DeathSpank

[Forbin]

I have a PS3, but I seriously don't want to play this on anything but a PC.

[MrHoatzin]

Because it gives me a boner.

Hey, whatever helps.

I am waiting for the Steam version.

[elmuerte]

PC release would be an instant buy

[Raff]

I'll be waiting for PC as well. My consoles are in another country until September. Hothead put the PA games on Mac, Linux and selected fridges so...hopefully.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Sad to say, but I'm gonna wait for the reviews on this one. Ron Gilbert hasn't created a game I've cared about in nearly 20 years, and the last time he did, he had help from Tim Schafer... (and Dave Grossman).

When is this released again?

[Hermie]

Sad to say, but I'm gonna wait for the reviews on this one. Ron Gilbert hasn't created a game I've cared about in nearly 20 years, and the last time he did, he had help from Tim Schafer... (and Dave Grossman).

Are you saying you didn't care about the Freddi Fish educational games?!

(Actually, I helped my sis play a couple of those games when she was smaller, and found them to be pretty well designed, at least for edutainment, and when I found out who Ron Gilbert is, I realized why.)

[Squid Division]

Sad to say, but I'm gonna wait for the reviews on this one.

When is this released again?

If it's a downloadable game, shouldn't there be a mandatory trial on XBLA you could test out yourself?

According to Wiki it's out the 13th on PS3 and 14th on XBLA.

[syntheticgerbil]

Sad to say, but I'm gonna wait for the reviews on this one. Ron Gilbert hasn't created a game I've cared about in nearly 20 years, and the last time he did, he had help from Tim Schafer... (and Dave Grossman).

That's a little harsh to me, but you bring up a good point. Ron Gilbert has spoken a lot about game design ideas in the past decade but hasn't really been in the thick of a major game's design for a long while now. I'll probably still blind buy Deathspank, but I'm kind of curious how it's going to play out.

Are you saying you didn't care about the Freddi Fish educational games?!

(Actually, I helped my sis play a couple of those games when she was smaller, and found them to be pretty well designed, at least for edutainment, and when I found out who Ron Gilbert is, I realized why.)

Haha, I've actually been enough of a nerd to play many of these Humongous games well over the age range (although I did play some Putt Putt's and Fatty Bear long ago when was only year or two over the age range instead). They are all designed very nicely and I'll be sure to shackle my hypothetical kids to a chair and force them to play all of them.

Ron Gilbert however was only really involved in the design and direction of many of the firsts of all the major Humongous series. Checking credits, he was most involved with the first two Putt Putt games, the first Freddi Fish and Fatty Bear, but has design and creative direction credits in the first Pajama Sam and Spy Fox.

Dave Grossman also did a lot of Humongous work as well though, having written the first three Pajama Sam games fully (and probably contributed to the design in turn) as well as one of the later Freddi Fishes.

I think at Hulabee both of those guys might have been more hands on again since it was a new company, as the credits seem to indicate. Not sure, I haven't messed with the Hulabee games yet, but I did play a little Moop and Dreadly, which seemed really cool.

[ThunderPeel2001]

That's a little harsh to me, but you bring up a good point. Ron Gilbert has spoken a lot about game design ideas in the past decade but hasn't really been in the thick of a major game's design for a long while now. I'll probably still blind buy Deathspank, but I'm kind of curious how it's going to play out.

Not sure why it's harsh... it's absolutely factually true. Gilbert has been riding the Monkey Island train for far too long. I can understand he might have been worried that whatever he came out with would never measure up to fanboy memories of Monkey Island (it's even a notion that's explored in MI2)... but it's been FAR too long.

By comparison, I can't imagine Tim Schafer saying away from games for very long. I have a feeling he'd explode without some creative outlet. Gilbert has been happily coasting along on his MI credits for nearly 20 years now (giving talks and doing interviews, etc).

