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Ben There, Dan That! gets a special edition
Size Five Games, formerly Zombie Cow, has announced a new special edition of Ben There, Dan That. The charming point-and-click adventure has been revamped with graphical enhancements, a new soundtrack (by which we mean there is a soundtrack now) and lots of bonuses. Bonus materials include an eBook, Lowering the Tone, which discusses the story behind the creation of Ben There, Dan That. A video story book is also included, "explaining the backstory as to exactly how Dan wound up dead in a jungle tied to a length of twine in the first place." Purchasers will also receive music cut from the original game, printable posters, some unheard audio and Ben and Dan ringtones. The Ben There, Dan That! special edition is available now at a "pay what you want" price, with a $3.25 minimum. Size Five is also hoping to offer a special edition update to those who already purchased the game on Steam "as soon as possible."
Ben There, Dan That and Time Gentlemen, Please! for $1.25 on Steam today
For less than the cost of one soda from a hotel vending machine, you could have two excellent, funny adventure games right now. Steam's Daily Deal is a bundle containing Ben There, Dan That and Time Gentlemen, Please! by developer Zombie Cow (now Size Five Games), for just $1.25, a savings of 75% over the already minuscule regular price of $5. That $1.25 gets you time travel, space travel, and travel into some places we'd rather not mention. We'd definitely recommend the experience over that soda, unless you're really thirsty.
Zombie Cow becomes Size Five Games
Let's face it: Zombies have become oppressively mainstream during these past few years. Let's also face the fact that cows have equally over-saturated civilization ever since somebody figured out that the milk they produce tastes totally awesome. We assume that these two undeniable truths are the major reasons behind Ben There, Dan That and Privates developer Zombie Cow's recent decision to change its name to the much less predictable Size Five Games. "I've always hated the name Zombie Cow," founder Dan Marshall explained in a blog post. "You only get one life, and there's no point going through it unhappy with something if it's well within your capability to change it," he added. "So I'm changing it." That's ... that's inspiring. So inspiring, in fact, that it's leading us to our very own name change. That's right -- we're rebranding ourselves as "Joystick." We've been too proud for years now to admit that we spelled it wrong, but we just can't hide behind the lie anymore.
Zombie Cow cancels Revenge of the Balloon-Headed Mexican
Pour yourself a hot cup of cocoa, grab a box of tissues and sit down in your favorite comfy-chair: We've got sad news. Zombie Cow, the indie studio who brought you Ben There, Dan That and Time Gentlemen, Please!, has decided to cancel its foray into more episodic-friendly adventure gaming, Revenge of the Balloon-Headed Mexican. We understand why Zombie Cow made the decision -- a missive on the developers' site explains that the creators felt they "were going over old, worn ground" -- and we respect their choice: But, hey, here's an alternate, less mature plan we just cooked up: ... Don't? Please? For us? [Thanks, CoinCollector]
Zombie Cow's Privates to receive extension in 2011
Zombie Cow's educational, dirty-minded twin-stick shooter, Privates, will see its rich, lore-filled universe expanded sometime next year with a free DLC expansion. Cow's Dan Marshall explained on the developer's blog, "we've decided to go all-out and make a whole new adventure, this time set inside a gentleman's bits," which may be the first and only time you'll ever hear a video game creator make that claim when referring to one of his studio's projects. Soak in this moment. Really soak it in. Of course, the expansion won't just add the novelty of its new, phallic setting -- it will also "cram in new gameplay mechanics, new enemy types, new locations, and a new player character." Keep an eye out for the add-on sometime around Easter next year. But hopefully not on Easter, because we can't imagine anything more alarming to find in our baskets than a big pile of STDs.
Privates deemed too sexy for Xbox Indie Games
In a not-so-stunning turn of events, it seems that the battle to release Zombie Cow's genitalia-based shooter Privates on Xbox Live Indie Games has been lost. Zombie Cow announced as much this morning, saying, "The guys at Xbox have been amazing. They've been really helpful and supportive throughout, but ultimately have advised that the game wouldn't pass the Indie Games Peer Review process." Given the previous warnings saying as much, Zombie Cow wasn't exactly blindsided by this news. "It's a shame, but it's something we'd always pretty much assumed would happen," says ZC's Dan Marshall. He also assured fans that, since releasing the game on PC, the studio has been "improving it and getting it running on as many different systems as possible" as to fix various bugs. For its part, Microsoft told Joystiq, "This game has not been approved for distribution on Xbox LIVE Indie Games. We have guidelines in place that closely track requirements of content ratings boards worldwide and, among other things, prohibit the publication of strong sexual content."
