News via Joystiq that Hothead Games has announced a third Deathspank game subtitled "The Baconing". Apparently this one will be better:

DeathSpank's run-ins with the evils of thongs are continuing this summer in a third DeathSpank game for Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, and PC/Mac. Hothead revealed as much this afternoon, detailing DeathSpank: The Baconing as the final chapter in DeathSpank's quest "to once and for all destroy the evil power of thongs."

The dev studio tells Kotaku that The Baconing will be "more satisfying to play than last year's games," with a handful of new areas to explore, a brand new sidekick named "Bob from Marketing," and a quartet of new bosses to battle. Hothead also promises gamers will feel "more in control" of DeathSpank's moveset with an overhauled combat system.

Co-op site Co-optimus takes a look at the performance of Deathspank: Thongs of Virtue, scoring it a low 2/5:

Co-op Experience: Deathspank: Thongs of Virtue is the second installment in the Deathspank Arcade (and PSN) series. Unfortunately following suit in the co-op, the second player is incredibly limited in their gameplay and character interactions. This style of limited co-op is perfect for advanced players showing newbies the ropes or just sitting down for some casual fun - not for the rest of us. However, single player is highly recommended here.

Wired has some comments from Ron Gilbert on the combat in Deathspank.  Seems he thinks it should have been better:

“I probably would have made battling a little more intellectual,” Gilbert said. “So it wasn’t just about hacking through a bunch of enemies, but more like treating combat as if it was a puzzle to be solved.”

Deathspank: Thongs of Virtue has been available on PC for a few days and IGN has a review.  The score for the short article is 8.5/10 and the bottom line is "more of the same":

It's only been a couple months since the release of the first DeathSpank and we're lucky enough to already have a sequel. The Diablo-style action RPG from the mind of Ron Gilbert (Secret of Monkey Island) proved to be one of the most addictive games of the year, so a second visit from the Hero to the Downtrodden is quite welcome. DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue is more of the same -- same gameplay, same music, same sense of humor. But that won't be a bad thing for anyone who enjoyed the first romp.

GameZone has a review of Deathspank for the PC with a score of 7.5/10:

So if the humor has its moments and the game world is charming, what about the combat? As far as hack-and-slash games go, it is somewhat shallow. There are no special skills, no attributes, and nothing beyond a strictly linear progression of armor and weapons. Then I realized that was the point. The game isn’t about particularly deep and complex combat, it is about bashing your way through a colorful variety of strange and interesting monsters so you can get to the next joke. The weapons and armor riff on the kind of equipment sets you find in other RPGs, and they are dispensed at a decent pace. The combat does actually become more involved as the game progresses, with some weapons offering a special attack and rare “runestones” enabling unique attacks when you have certain combinations of weapons. It is nothing special, but it will at least keep you on your toes between adventures.

Rock, Paper, Shotgun serves up some impressions of the PC version of Deathspank.  Jim Rossignol seems to think it's ultimately worth the price - though perhaps only just:

It’s the main character, the macho, condescending DeathSpank, who makes all this work. He haughtily marches about, making quips and performing quests for “non-descript citizens” and other NPCs, all the while gathering weapons, potions and armour. There’s a pervasive theme of poo and underwear, and when DeathSpank dies he is respawns from a “scented latrine”, which also acts as a save point. You might think someone was pretentious and sophisticated as an RPS editor might not find all this nether-humour particularly funny but actually it is pretty funny. The jokes are unlikely to prompt a big league laugh from the balloon of your gut, but they still kept me chuckling and propped up in a state of mild amusement that meant I was happy to keep on playing even after I realised the game mechanisms were basically a bit rubbish.

IGN is impressed with the PC version of Deathspank, awarding a score of 8.5/10 in their review:

When I was done marveling at the visuals, the dialogue took center stage as it is extremely amusing. Humor is definitely DeathSpank's crown jewel. If you've ever wondered whether or not chickens have lips or what occupation a retired World of Warcraft character would have, then look no further. The dialogue menu is similar to Monkey Island – your list of conversation options shows up on the bottom half of the screen and you pick what your hero will say. It's fun to choose bizarre dialogue paths and see where they go in this game.

