Some good console games that fall under our humble gaze will see solid to amazing discounts this week on both the Playstation Network and the Xbox Live Marketplace.

How’s 50% off titles such as Joe Danger, DeathSpank, Trials HD, Fat Princess and PixelJunk Racers 2nd Lap? NOT GOOD ENOUGH???

Alright, what about Twisted Pixel’s ‘Splosion Man for just $2 — will that satisfy your savings bloodlust? If not, just throw some cranberry sauce in the mix and that’ll do the trick.

The PSN sale ends November 26, while the Xbox Live daily discounts run through November 29. Note that while the PS3 deals are all available for the whole time, the Xbox deals will run as short sales popping up each day. We’ll be sure to point out the relevant offers as they hit.

Here are all the discounts offered on the services indie or otherwise:

PlayStation 3

• PixelJunk Racers 2nd Lap – $3.49 sale price; $6.99 regular price
• Top Gun – $7.49 sale price; $14.99 regular price
• DeathSpank – $7.49 sale price; $14.99 regular price
• Joe Danger – $7.49 sale price; $14.99 regular price
• Gundemonium Collection – $7.49 sale price; $14.99 regular price

PSP

• Groovin’ Blocks PSP – $4.99 sale price; $9.99 regular price
• Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake – $9.99 sale price; $19.99 regular price
• Dissidia Final Fantasy – $9.99 sale price; $19.99 regular price
• Dante’s Inferno PSP – $19.99 sale price; $39.99 regular price
• Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker – $19.99 sale price; $39.99 regular price

PlayStation Minis

• Young Thor – $2.49 sale price; $4.99 regular price
• Fieldrunners – $3.49 sale price; $6.99 regular price
• Hero of Sparta – $2.49 sale price; $4.99 regular price
• Alien Zombie Death – $1.99 sale price; $3.99 regular price
• Monopoly – $2.49 sale price; $4.99 regular price

Xbox Live Arcade

• Madden NFL Arcade (400MSP)
• Portal: Still Alive (400MSP)
• The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition (400MSP)
• ‘Splosion Man (160MSP)
• Trials HD (400MSP)

Xbox Originals

• Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (400MSP)
• Halo: Combat Evolved (400MSP)

Retail Sales

• Fable 3 ($39.99 or less at participating retailers)
• Halo: Reach ($39.99 or less at participating retailers)

[via Shacknews]

Last week when I covered Hothead’s Deathspank getting a PC release on October 26, I apparently missed a coinciding announcement for Klei Entertainment’s Shank heading to the platform on the same day. That’s mah bad, so let’s talk some good.

Steam is offering 15% off a bundle of both games, dubbing it Shank and ‘Spank. The titles will run $15 each upon release (currently $13.50 for pre-orders) but those who purchase before launch can get the two titles for $25.50. That’s slightly more savings than paying early for each title individually, and better than the standard Steam pre-order offer of 10% off.

Read up on our Shank review if you’re a PC’er who didn’t take a look because of its former console exclusivity, or if you’d just like a little refresher on the side-scrolling beat ‘em up.

[Klei Entertainment]

Hothead Games sends over good news for PC and Mac gamers, their hilariously excellent action RPG Deathspank will in fact be coming to comps as we previously hoped for but until now were unsure of. In fact, the reason why the versions are a go have to do directly with the numerous requests received by the developer from gamers demanding the title make the necessary platform jump. You spoke up, they listened. Nice work everyone.

PC will get its crack at the game on October 26, with Steam already offering a pre-order discount page that offers the $15 title down to $13.50 for anyone who puts down before the game’s release. The OSX version doesn’t have a release date as of yet but it’s promised to be in the works.

Although Deathspank‘s sequel Thongs of Virtue is already released on XBLA/PSN, it has yet to be given a PC/Mac label. Something that very well could change if the reception/sales for the original go well.

