No, really - a webcomic based around video games, massive violence, sex and dirty words is so freaking huge and has guys creating it who are so freaking decent, they just gave away their first $10,000 scholarship. To make things even more interesting, it’s (naturally) a video game related scholarship, and they gave it to a girl. Gabe and Tycho: taking names and breaking down walls.

Penny Arcade today announced Diane Melville of Babson College as the winner of the 2008 Penny Arcade Scholarship for students intending to pursue a career in the game industry. Ms. Melville will receive a $10,000 award to apply towards her education and professional goals.

For the 2008-2009 academic year, Penny Arcade received hundreds of applications from students at schools across the country. Eligible students must be currently attending an accredited US college or university and be full time during the academic school year for which the scholarship is applicable. Selection criteria include GPA, service record, leadership, character, financial need and gaming skillz. After months of review and deliberation, Ms. Melville was selected for this year’s scholarship, based on her history of and dedication to using games for positive social impact.

Those interested in learning more about the Penny Arcade Scholarship, scholarship winners, or submitting applications for the 2009-2010 academic year can visit http://www.penny-arcade.com/pas/ for further information.

About Penny Arcade: Equal parts online comic and commentary, Penny Arcade ( www.penny-arcade.com) keeps its finger on the pulse of the gaming industry, prompting conversation and controversy alike. What started as a hobby in 1998 for Jerry “Tycho” Holkins and Mike “Gabe” Krahulik has grown into an online phenomenon serving over 70 million page views a month to millions of readers worldwide. In addition to the comic strip, Penny Arcade has expanded its reach to include merchandise, the annual PAX gaming festival ( www.pennyarcadeexpo.com), a video game and management of Child’s Play ( www.childsplaycharity.org), a gamer-driven charity for children that spans the globe.

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“I’m sweet and nice…for now!”

-Dr. Doom

Excerpted from:

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Hell with it - here’s Willie Nelson and the Supersuckers.

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KFR is still on vacation until Monday, but the gang at Robot 6 (previously known as the Blog @ Newsarama crew) are just kicking things off. I’ve spent the last 2 weeks putting this together for Jonah, JK and the rest of the crew over there, holidays be damned, and I’m pretty happy with how it’s shaped up. Still some work to be done, but it’s pretty much finished for all practical purposes!

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It may not be the greatest show in the world, but Monk is thoroughly enjoyable and often has some of the best promotions around. To wit, this commercial for the latest season:

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It always warms my heart to see a bunch of like-minded nerds get together and work alongside each other for a common goal rather than simply cause a message board to degenerate into chaos, flames, trolling and deliberate obtuseness.

Case in point: 80sTees.com recently listed an Aquaman hoodie on their site for pre-order, then they pulled it without explanation. When contacted by some folks who wanted the hoodie, they were told that the pre-order numbers were too small. The company resident then personally assured these fans that if they could get 200 people to agree to buy the shirt, in writing, then he’d go ahead with the production run.

Long story short, Aquaman fans have come together and hit 202 pledges to buy the hoodie as of this writing. The shirt will be produced posthaste! Everyone wins!!

Except for those of us who’ll have to see people dressed up like a Polar Fleece Aquaman action figure.

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At the time of this posting, at least, Amazon’s got the entire Purple Rain album available to download for two bucks.

Go on! Spend some of that left over Christmas money/Chanukah gelt/spare change you have lying around on Prince’s greatest album!

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CNN’s entertainment-themed Year in Review spends quite a bit of space ruminating on Heath Ledger’s turn in The Dark Knight as it attempts to understand the fact that in a year where Change and Hope seemed to permeate the political atmosphere, the entertainment industry made mad bank on somewhat drearier subjects.

The buzz surrounding his performance was electrifying. He was remaking the Joker; he wasn’t a camp comedian like Cesar Romero or a malevolent clown like Jack Nicholson. He was pure nihilism, with his jagged makeup and ragged hair. Even glimpses of his smile on the “Dark Knight” movie posters were thrilling.

And then he was gone. “We have concluded that the manner of death is accident, resulting from the abuse of prescription medications,” read the New York City medical examiner’s office report, affectlessly.

Who knows what could have happened? The hype surrounding “The Dark Knight,” partly fueled by Ledger’s death, turned out to have been warranted; the film earned critical praise and planeloads of money. Ledger has been posthumously nominated for a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild award and is expected to receive an Oscar nomination, as well. Had he lived, he could have named his price.

Oh yeah - they also wonder how/why that Indiana Jones flick sucked so damn hard.

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