- Ye gods, look what Frank IM-ed to me just now: "Showcasing the vibrant world of game testing, VMC Game Labs launches a new Web comic today that puts games testers in the starring role."

So, this is all about good QA practices, right? Well... "Pixel and Vega, a pair of fictional, futuristic game testers from VMC Game Labs, are transported into a three-part series, VMC Game Labs: Rules of Engagement, which premieres online [.PDF link] this week."

What do you get, then? Well, medieval knights being pursued by Ethernet cables, ridiculously proportioned smokin' game tester babes in cyberpunk outfits, and an almost Liefield-ian sense of attention to detail, complete with some wacky virtual world NPC conversations and evil bug-infested trolls to tickle your fancy in the finale. I'm not sure this would actually make me want to use VMC for TRC testing on my console game, which is one of the things they do - but it certainly makes me want to point at them, and I guess that was the point of this particular insanity?

[UPDATE: Commenter CPinard suggests: "I'd wager that the comic is to recruit, not to get companies to contract with them" - good point, I hadn't thought of that - and then points to an interesting messageboard thread that has attracted kinds of vitriol from workers. Fun!]