Issue 222 is up. Here’s an link to an Apple IIGS.

I’m dead tired with a huge headache. I’m going to bed.

Just a heads up … Underpower is experiencing some technical difficulties. In the meantime, there is a temporary site up here: Underpower. Vaz just wanted me to let you guys know that they’re working to resolve the issues, and that any and all new information will become available on that new site.

Issue 221 is finally colored. If you don’t see the color version, clear your browser cache. Alright, time to draw Issue 222.

Jack Thompson Under Investigation - About time. We here at Applegeeks have been pretty close-mouthed about the situation. I will briefly state my personal opinion (just mine, not Hawk’s or his brother’s or anyone elses), which is that I think it is great that the Penny Arcade kids stepped up like they did. JT is really just your crazy neighbor from down the street, and not worth paying attention to - the problem lies not in him, but in the fact that the media gives him any credibility whatsoever. All this has been said elsewhere, however, and Tycho and Gabe have put it in more eloquent terms. I will say this, though …

I think the whole situation is full of a beautiful irony. Gamers, by nature, are a wide and varied lot - if you were to pick 10 gamers at random and put them in a room, chances are that they would not agree on much. The types of games available run the gamut, as do the types of gamers - it takes all kinds to make the world, after all. So, it is beautiful, to me, that Jack Thompson himself is responsible for helping to unite the gaming community just a little more. By taking the mantle of Divine Crusader and Destroyer of Gamers Everywhere upon himself, he’s given the masses someone specific to join hands against. Part of me can’t stand the vitriol and invective that this man spews, and the other part of me hopes he continues to do so. He’s only teaching gamers to unite, and to organize. I think the next step is to organize something nice and ironic - we’ll go with The Jack Thompson Video Game Defense Fund. He’ll love that.

[rambling]
On a largely separate note, some thoughts that I have been kicking around: many many people will claim that the ESRB ratings systems on games is useless. This is probably true, but it’s only as useless as parents make it. The video game industry and video game distributors aren’t going to raise your kids for you: it’s absolutely essential that you’re involved in your childrens’ lives and that you know what they are doing in their free time. Part of the reason the ESRB system is so useless right now is because parents have no idea what to make of video games - they weren’t around when they were children. I think that this is a phase unique to our particular generation of parents, though. There’s a huge generation of gamers here in the United States, some of whom are becoming parents, and some of whom will be parents in the future. These parents are going to know exactly what video games are about; they are going to understand the ratings system; and they will probably have a much better idea of what their kids are doing. Of course, maybe some new, amazing piece of technology is going to come along, that will revolutionize entertainment and make us all feel like old fogies before our time - but somehow, I doubt it. The basic principles for future technologies have largely been laid out during the past few decades, and more importantly, the basic comfort level with technology itself has been established within this generation. Even when we are old, we will be willing and able to learn. Hopefully that will count for something.
[/rambling]

More entertaining links, for your trouble:

Super Mario World level editor

Hacking your iTrip - A neat little how-to on hacking your iTrip. I bought one a while back, and it didn’t work at all. Most of the sound was static; every once in a while I’d hear the faint, straining chords of a guitar riff. I returned it then, but I’m going to go buy one this weekend so I can try this tutorial out. It supposedly increases broadcast range to a strong, crisp, clear 60 feet. *crosses his fngers* I’ll let you guys know how it goes.

The Bubble Project - The artist in question slaps empty word bubbles up onto ads and billboards around town, and then returns days later to see what people have written into them. The images are broken down by theme - very cool!

Rant forthcoming.

Ananth convinced me to put up the ink version of issue 221. I’m actually happy with the inking.

I’m going to hold off with the coloring for now. The power supply for my main computer should arrive tomorrow and I’m hoping the computer will be up and running by the end of the day.