Yay! at Last!!

omfg ftw

ZOMG!!!!111!!11!!
FTW

See? You did it again

I suppose your site gets a lot of visitors since the design is so professional looking.  I am in the beginning of starting my coach online outlet store site can you tell me who your designer is? Thanks in advance.

OMFG with 1s indeed.

I thought this would look just nice, like "we-are-an-independent-company-nice" but this is often. I mean awesome. (Yeah, i know thats getting old, but my creativity is sleeping)

what's the name of the song

Awesome pictures. You could talk about that at PAX. Or, you know, just talk about how to mix battery acid with red dye no.2 and get all the attendees drunk.

I do wonder though: is Deathspank going to actually spank Death in this game?  Because that right there would make it Game of the Year for me.

That or maniac chickens.

Is he going up, really?

Maybe the screenshot is upside-down? If that's the case, I guess the mountain really has snow on the bottom.

Talk about toast. Everyone likes toast.

thank you for including a pirate city ron.

You may also type 'mail2grumpy.com' or 'red dye 32'. I heard this works 1005 6 saves you lots of 4 when you twitter1

"This is a shot of DeathSpank making his way up these really high mountains with snow on the peaks called The Really High Mountains with Snow on the Peaks."

Ron, I really have to commend you -- After all these years, you can still make jokes where I honestly can't decide if they're funny or not. I like it.

Honestly, I just say stupid stuff until someone laughs.

"The path of creativity is paved with failure."
    - me

See? You did it again

"The path failure of is paved with creativity"
-Pantufla

"The creativity of failure is paved with path "
-flaPantu

"The failure of creativity is pathed with pave."
- Utnapalf

"The path of creativity is paved"

"You fail."
- me

lol
- some brown guy

Might cry. Exqueeze me while I go to the bathroom.

maybe you should open your keynote with the Grog XD news... everybody should know that the media down here in argentina is pure bullcrap so somebody in argentina actually does something about it...

sometimes I get so angry and shameful about my country and its defficiencies.... our most recent laws have made taxes for technology go higher when we can't produce our own, we're actually helping brazilian technology grow while we just do NOTHING

shite...

maybe a knock knock joke could work too...

you're awesome ron

Hooray for curly pirate clouds!!!!11!!!1111!!!!

"This is a shot of DeathSpank making his way up these really high mountains with snow on the peaks called The Really High Mountains with Snow on the Peaks."

Love it. Absolutely love it. I'm so much looking forward to this one. :)

O M F G

Seems good. I like the screens.
Can't wait.

Awesome Clouds! I said awesome! Can't wait to see this moving. Mmm.. I think that a lot of of cool kids write "can't wait" too.

Btw, maybe you should talk in the PAX Keynote about what you sould talk in the PAX Keynote. Hope it helps.

You can talk about the challenges you faced when creating something unique like DeathSpank. The difficulties of combining and adventure game and a role-playing game. That kind of thing.

I'll probably start with some joke on the Grog XD. It is always useful to start with a joke and this is quite recent to talk about.

I think your PAX talk should be about your insight on why some games make it big, while most don't.
You had a big post about you replaying MI 1 and 2 a while back, in which you noted things like pixel hunting, manually opening a door and such is unacceptable in games nowadays. Why was it allowed then, and don't we allow it anymore now. That's really interesting stuff!
I played the recently released special edition of MI 1 and although it was great nostalgic fun for me, I believe it would never have made a great impact without its fanbase from the 80's. We just don't spend enough time any more on playing through games. In the past, you've made comments about adult gamers having little time and how episodic gaming therefore makes sense. I think it would be very interesting to hear more novel ideas on how to get players to be devoted to a game again.
We are too spoiled, there are too many games out there, so we want to jump as quickly from one game to the next. Developers have followed this trend and no longer spend many months to really finish, polish and 'some other word that sounds like a language' a game. Most games nowadays are either tech demos (demonstrating a fancy graphics engine) or some over commercialized hype (Halo 8, call of duty 20).  
An example of how it should be done is Battlefield 1943 (been sold over a million copies in a short time). They have taken the old gameplay concept of battlefield 1942 (released in 2002 or so) and updated it with their latest engine. But I think they spend most of their time balancing the game so it plays well. The network code runs smooth, teams are well balanced, etc. Mind you there are only 4 maps! But for the first time since years I'm experiencing again what it is like to really know a map, know where players commonly hide for cover, what are good approach routes and try out new ways to outsmart the other players.
So I would be very interested to hear your view on what makes players stick to a game. I'm not going to PAX though, so be sure to post the slides or some video online :)

That's very intersting stuff, but it's no easy to figure out what has change so much in users to have this horrifying games now. The history of videogames it's something really important I think, same with the movies... it talks a lot of the society that consume it.

