The duo behind webcomic Penny Arcade announced an expansion of the Penny Arcade Expo empire, adding an east coast event which will start in 2010.

Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik told 1UP that the event, set for Boston, will complement instead of replace the current PAX series in Seattle, of which this year's incarnation started today. The Boston event is still in the early planning stages. The two artists / game producers / philanthropists have been "determined to return to the city since delivering a presentation at MIT a few years ago," claims the report.

The announcement is timely, as the video games industry is in a state of transition regarding its expos. The E3 Expo, once king of the hill, has been ... Read more

Independent developer Hothead Games and gaming webcomic Penny Arcade today announced Greenhouse, a website that will focus on selling downloadable independent games for PC, Mac and Linux.

Hothead and Penny Arcade's RPG Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode One will be the first title to release on the platform. No date has been announced for the title's debut, though it will sell for $19.95 and is expected this spring.

According to the company, Greenhouse was "built to supplement other online game delivery platforms," such as Valve's Steam, which provides Penny Arcade comics to its users.

"There are so many great games out there that you don't hear about," explained Penny Arcade business director Robert Khoo. "They're too niche or too risky in terms of game play for the top publishers to be comfortable with distributing. We want the Greenhouse to be an alternative for these developers."

A beta of Greenhouse and its downloading application are currently available at www.playgreenhouse.com.

This week, Chris Remo, Steve Gibson, and Nick Breckon discuss Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, BioShock, and more. Plus, Carlos Bergfeld stops in to deliver his impressions of Far Cry 2, Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, and Kane and Lynch from the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle.

In other topics, we've got discussion of the odd Joust movie announcement, Manhunt 2's re-rating and upcoming release, the world of downloadable and retail games, major publishers such as EA and Ubisoft publishing very demanding PC games, and the winners of our BioShock contest. Join us!

Play or download the episode now, browse the podcast through iTunes, RSS, or Digg, or check out the full breakdown. ... Read more

Emerging from the crowded halls of this year's Penny Arcade Expo, the Shack brought along a preview of what Penny Arcade fans will get to enjoy when the inaugural episode of Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness becomes available. Sample its foul flavor.

In essence, Rain-Slick takes nearly all the standard trappings of a Japanese RPG and gives them an obscenity-ridden Penny Arcade fantasy world twist. Cleverly named attacks like "Plank You very Much"--a two-by-four to the face--and geysers of blood make the battles more about being entertained than enjoying the gameplay.

Amidst the hubbub of PAX 07, Hothead Games revealed today that the first episode of Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness will be downloadable on Xbox Live Arcade in early 2008, with future installments to follow.

As previously announced, the adventure/role-playing title will first be available for PC, Mac, and Linux users some time this year. For computer users, the title will be available for download directly from a Hothead-created site.

Hothead worked with Penny Arcade founders Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins as well as legendary adventure game developer Ron Gilbert to craft the title. "Mike and Jerry are just so amazingly creative. You get people like that in a room--there's so many great ideas," Gilbert said at a Hothead press conference Friday at PAX 07.

Hothead showed a demo of title Friday at the press conference and again today in the exhibit hall at the expo, so expect full impressions from the Shack staff shortly. Hothead has set up a Web site for the game at Rainslick.com.

Hugely popular gaming-oriented webcomic Penny Arcade will be showcased through Valve's Steam service, Valve announced today. Currently, Penny Arcade strips up to Wednesday's edition are accessible through a simple browser in the Steam software.

Today's announcement may be indicative of a larger ongoing plan on Valve's part to expand the number of gaming-related services offered by Steam beyond its primary purpose of selling and managing digitally distributed games. Speaking to Shacknews in response to inquiries regarding today's announcement, Valve marketing director Doug Lombardi noted that Valve hopes to continue expanding Steam out to support additional types of content.

Recently, the company laid out initial details for a suite of upcoming community features planned for Steam, transforming it into a social... Read more

Veteran adventure game designer Ron Gilbert (pictured left) has teamed up with developer Hothead Games and webcomic writer/artist team Penny Arcade to work on the upcoming adventure game series Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness. PAA:OTRSPOD is set to release episodically across PC, Mac OS X, and Linux.

