How is this for Friday news?

The creators of online ultracomic Penny Arcade have joined forces with Hothead Games, an independent and experienced video game developer, to collaboratively create video games based on the Penny Arcade comic.

“We’re really excited to be working with Hothead Games on our first electronic adventure,” said writer Jerry Holkins, his clawed feet resting atop a huge slab of granite. “From the moment we laid eyes on them, it was clear they had the technical and creative chops to execute our grim vision. Now that we have pooled our strengths, our dark work may truly begin.” Holkins then paused to eat a rat whole.

The first game, entitled Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, will be a comic adventure game initially available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux, followed by a version for next-generation consoles. The game will be available by digital download, delivered in episodic format with new installments of the adventure coming out several times a year.

This is all at once a bit puzzling, exciting, and intimidating. I caveat this post with the revelation that I am a huge fan of Penny Arcade. But even I’m not sure how the webcomic would translate into a video game. The comic covers a lot of ground in various arenas of nerd discourse, mainly revolving around the games industry, but often delving into such topics as the tech industry, book publishing, general webcomics interests, etcetera, etcetera. What will we be doing in this game? Controlling the main characters Tycho (Jerry Holkins) and Gabe (Mike Krahulik) through…what, exactly? A trip to IHOP? An Eldritch Saga? Hobo rapings? I can’t imagine for the life of me what this game will have its participants doing. Maybe we’ll just click the button as we scroll through an archive of all their comics.

Being such outspoken critics of the utter garbage the gaming industry can toss at us consumers, one has to ponder — what if this is crap? What will they do then? Will they lose their credibility? Will they shill their product despite it’s poor showing on Gamerankings? Will they admit it and apologize to their fanbase for allowing their brand to be attached to an abysmal failure?

So many questions. I can, however, assure you that this turn of events is NOT evidence that the PA guys have indeed sold out. Selling out is not simply “taking money in exchange for doing something.” That’s generally referred to as “work”. Selling out means that you toss your ethics and morals aside, compromise what you’re currently doing and alter it in order to suit some larger purpose, usually a purpose that has handed you a wheelbarrow full of cash. I don’t see that here. They are absolutely making a great use of their established brand, and that’s marketing, not selling out. Learn the difference, naysayers.

In any case, I’m interested to see where this takes us.