Galleon sets sail for SCi

Toby Gard's insanely long-awaited Galleon has been signed up by UK publisher SCi, with an Xbox-exclusive release in Spring 2004.

Confounding Factor's pirate-based action adventure is in its seventh year of development, and has been tentatively scheduled for release for most of this year, with much confusion over the status of the product.

SCi's financial results statement - announced early this morning - ommited the game's Xbox exclusivity, but a Galleon press release issued later made no mention of other formats, scuppering hopes of a PS2 and PC release.

Nevertheless it's good news to see the game is back on track after a rocky period under the auspices of financially troubled Interplay, part of the Titus group of companies which has struggled to release games such as Robocop and Barbarian for well over a year now.

Apparently inspired by "a mix of Sinbad, Errol Flynn, Kung Fu films and Disney", Galleon creator Toby Gard "wanted to give birth to a completely new type of hero and I came up with Captain Rhama".

In case you've forgotten, Galleon invites gamers to "step into the shoes of the swashbuckling Captain Rhama Sabrier", on an "epic quest through the islands of Akbah to unlock the mystery of an enchanted ship, which could hold the key to the most powerful weapon in the universe." Previous glimpses reveal it to be a stylised third person action adventre, but thoughts of Heart Of Darkness were never far from our minds. We're keeping our fingers crossed, though.

After all this time in the wilderness, we wonder if the designer of the original (and best) Tomb Raider still has any sanity left. Or cash.