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Penny-Arcade Videogame Announced

Posted by Zonk on Fri Aug 25, 2006 12:56 PM
from the free-radioactive-scorpion-with-every-box dept.
MaryAlan writes "Penny-Arcade has announced that they're going to be making a game, partnering with Hothead games to create titles featuring the characters of the comic. The games will be released in episodes several times a year, digitally downloaded, and will play on Windows, OS X, and Linux, with an eye on consoles somewhere down the road. The first game is to be called Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness. There's also talk of the possibility they'll be released on Steam." From the Kotaku article: "'We're really excited to be working with Hothead Games on our first electronic adventure,' said writer Jerry 'Tycho' Holkins. 'From the moment we laid eyes on them, it was clear they had the technical and creative chops to execute our grim vision. Now that we have pooled our strengths, our dark work may truly begin.'" Yay! Dark works!
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[+] PAX 2006 Recap 28 comments
Above and beyond the announcement of their videogame last Friday, PAX apparently passed pleasantly for the PA fans who made it to Bellvue, WA this past weekend. Various news organs have a look at what transpired. eToyChest has a journal of each day, with firsthand accounts and lots of pictures. Gamasutra covers the Penny Arcade Scholarship announced at the event; $10k towards an education to get yourself into the games industry. Kotaku was there to liveblog the keynote, while Joystiq covers the making a comic panel. For wrap-up, we have an IGN report, and the ever exhaustive 1up minisite for everything you'd want to know.
[+] Penny Arcade Holiday Strip Series #1 308 comments
While normally we don't do this sort of thing, recent charity work with Child's Play has substantially increased the bandwidth demands over at Penny Arcade. To assist Gabe & Tycho, and keep their site running slightly faster than a snails-pace, we're co-hosting their seasonal holiday strip series "The Last Christmas". The cover and the first page are attached to this story (future pages in coming days), so read on and enjoy until we hit our bandwidth limits! (Warning: Comic may contain Cthulhu)
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  • Wait, no. No, get it away. Ahhh, stop that! Can't get image out of my head. Must drill brain out!
    • They'd better put that in there somewhere...
      • I mean, I know that this is /. but seriously, it's right near the start there (and this isn't some crappy corporate page that's annoying to have to browse through even).

        The episodic game, which will feature many fan favorites from the Penny Arcade universe (including the Fruit Fucker), will be delivered in monthly installments.
  • At last! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Golias (176380) on Friday August 25 2006, @01:00PM (#15979999)
    There will finally be a new game release which Gabe and Tycho won't bitch about.
    • Re:At last! (Score:5, Funny)

      by legoburner (702695) on Friday August 25 2006, @01:01PM (#15980015) Homepage Journal
      I wouldn't bet on that.
      • Re:At last! (Score:4, Informative)

        by zenhkim (962487) on Friday August 25 2006, @05:48PM (#15982430) Journal
        >> [Golias] There will finally be a new game release which Gabe and Tycho won't bitch about.
        >
        > I wouldn't bet on that.

        Me neither. :) You could say that Penny Arcade wouldn't be Penny Arcade if Gabe and Tycho weren't bitching about *something* regarding their games. I can imagine them testplaying the first release of Penny Arcade: The Game -- "Dude, I do *not* look like that! And what's with giving me that silly walk??" "What the fuck?! No Cardboard Tube Samurai?? How can they NOT fucking give me the option of turning into Cardboard Tube Samurai?!? FUCK!! Fuck, fucking fucked-up fuck fucker... FUUUCK!!!!!!!"

        Even the incredibly unique PS2 title "Ico" didn't escape criticism: the first time Gabe tried the game, he apparently tripped so heavily on the beautiful graphics that he froze into a smiling statue on the couch; later on we see Gabe driven up the wall by Yorda's inability to understand that WANDERING OFF GETS HER IN TROUBLE -- that and her attempts to communicate in a language unknown to anyone. ("Yeah, yeah, whatever. I don't speak 'crazy bitch'!")
    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      > There will finally be a new game release which Gabe and Tycho won't bitch about.

      As they are fond of reminding their readers, they tend to not make comics about the games that they play that they like, because (to quote Tycho) "the muse is reticent." In other words, just because their comics are often critical doesn't mean that they hate all games.
    • There will finally be a new game release which Gabe and Tycho won't bitch about.

      Surely you're joking ....
  • I can't wait for the Cardboard Tube Samurai episode. I think PA is hillarious, and I hope this joint venture will be as good as they think it will. I have faith but there's always the chance for failure. I guess we wait for the next couple years and see.
    • I doubt there will be a Strawberry Shortcake episode. If there was, I'm sure Jack Thompson's head would explode.
    • Re:Woot, CTS! (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Jim Hall (2985) on Friday August 25 2006, @01:36PM (#15980295) Homepage

      I've actually been holding out for a professionally-produced game based on the cardboard-tube Samurai. I emailed Tycho about it one day: Cardboard Tube Samurai Wii! For me, it's the killer game that would convince me to buy the Wii. Imagine: using the wiimote to deliver smackdowns against enemy samurai and ninjas. And pig sidekick mini-missions. :-)

      Sure, Gabe & Tycho would have to sell out to make this game. But only a tiny bit. And I hear that part of your soul grows back after a while.