Gilbert created LucasArts' 1987 adventure game Maniac Mansion, which set the stage for point-and-click graphic adventures to come and featured nonlinear gameplay mechanics uncommon in the genre to this day. In 1990 and 1991 respectively, LucasArts released The Secret of Monkey Island and Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge, created by Gilbert with co-writers Tim Schafer and Dave Grossman; the games have become Gilbert's strongest legacy. The designer then left LucasArts to found Humongous ... Read more

There's a Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness Q&A on FiringSquad this morning, asking Hothead Games COO Joel DeYoung about the recently announced episodic game project.

Long running video game-themed webcomic Penny Arcade today announced that Vancouver-based Hothead Games will be developing an episodic series of games based on Penny Arcade. The tone of the press release suggests that the game is likely to take a tongue in cheek attitude towards various video game cliches and conventions; the first game in the series will be "a comic adventure game" entitled Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness.

"We're really excited to be working with Hothead Games on our first electronic adventure," said writer Jerry Holkins, his clawed feet resting atop a huge slab of granite. "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." Holkins then paused to eat a rat whole.

Hothead was formed in March of this year, and employs developers who have worked on games such as The Simpsons: Hit & Run and The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction. "I've promised this with past games, and I stand by it: if the game sucks, I'll eat my shirt," stated Hothead president Vlad Ceraldi.

Penny Arcade Adventures is being developed for PC, Mac, and Linux, with next generation console versions to follow.

At this year's E3, there were some posters on display featuring characters clearly drawn by Mike "Gabe" Krahulik of Penny Arcade. Each character's poster was labeled with one of the well known ESRB content ratings: E (Everyone), T (Teen), M (Mature), and so on. Now, the ESRB has sent out an announcement explaining the characters. Penny Arcade created the series of characters as part of a campaign by the ESRB to remind actual gamers of the purpose of ESRB ratings. "We don't expect to ever be considered cool among gamers, but at the very least we want gamers to understand the purpose we serve," said ESRB president Patricia Vance. "After all, many of them will be parents one day, at which time we expect they will be far more appreciative of the tools we provide."

For the past several years, gamer magazines and websites have loyally and consistently supported ESRB PSA campaigns, with over 70 ads published generating 25 million impressions. However, game enthusiast publishers felt that the ESRB ads, which target parents, were somewhat disconnected to their readers and the editorial environment. The Penny Arcade campaign was developed with this expressed purpose in mind, and does not replace the existing ESRB OK to Play? ads, which will continue to appear in all non-game enthusiast media.

Only the first two ads were revealed alongside the announcement, both corresponding to the E (Everyone) rating: Sarah and The Andersons. Characters corresponding to the remaining ESRB ratings, most of which were on display at E3, will presumably be formally revealed in the near future.

Some say that widely-visited sites such as Shacknews should cease coverage of the insane antics and ramblings of Jack Thompson, attorney-at-law and rabid detractor of Video Games, and sadly I must respectfully decline to respect those wishes. The situations that build up around this guy are just too good.

So, what now? Well, last week Mr. Thompson claimed that he would donate $10,000 to charity if somebody constructed a brutal revenge murder video game based on his extremely violent specifications. Well, a team called Fighting Hellfish has done just that, crafting a mod for GTA: San Andreas entitled Defamation of Character: A Jack Thompson Murder Simulator. However, upon receipt of this news, Thompson responded that he would not be commenting on the mod, and that his so-called "Modest Proposal" (and, presumably, its promised $10,000) was intended only as satire. He notes:

"To be fair, though, you can't expect a bunch of gamers to understand the satire if they think that Jonathon Swift, the author of 'A Modest Proposal,' is the name of a new Nike running shoe..."

First off, Jack, it's "Jonathan," and the well-known piece by that legendary satirist eclipses your little charade by leaps and bounds, so don't even try it. While Swift's "modest proposal" of child cannibalization can only been seen as outrageous and purely provocative, your game design was entirely feasible--so feasible, in fact, that somebody executed it. Your offer, too, was entirely within the realms of reason. $10,000 is a lot of money, but isn't it entirely possible that charitable persons would be willing to part with thousands of dollars to serve their cause?

Apparently, yes, it is entirely possible. Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik, the Tycho and Gabe of Penny Arcade, have stepped up to the plate and donated that $10,000 to the ESA Foundation, which supports many charities for the benefit of children. What makes the move all the more striking is that the money was donated in Thompson's name.

Mr. Thompson's response goes on to claim that "God is in this battle, and I am privileged to be a foot soldier. You all should be concerned, not about me, but about Him." If God is keeping an eye on the two "sides" in this battle, Jack should start to be concerned that the opposition is making him look bad.