deathspank-thongs-of-virtue posts

DeathSpank and DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue got lots of critical acclaim from developer Hothead Games, thanks in part to the guidence of classic game designer Ron Gilbert. However, with Gilbert now gone from Hothead to join Double Fine, it looks like Hothead is going to make a third DeathSpank action-RPG without Gilbert's help.

In a post on Hothead's blog site, the development team used a letter from "DeathSpank" itself to ask its fans what title should be used for the third game in the series. While not an officially announcement it's clear that Hothead is at least thinking about making a new game in the franchise.

Thongs of Virtue is a curious game. Some might think it's a sequel to DeathSpank, but the timing of the release certainly disproves that. If you ask Gilbert or the team at Hothead, they say that it's essentially the second half of the overall DeathSpank game. That's a lot more believable, and in the end, Thongs of Virtue's greatest weakness. It's a big improvement on its predecessor, both in terms of gameplay and in story, but in the end it is held back because it is not a stand-alone title, but rather just the second part of a larger game. We hope more is done with the gameplay and story seen here, since it's definitely a concept worth exploring further.

If you are a Mac gamer and have been waiting for a native Mac port of the two Deathspank fantasy action-RPG titles from developer Hothead Games, your day has come today. Both Deathspank and its immediate sequel, Deathspank: Thongs of Virtue, are now available to download for the Mac platform via Steam. As with all Mac games that have a PC counterpart on Steam, you can purchase the Deathspank titles for the PC for $14.99 each and get the Mac version for free and vise-versa.

But what if you were able to get a copy of the original Deathspank for free? You might be able to if you are picked as one of the 10 winners of Big Download's latest contest. We have 10 Steam codes for the game to give away to some lucky readers. And you might want to head to the Spank This web site where you will have a chance to win some other prizes including an Intel Core i7-970 PC processor .... and also hit chickens. A lot.

How do you win? It's very simple:

• To enter, post a comment on this contest page.
• The comment must be left before 11:59 pm Eastern Time on Thursday, December 16
• You may enter only once.
• 10 winners will be selected in a random drawing.
• The winners will be sent a Steam code to download the first Deathspank game (valued at approximately $14.99)
• Click Here for complete Official Rules. You must be a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec) who is 18 years or older to enter this contest

Our thanks to Intel and Hothead Games for providing the codes for this contest. Good luck to all who enter our latest giveaway.

Wow. We are just one month away from the end of 2010. Still no second manned Jupiter mission. Still no first manned Jupiter mission, actually. American and Russia, you have 31 more days to make our sci-fi dreams come true.

• As promised the PC ports of Super Meat Boy, DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue, and ArmA II: Private Military Company have been released on Steam.
• The PC port of nail'd is also out on Steam with a 10 percent discount for the next week.
• Steam bug updates are available for Zombie Driver, The Polynomial, Gratuitous Space Battles, and Puzzle Agent.
• Next weekend's Video Game Awards will be broadcast live to both US coasts for the first time.
• Want to dance in Fallout New Vegas? This mod makes it happen.

There are quite a few games due to be released this week, especially on the downloadable side, as we near the end of the year. In addition to the games listed below Futuremark plans to release its gaming themed benchmarking software, 3DMark 11, on Monday.

Super Meat Boy: After a successful run on the Xbox 360, the two man team at developer Team Meat brings its challenging (some might say too challenging) platform action game to the PC. This port will not only have some extra characters but will also support the creation of new levels, although the level editor won't be released for a while.

DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue, the second game in developer Hothead Games' humorous action-RPG series is only a few days away from its PC debut. The title will be released via Steam and publisher Electronic Arts on November 30 for $14.99. Mac gamers also have some good news today as both the original game and Thongs of Virtue will be released for Apple's OS on December 14.

Both the PC and Mac ports of Thongs of Virtue will also be getting a couple of exclusive content items not found in the original console release. One is a new co-op character called Sidekick Tankko who is described as "Half-man, half-spider and all awesome." A new area, the Snowy Mountain Dungeon, will also be made available in the PC and Mac ports. You can pre-order the game now on Steam for 10 percent off its normal price.

While PC gamers have had to wait a little longer to get their hands on DeathSpank, that wait will be over very soon. Publisher Electronic Arts and developer Hothead Games will be releasing the PC port of the humor-filled action-RPG game on Steam this week and there are plans to bring the game to the Mac as well in the future.

Big Download got a chance to ask some questions to the CEO of Hothead Games, Vlad Ceraldi, about the PC port of DeathSpank, including how the game was adapted to work on the PC, the influence of the game's originator Ron Gilbert and more.

Two of the main creators behind some of the classic PC adventure games of LucasArts are officially joining forces once again. Kotaku reports that Ron Gilbert has now joined the team at Double Fine, reuniting him with his former LucasArts teammate Tim Schafer. Gilbert previousy worked at Hothead Games and was the main developer behind its two DeathSpank action-RPG titles (which hopefully will be released for the PC and Mac soon as indicated by their ESRB listings).

Double Fine recently decided to switch from creating big retail games to small downloadable game titles. However so far the developer has been silent on any plans to bring these games to the PC or Mac platforms. Gilbert did say his first game for Double Fine will be an original title adding, "Fans of those old adventure games will like it."

DeathSpank is still waiting on PC release, but it's almost definite that it will be released for our favorite platform. Hothead has forged forward, however, and released the second title as we patiently sit and wait on the action-adventure hybrid's PC port. Thongs of Virtue is available on the consoles, and as this trailer shows, have new quests, new weapons, and a new story. It also looks to be more absurd and funny than its predecessor, which is perfectly fine by us.

Even though developer Hothead Games has not officially announced plans to bring its DeathSpank humor-filled action-RPG titles to the PC, it's been widely assumed that the titles would be coming to our platform sooner or later. This week the second game in the series, DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue was released via download for the Xbox 360 and PS3 but there's an indication that the title is also coming to both the PC and Mac.

The ESRB web site has gone ahead and rated the game for the PC and Mac in addition to the console ports. They did the same for the first DeathSpank game earlier this year. We have emailed Hothead Games to see if we can get more info on its plans, if any, for the PC and Mac ports for the game.