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Penny-Arcade Videogame Announced
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!
Wait, no. No, get it away. Ahhh, stop that! Can't get image out of my head. Must drill brain out!
God spoke to me.
There will finally be a new game release which Gabe and Tycho won't bitch about.
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
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.
He whom you called four-eyes yesterday, you call Sir tomorrow.
Do you think they would give their own game a scathing review if it sucks? :)
Meet new people, and kill them.
Can't wait to play Frank, the EB Games store clerk and his lovely assistant, Mabel. It's time to clean up the mall!
I want a level where you have to punch a baby.
Grumble, Grumble
I'll buy it but ONLY if this speech is in the intro http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/04/10.
Global warming is a cube.
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 fiscal conservative, it's a pity we don't have a political party anymore
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.
Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
Thank you, Gabe and Tycho! Even Ctrl Alt Del is happy to put the Linux user in a closet.
It's a surprise, but a welcome one.
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
A Penny Arcade game! And with the same boring, unfunny content we've come to expect from the web comic!
I, for one, can't wait to ignore this game just like the web comic, along with everyone else!
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?
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Let's just hope the gameplay is more fun, than the comics are funny.
Digitally downloaded? I was hoping to grab it through my analog connection.
...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
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!
"Champagne for my real friends - and real pain for my sham friends!" http://ericblade.postalboard.com/
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
"Extremism in the pursuit of liberty is no vice. Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue." --Barry Goldwater
I don't think they'd hold back at all if their own game sucked. They'd be the first to admit it.
The simple truth is that interstellar distances will not fit into the human imagination
- Douglas Adams
I love PA, I bought their book and the gamerpics for the 360 but I am very afraid of Episodic content in games.
I am willing to give this a try but with one hand hovering over the panic button.
....... Thus ends my attempt at wit or whatever
there's 2.5 more hours till pax starts, what is this?
I'll bite.
But will it run on Linux?
I personally can't wait for this. I am a huge fan of PA and the comics are hilarious. I wonder if you need to play video games in the game to advance your rank or something.
...and no one has said "WHAT ABOUT BSD?!" yet. What has slashdot come to?
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!
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.
"Run on Windows, OS X, and Linux" is pretty much the opposite of "they'll be released on Steam".
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.
"Live Free or Die." Don't like it? Then keep out of the USA
I hear Jack Thompson will make a guest appearance as a Mac gamer...
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 promptly tell them [PA] "You know those holes you put pie in? Shut em'."
I dunno... the pressure is on the developer to make a bad ass game. And if it turns out to be lame... there probably won't be a lot Gabe and Tycho can do about it.
You can't have a Penny Arcade game without wang.
The Rapture is NOT an exit strategy.
I remember sigs. Oh, a simpler time!
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.
This is not my sig.
As opposed to Dork Warks, the sounds uttered by socially inept chocobos.
+1 Insightful... please. :P
I hope it will be better than all of those endless industry inside jokes that Penny Arcade makes that are never funny.
Even the summary clearly states that it will be out on Linux.
What's I'm wondering is the Steam release - I though Gabe and Tycho had issues with Steam?
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
it seems like the boys forgot about Produce Panic -- they announced and released it over two years ago!
http://www.penny-arcade.com/2004/05/26
http://www.garagegames.com/products/35
I bet if their game sucked, they'd be the first to admit it, probably even admitting fault, and apologizing profusely, in their constant self-deprecating manner, and all would remain the same.
OTOH, if it's successful... I can't imagine how that would change things for them. Could be good and bad.
Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden
I love Penny Arcade, I really do... But so far this is only hype.
Also, I hope that the rumors about being able to play as the Cardboard Tube Samuri in one of the episodes is true!
No, I will not work for your startup
How are you supposed to promote a game character whose name is probably the most infamous naughty word in standard American English?
Moreover, and this one kinda depends on how prominent Fruit Fucker is in the game, how will the public handle the fact that a "cartoon video game" actually contains such an adult theme? Cartoons and video games are, after all, for children and only children!
How on earth can the first Penny-Arcade video game not be called Wang Commander?
I mean, it practically writes itself.
I mean, it has background and everything. At least I assume so, I don't read that crap. Comic and blog are enough for me. But the Elemenstor thing has a story at least; P/A itself doesn't. Game is released, P/A makes fun of game, sometimes a little of the game's reality leaks into P/A's.
What's this game gonna be like, every level starts with the release of a new fake game? Maybe it'll be the game equivalant of 'Scary Movie'.
Not that this wasn't entirely predictable.
I hope it'll be Sepoohroth!
My sister opened a computer store in Hawaii. She sells C shells by the seashore.
Distribution by Steam does not exclude distribution by other means. You just won't see the OS X and Linux versions distributed by Steam, obviously.
fap fap fap fappity fap fap!
Much of penny arcades humor is based on parody and satire of either popculture or videogames. To maintain this humor in a for profit video game, would they need to gain permission from those copyright holders?
Than again, I am sure that there are plenty of characters and ideas they can use which they do not get anywhere near that problem.
END COMMUNICATION
So will Jesus be one of the hidden characters? Maybe you can smite your enemies by throwing up the mighty Horns of Righteousness?