hothead
Latest
Penny Arcade Adventures Ep. 1 dated, priced for PSN
It's been a long(ish) wait for PlayStation 3 owners, but the first episode of Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness is finally landing on the North American PlayStation Network this Thursday, October 23rd. Other regions will follow "shortly thereafter," notes the press release.In addition to gaining Trophies, custom soundtrack support and a score ranking feature, PS3 gamers will receive a "thanks for waiting" discount in the game's lower, $15 price. The Mac, PC and Linux versions on Greenhouse have also dropped to $15 -- good news for Penny Arcade fans and people who don't write for Edge.
PAX 2008: Penny Arcade Adventures producer gushes about Episode 2
Last week during PAX 2008, we sat down with Hothead COO and Penny Arcade Adventures Producer Joel DeYoung as he guided us through Episode 2 and improvements to the engine. The gist of it is: if you liked Episode 1, you'll like Episode 2 that much more. Here's the rundown from our talks: Highlighting points of interest has been made easier! "If you have your proximity putting you close enough to 2 or 3 things, you can slide through that with bumpers," said DeYoung. There are now difficulty levels, including an Insane Mode (unlockable only after beating the game). Special collectibles and pickups are only available if you play Insane Mode. Comparatively, Episode 1's difficulty is "a little easier" than medium. All the weapons have been replaced. Tycho gets a shotgun, Gabe has new fist upgrades and your player now possesses -- wait for it -- a hoe! Also changed are the special attack minigames. You now have, among other new items, a revive potion. Healing won't be enough to bring your troops back to life. "Just adds a little bit of depth to it," said DeYoung. The real-time reaction for defense has been made more obvious (e.g. "Block!" now appears when you need to push block), but nothing analogous for attacking has been added. More after the break.%Gallery-30963%
Bloody new DeathSpank trailers, details from PAX 2008
While Hothead is busy pimping its upcoming Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness: Episode 2, let's not forget about its other, simpler-titled project DeathSpank. The company has released three new teaser trailers for the snarky title ("Fight" is shown above), built from the ground up with Joystiq's own Ludwig Kietzmann in mind as the target demographic. During last weekend's Penny Arcade Expo, Hothead COO Joel DeYoung said he considered the game a "more Diablo-esque" episodic action RPG with ample amounts of creator Ron Gilbert's humor, "lampooning video game space and the idea of the video game hero that takes himself too seriously." The game is not using PAA's Torque engine. More information about DeathSpank should be coming "soon," he said. After the break, check out the "Item" and "Armor" trailer. (Spoiler: Two of these three videos use the phrase "Thong of Justice.")
First Penny Arcade Episode 2 screens
Given that PAX is organized by the creators of Penny Arcade (it's right there in the title, really), it's pretty much the perfect venue to release the first screenshots of Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness: Episode Two. For the sake of brevity, let's just call it Penny Arcade Adventures Episode 2, mkay? This first batch of screenshots hints at some of the story in Episode 2, namely the sanitarium that's featured briefly in the introduction of Episode 1. Also featured are shots of the game's combat. Sadly, it looks like the game's protagonist (i.e. "You") will not be ditching his or her trusty rake, as we spotted a special attack entitled "A License to Till." Check out all the new screens in the gallery below.[Via Joystiq]%Gallery-31010%
New, fruit-tacular Penny Arcade Adventures Episode 2 screens
With PAX 2008 bringing out oodles of Penny Arcade love, why not use this opportunity to pimp the upcoming PA Adventures Episode 2? In addition to chatting with COO Joel DeYoung (that aftermath of which will be published early this week), Hothead Games sent us more than a dozen new screenshots, including a few that are just for us (we feel touched by that, although on that note we wonder if some of them are creepy subliminal messages to us). PAA:OTRSPoD Episode 2 is due out later this year. %Gallery-30963%
Penny Arcade Adventures due on PSN this Winter (with Trophies!)
Oh, how you yearned for their unrestrained chuckles -- their sparkling smiles -- to be transformed into naught but a cacophony of wailing and ceaseless misery. What gave them the right? Was it their fancy PCs, Macs and Xbox 360s? Did they so enjoy coasting down The Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness on their technological toboggans that they couldn't even cast a single glance towards you, sitting atop a lonely and immobile PlayStation 3? Well, when the snow falls again this Winter, revenge will be yours.Also, Trophies! Posting on the official PlayStation Blog (they let anybody on there these days), Hothead producer Joel DeYoung confirmed that the first episode of Penny Arcade Adventures would arrive on PSN before the end of the year, complete with Trophy support and 1080p resolution. "Looking back, I think it's a shame that we weren't able to release the PS3 version closer to the initial launch of the game," he said.With the game's engine now up and running on the hardware, DeYoung expects that future episodes will arrive on Sony's platform in a more timely fashion. No more being left out in the cold, our monolithic friend.%Gallery-28425%
X3F TV -- XBLA in Brief: Penny Arcade Adventures
For this week's XBLA in Brief, we welcome the arrival of (ahem) Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness: Episode One. The first in a series of four episodes, Penny Arcade Adventures presents the very first episodic game to grace Microsoft's download service. The question that remains is whether or not it's any good. After our experience with the trial version, we'd say that it is (so long as you like Penny Arcade, role-playing games, adventure games or, even better, all three). Check out the video to find out if On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness is for you.[iTunes] Subscribe to X3F TV directly in iTunes.[Zune] Subscribe to the X3F TV directly (Zune Marketplace link coming soon).[RSS] Add the X3F TV feed to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically.[M4V] Download the M4V directly.