I don't say any of this with any malice or hate for the man, though. I hope Death Spank is excellent, and I'm keen on playing it. But whereas I once would have bought anything with Gilbert's name on it, time has changed things, and I've realised that Grossman and Schafer are both extremely talented guys, too.

I'm still very interested in people's thoughts on Death Spank, and I'm kind of surprised it isn't more of a big deal...? It is, after all, the first game (for adults) from RG in a very long time! Has anyone with a PS3 played it yet?

[juv3nal]

Early reviews are not great, but I'll be grabbing it when I get home anyways because I'm in the mood for some mindless loot gathering hack and slash.

But as far as I know there's demos for PSN and XBLA both so don't let a bad review or three steer you away without giving it a go.

[thorn]

I'll be waiting for PC as well. My consoles are in another country until September. Hothead put the PA games on Mac, Linux and selected fridges so...hopefully.

I just wish he'd give a definite statement either way. If PC wasn't going to happen, I'd go buy it on PSN right away but as long as there's ambiguity I'm going to hold off from buying it just yet.

Does anyone know how much it costs?

[miffy495]

Like so many others, waiting for the PC version. Looking at the GB Quick Look, this just didn't seem like a console game to me. I hope enough people buy it for them to be able to justify the port, but I won't be one of them.

[brkl]

I would get it for my PS3, but at least late last night it wasn't available.

EDIT: Eurogamer seems to be thinking Gilbert made this game to mock Western RPGs, but all interviews I've read would indicate he made this because he likes both Diablo-like games and adventure games.

[spindrift]

EDIT: Eurogamer seems to be thinking Gilbert made this game to mock Western RPGs, but all interviews I've read would indicate he made this because he likes both Diablo-like games and adventure games.

Those aren't at all mutually exclusive...

[brkl]

There just seemed to be a weird expectation that Ron Gilbert was going to show how the games had been done wrong until now and this is how they should be done. When's this thing even out in Europe?

[ThunderPeel2001]

The reviews seem quite unanimous: Fun world, but not that much fun to play. I'll still pick it up... although I wish a Thumb had played it. Quite keen to hear someone's thoughts!

[brkl]

I can't really trust reviews with Hothead products considering how much I enjoyed the Penny Arcade games. I'm going to pick it up as soon as I can.

[Tanukitsune]

XBLA has the Deadliest Warrior today? Where's Death Spank? D:

Maybe it will be there later, but when they release several games in a week, they all appear at the same time, right?

[Thyroid]

Man, this game is fun. Played a bit at a friend's house today. It has excellence. Will be buying as soon as my boss gives me my paycheck.

[Forbin]

What's all this Ron Gilbert hate. Shit talk all you want about the Humongous games, but they were fantastic. My little brother and sisters got interested in games with them. I've heard more than one developer credit the put-put games as solid game design. The replay factor was an element of genius. Kids will watch DVDs a million times over, but adventure games don't really have as much appeal when you know all the answers. Every time there would be about 3 or 4 possible puzzles, and they'd chose 2. Then you'd have to find the missing pieces, and they could be 1 of 4 places.

Just because he was making games targeted at your siblings or budgeted for a small release, doesn't mean he stopped being a brilliant designer.

[juv3nal]

Well I think it's pretty awesome.

At one point I was 60-something out of 2500+ on the leaderboards (which basically just tracks how many things you've killed) which might give you some indication of how much I liked it.

If it were a full priced game, I'd have some nits to pick, but at $15, they're not even worth mentioning.

[Garden Ninja]

Demo and game are available on XBLA here (US version at least). I'm still at work so I haven't tried it yet.

[Tanukitsune]

Hey! I think Death Spank is voiced by the same guy as Captain Quark from Ratchet & Clank! :3

I'm loving it so far! <3

[Luggage]

I admit to being a filthy skimmer, that has only read page three, but are there any rumors or plans on HotHeadGames' side to do a PC port?

[elmuerte]

we've got something better than plans, we've got rumors.