Penny Arcade stuff.

[Katanas Blade]

First up:

That is the reward that can be won by entering PA's Contest

We rarely do contests, but this seemed like a good time, and we knew the right people. Between Blizzard and Upper Deck, they have unloaded a truly revolting amount of merchandise on us, and we'll be passing this largesse over to the readership in a frictionless manner: three piles of stuff so gigantic that you will quite literally never need to purchase another card. You will, of course, because you won't be able to help it. Even so, you won't need to: four boxes of boosters, tournament playmats, a Winterveil collector's box, deckboxes, sleeves, two binders, three raid decks, three starter decks, and one of these awesome dice chest things. Each of these sets also includes an X-51 Nether-Rocket, an ultra-rare card that can be redeemed in-game for a custom flying mount. These custom mounts can go for up to two thousand dollars online, so each one of them - on its own - would be sufficient to build a contest around. I don't know that I've ever seen a contest like this. It's completely ridiculous.

Securing these mounds of treasure is simple, but not effortless: you must write a short story, set in World of Warcraft, and this story must be precisely ten words long. Then, you must mail your story to Gabriel, with the subject line "Ten Words." This contest is easy and fun. At least, for me! But Gabriel has told me that I cannot win, so you've got a shot. Something along these lines, maybe:

His father's sword, shattered to the hilt, fell like stars.

It doesn't have to be especially epic, it merely needs to ring true.
[...]
We've had a couple questions, and since we're getting entries at a rate of about twenty a minute I thought I'd better satisfy them quickly. You can enter as many times as you like, but please try to contain all entries in the body of a single email. You aren't going to go to prison if you don't, but we're only two guys, and this is starting to get crazy. We do have a limit on shitty entries: we ask that you limit those to zero.

The Contest ends today (10th) so if you have any interest, now's the time!

http://www.playgreenhouse.com/home - PA is launching a new digital download service for their soon-to-be-released game, which they intend to expand, similar to how they've continually expanded PAX and Child's Play (a fantastic charity that has raised millions "in donations of toys, games, books and cash for sick kids in children’s hospitals" by gamers).

Speaking of PAX, Starwolf and I will again be returning to Seattle to attend this year. August 29th - 31st. It's quite the gaming convention, had something around 40 thousand people attend last year.. This year they have already stated that increased capacity space has been allocated at the convention center.

http://www.quartertothree.com/inhouse/news/411/ - A very amusing story that they had linked to. Well worth a read.


And, of course, had to include this image from their apparel lineup. Very fitting for any PvP encounter that has healers.

[[AK]Squidly]

Did you submit a "story"?

[Katanas Blade]

You bet, multiple ones. Keeping it at 10 words is the biggest challenge.