Still, I was slightly letdown by the side missions. Dubbed "Unimportant Things I Need to Do," they seemed appropriately named. Because Monkey Island is known for its puzzles as well as its humor, I was expecting more puzzle-centric quests. However a vast majority of the "Unimportant Things" followed the same formula as the main missions -- fetching ingredients and items or happily slaying monsters on behalf of other people. Granted, this is what most RPG's deliver, but I was expecting a bit more given the developer's background. Quest givers can hand out task after task, which can get extremely tedious. Still, I completed every mission (both side and main) in around eight hours, so there are plenty of tasks to finish.

Deathspank is now available on Steam for those interested.

There will be a PC version of Deathspank, with the humorous hack'n'slasher coming to Steam on October 27th.  It isn't clear to me if this includes both parts but doubtless more information will be along in due course.

Deathspank: Thongs of Virtue has been released in Europe, which probably means we missed the NA release.  The PR:

DESTROY THE THONGS AND SAVE THE WORLD IN EA’s DEATHSPANK: THONGS OF VIRTUE AVAILABLE IN EUROPE TODAY

Step Into the Mighty Boots of the World’s Funniest Downloadable Super Hero Again in an all New Adventure on PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade

Guildford, UK., – Sept. 22, 2010 – Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) and Hothead Games^TM announced that DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue (T.O.V.) is available for download in Europe on PlayStation^®Network today for £9.99 and on Xbox LIVE^® Arcade for 1200 Microsoft Points. The follow-up to last summer’s award-winning, chart-topping action RPG, DeathSpank: T.O.V. is a fresh new adventure where players hack, slash and shoot their way through mission after mission, in search of the six mystical thongs that are corrupting the universe. Gamers who purchase DeathSpank: T.O.V. in its first week* will also receive two pieces of free downloadable content: the Snowy Mountain Dungeon, a terrifying, ice-covered dungeon frozen in the North Pole where evil enemies of ice, flesh and terror dwell and a new playable co-op character, Sidekick Tankko. Half-man, half-spider and all awesome, Sidekick Tankko is a deadly warrior who spews mighty clouds of poison and entraps enemies with his inescapable web attacks.

“We took all of the things that people loved about DeathSpank and cranked it to 11.” said Vlad Ceraldi, Director of Game Development at Hothead Games. “DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue is a great new experience. We’ve added more crazy weapons, areas and enemies of course and more thongs!”

DeathSpank: T.O.V. puts players in the mighty boots of DeathSpank in his quest to destroy the six mystical thongs which have corrupted those who wear them, and thus the universe. Players will travel through war-torn country sides, outer space and even the North Pole in an epic battle against an Evil Santa, collecting tons of loot along the way. DeathSpank T.O.V. also includes a local co-op mode, allowing a second player to help in the search for the thongs with either of his two trusty sidekicks, Sparkles the Wizard or Ninjatastic Steve.

DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue is rated 12+ by PEGI. For more information on DeathSpank: T.O.V., visit www.deathspank.com or follow the game on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/deathspank.

There's a story trailer with some gameplay towards the end for Deathspank: Thongs of Virtue over at Evil Avatar.

The rumoured Deathspank: Thongs of Virtue has been confirmed by Kotaku and will be released next month.  Strangely, Hothead apparently developed the two titled simultaneously:

The two DeathSpanks were made in parallel at Hothead, with the added time for the second ensuring that the new game could be bigger. That creation schedule does't mean that the new game could incorporate much of the fan feedback toward the first one, though. Thongs of Virtue won't reflect any major changes demanded by the DeathSpank public. Online multiplayer, for example, still won't be in the game, though the off-line two-player co-op will now allow the second player to alternate between two characters, conrollingthe returning Sparkles the Wizard or using — quoting the press release again — "the ninjatastic Kung Fu moves of DeathSpank's new partner in crime, Steve."

Eurogamer notes new X360 Achievements for something called Deathspank: TOV, via the site XBox360Achievements.com.  It seems a bit early for a new Deathspank title after a mixed response to the first, but time will tell.

A small collection of Deathspank reviews, courtesy of Omega.

• Ars Technica - "Buy"
• CNN - "Doesn't disappoint"
• Telegraph - 8/10
• California Literary Review - 3.5/5
• Diehard Game Fan - "Above average"

More reviews for this game can be found on the net; generally they are very positive, though some remain critical. I'll quote from one and then list the others:

Dealspwn has a review with a score of 7/10

You see herein the problem with DeathSpank: it’s all mouth and no trousers. Everything looks utterly grand for the first hour or so but then the misty eyed gratitude that an original game like this even exists at the moment begins to fade. The voices begin to grate a little, the humour becomes somewhat predictable and the laughs begin to subside.