[Hothead Games]

When EA and Hothead Games announced that their successful action-RPG DeathSpank would be receiving a sequel episode in DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue, we wondered how the game would actually play as it was so soon after the release of the original. But the developer and publisher are promising the same great gameplay, enhanced by new additions and environments. DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue is now officially available on the Xbox Live Arcade at 1200 Microsoft Points and on the PlayStation Network for $14.99.

As DeathSpank, players will take on the quest of finding six mystical thongs that are “corrupting the universe.” The absurdity continues yet again as gamers embark to new destinations, including outer space and even the North Pole where they’ll battle an Evil Santa. If you manage to purchase DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue this week, then you’ll also obtain two pieces of downloadable content for free: the Snowy Mountain Dungeon and a new sidekick named Tankko (who is apparently half-man, half-spider). After the initial week of release, players will be able to download the dungeon DLC at 240 MSP on XBLA, 2.99 on PSN, and the Tankko character at 80 MSP on XBLA, $0.99 on PSN.

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

- Vlad Ceraldi, Director of Game Development at Hothead Games

Check out the DeathSpank website for more details.

[Hothead Games.]

Trailer:

[Source: GamesPress]

Indie Links flexes its muscle for the third time this week, I like this whole M,W,F thing–we’ll see if we can keep it going consistently. Plenty to check out today, including more info on GameStop’s acquisition of Kongregate. Highly anticipated titles (Shank, Trine 2), innovative games (Spy Party), explanation and exposition…it’s all here, enjoy.

Interview: What GameStop’s Kongregate Buy Can Mean For Indies (Leigh Alexander/Gamasutra)
“GameStop’s acquisition of indie Flash game and social hub Kongregate represents a gain in the major brick-and-mortar retailer’s strategy to stay in step with fast-evolving digital trends. And while the small-developer community ethos of Kongregate might initially seem at odds with the corporate retail change, the companies see it as a net gain for all involved.”

Ten Super Cheap Xbox Indie Games You Have To Play (Matt Miller/GameInformer)
“We’ve all been there. Microsoft points never manage to come out even; just like carnival tickets, you always have a few left over. But what to do with that extra change after you buy some big new Live Arcade game or DLC expansion? We’ve gathered together 10 of the best Xbox Live Indie games that cost between 80 points ($1) and 240 points ($3) for you to explore.”

Spy Party Hard: Hands On With Spy Party (Kieron Gillen/RPS)
“Andy “Monaco” Schatz’s cat is being slowly broiled alive. It crawled behind the oven, which was in the process of cooking Macaroni & Cheese. It’s only later that Andy’s Delightful Wife is alerted by the frantic yelping of a distressed pussycat. We’re about to play SpyParty at my hotel room when the alert comes through, leading to a frantic cross-San Diego dash to try and rescue the pipping-hot cat from its furnace-crammed state. The Andy is trying to get his landlord on the phone, to see if there’s any reason why they can’t just pull the oven around. He’s failed. Meanwhile, Spy-Party-dev Chris Hecker is insisting that it’ll be fine, and we should just act immediately heft the cooker to release it. Let’s do this thing! We do this thing, and the cat runs free. I’m not sure this is a metaphor about Chris’s position in the industry or SpyParty or how he’s a man capable of making hard decisions swiftly, but it was too good not to share. And I wanted something to separate this initial report of SpyParty from all the other pieces online, because I’m basically going to echo what they all said. This is looking like something genuinely startling.”

Interview: Trine 2 and Beyond- Exclusive With Frozenbyte (Uğur Yurtsever/Tom’s Hardware)
“As you’ve already known from the great announcement just before E3 2010, the surprise was Trine 2 and it should be the revenge chance for us to get some cool details about the game. We loaded our most powerful weapons with old womanish questions and fired it directly to Helsinki, Finland… Frozenbyte headquarters of course!”

COLUMN: Abbott’s Habit: Blood, and Steel, and Bacon (Michael Abbot/GameSetWatch)
“Abbott’s Habit is a monthly GameSetWatch column by writer and Brainy Gamer blog author Michael Abbott. This month, he looks at DeathSpank and the evolving role of comedy in games.”