Penny Arcade Adventures: Episode One is gold, due out 'later this quarter' for $20
Developer Hothead Game just announced that Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness: Episode One has gone gold for Windows, Mac and Linux. The press release is a good reminder that right now, somewhere in the world, someone is playing the full version of the game and you're not. There, there, we know, it'll get better over time, promise ... okay, you're gonna need to stop making that whimpering noise, it's starting to get people's attention and it's embarrassing to both yourself and to us. PAA:OtRSPoD:E1 is due out "later this quarter" via their new Greenhouse download service for $20. The game is also coming to Xbox Live, potentially in another quarter, for 1600 MS points (US $20). In the meantime, enjoy some new wallpapers.%Gallery-1545%
Penny Arcade announces 'Greenhouse' online game store
Penny Arcade and Hothead Games -- the developer behind On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness -- have just announced a joint partnership to launch Greenhouse, a brand new online game store, focused on digital distribution for independent games.Not to be mistaken for a downloadable client application (like GameTap and Steam), Greenhouse is simply a website for digital distribution, putting it in direct competition with fellow indie game portal Manifesto Games. The site, which is currently in beta, will initially be the exclusive download source for Precipice, offering the PC, Mac, and Linux versions. Later, more Hothead Games will be distributed via the service, along with other indie offerings.While the digital distribution market is getting a bit saturated as of late, let's hope Greenhouse's platform-agnostic approach to publishing keeps the service on our radar.
Penny Arcade XBLA game priced at $20
The XBLA game with the overly long title of Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness: Episode One finally got some real details. Hothead games, the developer, released the game's final price, $19.99 (1600 MSpts). It remains to be see how the game will sell with a relatively high (for an XBLA game) price. It also remains to be seen what form of episodic game Penny Arcade Adventures will end up being. With a price of twenty dollars it seems more likely to be Half Life 2 style episodes (which debuted at the same price). The only other real episodic gaming example that would apply would be the Sam and Max episodes. Those however are $8.95 and have a monthly release cycle. What path PAA takes remains to be seen, but if it does end up following the Half Life 2 model, expect at least a trilogy of games with an overarching story across them all.Via Joystiq
Penny Arcade Adventures priced at $20, specs released
Hothead Games today punched its rambling epic, Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness: Episode One (phew!), with a $19.95 price tag. That's just over 30 cents a letter (colons not included), assuming cost is derived, as it is for all episodic games, by the title's length. Currently, that price applies to all versions of the game, which include PC, Mac, Linux and Xbox Live Arcade editions. 1600 Microsoft Points ($20) would be new territory for digital distribution on Xbox 360, but clearly, Hothead and its two stars have made it a point to be living on the edge.PC, Mac and Linux specs are posted after the break.%Gallery-1545%
Joystiq interviews DeathSpank's Ron Gilbert
Described as "the perfect melding of a Monkey Island style adventure game with the wicked RPG gameplay of Diablo," Ron Gilbert's episodic endeavor also formed part of our recent GDC interview with Hothead Games. Though the Orphans of Justice still have quite a bit of growing up to do, we quickly quizzed designer Ron about Deathspank's upcoming lampooning of adventure game heroes, as well as the series' inevitable downward spiral in quality after the, uh, 600,000th episode.
Joystiq interview: Penny Arcade Adventures
It's fair to say that quite a lot is expected from Vancouver-based developer, Hothead Games. The group not only has to deliver a series of downloadable and episodic adventure RPGs in regular intervals, but also appease a fanbase so large and rabid that it can click your website to death -- accidentally, if you're lucky. On top of all that, the poor developers are occasionally dragged into a tiny room for the sole purpose of being poked by a plethora of questions regarding their upcoming games.Penny Arcade Adventures producer, Joel DeYoung, and Hothead creative director, Ron Gilbert, had to endure just such a prodding during GDC, the results of which can be viewed after the break. Appropriately enough, our interview's almost as long as the title of the series: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness.%Gallery-1545%
GDC Quest Quiz I: Ron Gilbert
We did a terrible thing at last week's Game Developer's Conference. Aside from our usual barrage of photographs and "reporting," a select group of attendees had to endure a particularly inane and utterly pointless line of questioning -- just for laughs. This is what happens when you hunt down several adventure game connoisseurs and challenge them to solve a typically obnoxious adventure game puzzle. The Player Ron Gilbert, designer of The Secret of Monkey Island (amongst other LucasArts adventures), consultant on Penny Arcade Adventures and designer of Hothead's upcoming episodic series, Deathspank. The Puzzle You're standing in front of a cave. The goal is to get inside the cave, taking care to foil the ferocious robot bear guarding the entrance first. The Inventory (1) perforated parasol (1) rubber chicken with a pulley in the middle (1) sealed manila envelope (1) miniature macaroni Tim Schafer statue Find Ron Gilbert's surprisingly direct solution after the break.
