Thief 4 officially uncloaked

Today, the sequel was finally officially confirmed by Eidos Montreal, the Quebecois studio of the Japanese-owned British publisher. "We're in the early development stages for Thief 4," said Stephane D'Astous, the shop's general manager. "While it's too early for us to offer any specific game details, right now we are focused on recruiting the very best talent to join the core team at the studio." The game also has an official Web site, www.thief4.com, the forums on which are live.

The Thief franchise began life in 1998 with the highly rated Thief: The Dark Project, developed by Looking Glass Studios. The now-defunct shop released Thief II: The Metal Age two years later, followed by 2004's Thief: Deadly Shadows from Austin, Texas-based Ion Storm, which was shut down by owner Eidos in 2005. Series protagonist Garrett was rated one of the best game heroes ever in GameSpot's Greatest Games of All Time feature.

Eidos Montreal was founded in February 2007, and was revealed in November of that year to be working on another new game in a classic series, Deus Ex 3, due out in fall 2010.