Hulk to smash consoles again

Even though last year's The Hulk wasn't a runaway hit, VU Games thinks it can earn more green from the Marvel comic book-inspired franchise. Today it announced it will publish a new game, The Incredible Hulk, for PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube in summer 2005. It is being developed by Vancouver-based Radical Entertainment, creators of The Simpsons: Hit & Run and the upcoming Scarface. Earlier this year, the studio signed an exclusivity deal with VU.

No details have been released on the game's plot, but we do know that it is being written by Hulk and Spider-Man comic book scribe Paul Jenkins. It is unclear at this time whether this title is a direct sequel to The Hulk, which was also developed by Radical and published by VU.

However, a joint statement from Marvel and VU Games did reveal that The Incredible Hulk will feature a free-roaming world, a la Spider-Man 2 and Grand Theft Auto. It will allow the temperamental green guy to jump anywhere, climb anything, and smash whatever he chooses. Radical is developing the landscape to be entirely destructible, and much of what the Hulk turns to rubble can also be used as a weapon.

"The Incredible Hulk will deliver unlimited power and freedom immersed in an authentic world that will engage Hulk fans and core gamers," said Michael Pole, executive vice president of VU Games' Worldwide Studios. Ames Kirshen, director of video game development at Marvel Enterprises, concurred. "Vivendi Universal Games and Radical are creating an interactive world where the player will have all of the freedoms and larger than life abilities of the Hulk in enormous and interactive 'sandbox' environments which really capture the essence of the character," he said.

GameSpot will have more details on The Incredible Hulk as they become available.