Am I correct that bags of flour are used for this parenting exercise in some schools, or is that just something I saw on television? It would make sense, they’re about the appropriate size and weight.

In my school we used eggs. The teacher would initial the bottom, and then you had to carry it with you for a week, and keep it safe. We were allowed to build carrying containers for the egg-babies, and I went a little overboard and built a little wooden box lined with a steel latch and enough padding that you could toss the thing down a flight of stairs and the egg would be just fine.

My egg survived the entire week, so clearly I’ve got the parenting thing down. If I ever have children, I know exactly what kind of carrying-box to build.

I’d like to turn your attention to some stuff, for a moment. One of the most common questions I get (and always answer as vaguely as possible) is “When is Volume One going to be reprinted?”

Because about a year ago we ran out of stock, and I was in the middle of working on Volume Three, with a new cover. I wanted to do a new, matching cover for Volume One, so we held off a reprint. And held off, and held off, due to my procrastination on the new cover. I don’t know, I guess I just hate money or something.

Anyway, I finally got around to doing the new cover, and reprinting the books, and they are actually, right now, en route to the store. They’re not alone, either, because the second issue of Analog and D+Pad is coming along for the ride. Right now we’re expecting them to go on sale next week (ish). Very early April, definitely.

The reason I’m bringing your attention to this a week ahead of time, aside from notifying anyone who has been waiting for a Volume One collection to complete their set, is because there are also a batch of limited edition hardcovers with the new cover artwork.

Hardcovers usually sell out very quickly, and are in very limited supply, so I like to give people a heads up when they’re arriving. In the past they haven’t lasted longer than launch day. If you haven’t seen the hardcovers before, they’re essentially the same book, but they have a really nice, shiny, hardcase cover, they say limited edition on them, and they come with a signed and numbered certificate of authenticity. They’re a nice little collector’s item.

We printed 500 hardcovers for Volume One and Volume Two with the old covers, and they were such a huge hit, when it came time to do Volume Three, we printed a thousand of them, so that more people had a chance to get one. I figured since Volume One was getting a new cover, might as well do another batch of hardcovers, to bring the number in line with Volume Three.

Pretty soon we’ll do the same thing with Volume Two, as I’m pretty sure we’re nearly sold out of those now too. Hopefully it won’t take me a year to get around to doing a new cover this time.

So yeah, that’s about it. The books will be on sale next week. As soon as we nail down a date and time, I’ll post it up here. We’ll be offering a couple of specials for the book launch as well. Any order of a Ctrl+Alt+Del collection book will receive a free copy of Analog and D+Pad Issue #1. Also, you’ll be able to grab both issues of the comic book for $5.

Lastly, I’ve decided I love the Team Leader mode in RSV2.