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Codies clams up on Second Sight deal

Britsoft hero Codemasters is poised to sweep up Free Radical's action thriller Second Sight, but the publisher is refusing to add fuel to any "speculation" fire.

According to senior UK sources, speaking under strict conditions of anonymity, British publisher Codemasters and UK development darling Free Radical are on the verge of sealing a publishing agreement regarding Second Sight.

Codemasters refused to be drawn on the issue today, a spokesman saying only that it will make "no comment on speculation".

Free Radical has made no comment on the matter.

The deal is to be announced at E3, the California games expo due to start on May 12 in LA.

Marketing sources are claiming that a major Codemasters campaign is building behind the game, with some saying that the up-and-coming multinational has earmarked as much as £5 million to promote the title, slated for a late 2004 release.

Codemasters has long been searching for a "serious" action game to flank its dominance in the car sim field with the hugely successful Colin McRae Rally and TOCA franchises.

Attempts to level growth with speculation in other genres has met with marginal success thus far, with Bohemia-developed war-athon Operation Flashpoint riding nicely for PC but coming unstuck with an Xbox version that has steadfastly failed to appear. Other projects such as PC MMORPG Dragon Empires have also seemingly fallen by the wayside.

Little is known of Second Sight as yet, other than the game is an action thriller bearing the same graphical look as TimeSplitters and, as is Free Radical's wont, will appear on GameCube, Xbox and PlayStation 2. What we do know, you can read here.

Watch for confirmation of the deal in the coming weeks.