Geat screenshots, really beautiful art!! Still I cant imagine de gameplay very well, for that we have to wait until the end (insert epic music)

In no way does ten screenshots constitute a "plethora". If I were in a generous mood, I might describe it as a smattering of screenshots - perhaps even a smidgen or a sprinkling of screenshots. But not a plethora. Heavens no.

To know the Grumpy Gamer is to know Ron's use of the word "plethora" pays homage to a 1986 movie starring Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, and Martin Short... otherwise known as (okay, say it in unison), "The Three Amigos!"

And in true comedic fashion, 10 snapshots is a plenty for use of the word 'plethora'. :-)

Well talk about judging a book by the cover, but the art direction seems a bit disappointing, ron. I don't like to be a graphics whore but while some stuff seems to be neatly polished  IE, some interesting shaders and most character art, other stuff seems to look bland and relatively low res (water shades and sky textures for instance).  The colour palette doesnt look like much either. So I gotta say I'm a bit disappointed with the screens.

Anyway, we'll see how it plays. After all what are graphics but a mere skin for gameplay?

You know, I've always wanted to ask: is the RPG aspect of DeathSpank basically designed to cater to people such as myself, aka those who try to enjoy RPGs, but start crying tears the size of cantaloupes everytime a character opens their mouth? Something that has the soft fight aspects of Diablo, but the great writing of Monkey Island?

By the way, I really dig the art style. It's weird that publishers didn't want to do it a few years ago; it's not like it's so far off the beaten path no-one would recognize it was a game.

(I'm ignoring the adventure gamey part of the game, for the sake of this question.)

The clouds in that screenshot look like caribbean monkey island clouds.

I'm glad to see that DeathSpank features a small island in the middle of the sea.

Say something about Grog XD

Well done Ron, the prototype is slowly taking shape...

:p

It looks much more interesting than the average "new game". And though the technique looks simple it no less is very evocative due to a careful stylization.

I must say the screenshots are... okay. I like the idea of a 2D/3D mixture, but comparing Deathspank to Ragnarök Online (korean mmorpg, something like 10 years old) I don't see any progress in beauty/style in the past decade.
Just look at the pirate screenshot (7). The wooden planks look great, detailed. The water is good. But the steering wheel seems washed out. And especially the hills are ...
I think everyone is satisfied with a great gameplay. And I believe we will get it. But after playing some recent games (and I don't mean the high-end shooter crap) we all got used to a certain standard in graphics.
Could we get some more detail on the hills? Please?

It's all about how large and diverse the world is and how much there is to do and discover. Then I think the graphics is good enough. I'm actually not a fan of Diablo but I think mixing it with adventure elements makes an interesting concept.
But I'm not an avid player since a while now (apart from some demos) which is why my opinion on the graphics is apparently not a relevant indicator.

I didn't know it was coming to the n64

You could talk about the rise of small casual games and where you see indi developers going in the future.

A great man once said (this was Phil Harrison) that a keynote should set a tone for a conference or convention. I would suggest finding out what the big or even small stuff is at the show and use that as a mechanism in your speech. Either that or just do game quotes for fifteen minutes, those PAX guys are easy to please.

You could just go: "You know what? I'm done, I'm sick and tired" And then you tell everyone the Secret.

Some points:

- Make a joke about Grog XD.
- Talk about what you have done the day of the Keynote, "I got up and thought what I should said at the Keynote?", that kind of things.
- Thank HotHead for the support.
- Thank your fans.
- Talk about the origins of Deathspank. Playing all the flash movies.

That will make some minutes.

As a bonus you can...
... appear running and jumping like a monkey, like Steve Ballmer did at a Microsoft Keynote.
... appear dressed as Deathspank, like Miyamoto did, dressed as Link.
... give lots of cd's containing the alpha/beta.

Have you finished creating the 100+ pieces of armor and 100+ weapons ? Because that'd sound fun. I'd be happy to help.

hey Ron check this out, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iYZy2xyR-g
Saludos desde Argentina!!!

Check this out http://grumpygamer.com/5192062

Check this out http://grumpygamer.com/5726803

Ron, in your interview you mentioned Humongous games. Did you use any devices from these games in DeathSpank?

my girlfriend can spank to death too

I can tell

I know, she's wicked...

i know, your girlfriend is great

You too, honey :*

rrrrrrrraaaaaawwwrrr!!

Everything you'll do, we'll buy... (And some stuff you don't do too... like Batman)

DeathSpank gameplay trailer looks awesome. Looks much better running than the screenshots. Amazing!

Will there be any romantic endeavors in Deathspank? His name is kind of porny you know..

