Working Designs, as a company, has always been interesting to me. I think anyone who was into console RPGs in the PSX era was familiar with the localization love and impressive treasure-filled boxes that they packed in; Lunar and Arc the Lad series' probably being the most notable. For the games they brought stateside that wouldn't have seen the light of day otherwise, I've been rather grateful for their efforts. Lunar SSSC, Lunar 2: EBC, Alundra and Elemental Gearbolt still occupy treasured spaces on my shelf, with perhaps a little sprinkle of hatred toward the obscene, WD imposed, difficulty of Elemental Gearbolt. The shame it brought of never being able to see more than 4 levels creeps into my subconscious every so often, typically resulting in waking up several hours later wrapped in my childhood blankie, sopping wet with tears.

I think that Lunar SCCC was especially unique in game retail because it is one of the first games that I can recollect having a pre-order bonus, in the form of the infamous Ghaleon Punching Puppet. At the very least, pre-order bonuses and collectors editions were a rarity in gaming and Lunar serves as a launch point in my memory when the trend really started to take off. I think that having collector's editions of games and swag has always been appealing because of the impression of opening a carefully crafted present, made especially for you. It would be nice to see that kind of inspired care added to regular versions of games such as Solatorobo, especially at comparative prices and without the need to order it at launch.

Working Designs also serves as a sort of fork in the road on opinion between Pie and me. Usually, we are on the same page on a lot of things, but she has a certain other passion about Working Designs and former company head Victor Ireland that I will let her share with you in her blog post coming sometime later.

SO! Last week I told you that Pie and I made it to round 2 of Penny Arcade's Strip Search. Well 'lo and behold we found out we both managed to make it to round 3, into the top 40 of 500! Pie and I are getting pretty psyched up at the prospect of making it all the way to the competition in Seattle, especially considering how quickly PA moved through the 100 contenders in round 2. The submission deadline for round 3 is Sunday night, and I don't doubt we'll know the results by next week. I'll keep you posted!