Let Penny Arcade Pick Your Next Game

Why rely on your puny human brain to decide on a game when the Penny Arcade guys can use the robotic overmind to do it for you?

The robot apocalypse might come way of Gabe and Tycho from Penny Arcade. Oh, sure, it seems innocuous enough right now: The popular webcomic, in conjunction with metrics company EEDAR, will release an iOS app to recommend games based on players’ personal tastes. However, the Decide-o-Tron is, “The avatar of a sentient artificial intelligence, housed in your handheld device.” Start warming up those EMP grenades.

If you decide to throw caution to the wind and learn more about this app, you may be pleased to know that the Jerry “Tycho” Holkins had some more to say about it. “The Decide-O-Tron is essentially Pandora for games, that’s about as clear as I can make it,” said Holkins. “It can very quickly build a library of the games you like and own, and then – just as quickly – tell you what you should play next.”

While similar services already exist, this app has two very interesting pedigrees. One, of course, is from Penny Arcade, and the other is from Geoff Zatkin, President of Electronic Entertainment Design and Research. EEDAR supplies metrics and database research to many major game companies, including Electronic Arts, 2K Games, Sony Computer Entertainment, and Take-Two Interactive. Between the pop culture sensibilities of the Penny Arcade team and the multitude of data on hand at EEDAR, the Decide-o-Tron’s predictive potential could be astounding.

The Penny Arcade guys generally turn out good non-comic entities. They’ve already made two videogames, a CCG, and a multi-million dollar charity, so a game-choosing app should be well within their capabilities. Expect it to launch within the next week or two, although interested users can demo it at PAX.

Source: Joystiq