      -jh

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      Forget all that... I want Catsby and Twisp! That would be one crazy fun game.
  • Do you think they would give their own game a scathing review if it sucks? :)
  • Can't wait to play Frank, the EB Games store clerk [penny-arcade.com] and his lovely assistant, Mabel. It's time to clean up the mall!
  • by Weird Dave (224717) on Friday August 25 2006, @01:05PM (#15980053) Homepage
    I want a level where you have to punch a baby [penny-arcade.com].
  • OK (Score:5, Funny)

    by giorgiofr (887762) on Friday August 25 2006, @01:06PM (#15980058)
    I'll buy it but ONLY if this speech is in the intro http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/04/10 [penny-arcade.com].
  • by Churla (936633) on Friday August 25 2006, @01:09PM (#15980081)
    They just had a story arc which screams for a cheap shoot-em-up.

    I do agree that unlocking the FF2000 character should be a priority or epic proportions.

  • I'm a big PA fan, and I have high hopes for this. Who better to put together a game than the guys who have made a tidy living off pointing out the industry's faults?

    I'm sure they know full well how huge a hit their gamer cred would take if their own game turned out lousy, so they're pretty much putting their livelihoods on the line for this.
    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      Yes, because historically critics turn out far better craft than those that they criticize.

      See Roger Ebert.
  • Thank you, Gabe and Tycho! Even Ctrl Alt Del [slashdot.org] is happy to put the Linux user in a closet.

    It's a surprise, but a welcome one.
    • It just means that it'll be a Flash game. And they probably assume Flash 9 will have been released by then.
  • it's super intelligent web comics meets Tekkken 3! MMMmmm, it smells like money.

    Now the only question is, what'll be worse, the GBA platformer or the Xbox beat 'em up?
  • Digital (Score:3, Funny)

    by th1ckasabr1ck (752151) on Friday August 25 2006, @01:16PM (#15980132)
    Digitally downloaded? I was hoping to grab it through my analog connection.
  • by Parallax Blue (836836) on Friday August 25 2006, @01:17PM (#15980149)
    ...as a video game. Considering the comic is famous (or infamous, if you're Jack Thompson) for its focus on video games, how well would that work when made into a video game itself? It'll be interesting to see what sort of game it is.

    There's also the issue of living up to expectations. Penny Arcade has a huge following, so if their video game is a flop, it's not going to look good and they'll catch some flak as a result. In addition, I expect this game to be very hyped simply because PA is so widely read, and that could contribute to any unreasonable expectations being formed about how good this game will be.

    In short, there are pitfalls here that they will have to overcome. The question is whether or not they'll succeed.

    -Parallax
    • I don't expect a failed video game to be a problem for Penny Arcade.

      This could just be a set up for a series of comics about failed and poorly thought out video game tie-ins.

      Keep in mind that Penny Arcade has too much self deprecating humor for the failure of the video game to be a problem.

      Based on the first game title, I'd suspect they EXPECT the game to be terrible.
  • by DeeDob (966086) on Friday August 25 2006, @01:22PM (#15980182)
    First it was in the form of a seemingly harmless online comic...

    Then i found out they invaded the marketplace of my 360...

    Then they came to invade my gaming table in the form of a Penny-Arcade card game...

    Now they'll take over my mouse and keyboard!!!

    Oh the humanity! is there no end? Will somebody please think of the children?
  • I'll only play them if I can play as the Fruit Fucker!
  • On a Mac? (Score:5, Funny)

    by rmjohnso (891555) on Friday August 25 2006, @01:27PM (#15980223)
    Don't they always abuse the mythical Mac gamers? I can see the ending of each episode...

    "Congrats on beating the game! You still smell like patchouli!!"

    http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/08/11 [penny-arcade.com]
    • Not always ... after all, there was a stretch of comics where Gabe switched [penny-arcade.com]. In perhaps more ways than one.

      But I agree with their general point, it's just always good clean fun to pick on Artie MacStrawman [crazyapplerumors.com].
  • Theyare close to 5 months late on this announcement.

    Although i Love their comics, i wonder how this could possibly evolve into a fun game?

    RTS? RPG? or....

    MMORPG? FU&K YAH!
  • by kinglink (195330) on Friday August 25 2006, @02:07PM (#15980585)
    To me this is sounding like Futurama or simpsons. Why do I hear "side scrolling" in the back of my mind.

    Penny arcade has definatly grown too big, their comics are funny at times but they get into storylines and try to develop characters and that's not what drew the fans in, in the first place. Their Dead Rising was interesting at first but has gotten lame. what could have been a decent week cartoon turned into almost three times as long and the humor was only in the first comic.

    Two or three years down the line after a failed tv pilot, I've the feeling it's all going to collapse in on them. They'll still be popular but they'll be focusing on the comic and not all these other diversions.
  • by rubeon (301850) on Friday August 25 2006, @02:10PM (#15980608) Homepage
    "Run on Windows, OS X, and Linux" is pretty much the opposite of "they'll be released on Steam".
  • I hear Jack Thompson will make a guest appearance as a Mac gamer...
  • One suspects that they scrutinized their contract well, after the book debacle... but I hope they read the fine print.

    There is the concern about the entire Penny Arcade license, but focusing on just the game I hope they have full creative control. If they don't it's possible they won't like they game one iota and not want it to hit the shelves. If they don't have full veto powers, then the publisher will tell PA they have invested money, won't invest anymore and it's time to risk a return and then promp

  • You can't have a Penny Arcade game without wang.
  • It should have some funny game action in the form of tons of minigames but, each of these minigames must be preceded by an enormous back-story. :)

    For those who don't know: The leading newspost is considered to be part of the comic so much so that, occassionally, the comic might not make any sense without it. Sometimes those posts can go on for what seems to be forever.
  • As opposed to Dork Warks, the sounds uttered by socially inept chocobos.
  • but but but (Score:3, Funny)

    by toren (202921) on Friday August 25 2006, @05:48PM (#15982433)
    How on earth can the first Penny-Arcade video game not be called Wang Commander?

    I mean, it practically writes itself.