Joystiq has a review of  5/5
Teletext 7/10
Front Towards Gamers 8.5/10
RPGamer 4/5
GameTrailers 8/10

Joystiq has an enthusiastic review of Deathspank with a score of 5 stars:

So it's a lovable (and lovely) adventure. Down to the core gameplay, well, it's a lot of hacking and/or slashing from start to finish. The more you do it, the better you get at doing it, the better the loot and the better you feel about yourself as a person. (Well, from my standpoint, at least.) Here and there, Gilbert and company sneak in a puzzle. How do I make these tacos spicy? These imp horns red? These thongs ... ahem. Drawing once again from Gilbert's past works, DeathSpank compliments its combat with these bite-sized brain teasers -- quests that don't just ask you to kill a certain number of enemies, or find a certain number of items, but actually do something interesting with them.

Here's a Deathspank roundup, courtesy of Omega.  First, a pair of trailers.

• Dark and cavenous gameplay
• Battle and cattle gameplay

Second, a review roundup.  1Up says 'B', with a "stellar script" improving an otherwise average action/RPG:

That is the kind of humor that peppers DeathSpank (the game): a sort of deadpan absurdity where pretty much anything -- no matter how anachronistic or fourth-wall-breaking -- gets said as naturally as we would discuss the time of day. The unflinching delivery of some of the most surprising and out-of-left-field (yet flowing and not at all awkward) dialogue makes DeathSpank simply one of the funniest games to watch and listen to. The script, filled with references and quips covering topics from fantasy RPG tropes to the secret history of felt to the value of unicorn excrement to even sly references to other games, positively shines with classic designer Ron Gilbert's influence. The jokes hit on so many topics that something is bound to make you chuckle -- multiple times even. Even the diverse color palette, the Animal Crossing-esque "on-a-hill" perspective, and the visual gags, along with the voiced dialogue, all make DeathSpank a charming standout compared to other games of its ilk.

Kotaku is very positive:

DeathSpank is a nerdier gamer's delight. If you can't stand fantasy or jokes about quest logs, go away. If you can't get over how un-nutritious it is to keep playing a game out of loot lust, find something more innovative. If you want to look at lots of gray and brown graphics, ignore this hero and his purple thong. If you want to have fun and laugh and just keep bashing through Orques and stoopid chickens, download and play DeathSpank. And cheer with me that the game ends with an interesting tease for a very different sequel.

GamesRadar goes for 8/10:

And any description of DeathSpank you’ve heard heralding it as Diablo-meets-Monkey-Island is dead on. The gameplay is pure action RPG, a hack ‘n’ slash affair with tons of loot to grab, monsters to kill, and levels to go up. But where the game shines is in its writing. If you’ve played any of the adventure games that Ron Gilbert is famous for, you’ve got a pretty fantastic idea as to the type of humor that you can expect. Lots of witty dialogue, hilarious quest premises, and of course poop jokes abound.

• Game Revolution - 'A-'
• MTV

Ron Gilbert's Deathspank has been released on XBL and PSN and here are three early reviews from major sites.

VideoGamer says the game doesn't quite "gel", with the mix of Diablo and Monkey Island feeling "diluted".  The score is 7/10 and here's a sample:

Quests are usually more entertaining in concept than execution. Part of the problem is an overreliance on the dreaded fetch quest, and while the game channels the spirit of Gilbert’s adventure heritage by adding in plenty of bits where you combine and use items from other quests to progress further, the game still depends far too heavily on trundling over an area collecting spoils from downed foes over and over again. DeathSpank might be doing it with a sense of humour, but an ironic send-up of the tedious fetch quest is still a tedious fetch quest.

IGN is more positive, with a score of 8.5/10.  As with all these articles they praise the art style but the quests remain a disappointment and the coop mode is criticised.  Here's the summary:

If you like sweet loot, hacking things to death, looking at beautiful landscapes and laughing at good writing, you might want to pick up DeathSpank. However, although the game shines in many areas, it does have its flaws. Questing can turn into a noticeable chore, and I would have gladly substituted some of the “go fetch” missions in favor of some more brainteasers. Still, DeathSpank is a fun adventure worth exploring.

