Dunno if this should be in the offtopic forum since this has quite a lot to do with gaming, anyway... I've a doubt about the penny arcade guys: are they loaded or what? I mean seriously, how much money are they making? the last time I heard about them they quited they jobs becos the online comic was succesful enough to pay for most of their expenses. Now not only they go and do things like PAX but they give out big prizes like a loaded Scion Bx with an X360, 15" LCD and a new speaker system. I know thats sponsor crap, but not anyone gets that kind of freebies. Hell even the guys at Cnet and Gizmodo dont get that, and they have to return almost everything. I even heard they are making a game. I mean, the guys arent game developers at all, not even close to that, and they arent that famous either. As far as I know no casual gamer knows about them. Dunno, does anyone here has the slightest idea of that?
Bozzon and Matt from ign are heading a game development project for Virtual Console as well. That means one thing - connections, not money out of the job.
The YouTube case is completely different: the value of that company is high but theoric. You got a video sistem thats easy to use and known in the mainstream community. Both things are very difficult to archieve since the video is something everyone is going to use (since is always easier to watch than to listen, read or interact with something) and being vox populi among those who arent up to date with all the stuff coming out from the internets is an even harder thing to do. PA is the exact opposite: you got a comic which is by itself a dying type of media. Is oriented not towards gamers but only hardcore ones, which is an even smaller market, and for most people is too hard to understand, and in some cases not even funny. So I'm still waiting for the answer, becos if these guys can make such an empire from just a comic then ASSEMbler games should be the center of the god damn gamer universe...
Hm, I'm not so sure about it being oriented towards only hardcore gamers. I haven't read it much, but it seems like they talk mostly about mainstream games. In fact, it seems mostly about games that are mainstream in North America. I seriously doubt you'd ever hear them talking about DoDonPachi, for example. They sure as hell would never mention the PCFX. That's why ASSEMbler isn't "the center of the god damn gamer universe", I believe.
The most obscure they got was kliller instict, and even that is still infamous amongs most US gamers for its ultra combos. Plus alot of people i know who love the comics arent even that much into games. It for some reason has a huge appeal, which might explain why they would have a convetion for a web comic.
You guys fail to notice that PA is printed in at the very least the Official Playstation Magazine, if not more. So its not just for us online nerds lol
The PA guys are doing quite well, and they have good people to help them on the business side (they actually accidentally sold the comic and the characters once, and lost publishing rights one time, this happened a really long time ago!). It also helps that they got into the growing web comic medium earlier than most, and were always reliable and on time, which is more than I can say from a ton of web comics out there. They also do a lot of things on the side, such as the promotional comic books and the PAX convention. I personally enjoy PA a lot.
Really? didnt know that, mostly cuz I havent bought a mag since 1999, specially the OPM... Anyway, for the maintream, when you talk about something from another generation, even if it was mainstream back in the day, then you're hardcore. Why? becos these brats barely know there were other consoles in the market...
