Conker $%&@s into stores

Back in 2001, developer Rare stirred controversy with its Mature-rated Conker's Bad Fur Day for the family-friendly Nintendo 64 console. The game starred a seemingly innocuous hero--a cute, bushy-tailed squirrel named Conker. However, all those notions were thrown out the window when Conker opened his mouth and unleashed a nonstop flow of four-letter words and alcohol-laden bile. These sophomoric (and entirely unique) elements made Conker's Bad Fur Day a critical success and one of the most original games for its time.

Flash-forward to today: Microsoft Game Studios today announced that Conker is back with Conker: Live and Reloaded for the Xbox. The game was developed by Rare, who now brings the furry fiend to its parent company's console (Rare was developing exclusively for Nintendo back in 2001).

The single-player portion of the game is an updated version of Bad Fur Day, with top-notch current-generation graphics and some minor tweaks. Conker will once again engage in third-person shooting and platform-style gameplay, as well as encounter a panther king, a giant pile of feces, and a queen bee who is the victim of philandering.

The main change in this edition is the advent of an all-new multiplayer mode over Xbox Live. This mode allows several players to choose sides as either squirrels or tediz (imagine the Third Reich as a legion of teddy bears) and battle online (bots optional). With an abundance of specialized character classes and weapons, gamers will take each other on across a variety of maps and leave a trail of squirrel guts in their wake.

Conker: Live and Reloaded is rated M for Mature and retails for $49.99. For more information on the game, read GameSpot's full review.