DeathSpank Follow-Up Arriving In September

Hothead Games's action role-playing game DeathSpank is getting a sequel next month, Hothead and publisher EA Partners said Monday. The announcement comes a little over a month after the release of the original DeathSpank, the quirky Xbox Live and PlayStation Network downloadable RPG from the mind of LucasArts adventure game guru Ron Gilbert. Thongs of Virtue is arriving September 22 this year for $15 on PSN and Xbox Live. Hothead originally planned for the original DeathSpank to be an episodic series, but opted to make standalone entries instead while the series was still in development. Gilbert left Hothead in April this year following two years of work with the company. "Bigger, longer, harder -- these were the words that drove us while we created the follow up to our introduction to the DeathSpank universe," said Vlad Ceraldi, director of game development for Hothead Games. "In T.O.V., we're taking action RPG fundamentals and adding loads of new creatures, environments, weapons and characters, while continuing to push the envelope with our signature humor," he said. In the sequel, hero DeathSpank must find six mystical thongs and destroy them. Hothead explained, "A long time ago, nine mystical thongs were planned to bring balance and harmony to the universe, but when marketing got in the way, only six thongs were produced, and the result was disastrous. Granting great power to those who wear them, the thongs corrupted all those they touched -- except DeathSpank."