Braid lands on PS3 Nov. 12

Braid is finally coming to PlayStation 3 via the PlayStation Store. Jonathan Blow’s Braid will make its way to the PlayStation Network in North America on Nov. 12 with a European version to be announced shortly thereafter.

Players explore the human condition and manipulate time as hero Tim who explores the lush, painted world of Braid, a puzzle-platformer that takes you from a house in the city on a journey through a series of worlds to solve puzzles and rescue the princess by manipulating time using a unique series of ,mechanics like the ability to rewind, create parallel realities and utilize time dilation to overcome obstacles.

Braid has been rated “E 10+” for Everyone 10 and older by the Entertainment Software Rating Board for all platforms. The PS3 game will be published by Hothead Games.

Ron Gilbert to keynote PAX 2009

Industry legend Ron Gilbert will be a keynote speaker at PAX 2009, the sixth annual gaming festival to be held Sept. 4-6 at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center.

Legendary storyteller, game designer, programmer and producer Ron Gilbert has created countless classic video games, including the seminal LucasArts works Maniac Mansion and first two installments in the Monkey Island adventure series. His more than 20-year career in the games industry encompasses co-founding three game studios, creating the famous SCUMM scripting language and being inducted into the Computer Game Hall of Fame. He is currently creative director at independent development studio Hothead Games in Vancouver, Canada.

In addition to that keynote address, numerous panels and game demonstrations, Omegathon and The PAX 10 independent games showcase, PAX 2009 will offer attendees musical performances from Freezepop, Jonathan Coulton, MC Frontalot, Paul and Storm, Anamanaguchi and Metroid Metal.

PAX is a three-day celebration of games and gamer culture. The festival includes an exhibition floor filled with playable builds of upcoming tabletop, console and computer games; a conference program of game industry speakers; music concerts; freeplay areas; industry parties; game tournaments and more. For more information, visit www.paxsite.com.

Hothead Games Gets ‘Radical’ New CEO

It looks like there’s been a bit of the ol’ corporate shuffle going on this morning over at the offices of Hothead Games, the company behind the Penny Arcade Adventures games. Earlier today, the studio announced that it has managed to corral former Radical Entertainment president and CEO Ian Wilkinson as its new president and CEO, effective immediately. Wilkinson oversaw Radical’s growth from a startup company to an established industry player, culminating in Radical’s sale to Vivendi Games, which merged with Activision last year. As part of the change, former Hothead Games president and CEO Vlad Ceraldi will shift gears, taking on a new role as Director of Game Development, while Chief Operating Officer Joel DeYoung will move from COO to Director of Game Technology.

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Hothead Games Ports Braid, The Maw

Hothead Games is bringing some popular indies that were once exclusively on Xbox Live to PC players. The independent development studios that helped create the Penny Arcade RPG titles has inked deals with Twisted Pixel and Jonathan blow. Hothead Games will port The Maw, the popular Xbox Live Arcade platformer from Twisted Pixel to the PC, and Jonathan Blow’s Braid to the Mac.

This might also lead to Hothead helping these developers port future titles to these platforms at launch - though I am kind of speculating on that fact.
The Maw is a clever platformer featuring a strange pair of aliens who are simply trying to get away from an oppressive humanoid force that captures other aliens for some unknown reason. The game follows the exploits of Frank and the shape-changing Maw, who takes on different forms based on creatures that he eats. Braid doesn’t really need an explanation but if you’re from another universe you can learn more at our Braid game page.

You can learn more about Hothead Games by visiting www.hotheadgames.com

Penny Arcade Adventures Episode Two Released

Gabe, Tycho and a robot that enjoys intercourse with fruit return in Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode Two. The second RPG featuring the dark humor of the Penny Arcade team is available on Xbox Live Arcade, Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Developed by Hothead Games and the team behind the Penny Arcade web comic, Episode Two of the RPG-adventure game series lets players jump right back into a fresh character and new customization options or carry over their look and stats from Episode One. Episode Two offers more puzzles, new areas to explore, levels to gain and new difficulty settings.

The Xbox Live Arcade version is rated “M” and retails for 1200 MS Points. The PC and Mac-based version are available from www.hotheadgames.com.

Hothead Scores Ron Gilbert, DeathSpank Game

Hothead Games has picked up the rights to publish Ron Gilbert’s role-playing/adventure game, DeathSpank…and the rights to Ron Gilbert as well. Described by Gilbert as Monkey Island meets Diablo, the game’’s hook is the infusion of Gilbert’’s unique style of humor and storytelling. Hothead also announced that Gilbert will be joining the company’’s Vancouver-based studio as Creative Director, effective immediately.

I”ve spent over four years trying to find the right publisher for this strangelittle game. Now that I”ve done it, you just know that somewhere fourhorsemen are saddling up, says Gilbert.

The episodic RPG adventure follows the antics of DeathSpank, a character that first appeared on Gilbert’’s Grumpy Gamer Web site in a series of animated comics he penned with long-time creative collaborator, Clayton Kauzlaric.