Denis Duckfat hates Penny Arcade ... and they're loving it.
The ads (see gallery below) are the direct opposite of what you'd expect -- instead of using positive review quotes from gaming publications (11/10! -Cashwh0re), they went with the most ridiculous comments that one hater has been systematically posting on Wired. Little did he know his belligerent flamebaiting would one day become their national ad campaign for On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Penny Arcade's new game on Xbox Live! How's that for a last laugh?
After we saw the ads, Destructoid dug up some additional info on this notorious critic -- DDF has been busy trolling the internet since 2005 on various forums and web sites, many of which have banned him for hatemongering senselessly. According to his abandoned Blogspot, he's a tubby game industry guy that "works on boring games every 4 years." The only thing he claims to hate more than Penny Arcade is Penny Arcade fans (as well as all music games, GTA, Tomb Raider boobs, and Xdude), and also has a few more colorful things to say in another Wired blog comment:
Penny arcade sucks and is unfunny. please murder penny arcade and then yourself if you disagree with me.
Can you imagine this douchelord's facial expression when he finds out he's responsible for one of the better ad campaigns we've seen in gaming this year?
We hope DDF has a good sense of humor and urge him to apply as a speaker at PAX to share his heightened taste of games and love of William H. Macy with the rest of us.
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Awesome.
hahahaha
um... I bought this game twice... once for my Mac because I have nothing to play on it and then on the 360... because. I don't know... Fuck it I might as well support Penny Arcade and indy games.
I love it. I'll bet he feels great now, his douchbag attitude just got his words used in an ad campaign that they didn't have to pay him shit for. Congrats good sir you have raised the bar for internet douchbags everywhere.
HA!
Hahahahaha - SOLD (er more so)
Hilarious. Still, the question remains: do they really need to advertise this game?
We all know about it.
We're all going to buy it.
What's the point?
Aww, it's like picking up The Alphabet of Manliness or I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell. This is always a good marketing scheme for people who have a good sense of humor.
I remember this idiot when he was posting on Cheap Ass Gamer years ago. Kinda amused to see that he's the same asshat that spammed the CAG boards with pics of his nasty man-boobs ><
If he keeps up his "thing" after this, he's selling out. Hope he learns his lesson :P
BEST AD CAMPAIGN EVAR
I really don't find Penny Arcade to be entertaining, either, but this is kinda funny.
Nice one XD
omg so edgy!!!
i hope one day my flaming makes it into an ad campaign.
Man I have to to start trolling on a game and get famous.
Troll may yet turn out to be a viable career path.
That guy has my dream job. On day, when I grow up, I will take my controversy skill and mould it into the ultimate trolling.
Mega 64 did something similar with their Season 2 dvd, putting a negative review for their first season on the cover.
I'm still not sold on the game, penny arcade is usually funny but I just don't like the cut of their jib. Plus I don't like the fact that they are two of the most unfortunate looking men on the internet and yet they represent themselves as handsome cartoon characters.
"Plus I don't like the fact that they are two of the most unfortunate looking men on the internet and yet they represent themselves as handsome cartoon characters."
I like the fact that they always portray themselves with heads full of thick, lush, wavy hair.
nothing like a bunch of smartasses turning hate mongering around on the idiots that do it. This has officially made my day. Now to acquire a copy of said game Fruit Fucker Prime I'm coming for you
This guy will never be able to get away from this comment. Ever. I feel sorry for him.
Ha, serves him right, even though I really don't like Penny Arcade all that much.
uhhh..... DUCKFAT?
C-C-C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER!
Well, it's true. Penny Arcade was funny when I was 12 and discovered the internet. At least the one guy learned how to draw. Too bad the other still can't write.
Pure genius
2005? A likely story!
If you're ready for a real comic, check out http://www.castle-vidcons.com/
And this is why I've turned into a Gabe and Tycho fan, over the past year. Well done, sirs. Well done.
I just downloaded the demo on my PC in honor of Mr. Duckfat.
You couldn't pay an advertisement guru to come up with a better ad campaign. Hats off Tycho and Gabe, fail troll quoting will probably be the new internet marketing fad for a while.
Downloading the demo right now. If it doesn't suck, I will happily buy the full version.
They're asking a little too much for their game. Plus its called Episode 1, so I'm thinking its going to be short.
Brilliant, I wouldn't expect anything else from Tycho! HAHAHA
I'm with funran. This is Penny Arcade at its finest. One more reason to love Gabe and Tycho, I feel they speak more honesty than 99% of the internet (not really that hard) and they have a good enough sense of humor to let the tables be turned on them, for all the game criticizing they do. Perfect idea for an ad for their game.
savage: It's supposed to be around 10 hours. Which in marketing speak is usually about 5-7 hours. Not bad for $20 I guess, when you stack it against nearly any FPS.
