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.

Ron Gilbert, the creator of many beloved old-school LucasArts adventure games including Maniac Mansion and The Secret of Monkey Island, has announced his new project: DeathSpank, an episodic RPG-adventure said to mix Monkey Island and Diablo.

Canadian developer Hothead Games, the company behind the upcoming Penny-Arcade episodic RPG series, will be publishing the series, with former advisor Gilbert now joining the studio as its creative director.

Hothead writes that the games will follow "the thong-tastic adventures of a misguided hero named DeathSpank," who has previously been featured in animated comics on Gilbert's Grumpy Gamer blog.

"I've spent over four years trying to find the right publisher for this strange little game," said Gilbert. "Now that I've done it, you just know that somewhere four horsemen are saddling up."

Neither party provided an estimate as to when the first episode, DeathSpank: Episode One: Orphans of Justice, would arrive, though a sole piece of artwork was released.

Header Image: Dan Lee/Idle Thumbs

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.

Today's delicious roundup of news bytes includes Left 4 Dead at QuakeCon, an update for City of Heroes, new DLC on the Xbox Live Marketplace, games at Comic-Con, word on the Oddworld Stranger's Wrath (Xbox) soundtrack, and a status update for Factor 5's Lair (PS3).

On the subject of Comic-Con, our own Chris Remo will be moderating a panel about episodic gaming with Penny Arcade, Telltale Games, and Hothead Games. Titled "Episodic Games and Comics--Made for Each Other," it begins Thursday at 11:30 AM in room 1AB and lasts for an hour. Telltale will be announcing new details on the recently announced Sam & Max Season Two (PC), so if you happen to be at the event, this might be worthy of your time. ... Read more

Today we have a whole slew of screenshots, pieces of artwork, and movies released over the past week. The roundup includes Stranglehold, Universe at War: Earth Assault, Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising, Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation, Boogie, Hail to the Chimp, Mass Effect, Rock Band, Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection, Warriors Orochi, Final Fantasy PSP, and Heroes of Mana. ... 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.