SEGA doing Happy Tree Friends

SEGA (cor, busy day for them eh!) has revealed that it's collaborating with Mondo Media on an Xbox Live Arcade and PC game built around cult Internet and TV "phenomenon" Happy Tree Friends. It's due out in the autumn.

Another saccharine film adaptation? Not likely. As those in the know will, well, know, Happy Tree Friends began life as a Flash cartoon that tells the horrifically violent stories of cute and cuddly characters as they meet Itchy and Scratchy-style deaths in drawn-out fashion.

For the game, Happy Tree Friends False Alarm, SEGA's development partner Stainless Games (Novadrome) is planning a physics puzzler where players control Flippy, the emotionally tattered war-torn bear; Lumpy, the dim-witted blue moose; or Handy, an amputee beaver in an attempt to navigate 10 levels without being violently undone by the multitude of potential disasters within each setting. You'll employ concrete, ice and nitroglycerin among other things as you navigate mine shafts, sweet factories and a museum that all promise "outrageous outcomes and plenty of accidental mayhem".

With its emphasis on physics-based puzzling the game immediately calls to mind another PC and Xbox Live Arcade title, Eets: Chowdown, and it wouldn't be a bad template. Details are a bit of on the scant side though, with Happy Tree Friends creator Kenn Navarro preferring to use his quotey bit to pay tribute to SEGA's "rich tradition of creating compelling, character-based games". "True to form they're developing a truly original game that we think our fans will love," he added.