From The Ashes

A quick follow-up to the scurrilous speculation a little while back that Interplay was about to resuscitate most of its major franchises. Actually, they are. "The company will leverage its portfolio of gaming properties by creating sequels to some of its most successful games, including Earthworm Jim, Dark Alliance, Descent, and MDK," says robot-press-releaseman right here. They're also setting up a new in-house development studio to get all this done. Exciting!

This is all happening because last year's Interplay earnings were up some 520% compared to 2006 - which is due almost entirely to selling the Fallout 3 rights to Bethesda. Part of that deal involved hanging to the MMO rights to Fallout, a game Interplay have also confirmed they're going ahead with - though they are still at the securing funding stage.

So, good idea/bad idea? There's certainly a gentle thrill to the prospect of most of those games clawing their way out of the grave, but with it comes a gentle terror that they'll be rushed through production in the hope of quick bucks. Still, though - just imagine playing a new Descent game within the next couple of years. Crikey.