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THQ announces Tak sequel

Subtitled The Staff of Dreams. You can make your own jokes.

With Tak and the Power of Juju ticking past the one-million-unit mark globally, THQ has wasted no time in announcing the sequel, Tak 2: The Staff of Dreams, which is in development at Avalanche Software for release on PS2, Xbox, Cube and GBA as soon as this October. The game will be one of THQ's key products at next month's E3.

Tak, for those who missed it, is the first product of THQ's deal with Nickelodeon to create cross-media intellectual property, first on games consoles and then later in other mediums (like television, which Nickelodeon occasionally dabbles in).

The first game put players into the role of Tak, a young shaman's apprentice born into an ancient tribal world where magic (Juju) dominates proceedings. As young nobodies often are in cases such as these, Tak was tasked with recovering moonstones stolen by the evil Tlaloc in order to save the Moon Juju and restore her powers.

The second game will continue Tak's adventures against the naughty Tlaloc, and sees him forced to learn new Juju magic in order to recover the Nightmare Scepter and defeat the oddly named villain. Fortunately, this time he can possess creatures and become a Spirit Animal, and make use of various magical artefacts like the Dream Shaker, which lets him close dream rifts.

Tak 2 will reportedly consist of nine levels (at least, we think that's what THQ means by "interactively designed linear environments"), various returning characters, nine new Nightmare Creatures and the introduction of three new Juju gods and Jibolba's brother JB. All of which probably makes more sense if you're familiar with the original...

Expect to hear more about Tak 2 (with screenshots, presumably) in the next few weeks.