Meh. I don't like the Diablo part.
The game doesn't look like the deal breaker I hoped for,
it's just nothing really new or exciting, and I don't get where the Monkey Island part is hidden, the part which would entice me to buy it.

Ron, DeathSpank looks really great!!!The trailer is AWESOME!
I hope you will release it on xboxlive!!!
I am very very very hyped now!!!

I'm sorry, why does it looks like shit and not like a trailers at all?

Maybe you need to clean your display...

I'm not sure comedy and Diablo mix well. It's like comedy and horror in one movie.

You mean something like Evil Dead/Army of Darkness - which was brilliant!

Just open the PAX Keynote with Playboy bunnies with huge boobies who dance on stage. That'll be awesome and satisfying for 90% of the men there who are still virgin.

Just watched the gameplay video of the PAX demo on youtube, really liking the art design and the look of the game.

Now I'm really REALLY looking forward to this game, I just hope the adventure part of the game is not over-shadowed by killing and stuff, but I'm pretty sure its not :P

Here is the video for you guys, if you haven’t seen it yet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9M1akRWxsLI

The feel I got from watching that video was a bit like when I first played Zelda: LttP, maybe its the camera angle or something, I don’t know, but I’m liking it :D

It looks AWSUM! (111!!FTW!)
Also finally some MI parts visible in this video.
Now for the question "PC or the Mac?"..

Thanks for the link James!
Anyone knows the release date?

Will there be a combat move "kick enemy in the nuts"? That would be fucking balls to the wall hella awesum! 111!!!11!! FTW

Now that we've seen DeathSpank, now for the most important question:
Will shooting 5 nuns open up the secret hell level? Darn I hate Ron and his secrets!

I want to jump with the space bar!

Ron, what is the true secret of Death Spank?

oh shut up

you must be Ron's lawyer. Nice to meet you.

Ron, in the 1-Up interview you mention that: "..doing a comic book or some kind of an interesting online form for him outside of a game could be really interesting"

Why don't you team up with the guys from Penny Arcade and do a DeathSpank comic? That would be really awesome.

Only if Tycho will write it...

tycho? please not

just sharing something here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Beopq74D6NM&NR=1

DeathSpank?
Awesome
REALLY awesome

I think that a DeathSpank's release date will be enough for the keynote. Who could ask for more?
Otherwise you could simply read textually your "Why Adventure Games Suck" and with some luck it will get to the desired ears...

BTW: Very nice ss ^^.

The dawning of a new Hero!
The multiplyier of Justice!
The rewarder of the lonely!
DEATHSPANK

Ron you really did grab the best aspects of the successfull Diablo and put them into this game. I don't mind the art direction. It looks great and looking forward to seeing it and of course even more looking forward to seeing YOU making the at last final Monkey Island (I know if you got a penny everytime you heard that you would be richer than rich).

Demetris

Deathspank is looking excellent. I can't wait to play it!

Yay for 2D trees and clouds and stuff!! I hope a Mac version is made!

Ooh and I enjoyed watching your interview with Giant Bomb.com:

http://www.giantbomb.com/giant-bomb-at-pax-09-ron-gilbert-interview/17-1322/

Does anyone have a link to a video of Ron's PAX keynote?

Will DeathSpank have a multiplayer mode like World of Warcraft?

DeathSpank is a Diablo style game, not an MMO (Massive Money Orifice or Massively Multiplayer Online game... your choice).

I think I recall hearing that it will feature a cooperative multiplayer mode, just like Diablo.

That's exciting. I hope it features a save game functionality during multiplayer co-op mode. I remember when Dungeon Siege came out and it didn't have that common sense capability. Peoples were peeved!

Looking delicious! Any chance we will see this in a native Mac version?

I'm loving the art style this game has, can't wait to check it out. I've never actually played any of the games unfortunately, that will most likely change upon this games release.

I can't wait ! It looks beautiful ! I totally want it ! :D

DeathSpank is a Diablo style game, not an MMO (Massive Money Orifice or Massively Multiplayer Online game... your choice).

I think I recall hearing that it will feature a cooperative multiplayer mode, just like Diablo

Have you seen Machinarium? If 7 man team can do THAT then it's kinda setting expectations bit higher than this on the art side of things.

(Though if DeathSpank is only for DS and/or Iphone then the graphics presented here is fine)

DeathSpank is a Diablo style game, not an MMO (Massive Money Orifice or Massively Multiplayer Online game... your choice).

I think I recall hearing that it will feature a cooperative multiplayer mode, just like Diablo

That's exciting. I hope it features a save game functionality during multiplayer co-op mode. I remember when Dungeon Siege came out and it didn't have that common sense capability. Peoples were peeved!http://www.ladyshoesstore.com/