim. Not that it matters now, as we're far too busy belting out lyrics to Roxanne.

Beyond the keynotes and news stories, the 2007 Game Developers Conference packed an incredible amount of content within the walls of San Francisco's Moscone Center. A number of memorable sessions leave us teary-eyed with nostalgia, as we wonder if GDC 08 can possibly top the frenetic schedule of last year's event.

Before GDC proper even began, the Mobile Game Innovation Hunt passed out free beer and noisemakers to its filled-to-capacity crowd for the most professional form of game criticism. And speaking of professional criticism, Maxis developer Chris Hecker certainly made waves at the Game Publisher's Rant session, when he infamously referred to the Wii as "two Gamecubes duct-taped together," generating enough fanboy fuel to power a small star. The small but oh-so-significant comment unfortunately became the focus of the session's media coverage, but we were still able to talk to Vivendi's Nichol Bradford about her own impassioned presentation.

Elsewhere, music was most certainly in the air, as iNiS VP Keiichi Yano discussed the success of Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan on DS, and the difficulties of bringing the quirky rhythm title to the US as Elite Beat Agents. Musical inspiration could most definitely be found in Nintendo composer Koji Kondo, who made his first public appearance in America at GDC, and discussed the secrets of designing good game audio.

It ran at GDC 2007; we reported on it, but you didn't get to see it. Now, MTV has hosted a special edition of The Metagame game show, as part of their "Gamer's Week" Coverage, and Stephen Totilo has posted the highlights for mass consumption.

The Metagame, designed and hosted by Frank Lantz of area/code and Eric Zimmerman of Gamelab, pits two teams against each other in a battle of video game smarts. Each round, teams move pieces on the game board to form comparative statements between two games (such as "Halo would make a better movie than Half-Life," or "Virtua Fighter is sexier than Super Mario 64."), and argue these statements to earn points. Vying for victory this time are MTV's Stephen Totilo and Tim Kash, versus Newsweeks' N'Gai Croal, and fellow journalist Heather Chaplin, author of Smart Bomb.

The debate is heated, hilarious, and only the slightest bit pretentious. We'd definitely enjoy watching more designers, developers, and press-members argue the semantics and specifics of the industry's most influential games. Any chance of picking up the show full-time, MTV?

Update: Due to silly legal restrictions, the video posted above is not viewable in the UK or Canada. Apologies for any confusion or irritation this might cause.

Every other week Scott Jon Siegel contributes Off the Grid, a column on gaming away from the television screen or monitor.

Since I couldn't find anyone to play Robo Rally with me this week, I thought I'd take this opportunity to instead discuss my experience as one of the IGDA's Student Scholars at this year's Game Developers Conference.

For the past seven years, the International Game Developers Association has been sending students interested in a future career in video games to GDC. A panel of professional game developers judges all the submitted applications, and each year 25 students are selected to receive free passes to the event. Each student is also paired with an industry mentor, and all the scholars are given an orientation session for the conference, and a tour of a local studio. I was honored to have been chosen as one of this year's student scholars, and found my first GDC experience to be all the more worthwhile as a result.

The three-day conference started on Wednesday, so Tuesday morning we met as a group for a special orientation session. A few of the scholars had already met up the previous night, as part of an unofficial pre-GDC get-together. Some of the student scholars were undergrads, but others were graduate students, and the group ranged widely in age. The disciplines and interests of the students varied widely as well, with artists, designers, coders, and audiophiles all equally represented. Part of our orientation had to do with simply meeting each other, exchanging business cards and conversing with peers who might very well be industry bigwigs in a few years; some of them just give off that vibe.

It may have required some background knowledge of 300 and Chris Hecker to understand, but the Joystiq webcomic lovers chose via parliamentary procedure 2P Start's entry as the best webcomic of last week.

Second place went to Penny Arcade and third from Scott Johnson's Extra Life. Thanks to everyone who voted and be sure to let us know of any gaming comics you stumble upon this week!

Much like the gruesome aftermath of an unexpected shark attack, it was difficult to miss the fact that a crucial part of us recently went missing. Last week, the Japanese sales charts were mysteriously absent, leaving nothing but a festering hole on the front page and a severe bout of dizziness for all involved. Of course, the blame is to be firmly placed on the shark -- here meaning the Game Developer's Conference held in San Francisco.

We were ill-prepared when it devoured our energy in one terrifying gulp and by the time we filmed a special video "skit," it had become all too apparent that we had little acting, humor, writing or basic conversational abilities. Instead, we present a gallery of miscellaneous GDC images, many of which depict Joystiq staffers in various states of tomfoolery and general ineptitude. If you are truly outraged by the lack of last week's charts (presented after the break!), use these images to identify us and then punch us in the face.