Zombie Cow Studios' Privates exposed on the internet
Privates, the latest opus from British indie devs Zombie Cow Studios, creators of such irreverent adventure games as Ben There, Dan That and Time Gentlemen, Please is now available to download for free through the television station which commissioned the game, Channel 4. We've been playing it for a half hour or so, and can confidently say it's the best comedic, educational run-and-gun shooter set inside of a human vagina that we've ever played. In all honesty, Privates is actually a fun little game with clever touches to make it a legitimate tool for teaching teens about sex -- for instance, you have to scan enemies (HPV, herpes, sperm, etc.) to learn more about them, informing you and the rest of your squad about their real-life symptoms and in-game weaknesses. It's fun, enlightening, chock-full of humorous dialogue, and, yes, it also contains a level titled "Campaign in the Arse." [Update: Hey gang, if you've had problems running Privates, there's a big update available now. If you're still having problems, you can submit a bug report and get a free copy of every Zombie Cow game. Not too shabby!]
Privates trailer features bums, hoohahs, weewees, etc.
So ... Privates is a game about tiny marines invading the human body. More specifically, it's about invading the private parts of the human body. We've seen screens before, but now you can see it in motion thanks to the magic of video. Suffice it to say that the game, much like anatomy itself, looks kind of gross and silly. Frankly, we can see why it might have trouble passing peer review on Xbox Live Indie Games. At least the PC version is still comin... er ... will still be released.
Privates may have trouble passing Xbox Live peer review process
Though we're deeply fascinated with the concept for Zombie Cow's next quirky project, the genital-exploring twin-stick shooter Privates, we hadn't considered the hurdles this type of mature innovation might face. Seattle PI recently posited the question of whether the game would even be allowed to launch on Xbox Live Indie Games, to which a Microsoft representative replied, "we can confirm that if it is consistent with the description we have seen on the Internet, this game would not pass peer review and would not be permitted to be distributed on Xbox Live." Zombie Cow co-founder Dan Marshall (of Ben There, Dan That fame) told Seattle PI, "There was always going to be a risk it won't pass Peer Review, but obviously we'll do whatever we can to get the Xbox version out," later adding, "it'd be a shame if a huge number of teenagers missed out on some quality gaming and vital education because of some abstract, cellular-level innards and pubic hairs." Even if the game's educational nature doesn't win over the Xbox Live peer review process, the game will get a free PC release courtesy of UK's Channel 4. [Via Kotaku]
Zombie Cow Studios' new game Privates is already inside you
You may have heard by now that we're big fans of Zombie Cow, the studio behind the point-and-click genius of Ben There, Dan That and Time Gentlemen, Please. And by "big fans" we mean we love it so much it makes our hearts hurt a little bit. So imagine the squeals of pure childlike delight echoing from Joystiq's penthouse HQ when we saw that Zombie Cow's new game Privates, funded by the UK's Channel 4, had finally been unveiled. Straying from the adventure gaming of the Dan and Ben games, Privates is a twin-stick shooter/platformer that -- and we're quoting here -- follows "a teeny-tiny gang of condom-hatted marines as they delve into peoples' vaginas and bottoms and blast away at all manner of oozy, shouty monsters." What's more, Zombie Cow's Dan Marshall hints this journey into the body may even be slightly educational. You'll be able to find out for yourself when the game arrives for free on PC this summer and on the Xbox 360 at an unspecified time and price point. %Gallery-92757%
The Joystiq Indie Pitch: Zombie Cow Studios
Being a giant, beloved video game blog has its downsides. For example, we sometimes neglect to give independent developers our coverage love (or loverage, if you will) as we get caught up in AAA, AAAA or the rare quintuple-A titles. To remedy that, we're giving indies the chance to create their own loverage and sell you, the fans, on their studios and products. To kick things off we're, unsurprisingly, turning to one of our favorite indie developers: Dan Marshall of Zombie Cow Studios. How did you get started? I started my career working in TV, and making games was my naughty little hobby on the side -- a way of expressing my creativity when my 9-to-5 was making terrible reality shows. When Time Gentlemen, Please! started to get great reviews, I took a good long look at TV and where it was likely to go over the next 30 years (with the death of the traditional broadcaster, and people on YouTube being exponentially more entertaining than most of the grot I'd been involved in) and took a good long look at where gaming's going ... and it's a pretty easy decision to leap from boat-to-boat.
Gentlemen, please note that Time Gentlemen, Please is now half-off
The adventure game genre has begun to rally back into the hearts and minds of all gamerkind, largely on the backs of re-released LucasArts classics and high-minded, hand-drawn indie darlings. But let us not forget about the role played by Zombie Cow's Ben There, Dan That and its successor, Time Gentlemen, Please -- both of which reminded us that adventure games, above all else, should be irreverent and, when that fails, should be just plain incoherent. If you skipped out on the latter game due to that completely prohibitive £2.99 (about $5) price tag, you've got a chance to redeem yourself. Speaking to Eurogamer, a Zombie Cow representative confirmed that the price of Time Gentlemen, Please has been cut down to £1.49 (call it $2.50) in an effort to make the wait for Modern Warfare 2 a bit more bearable. "So it's a humanitarian thing, really," the spokesperson explained. Just visit Zombie Cow's site, enter in the code: MW2AAAAGES, and watch the price tumble.
