Penny Arcade has a great post up that explains the origins of the hit web comic (scroll down to the post “I’d like to thank God…”).

Apparently Tycho and Gabe were rebuffed Next Generation after Next Generation called out to their readers looking for people to write a comic about gaming. Next Generation never chose any other comic strip over Penny Arcade, they simply rejected Tycho and Gabe in favor of nothing at all. The only site they could get to publish their work was some random gaming mag with online distribution called Loony Games. Great story.

The origins of the name “Penny Arcade” straight from Gabe and Tycho:

[Loony Games' rep] said he wanted to run the comics and he asked if the strip had a name. Well it didn’t of course. So I looked over at Tycho who was sitting at his computer on the other side of our shitty little apartment and said “hey, what should we call the comic?” He stared at the wall above his monitor for no more that thirty seconds and then said “Penny Arcade you know because it’s just cheap thrills”.

So appropriate.

Also, if you’re looking for a charity to donate to this year, you should consider supporting Child’s Play, the excellent charity that buys video games for kids in hospitals, which was created by Penny Arcade.