Eurogamer says "something of a disappointment", with a score of 6/10:

It's partly the difficult balance of pastiche. If whatever you're sending up isn't observed extremely acutely, and your mockery doesn't differ significantly enough from the lampooned material, then the result is often just as hackneyed and predictable as what you're trying to parody.

Such is the case with DeathSpank, which takes the pomp and earnestness of the Western RPG as its rather easy target, throws in a few words like 'thunderstomp', items such as 'chicken-lips' and the odd sabre-toothed donkey - then slips instantly back into repetitive fetch-quests and button bashing combat, losing any satirical edge by aping its subject too closely.

Gaming Nexus has a roundtable interview on Deathspank with three developers answering the questions:

I know a project can change a lot from its initial concept to final product. Was mixing classic adventure games and action RPGs what you started out trying to do?
Vlad Ceraldi (Executive Producer): Everyone here is an RPG fan. We're also old school adventure fans. When we first formed the company in 2006 we were trying to think of what we wanted to create. What were we most excited about? We looked at pure adventure games and thought that we wanted to do something new and different with adventure games. We didn't know what to change exactly, but we didn't think they would stand alone and create the experience we wanted to create.

We were also looking at RPGs and at some point we said, "Adventure games are really good at bringing across character and story. Could we mix the two and bring some of the puzzles and some of the humor?” We had already been dealing with humorous games in our past history working together. We thought that was going to be a nice mix. RPGs are something we are fans of. Regarding our first title we were working with, Penny Arcade was interested in doing a Japanese style or older school RPG, which was totally something we were excited about and had already been discussing. We started blending those two together, and we made that pitch to them and they were excited. So that's how that started. Our initial goal was to try to re-invigorate adventure games, or what they can be expected to be and how they could add something new and exciting to existing genres and what's already out there.

Also, check out the epic weapons trailer at Gametrailers.  Word from Omega is this shows "the Chicken Cannon, The Gilded Boots of Bling, and Unicorn Poop".

You've got to give them points for the term "DeathSpam".  We received this PR announcing an updated website and the option to receive email updates:

Official DeathSpank website and DeathSpam launched.

Today DeathSpank announced, care of Hothead, the grand opening of his auspicious new fan club and "spanking" new website.

Hothead Games have forwarded the contents of a personal note written by DeathSpank himself, in which he expresses his wish for everyone to join in and sign up.

In the note, DeathSpank also reveals his reply address and plans for lots of DeathSpank updates through DeathSpam and the social media channels, twitter and facebook. And we mean lots.

The new website, www.deathspank.com is now live and will introduce you to the DeathSpank game and all other DeathSpank related announcements.

DeathSpank will be available for download beginning July 13, 2010 on the PlayStation Network for $14.99, and July 14, 2010 on Xbox LIVE Arcade for 1200 Microsoft Points. DeathSpank is rated “T” for teen by the ESRB. For more information on DeathSpank, please visit, www.deathspank.com.

(Contents of the personal note written by DeathSpank)

Greetings Citizen!

You clearly are a loyal supporter of justice and justice-related entertainment (I can see that from here), so prepare to be rewarded!

I, DeathSpank, am bringing the fight against evil to PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade this month, and to celebrate I am opening the doors to my minty-fresh website:

www.deathspank.com

Go now to www.deathspank.com to join the struggle against evil and boredom! Go early, go often! Go too often! Neglect your family and friends, madly hitting F5 hoping for additional website updates! Use mobile devices to stalk the website like a proud Justice hunter on an evil savannah.
Thrill at the mighty wallpapers, avatars and screenshots and sign up for DeathSpam email for even more updates! Be amazed by my incredible Facebook page!
http://www.facebook.com/deathspank

Be astounded by DeathSpank (@deathspank) tweets, promotions and up to the picosecond updates. The DeathSpank cast is tweeting too! Eubrick the Retired (@eubrick_retired) is tweeting pure crank while Lord Von Prong (@LordVonProng) tweets pure evil!