‘Shank’ Interview: Jamie Cheng CEO of Klei Entertainment (The Gaming Liberty)
“We recently threw a few questions at Jamie Cheng, the founder of Klei Entertainment. Jamie and his team at Klei are about to unleash Shank on PSN, XBLA and PC and look set to have a monster on their hands. This game is going to blow you away. Here’s what Jamie had to say about everything from Shank to God of War, Digital Distribution, Double Dragon and why playing Shank renders playing boardgames obsolete…..sort of…”

Hands-On: Arvoesine (Derek Yu/TIGSource)
“Arvoesine is a new platform game from Alastair John Jack, the creator of the entertaining platformer RPGs Ainevoltas 2 and Final Vision. The game puts you in control of a little Roman soldier who can attack with a sword or spear, and has a shield to defend himself with. The goal of the game is to make your way through five short stages, fighting a boss at the end of each stage.”

Interview: Ron Gilbert On The Synthesis Of DeathSpank (Chris Remo/Gamasutra)
“Designer Ron Gilbert is best known for his landmark LucasArts adventure games Maniac Mansion and The Secret of Monkey Island, but his career has also encompassed children’s games at Humongous Entertainment, and he served as producer on Chris Taylor’s ambitious large-scale RTS Total Annihilation. His latest game, DeathSpank, debuts on Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network a few weeks ago, and represents the addition of the action-RPG to his repertoire.”

Nuclear Dawn Dev Diaries: In the shadow of Russia (tcviper/IndieDB)
“With the trailer preparations and raw footage shoots done, we can finally resume our scheduled transmissions. Let’s take things up a notch, as we reveal one of Nuclear Dawn’s most treacherous maps.”

Interview: Nitrome’s Annal on Keeping Their Retro Flash Game Ideas Fresh (Michael Rose/GameSetWatch)
“Continuing his series of interviews with notable independent game developers, Mike Rose catches up with the Brits behind popular retro-style Flash game site Nitrome, discussing their approach to free browser gaming and their inspirations.”

Indie Links for you, ten in a row. Interviews are the name of the game today, but that doesn’t mean you should ignore those talking only to themselves.

Go learn about the innards of games, the structure of the gamer’s psyche and watch as Tim Stone goes mad conversating to the flight simulation genre itself.

Interview: Building a game out of cardboard and clay: The Dream Machine (Andrew Webster/ars technica)
“No one will accuse The Dream Machine of looking generic. Created in part as a response to the seemingly endless stream of similar-looking games on the market, the developers at Cockroach Inc. built The Dream Machine to be something different: a stop-motion, episodic, point-and-click adventure. Ars spoke with Anders Gustafsson, one half of Cockroach, to learn just how to make a game out of cardboard and clay.”

Developer Diary: How to Make Games Funny (Darren Evenson/Hothead Games)
“Now that DeathSpank is out, we thought we’d do a Developer Diary entry for July. In this installment we talk about how to make games funny. Enjoy!”

Limbo: What’s in a Length? (Kyle Orland/GameSetWatch)
“The Game Beat is a bi-weekly new GSW column by Kyle Orland examining the video game press and the process by which gamers get information about the games they love. This week, it examines the industry’s somewhat misplaced obsession with a game’s duration, rather than its content.”

A quick chat with Frictional – Amnesia: The Dark Descent (Brenna Hillier/Games On Net)
“The creators of the Penumbra series have hung up the artillery in favour of the eerie thrills of Amnesia: The Dark Descent, which appears to become sort of a … first person physics-based survival horror. What? We just had to know more, so we asked Frictional Games co-founder Thomas Grip about the lack of weaponry, plot influences – and of course, the physics angle.”