Zombie Cow's Marshall: All journos should have to make a game
Zombie Cow's Dan Marshall has always walked in two worlds, writing editorials and reviews for PCZone as he programmed his first game, Gibbage. As he (and partner Ben Ward) went on to create adventure games like Ben There, Dan That, he found the experience extremely helpful. So helpful, he told Gamasutra, that he thinks every journalist should have the same experience. "As a developer I think you're slightly more understanding of the process involved, but as a gamer you know whether or not you're having a good time," Marshall said. "I think all games journos should be forced to make a game somehow, see how they get on. It gives you a more rounded perspective." Luckily, we've got Marshall's request covered.
Dan and Ben return for 'Revenge of the Balloon-Headed Mexican'
In the parlance of its stars, we've got some absolutely brillo news for you today. Zombie Cow Studios has just announced the first of the episodic Dan and Ben games (a follow-up to the delightful adventures Ben There, Dan That and Time Gentlemen, Please): Revenge of the Balloon-Headed Mexican. ZCS's Dan Marshall says that these new episodes (which will be around the length of an actual television program) will allow Dan and Ben to split up and will be less "overtly parodic" than previous undertakings. Also, according to Marshall's Twitter feed, the company's found a worse puzzle than the one from TGP involving Hitler's bloody stool. So ... there's that.
Steam offers Ben There, Dan That and Time Gentlemen, Please! bundle
Frequent listeners to the Joystiq Podcast know that we have nothing but love for Ben There, Dan That and Time Gentlemen, Please!. Heck, we dig the games so much, we even managed to group some words together on them for our website here. Long story short: They're great games, and if you haven't checked them out yet, consider this post the shot in the arm you desperately need. Now, if you're a Steam user, know the two games are available in one bundle for the low price of $4.99 (the same as the official site). Can we expect Ben and Dan's episodic adventures to continue on Steam, as well? Probably.
Zombie Cow to make episodic Dan and Ben games
Well, this is the perfect way to start a Tuesday morning. Zombie Cow Studios, the guys behind the brilliant Ben There, Dan That and Time Gentlemen, Please have told Rock, Paper, Shotgun that they're working on new, episodic adventures for Dan and Ben, prompted in part by the game's ridiculously good critical reception.Chunks of the new series will be short -- hovering around an hour -- and self-contained, so newcomers can hop on at any point. Well, "newcomers" is Zombie Cow's Dan Marshall's language. We prefer to call people who haven't played Ben There, Dan That "bad people."
Review: Time Gentlemen, Please!
I have a tough confession to make, so try not to judge me. Most adventure games that are supposed to be funny ... they don't really make me laugh. I mean, I get that they're amusing, which, combined with the joy of solving the occasional clever puzzle, is enough to keep me playing. There's humor in them, but I always just sort of "get it," instead of it getting me. Time Gentlemen, Please! gets me. In fact, it slays me. The new PC adventure game from Zombie Cow Studios has not only some really brain-wrenching puzzles but humor that feels as sharp and inventive as I'm sure LucasArts classics felt back in the day.
Zombie Cow adventure sequel 'Time Gentlemen, Please!' now available
We're not sure if you know this about us, but we're in the mood to do a little sharing this morning: We love Zombie Cow's hilarious PC graphic adventure, Ben There, Dan That, to a degree we're not entirely comfortable with. You can imagine then our delight as we pass along that a sequel, Time Gentlemen, Please!, is now available.At £2.99/ around $5, TG,P! is slightly less free than its predecessor, but if you played the first one, you know it's but a pittance for the lolz we're sure are contained within. If you're a fan of adventure games at all, especially those in the LucasArts style, just get it. Even if you've stopped believing us after we recommended Imagine: CPAs, we're sure some commenters will back us up on this one.
The Joystiq Free Game Club: Ben There, Dan That
We know that we normally wait until Monday to bring you fresh Free Game Club offerings, but, to be honest, we couldn't go another day without bringing this gem to your attention. If you have any place in your heart for adventure games (especially those of the LucasArts variety), then you must, must play Ben There, Dan That, a hilarious love letter to adventure games of yore.As best friends Ben and Dan, you'll be abducted by aliens, fall out of a cow's rectum and become a pan-dimensional murderer, all in an effort to return to their depressingly ramshackle apartment. The graphics are decidedly low-fi and the walking animations are comically terrible, but the presentation belies some preciously goofy puzzles and genuinely hilarious writing.We weren't at all familiar with developer Zombie Cow before we sat down with the game, and now we can't wait to see what they do next. What do you think?