I mean just look at all those exclamation points and updates in that last paragraph! How can it not be exciting? It can’t not be definitely not be not exciting, that’s how.
Visit the website! Tell your friends! Tell your relatives! Tell complete strangers on the street that at last Justice is at hand! The Justice of DeathSpank! THIS is the moment when the internet finally becomes popular, and you’re going to be a part of it.

You can also call my ‘Hero Hotline’ at 1.866.631.1574 (toll free in North America) to have justice shoved right in your ear!)

Yours in Justice,
DeathSpank

Please send replies to @deathspank or deathspank@deathspank.com

The Deathspank site has a dev diary titled Spanking Death, with Lead Designer Darren Evinson writing a humorous piece about the production:

Working on DeathSpank has been an unbelievable experience for me.  Literally.  I still have a hard time believing we’re actually finished working on it, because it has been such a huge part of our lives at Hothead for so long.  Well okay, maybe not THAT long… but in dog years it’s a pretty good chunk of time.  My part in DeathSpank’s production was as Lead Designer. What I got to do was pretty incredible, as I worked alongside Ron Gilbert and our incredible development team at Hothead to create a truly unique and entertaining experience.

<Sips glass of brandy and looks contemplatively out the window.>

Meanwhile, there's a short preview at The Examiner:

As a DLC title for both Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network, DeathSpank's projected playtime of 12 to 15 hours might seem modest to some, but it's of little consequence when considering the game offers relatively deep character building, many weapons and upgrades, and Gilbert's penchant for hilarious dialogue trees. In one conversation, the title character was enjoying the nostalgic musings of an aged warrior only to find out that the old man has gotten senile, confusing dragon-slaying with cat-kicking. Clearly the game presents countless opportunities for poking fun at RPG conventions, and while my 20-minute session revealed moments of laugh-out-loud parody, the story showed a lot of originality without relying on constant genre homages.

Ron Gilbert has been interviewed at Eurogamer, covering Deathspank and his arrangement with Hothead but moving on to Kinect, Move and different platforms.  He sidesteps the question about a PC version.  Here's a snip:

Eurogamer: Tell us about your current game, DeathSpank. What kind of game is it?

Ron Gilbert: DeathSpank's a combination of things. It draws a lot from adventure games. It draws a lot from the way adventure games tell stories and the way adventure games do puzzles. Monkey Island, they way it did dialogues, the way you conversed with people - it draws really heavily from a lot of influences of Monkey Island. But it also draws a lot from other genres of games that I like. I like RPGs. I like games like Diablo. I like stat-based combat and those things. I really wanted to fuse those two things together - take two genres of games I enjoy playing quite a bit and make one game out of it. That's where DeathSpank started - fusing those two things together.

Ron Gilbert speaks with VideoGamer in a conversation spotted by Omega that covers Deathspank and roams into other areas.  An early snip:

Q: You've described DeathSpank as being a mix of Diablo and Monkey Island, but I was wondering what your inspiration has been in terms of the story and the setting of the game.

Ron Gilbert: The character DeathSpank was something that I created along with my friend Clayton Kauzlaric, about five years ago, for these comic strips that I put on my website, Grumpy Gamer. We needed this weird, kind of off-the-wall bizarre video game character, which is why we created him, and he was just such an interesting character to us that we really wanted to give him his own game. The story that wraps around DeathSpank, it's a little bit of satire and parody of video games. It's not really in your face with it, it's kind of very subtle. But we really wanted DeathSpank's world to be this bizarre place that doesn't make a lot of sense. Video games just don't make sense a lot of the time, so his world takes on a little bit of that bizarreness. That's the thing behind the way the story is told, what the story is and all that.

Over at the official site they have an introduction to the characters in the game, which we haven't linked before.

Giant Bomb has one of their excellent Quick Look videos for Deathspank, offering 15 minutes of hands-on gameplay footage.  If you watch it, you'll need to survive the ridiculously long 5-minute intro battle to get more of a sense of the game.  In addition, Gameinfowire has some screens.  Thanks, Omega.

