Splatterhouse now smearing 2010

Namco Bandai's revival of Splatterhouse has been, well, kind of messy. After announcing the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 game as in development at California-based BottleRocket Entertainment in May 2008, Namco Bandai abruptly pulled the studio off the project in February 2009. After a slap-hands exchange between the two companies, Variety reported last month that Namco Bandai had picked up a number of ex-BottleRocketeers to finish the project.

As could be expected, the tumult has had an adverse effect on the game's expected ship date. Originally announced as a 2009 release, Namco Bandai has confirmed for GameSpot that Splatterhouse is now due sometime in 2010. Namco Bandai declined to comment on whether the game would be an early- or late-year release.

Though it is an update of the original gross-out arcade beat-'em-up released in 1988, Splatterhouse features an original storyline by comic-book scribe Gordon Rennie (Judge Dredd, Necronauts). Players assume the role of a college student in search of his kidnapped girlfriend and subsequently happen upon a mask that confers great power--and an insatiable bloodlust.

For more information, check out GameSpot's previous coverage of Splatterhouse.