When you've been making fun of the video game industry as long as Penny Arcade's Jerry “Tycho” Holkins and Mike “Gabe” Krahulik have been, deciding to create your own game is one ballsy move. You have to know that every review site you've ever trashed and every developer you've viciously sodomized with your barbed wit is watching your every move, desperate to see you stumble so they can get in a few licks.

Undaunted, Penny Arcade and Hothead Games now brings us chapter one of Penny Arcade Adventures: On The Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, a Lovecraftian period role-playing game in four parts. Is it an adventure strong enough to weather the ensuing critic-storm, or will it crack under the pressure, spiraling slowly into madness? Read on, brave adventurer...

Go Grab The Penny Arcade Game Demo

In case you missed it, Penny Arcade's first foray into the game-making world, On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, is out now. I've been playing it all day. It's great. Notsomuch for the gameplay, which is standard stuff, but definitely for the charm. If you're not the type to trust my recommendation, however, (though really, you should, I'm a nice guy) anyone with a PC (Linux included) or Mac can grab a demo of the first episode, take it for a spin, see how it feels. Even if you hate smashing item boxes and turn-based combat, it should at least put a smile on your face.

On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness Demo [Windows, Linux, Mac]

The boys from Penny Arcade have teamed up with the developers of the their own Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness to create Greenhouse. The endeavor, described as "a new distribution platform... dedicated to supporting independent game development worldwide" will in theory help "indie developers get their games into the hands of gamers." Greenhouse, which launched officially today, will be christened with PA's own episodic game.

Gabe and Tycho sat down with Wired's Chris Kohler to chat about the new service recently. They explain the philosophy behind the effort and how warmly it was received by the folks at GameStop, who, it looks like, won't be carrying a boxed copy of their game for reasons that become evident in the interview.

Greenhouse Official Site

Ron Gilbert Joins Hothead For DeathSpank

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

Penny Arcade Adventures Gallery

I didn't get to post a whole lot of screens for the upcoming Penny Arcade Adventures when I gave my impressions of it yesterday, so I thought I would make up for it by posting this massive twenty photo gallery. The screens show a number of different parts of the game including the battle system, regular gameplay and a shot of the character creation screen. This game just keeps looking better and better and after what I saw at PAX, it will be a definite download for me.

Penny Arcade Adventures To Appear On XBLA