EA sent us this PR, dating the release of Deathspank for consoles.  No mention of a PC version, as usual:

EA AND HOTHEAD GAMES DELIVER DEATHSPANK DIRECT TO GAMERS ON JULY 13TH

(Quite Possibly) The Funniest RPG Ever Made Serves up A Healthy Heap of Humor this Summer

Guildford, UK. – June 22, 2010 – Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) and leading independent developer Hothead Games^TM announced today that the upcoming downloadable action-RPG, DeathSpank^TM, will be released on July 13th for PlayStation^®Network and July 14th for Xbox LIVE^® Arcade. Gain quests from a colorful cast of characters, and vanquish evil with fast and furious action as DeathSpank scours the world for a mystical artifact. DeathSpank will feature local co-op gameplay, allowing friends to team up on the same console as both DeathSpank and his trusty, magical sidekick, Sparkles the Wizard. Developed under the direction of The Secret of Monkey Island creator and industry icon Ron Gilbert, DeathSpank combines Gilbert’s unique humor and wit with fast, addictive action-RPG gameplay, making for a hilarious and massive epic quest for justice.

The game puts players in the mighty boots of DeathSpank, the “Dispenser of Justice”, “Vanquisher of Evil” and “Hero to the Downtrodden”. His life-long destiny is to embark on an epic journey in search of a mysterious and magical artifact known only as, “The Artifact”. DeathSpank will feature local co-op gameplay, allowing friends to team up on the same console as both DeathSpank and his trusty, magical sidekick, Sparkles the Wizard. Sparkles’ abilities are magical, serving as the perfect complement DeathSpank’s weapons-based attacks as the duo battle against the intolerant minions of injustice.

Along the way DeathSpank and Sparkles will rescue some orphans, defeat a local tyrant, help an aging adventurer, and dive headlong into an even deeper mystery in an epic action RPG that includes collecting loot, solving crazy puzzles, witty dialogue, collecting loot, a ton of weapons, fun and accessible action, and of course, colleting loot.

DeathSpank will be available for download begininning July 13, 2010 on the PlayStation Network for $14.99, and July 14, 2010 on Xbox LIVE Arcade for 1200 Microsoft Points. DeathSpank is rated “T” for teen by the ESRB. For more information on DeathSpank, please visit, www.deathspank.com.

A new story trailer has been released for Deathspank.  Catch it at Rock, Paper, Shotgun.

We might as well follow up yesterday's Ron Gilbert news with the official "we're done" news from the Deathspank site:

DeathSpank is done! While we still have a tough road to follow as we take the game through final certification steps for XBLA and PSN, the game turned out fantastic! It truly is a great and funny action RPG. We can’t wait for everyone to try out the game which is now coming out even soonerish!

It's hard to know what this means, because we've seen so little of what was once meant to be an episodic game released with a quick turnaround.  Here we are, two years later.  Ron Gilbert has announced he has left Hothead, although he basically says the game is finished:

Remember Ron Gilbert's Deathspank?  I seem to recall (though the memory is dim) that it was originally due not long after the first announcement in episodic form.  Fast forward a couple of years and we have a publishing announcement from EA Partners - sans PC:

EA PARTNERS AND HOTHEAD GAMES TEAM UP TO DELIVER DEATHSPANK

EA to Publish the Latest Game from Industry Icon Ron Gilbert

Redwood Shores, CA – March 4, 2010 – EA Partners, a division of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) and leading independent developer Hothead Games announced today an exclusive publishing agreement that will bring DeathSpank to Xbox LIVE® Arcade and PlayStation®Network in 2010. Developed under the vision of The Secret of Monkey Island creator and industry icon Ron Gilbert, DeathSpank blends a story filled with Gilbert’s unique humor and wit with classic and addictive action RPG gameplay.

“The team at Hothead Games is a perfect fit for EA Partners. They are a great example of how the EA Partners program continues to emphasize the importance of building strong relationships with the world’s top indie developers,” said Jamil Moledina, Outreach Director, Business Development at EA Partners. “DeathSpank is an engrossingly fun and hysterically funny experience, and we are all excited to have the opportunity to help introduce DeathSpank to gamers across the world.”

Ian Wilkinson, CEO of Hothead Games added, “We are proud of our independence, but are very excited to be working with EA Partners on a title as big as DeathSpank. With EA Partners handling distribution and marketing, Hothead can continue to focus on what we do best, making great games.”