No More Sweden 2010 Video Presentations (Tim W/IndieGames)
“A complete set of video presentations from No More Sweden 2010 held earlier this month are now available to watch online, featuring talks by developers like Crayon Physics creator Petri Purho, Bernhard Schulenberg (designer of Where is My Heart?), and Andreas Zecher (Understanding Games) among others. The list of recorded presentations that can be viewed are as follows.”

Interview: Paradox’s Wester On Digital Distribution Consolidation, DRM, F2P (Simon Carless/GameSetWatch)
“Fredrik Wester, CEO of hardcore-oriented developer and publisher Paradox Interactive, chats with our own Chris Remo about his plans and thoughts thoughts on digital distribution, DRM, free-to-play, shaved heads, and more.”

The Joystiq Indie Pitch: The Ball (Justin McElroy/Joystiq)
“This week we talk with Sjoerd De Jong, Project Lead at Teotl Studios, about how his team has spent one-and-a-half years polishing The Ball.”

Giant Interview: Tom Wilcox, Technical Director (Jamie Evans/IndieDB)
“Paper Giant Studios’ chief programmer talks about the challenges of creating Seed Pod Shuffle, building a 2D game with a 3D engine, and the many benefits of using Unity.”

Digital: A Love Story Fanart, Talk (Eric Caoili/GameSetWatch)
“My favorite indie game of the year so far is easily Christine Love’s Digital: A Love Story, a PC adventure/mystery/romance title set in the late 1980s and presented through bulletin board systems — what other game lets you “crawl BBSes, uncover conspiracies, commit telephone fraud, and fall in love” in just a couple hours?”

Stale Air And Stolen Thunder (Tim Stone/RPS)
“I was up at Farnborough International Airshow yesterday, and, while having a crafty fag round the back of the Fuel-Air Weapons Marquee, was lucky enough to run into one of gaming’s most elusive genres. Dishevelled and smelling slightly of wet ferrets, Flight Simulation was in a surprisingly talkative mood. During the course of an hour-long chat we covered numerous topics, none more fascinating than the changing fortunes of the gent himself.”

Indie links round-up has come a knockin’, you going to answer? You better, because you’ve never seen so much raw, uncensored indie action in your life before you’ve gone over today’s list. There’s a few, clear messages that ring through in the links that certainly apply to all walks of life: Be yourself, believe in yourself and–perhaps the most difficult–stand-up for yourself.

Mindie – Bridging The Gap Between Mainstream And Indie (Doolwind, Alistair Doulin)
“I’m a mindie game developer and proud of it. But what does that mean? I’ve noticed a trend lately when it comes to indie developers. It seems to be all or nothing. You’re either Indie, with your beard and rebellious attitude or you’re mainstream with your suit and love of money. Why does it need to be so black and white?”

Epic opinions (Cliffski’s Blog, Cliff Harris) + Cliff Bleszinski and Cliff Harris Twitter Follow-Up
“I’ve mulled over whether to say anything at all, but if you can’t say what you think about the games industry when you own your own company, when can you?”

Joe Danger dev explains why publishers don’t get downloadable games (Joystiq, Kyle Orland)
“Hello Games’ Sean Murray learned a lot when looking for a third-party publisher for his company’s recent PSN critical and sales success Joe Danger. But the final takeaway from all those lessons seems to boil down to the same thing: most of the big publishers do not know what they’re doing in the downloadable games market.”

In-Depth: Skulls Of The Shogun Team On Going From EA To Indie (GameSetWatch, Simon Carless)
“The folks at Haunted Temple Studios went from EA-sized teams to a four-man operation, and they talk to our own Chris Remo on the transition and what they’ve learned while making their turn-based strategy game Skulls of the Shogun.”

Interview: Unknown Worlds’ co-founder updates us on Natural Selection 2 (Big Download, John Callaham)
“Big Download got Unknown Worlds founder Charlie Cleveland to briefly answer some questions about the upcoming alpha test including if mod makers can go ahead and put their own maps in the alpha build, how much longer until the “final” 1.0 version is release and more.”

