Last year, it was announced that little-known foreign publisher 10tacle Studios would be bringing the Ready 2 Rumble series back to life with the help of famed developer Aki, after Midway decided to back out of the project. Unfortunately, 10tacle was forced to close its doors in August of this year due to financial issues, and while some of their projects (like Elveon) moved to greener shores, we never heard anything about R2R’s fate as it (supposedly) joined Vaporware City. Then, a new posting for an upcoming Wii game, “Ready to Rumble,” surfaced on Amazon.
Is it the same game? The features list (and title) certainly makes it seem so. (And, if accurate, the features list also gives us our first concrete information on the title; 20 boxers and more celebrity caricatures? Cool beans.)
The game showing up on Amazon itself isn’t important, as plenty of vaporware titles have managed to find their way to its pages long after development ceased. What is important is that it’s listed as published by Atari – not 10tacle. Does that mean Atari has taken over where 10tacle left off, and do they really plan to release R2R next May?
I’ve sent some emails to a few people over at Atari and Aki, so hopefully I’ll hear back from them soon. When I do, you guys will be the first to know. In the meantime, I’m off to dig out my old Dreamcast so I can hear Michael Buffer’s angelic voice for the first time in a long time.
Thanks to Kyle for the tip!
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