Carmageddon: Reincarnation raging in 2012

The Duke Nukem series isn't the only franchise coming back to life after a 10-year-plus slumber. Stainless Games today announced Carmageddon: Reincarnation, the first entry in the vehicular mayhem series since the year 2000.

Stainless Games--the shop that developed the well-reviewed Carmageddon (1997) and Carmageddon 2: Carpocalypse Now (1998)--today announced that it has reacquired the vehicular mayhem brand and is in the early stages of preproduction of the new entry. Slated to debut in 2012, Reincarnation will be digitally distributed through unspecified channels.

The news comes on the heels of last week's teaser site countdown, which pegged a Carmageddon announcement for today.

Unfortunately Stainless Games did not offer much in the way of detail concerning the new offering. However, studio cofounder and executive director Neil Barnden said Reincarnation will bring "laughs, power-ups, and extreme destruction," as well as "the same black humour and comic violence that made the original game such a success.”

Additionally, it appears Stainless Games will not handle the game on its own, as it said it is "actively seeking a partner with whom to move the project on to full production."

The fourth installment in the Carmageddon franchise was first teased in 2003, before being officially announced in 2004 and scheduled for release by April 2005. 2K Games later picked up the North American publishing rights to Carmageddon 4 before it was reportedly canceled.