Review: DeathSpank (Joystiq, Randy Nelson)
“”DeathSpank? What a ridiculous name!” I can hear you saying it now. Yes, it is a ridiculous name, for a ridiculous game which revels in the fact that it’s ridiculous. Well, that and damned funny. Oh, and a super-fun, retail-caliber yet downloadable action-RPG.”

Interview: Alex Vostrov of Rocket Bear Games On Going Full-Time Indie (GameSetWatch, Mike Rose)
“Starting a new series of interviews with notable indie game developers for GameSetWatch, Mike Rose sits down with Rocket Bear Games’ Alex Vostrov to talk about his acclaimed, quirky titles and his plans for the future.”

Hands-On: Shoot First (TIGSoruce, ithamore)
“Shoot First, the latest game from Beau Blyth (aka Tenkopants), is the offspring of a run-n-gun and a roguelike. It reminds me much of my experiences of learning how to play Spelunky and Xong, and it’s addictive.”

We Want YOU – Indie Game Review (BrightHub, David Sanchez)
“Don’t let its 2D graphics and side-scrolling gameplay fool you. We Want YOU is quite possibly the most realistic war game out there, thanks in large part to its message, which plays the satire card while touching on some very serious war issues.”

Interview: Cthulhu Saves the World (RPGamer)
“People can’t seem to get enough of Cthulhu. Not only is he the monstrousity created by the late H.P Lovecraft, but he a figure that has become an icon in popular geek culture. Whether you are familiar with Lovecraft’s work or not, Cthulhu is almost everywhere –- other novels, table-top role playing games, and even video games. This lovable tentacle monster is also now starring in a new Xbox Live Indie title. With the success of Breath of Death VII: The Beginning, Zeboyd Games is at again with their hit Cthulhu Saves the World. In this interview, RPGamer talks once again with the delightful Robert Boyd on this upcoming project.”

Hothead Games’ anticipated action RPG DeathSpank has arrived on PSN and Xbox Live Arcade, and is now available for respective console owners to purchase and download.

Players assume the role of the wanderer DeathSpank, described as a “Dispenser of Justice, a Vanquisher of Evil, and a Hero to the Downtrodden.” Throughout your travels you search for a powerful artifact known as “The Artifact.” Forged by unknown hands for unknown purposes, both you and a mysterious, evil tyrant seek to obtain it.

DeathSpank runs $15 or 1200 MS Points. A free trial is available as well (confirmed for Xbox 360) to try the game before you buy. In related news Hothead’s veteran designer Ron Gilbert (Monkey Island series) has made some comments on the release with Gamasutra, including the hope that DeathSpank helps “open the door” for future digital titles on PSN and XBL:

“[It's] very different from a lot of stuff that’s in the download space…I’m kind of hoping in a way that it’ll open up the door to the Xbox and the PSN having more games with some real meat on them…I’m really hoping this is kind of the future of downloads, and that we can get some really good, interesting games in the download space.”

In the heat of Summer, you can always rely on Indie Links to cool you off, especially if your means of air conditioning is near your computer arrangement. I did my best to diversify this week.

Lots of interviews, in depth coverage of current/upcoming games, and in the end, ten awesome links from ten different sites.

The Big List Of Indie Game Sites (Pixel Prospector)
From the guy who brought us the 200 (or so) free indie games in 10 minutes videos. A comprehensive and categorized list of all the indie sites and coverage out there, DIY included of course. Super love!

Hands On: Amnesia: The Dark Descent (Eurogamer)
“I think a mark of quality in a game is whether you can return to a room you’ve previously been in, and know you were there earlier by the destruction you wrought. Amnesia, the new first-person adventure from Penumbra developers Frictional, does not paint rooms in the blood of your enemies, but rather in strewn desk drawers, boxes and broken glass. And light. Amnesia is looking to be an extremely dark game, but rather than offering you the opportunity to sneak silently in the welcoming shadows, here darkness is your enemy. It is the path to insanity.”