The game casts players in the role DeathSpank, the Hero to the Downtrodden, a Vanquisher of Evil and Defender of Justice as he fulfills his life-long destiny and searches for a mysterious and magical item only known as "The Artifact". Along the way he'll rescue a few Orphans, defeat a local tyrant and tumble headlong into the even deeper mystery surrounding the legendary Thongs of Virtue in an epic adventure game that includes collecting loot, crazy puzzle solving, witty dialogue, collecting loot, over-the-top animations, fun, accessible action combat, and of course, collecting loot. For more information on DeathSpank, please visit www.deathspank.com 

Ron Gilbert talks about his new game Deathspank over at Gamasutra. They discuss a variety of subjects including his work on Monkey Island, the reasoning behind making Deathspank one full game instead of episodic, the Diablo influence in the game, combining different genres and more. Here is a little part of the interview:

One reason I ask is because when I interviewed you several years ago, I enjoyed how much you had to say about other genres besides adventure games.

RG: Adventure games are probably most commonly known for how they tell stories -- or at least that's how I think about them. It's how the stories are structured, how the puzzles are structured, and how the story weaves in and out of the puzzles.

I do wish that was something that people who do other genres would understand better. Even doing a first-person shooter, I think if you understood how really good adventure games are structured, there is a lot that can be learned.

And vice versa, too. There are a lot of really great things that first-person shooters and real-time strategy games do that I think adventure games could really learn from.

Games Radar gives us a brief glimpse into Ron Gilbert's Deathspank. This sidequest is just a taste of what is in store for us from the man who brought us The Secret of Monkey Island:

"One of the side quest chains in the game involves a farmer named Bobblewood," says Gilbert, expounding on the creative profanity of DeathSpank's world. "He's trying to grow vegetables for the county fair and wants some demon dung for fertilizer, because he's pretty sure that's the key to winning this year's contest. He gives you his experimental ‘Demon Poop Hammer' to go hit demons with. It does only one point of damage, but has a ten percent chance of making them poop. It's harder than you think."

Eurogamer have taken a look at Deathspank.

Watching Gilbert play through some of the more dungeon-crawler moments suggests this other half of the game isn't looking too bad either. During DeathSpank's crunchy cartoon combat it starts to become apparent that, although the plot is cheerily moronic and the characters are drooling hunchbacked ninnies, Hothead's game is rather serious when it comes to its mechanics. Seconds after DeathSpank crests a hill to find a group of wide-eyed trolls capering about, Gilbert pauses the action and a huge inventory screen pops into view, filled with dozens of item slots. Each face button is configurable to any of your weapons (although platforms have yet to be announced, Gilbert was playing using a 360 controller) and there are decent armour options, too.

It's pretty quiet out there today, so why not head over to Hothead Games and try your hand at their Deathspank Haiku for Loot contest?

GameSpot has some observations on Deathspank from PAX:

How The Game Is Played: The Diablo portion of the game is very much a button-masher. You can map anything to the D pad and face buttons of the controller to give yourself easy access to your arsenal of weapons. There's something for every occasion. In our demo we watched as DeathSpank used an lightning area attack, which stunned all the skeletons around him. Once they recovered, they went after him and because he was armed with a cleaving weapon (which can attack multiple foes at a time), DeathSpank left nothing but a pile of bones in his wake. There are more than 100 weapons and armors to collect, and we were told that the adventure could take anywhere from 15 to 20 hours to complete.

The Monkey Island portion involves talking to quirky people and going through the dialogue choices to experience all the great lines. After talking to Eubrick the retired, we got some flashbacks of Herman Toothrot, the crazy old hermit from Monkey Island. One of the quests involves helping the mayor find kidnapped orphans, but before the mayor would accept our help, we had to get a weapon from Eubrick. However, Eubrick is only willing to hand over the sword if he can trade it for a taco--an extra spicy one. Apparently a taco wagon a ways back would have solved this dilemma, but we would also need to find a way to add some heat to this Mexican dish.

VoodooExtreme has a product sheet for Ron Gilbert's Deathspank from PAX that might help fill in some gaps.  Co-op is included, which may spark interest for some:

Publisher/Developer: Hothead Games, Inc.
Platform: Too numerous to mention, including PS3, XBox 360, PC…
Genre: (Very Funny) RPG
Players: Single-Player Quest / Local Multiplayer Co-op
Release: 2010ish
Rating: “RP” for Rating Pending (Target – “T” for Teen)

Overview:

Charming. Intelligent. Enigmatic. These are just a few words that nobody ever uses when describing DeathSpank.

