Splatterhouse gets move-in date

While Namco Bandai will be unable to meet its Halloween launch window for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 action horror game Splatterhouse, it won't miss the mark by much. Today, the publisher announced that Splatterhouse has completed development and will hit the market November 23.

An update of the original gross-out arcade beat-'em-up released in 1988, Splatterhouse features a mix of platforming, puzzle-solving, and brutal combat, all set to an original storyline by comic-book scribe Gordon Rennie (Judge Dredd, Necronauts). Players assume the role of a college student in search of his kidnapped girlfriend and subsequently happen upon a mask that confers great power--and an insatiable bloodlust.

The series reprise will also feature the original Splatterhouse trilogy of games as an unlockable bonus. Gamers interested in simply checking out the original Splatterhouse can either download the TurboGrafx-16 version from the Wii Shop Channel or look forward to a mobile version of the title set for release on a variety of platforms--including the iPhone and Windows Mobile phones--around the same time as the console game.

The game was originally announced as being in development at BottleRocket Entertainment in May 2008, but Namco Bandai abruptly pulled the studio off the project in February 2009. After a brief dispute between the two companies, Variety reported that Namco Bandai had picked up a number of ex-BottleRocketeers to finish the project.