GDC08: Penny Arcade dev aims for episode every 4 months
As the folks at Telltale Games are sure to tell you, one of the tricks to successful episodic gaming is releasing content on a regular basis. Vancouver-based Hothead Games appears to be in agreement, with Penny Arcade Adventures producer, Joel DeYoung, telling us of the developer's tentative goal to release a new episode every four months. "Yeah, definitely there's a fixed release schedule. It's tentative right now, but we're talking about one every four months," DeYoung explained in a GDC interview. "[It's tentative] because, you know, this is a new model for us, and it is quite tricky with all the project management scheduling and making sure we're officially overlapping the work on all the episodes." With some work on Episode Three already underway, we can expect to be tumbling down the precipice of darkness for at least eight months. Look for the full interview to be published on Joystiq later this week.
Hothead Games to publish Ron Gilbert's 'DeathSpank'
Described as -- and you'll want to sit down for this -- "the perfect melding of a Monkey Island style adventure game with the wicked RPG game play of Diablo," Ron Gilbert's latest creation has been revealed to be an episodic title dubbed "DeathSpank: Episode 1: Orphans of Justice." The adventure legend has joined Vancouver-based Hothead Games as Creative Director, noting that he's spent over four years searching for "the right publisher for this strange little game." He went on to quip, "Now that I've done it, you just know that somewhere four horsemen are saddling up." Followers of Gilbert's grumpy ramblings may remember DeathSpank as a satirical game character mentioned in a series of Flash comics, created with the aid of Clayton Kauzlaric and offered on Gilbert's personal blog. They'll also recall that Gilbert is currently providing his expertise and surly demeanor to Penny Arcade's episodic endeavor, On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness. Expect to hear more on both titles... soonish.
PAX 07: Penny Arcade adventures to XBLA
We're a little late in getting to it, but we would be remiss in our fanboy duties if we didn't report that Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness is officially heading to Xbox Live Arcade. As Rain-Slick is an episodic affair, its arrival on XBLA is a fairly momentous occasion. Episodic gaming is a term that has been bandied around for a while now, so we're hopeful that the game will deliver on the promise of cheap, easily digestible gaming. Penny Arcade Adventures is scheduled to debut on XBLA in early 2008 alongside the PC, OS X, and Linux versions. More information about Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness can be found on the official site.[Via Joystiq]
PAX 07: The licensed games panel
There's nothing more indicative of gamer culture than the fact that a bunch of us got together at a fan event, with games to be played right over in the exhibition hall, to talk about business. We can't help it! We love sales numbers and such.Vlad Ceraldi and Steve Bocska from Hothead, Steve Bowler from Midway, and David Freeman from Sabertooth Games held a panel to talk about licensed games yesterday at PAX. All of these individuals have unique qualifications to talk about the subject: the two Hothead representatives, in addition to working on Penny Arcade Adventures now, previously worked on last generation's Simpsons games. Bowler worked on NBA Ballers and is now on John Woo Presents Stranglehold, and Freeman juggles licenses in his work with Sabertooth's Universal Fighting System card game.
PAX 07: Our very own Penny Arcade Adventures trailer
It's Interactive Day for Joystiq's PAX coverage! First we got to assist in the creation of a Sam & Max scene, and now we made a dude in the Penny Arcade game trailer bald! The Hothead booth at PAX had a demo of the character creation system in On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness. After we finished our character editing, the demo presented a video from the game with our character in the lead role. It then offered to email us the video, which means we get to share it with all of you! Enjoy the video, starring a guy who looks not that much like any of us!
PAX 07: Penny Arcade Adventures coming to XBLA
At the Penny Arcade game panel today at PAX, they've just confirmed that Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness – the first installment of their episodic series – will "debut" on Xbox Live Arcade in 2008. That's in addition to the already announced PC, Mac OS X, and Linux platforms. It's unclear if the game is console exclusive to the XBLA platform or if other console ports are in the works. This is the first digitally distributed episodic title to be announced for a home console download service. Telltale is working on Xbox 360 and Wii ports of Sam & Max, but it's unclear if the title will be distributed as a full season retail product or as individual releases through Xbox Live Arcade and Wii Ware respectively. You can check out the game's recently launched site here. %Gallery-1545%
