Rayman takes on rabbits

Ubisoft's announced details of the fourth game in the Rayman series - which will be released on current and next-generation formats - and highlighted the fact that it'll be a Nintendo Wii launch title.

Called Rayman Raving Rabbids, it's set to launch this Christmas and sees Rayman taking on an invasion of crazed bunnies, each with their own mischievous characteristics, as he makes his platforming way around various free-roaming environments.

Rayman will be able to tame and control various creatures including sharks, eagles, rhinos, spiders and angelfish as he goes about his mission, while the player will also be able to customise and disguise the limbless wonder in punk, pop, rock, hip hop and other outfits to outwit the bunnies.

The game's currently in development at Michel Ancel's French studio. Ancel said it was "a real pleasure" to be working on Rayman again - even after the heady critical heights of his past two games, Beyond Good & Evil and King Kong.

"After wrapping up Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie," he mouthfulled, "the team here in Montpellier sat down to talk about having some fun with Rayman and his universe. We are running into a bit of a problem, though, because our game has been invaded by thousands of raving mad and vicious bunnies, who have apparently been preparing this assault since the very first Rayman game. We are now sending an SOS to all motivated gamers to help us get rid of them as fast as possible!"

Bless. Rayman Raving Rabbids will be released this Christmas and shown off, you guessed it, at E3 next week.