Developed by indie developer and publisher Hothead Games and created by Ron Gilbert of LucasArts adventure game fame, DeathSpank will bring to life the hilarious adventures of the game’s titular hero. Set on a wrap-around world map with a unique art style utilizing 2D elements in a 3D world, DeathSpank will roam the world on his many varied quests without ever encountering a load screen.

Gameplay is divided between uncovering the story via conversations, solving complex puzzles, equipping your character to maximize his strengths, and battling anything else that moves. The single-player quest allows players to explore the world, get to know the many interesting characters along the way, battle a large variety of enemies, and collect from over 100 different types of weapons and over 100 types of armor. As he conquers his enemies, DeathSpank will be able to level up, collect loot, and acquire new abilities.

The development team has been creating a unique gaming experience by focusing on humor at every turn, perpetually fun and visceral combat, and an engaging story with deep and complex puzzles.

DeathSpank will feature witty dialog, improbable scenarios, unexpected villains, and a robust collecting system for weapons, armor, items, and abilities. The action is easily accessible for short bursts of fun, but the story is revealed over 15+ hours of gameplay. In addition, players can choose to search out rare items and tackle the game’s many hearty side quests and will also have a chance to co-op with sidekicks in single-machine multiplayer.

Key Features:

RPG Gameplay: Movement and combat is perpetually fun and visceral, making it easily approachable to many gamers. Combat stats are easy to understand and are influenced by different collectible items and abilities earned by the player throughout the game. DeathSpank will battle a large world full of interesting and challenging enemies.

Adventure Quests: Help DeathSpank be a hero to the downtrodden. Players will enjoy deep and complex adventure game puzzle scenarios as they work to dispense justice and vanquish evil, as well as entertaining and informative dialog puzzles with the world’s many inhabitants.

Customization: Through collectible armor, weapons, and varying abilities, players can customize DeathSpank to their liking and to suit their style of play. They can also choose from several sidekicks that will be acquired while travelling around the world.

Charged With Humour: This game has humor everywhere. Hilarious quests, witty dialog, silly puzzles, ridiculous characters, visual gags, and over-the-top animations all contribute to the game’s humor. The elaborate storyline begins as DeathSpank searches for a mysterious artifact known as The Artifact.

Depth Of Play: DeathSpank keeps track of his adventures in a Quest Log, listing both ‘Important Things I Need To Do’ and ‘Unimportant Things I Need To Do.’ Players who have completed the story mode can choose to play additional quests and will be rewarded with exclusive equipment.

Unique Art Style: The game’s eccentric personality extends to its art style, which uses charming 2D elements in an immersive 3D world. The different areas of DeathSpank’s world are laid out on a globe, and the character is shown at an angle which gives a rolling perspective as you move about. There is an expansive world to explore and there will be no load screens.

Well, well, well...Ron Gilbert's Deathspank has emerged from a lengthy period of "coming soon" for a preview at 1Up, which comes with 10 screens.  Here's a bit on the combat in this Monkey Island-meets-Diablo concept:

But now I'm playing cut and paste with Gilbert's demonstration, because in-between the adventure game detailed above, there's an action-RPG where you spend time killing enemies like orcs and chickens, leveling-up, and collecting loot. The design goals for this half of the game seem centered around two concepts: making sure the combat requires strategy, and offering enough items so everyone who plays can customize their character as they choose.

The base mechanics work very simply -- you have direct control over your character, with a mix of melee and ranged attacks, and can lock-on if you want to attack someone specific. And as you kill enemies and complete quests, you earn XP to level up, which increases your health and strength, and allows access to certain level-locked weapons and pieces of armor.

We haven't heard anything about Ron Gilbert's humorous Monkey-Island-meets-Diablo game since the original announcement but RPG Codex has popped up with an interview:

How are you combining the adventure and RPG elements? What will the balance between the two genres be? More adventure or more RPG?

Good question and probably the hardest thing about designing DeathSpank. If there were ever two genres that belonged together, I think it's Adventure and RPG. They share a lot in being story and world focused. But there are also differences, mainly in what motivates players to move forward and how they attack problems. An adventure game can be described as a bunch of immovable objects you need to navigate your way around, and a RPG is a bunch of really heavy objects you need to push out of the way. I would be lying if I said it's not a constant challenge to balance the two. As John F. Kennedy once said of the moon landings: We do these things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.