Interview: Loved’s Ocias Seeks Depth, Player Confrontation (Gamasutra)
“While E3 dominated games industry headlines in recent weeks, an unexpected candidate for people’s attentions in June has been Loved, a browser-based game by Australian artist and designer Alexander Ocias.”

Gryzor87′s Retro-Inspired Sound: Hydorah Music Q&A (IndieGames)
“Freeware game Hydorah is the brainchild of Locomalito of Andalucia, Spain. For the soundtrack, whose cover art is by illustrator Marek Bayej, musician Gryzor87 drew on the established audio styles of retro sidescrolling shooters, while also infusing his own rock and classical-inspired tastes.”

Review: Fault Line (TIGSource)
“This month Fault Line was released. I don’t know if you’ve been following Nitrome. I know I sure wasn’t. Their game Tiny Castle got a plug on the Indie Games Weblog as well as the AV Club’s Sawbuck Gamer column. And it was an interesting game, more for it’s idea that for how well it pulled it off. But Fault Line has got me digging into their backlog.”

Interview: We chat with the founder of Joystick Labs (Big Download)
“There are a number of ways game developers can find money to help fund their projects; through publishers or awards, grants and more. But what about actual help during the development process to make the game better and to establish contacts in the game industry that will allow the developers to sell the game? That’s the plan of the newly announced Joystick Labs, a Durham, North Carolina-based company that was officially announced this week. The company will not only pick games and development teams to help fund their creations but also to mentor them in various aspects of game development and business.”

The Joystiq Indie Pitch: iBailout (Joystiq)
“This week we talk with Nick Marroni, who, after deciding he’d had enough inferior games that combined Ms. Pac-Man and the Federal Reserve, set his mind on making his own.”

Interview: Brendon Chung of Blendo Games — What did the Rastafarian cat say to the Glowing toucan? (Level Forty-Two)
“I had the chance to interview Brendon Chung, a videogame developer and the founder of Blendo Games. We talked about his future endeavours, his games Flotilla and Gravity Bone, the nature of game development and the origins of Blendo Games.”

June 2010 Video Spotlight — UFO: Alien Invasion (IndieDB)
“Just when you thought it was safe to walk in tall grass again a wild Spotlight appears! Introducing the first IndieDB Spotlight video, jammed packed with umm well Indie games.”

Interview: Hothead Games on DeathSpank (GamingNexus)
“”When confronted with the idea of developing Ron Gilbert’s DeathSpank character introduced by his Grumpy Gamer comic series, the Penny Arcade duo gave the go ahead to Hothead to transition gears from their series to start work on the action RPG game. We had an opportunity to delve more into the back story of both the development of DeathSpank, as well as the details behind the gameplay itself via a roundtable discussion with Executive Producer Vlad Ceraldi, Lead Designer Darren Evenson and RPG Designer Dennis Detwiller.”

The long-awaited indie darling action-RPG DeathSpank will be making its way onto the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade in a very short time. In mid-July, us fortunate gaming fans will get a chance to finally fixate ourselves in our comfortable gaming chairs/couches and take on Hothead Games’ DeathSpank — that’s July 13th for the PSN (at $14.99) and July 14th for Xbox Live Arcade (at 1200 MSP).

Taking on the role of DeathSpank — the “Dispenser of Justice”, “Vanquisher of Evil” and “Hero to the Downtrodden” — players will join in on the life-long journey to discover “The Artifact.” Best of all, local co-op introduces the help of Sparkles the Wizard — who has a separate skill-set from DeathSpank’s weapon-based attacks. Experience hours of loot-infested action injected with witty dialogue and worthy puzzles.

For more on the EA-published action-RPG, check out the trailer and press release below.

[Check out the official DeathSpank website.]

Press Release:

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.

EA, EA SPORTS, EA Mobile and POGO are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S. Xbox and Xbox Live are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies.“PlayStation” is a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

[Source: GamesPress]