Penny Arcade and Hothead Games, the developer behind the upcoming Penny Arcade Adventures: On The Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, have teamed up to launch Greenhouse, a digital distribution service for independent game developers eager to share their creations with Penny Arcade’s massive audience (the Penny Arcade website draws 55 million page fews a month). When it launches, Greenhouse will be the only place to get the PC, Mac, and Linux versions of Penny Arcade Adventures which, aside from an unannounced Hothead Games title, is presently the only game planned for the service.

Rather than combat other digital distribution services like Steam and GameTap head on, Greenhouse would focus solely on indie games, with Penny Arcade’s Gabe and Tycho serving as an approval board of sorts, ensuring only high quality games end up on the service. “The games have to go through us before they get to Greenhouse, or we submit them to Greenhouse ourselves,” says Jerry “Tycho” Holkins. Additionally, Greenhouse would not require an application to download and install, but would instead function more like an online store.

Holkins also promises to give indie developers a larger financial stake than other distribution services, saying, “I think that most publishing arrangements are full of shit.” (For more on Gabe and Tycho’s thoughts on the new service and to hear about their failed deal to get their upcoming game onto GameStop’s shelves, be sure to check out Wired’s exclusive interview.)

Full disclosure: The Penny Arcade Gang and The DORK Club Extended Family aren’t exactly on speaking terms after some World of Warcraft-related incidents, but even I have to admire a service that gets more independent games into more gamers’ hands.

Penny Arcade Harvests Cool Indie Games for Greenhouse [Game|Life]