Now, 10tacle Studios, the licensor ‘The Buffer Partnership’, executive producer ‘Stereo Mode’ and Japanese firm AKI corporation have announced that they are bring the game back, with no specific release date set as yet.

The Buffer Partnership involves Michael Buffer, who is apparently “the most famous boxing ring announcer in history”. His famous line is in opening massive international boxing events with the catch-cry “Let's Get Ready to Rumble”.

Given the game’s popularity after having sold nearly three million copies worldwide, with 10tacle claiming that  “the two predecessors are among the most successful games in the boxing genre”, 10tacle have clearly decided, Rocky Balboa-style, to have another crack at a successful boxing career.

AKI Corporation will be doing the actual development, and have hits such as ‘'Def Jam' and 'WWF Wrestlemania' to their name to back up their game creation credentials, and unsurprisingly, 10tacle expect the game will sell well as they have forecast a game distribution (and supposedly sales) turnover of more than US $20 million by 2010, although that will clearly depend on the quality of the game itself.

According to the press release, 10tacle Studios AG CEO Michele Pes gives his reasoning why: “With the release of 'Ready 2 Rumble' 10tacle Studio AG is focusing on one of the major game brands in the market. The family-friendly, humorous realisation of the boxing sport is unique and an ideal supplement to our product portfolio.”

Well, we can only hope, for 10tacle’s sake, that the game is well and truly a knockout.
{moscomment}