hothead posts

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.

Hothead Games, the folks behind the Penny Arcade Adventures titles and more recently Deathspank, are already working on its next game project. The problem is that the collective minds there can't come up with a decent name and want the general public to do the heavy lifting and give Hothead some suggestions.

You can see a screenshot of the game above. It' some kind of fantasy themed card game but instead of mere humans the folks playing the game are supposed to be wizards. You can give your suggestion for a title by posting on Hothead's comment page. The person who has his or her title picked to become the official name of Hothead's next game will get a nice credit mention. No money or prizes involved but hey, you take what you can get.

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."

This month is the 30th anniversary of the release of perhaps the best of the six Star Wars movies, The Empire Strikes Back. So it's perhaps not a coincidence that the newest planet reveal for the upcoming MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic is set on one of that film's major locations, the ice world of Hoth.

Yes, players in BioWare's upcoming game will be able to explore Hoth in a time period thousands of years before the Rebellion fights the Empire's AT-AT units. According to the game's official web site, the Hoth system was also the location of a massive space battle between Republic and Imperial forces and as a result the planet has become a starship graveyard. In the game's current timeline the planet is now filled with technology that both Republic and Empire forces want to claim for themselves.

Hothead Games and the team at Penny Arcade have been hard at work to continue the adventures of Gabe, Tycho and you -- as a rake-wielding revenge seeker. Today, the digital download site Play Greenhouse has confirmed the upcoming second episode will be released at $14.95. Penny Arcade: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness: Episode One was released at $19.95, which drew criticism with some gamers, and was widely considered a success.

Touting a continuing storyline for an "Episode One or new character," deeper customization, and multiple difficulty settings, the upcoming role-playing game is quickly becoming one of the most anticipated downloadable titles of the year. Slash $5 off the price off the sequel to a game we enjoyed and give us promise us more content? Yes please. It looks like Hothead is pulling out all the stops to ensure Episode Two makes an even bigger splash when it releases.

Gamasutra sister publication Game Developer magazine contains an in-depth look at the making of Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, the new episodic series from the minds behind the recurring Penny Arcade web comic.

Hothead COO Joel DeYoung wrote the postmortem, which is a fascinating examination of many game development aspects. The piece opens with DeYoung writing that seeing a half-finished Penny Arcade Adventures was quite shocking for Mike 'Gabe' Krahulik and Jerry 'Tycho' Holkins. As a developer, DeYoung was quite used to seeing game assets in a non-complete state; but for the popular comic creators, "it was much more of a shock to see their characters and world in a half-finished state.

Gamasutra hosts an overview of the article, which is recommended for anyone interest in game design.

Longtime fans of the Penny Arcade webcomic most likely already know what I'm about to say here. You probably know that On The Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness: Episode One is an adventure-RPG set in the steampunk/gothic horror world of New Arcadia where similar-yet-different versions of Gabe and Tycho run their own paranormal investigation firm -- of sorts. But did you know that in this game you'll get to battle robotic juicing machines that copulate with fruits, men, women and sometimes small animals? Oh, you did. Well fine, but don't say we didn't warn you when their little metal protrusions puncture your tibia.

For those of you who don't know every little detail about the game, let us make you au courant on the subject of OTRSPoD:EO. Yes, we just went acronymical on your ass.

Undoubtedly some of our readers are enjoying the first episode of Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness. For those of you still on the fence of checking out the RPG adventure from Hothead Games we've provided some new media released today in honor of the title's release.

Starring Penny Arcade duo Gabe and Tycho, the team attempts to solve mysteries at the Startling Discoveries detective agency that kick starts with a giant robot attack. What's not to like? The full game can be purchased at the Greenhouse web site for $19.95.

The Penny Arcade Adventures: Episode One release trailer is available after the jump and can also be downloaded in its high-res glory from Big Download today!

Download the PC demo of Penny Arcade Adventures Episode One at Big Download now.

Download the Mac demo of Penny Arcade Adventures Episode One at Big Download now.

Download the Linux demo of Penny Arcade Adventures Episode One at Big Download now.