- DS Lite: 108,512 3,302 (2.95%)
- PSP: 56,175 9,981 (15.09%)
- Wii: 44,494 13,477 (23.25%)
- PS3: 32,115 11,885 (27.01%)
- PS2: 14,585 779 (5.07%)
- Xbox 360: 3,333 46 (1.36%)
- Game Boy Micro: 812 7 (0.87%)
- GBA SP: 679 59 (7.99%)
- Gamecube: 240 63 (20.79%)
- DS Phat: 119 7 (6.25%)
- GBA: 13 12 (48.00%)

Source: Media Create]

See also: Previous Japanese hardware sales charts

We fought through the GDC crowds to give you our impressions, and this GameTrailers interview about Super Paper Mario shows off the game's creative controls. While it's just one of the Wii's titles, here's hoping this April game brings showers to counter the perception of the Wii game drought.

Anticipate the rain -- and watch the video -- after the break.

Paper cutout Mario and friends image from Paper Forest and GotOrion.

We previously covered Peter Molyneux's Fable 2 talk at GDC, and now the most-watched video at GameTrailers shows off Fable 2's dog, letting us take a closer look for tonight's video. Molyneux stresses not to scrutinize the graphics and that only the dog is worth looking at in the demo's current state. Overlooking the work left to be done, the dog seems to be well animated and deliver a lot of emotion; hopefully this companion will add more depth to the game.

See the dog demo after the break.

Bringing his GDC presentation, "The Light and Dark Sides of 2D Game Production," to a flag-waving close, Konami's Koji Igarashi defiantly declared (via an enthusiastically projected slide) that "2D games will never die!" Though the Castlevania designer's train of thought seemed to switch several times during the talk -- no doubt exacerbated by the wonky on-the-fly translation -- his point eventually emerged as a light at the end of the tunnel.

Igarashi explained that as 3D games grow more complex and require greater effort from artists, 2D games provide an advantage by being easier and cheaper to design. Though he argued that the perspective generally allows players to better judge distance in action games, he was largely focused on the production side of things. Pixel art and backgrounds can be reused throughout multiple titles, he noted, allowing designers to spend more of their time on other aspects of the game.

A unique challenge for modern consoles, however, is adapting to the much higher display resolutions. More on-screen pixels means more detailed art, in which case drawing beautiful 2D assets might become just as strenuous and laborious as creating 3D character models. As such, Igarashi is treating the upcoming 2.5D Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles as an experiment -- can the dynamic presentation of 3D titles and the cost-effective design of 2D gaming get along? We'll find out later this year.

What is a magic crayon? If you're envisioning Harold and his purple outlet of creativity, you wouldn't be far off from the intended metaphor. Chaim Gingold, design lead for Spore's editors and cell game, described the magic crayon as a toy that is simple to use and yet gives the user enough power to create something they'll appreciate.

Gingold kicked off his presentation, one of the last after a marathon of lectures and roundtables at this year's Game Developers Conference, by defining a magic crayon through example. Photoshop is not a good magic crayon, for example, because it is very hard for most people to use. Neither is Super Mario Bros., since you are not changing anything in the world. Kid Pix fits the schema for a magic crayon, as does the Mii creator, which is an "absolutely beautiful, wonderful magic crayon," he said.

Though we didn't manage to make our way to the i am 8-bit art show last night at San Francisco's Gallery 1988SF, we did stop by the preview exhibit at Moscone's North Hall. Situated between the IGDA lounge and the XNA challenge area. What we found rendered our cerebral functions momentarily shut down.

According to the showcase's description, "the theme is simple -- over 100 artists put their old-school 80's gaming memories to paint, ink, sculpture, plush, and other bizarre mediums all in the name of pixels! It's an experiment in interpretation, shining a spotlight on an era when games were dominated by character." We're fond of the Mega-Man fanboy's dismayed loss.

The full gallery, dubbed Version 2.007, will be on display April 17 through May 21.

A skit that went great until some guy... Mega64 contributed a few new skits to the Game Developers Choice Awards last week to much applause and laughter, including a pretty poignant piece on Feel the Magic XX / XY (we're still waiting for that one to pop up on the internet). One in particular made the crowd scream more than anything else that night. The YouTube description reads thusly: "A skit that went great until some guy made it all awkward."

We won't spoil the rest, so check out the video after the break.