Penny Arcade Honored By Washington State 31
Dutch Gun writes "Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik (Tycho and Gabe) of Penny Arcade have been honored by the Washington State legislature with a resolution. The bill praises their charity work (PDF) with Child's Play, for attracting tourist dollars by starting the Penny Arcade Expo, which has grown to become the largest video game exhibition in the country, providing student scholarships, and for their leadership role within the computer gaming community. Washington State is home to at least 45 game development companies, including such notable names as Nintendo of America, Microsoft, Bungie, Valve, ArenaNet, PopCap, Gas Powered Games, Monolith, Zipper Interactive, Snowblind Studios, and more. This is a marked departure from the typical news involving governments and gaming. One could see the courtship of the computer gaming industry by the State of Washington as a shrewd political move, given the current tough economic times and the seeming resistance of the entertainment industry to recessions. Or, perhaps a bit less cynically, this might just be a sign that gaming has reached a critical threshold of mainstream normalcy."
Not Once, But Twice (Score:5, Interesting)
They were actually honored by the Washington Legislature twice, once from the Senate [wa.gov] and once from the House [wa.gov]. Of course I suspect that this has far more to do with PAX bringing in 50k+ visitors than it does with anything else, but hey, an honor is an honor.
And I think The Escapist put it best: Jack Thompson's brain is dangerously close to exploding [escapistmagazine.com].
Priorities (Score:1, Interesting)
Government hates video games, but it loves money!
Give enough money and a government will love whatever you hand to it.