That is an amazing marketing technique, do like.
LOL lovin it!!
Owned.
I'll have to say, Successful troll is Successful.
I guess it just proves that there's no such thing as bad publicity.
Dats funny rite der...
Awesome, i'm downloading the demo as soon as i get home.
Clever! I'm sold!
Fucking brilliant. He must be pissing his pants right now.
I hope he cried, videotaped it, and put it on YouTube.
The Penny Arcade guys have a great sense of humor, and this is an awesome way to incorporate that into their ad campaign. Kudos to you, Gabe & Tycho!
oh shit neva seen dat b4!!
*chuckles*
And a good reminder for me to pick this up on XBLA.
The best part of this story is that the guy is now a member of Destructoid, apparently, and he made a cblog about how much the PA comic and game sucks... or something. Haha.
The Space Ghost Coast to Coast DVD was promoted the same way, with only bad reviews on the box.
Which was funny, but not quite as funny as pressing PLAY ALL on the Aqua Teen Hunger Force DVD and having every episode play at the same time.
PA FTW!
Very clever marketing idea. Props to them.
That said, I've never understood the fapping to Penny Arcade-- I've never found them funny or cool. I find it ironic they've been so trollish about video games (they were among the Internet kids freaking out about Metroid Prime), when their own video game has been very hit-or-miss in reception.
Way to go Pennie Arcade, Fucking Smart! :P
FYI: His message board allows guest posting
http://awesometalk.proboards43.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=18
In all honesty, the guy is probably thrilled by the attention. Still awesome though.
Holy shit, his posts are amazing. To anyone who accuses ME of trolling for having opinions on games, I now have a handy reference to show them how it's really done.
Ha!!!
I have been re-sold with this one.
Can´t wait for work to end so I can go home and buy the game.
Wait, so does this mean the game doesn't suck?
I don't know, this seems like more of a way to keep him going than anything else. He's in the spotlight now.. look out.
I love it. When I was studying advertising I noticed that the products that are willing to make fun of themselves are generally the ones that know they have a good product (Volkswagen, iPod, FedEx). When the ad execs unclench it's just more fun for everyone involved.
I love the way hes so eloquent in his trolling.
Destructoid are a sucky suck bag of suck.
Can I have that advertising job now??
Clever advertising or not, if the interweb is anything to go by, the XBLA sales are going to be a little disappointing. With the 1,600 MS points they are asking, you'd think by the reactions that there was a free case of the clap in every download.
Then again, it is pretty damn expensive when compared to other episodic stuff like Sam and Max ($8.95 an episode).
I checked the blog page and thought the 'pillars of flesh' thing was odd so i googled it. First response is an interview with the founder of silicon knights and the director for the game Eternal Darkness, Denis Dyack.
http://www.armchairempire.com/Interviews/denis-dyack-eternal-darkness-interview.htm
Either this is the same guy or someone is trying to set him up. It probably isn't a coincidence, Denis? The name is ususally spelled with 2 n's, Dennis. You can search the most popular baby names at the US social security website and Denis with 1 n only registers in the top 1000 once, 1991 at #966, while Dennis was the 59th most common in the 70's and 98th in the 80's...
Lol.
also
http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/23/too-humans-denis-dyack-pokes-fun-at-penny-arcade-game/
Beautiful.
I love it. When I was studying advertising I noticed that the products that are willing to make fun of themselves are generally the ones that know they have a good product (Volkswagen, iPod, FedEx). When the ad execs unclench it's just more fun for everyone involved.
I'm sure he's going to love it. His hate mongering was probably originally so people would pay attention to him, but now he's got all the attention in the world. More site traffic, more this and that.
He probably has a raging boner and is fucking STOKED right now.
Deenis Ducktwat is right, you know. PA is not funny. I repeat: Not funny. Their jokes rely on context. And genitalia. Their jokes rely on context and genitalia. And observation. Their...aah, forget it.
BOOM reverse psychology. Ya gotta love it.
@Ooyes-
?
Hehe, if you replace the D in Denis with a P it spells Penis
Haven't ready anything from Denis that I'd disagree with. Maybe he can make some $$$ off of those bleeding cuntholes.
Denis Duckfat = Denis Dyack? PA did give him a hard time about early game reviews, and vise versa.
LMFAO! That's hilarious! Go PA!
awesome! best way to deal with a troll ever!
you really paid $20 for the game? I picked up a 1600 pt card from Target (on sale for $15) and stacked a $10 off 360 software coupon, persuading the cashier to use it, then came home and bout PA ep 1...$5 and definitely worth it.
cartoonist loved comic..
Bonjour,
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