EGM's April 2006 issue sports a short entry under its monthly Rumor Mill section telling readers to expect a Lost video game this fall for unspecified consoles.

The Q also claims that the playable adaptation will "even feature an online multiplayer mode called something like 'Passengers versus The Others.'" Predicting possible genres is sketchy at this point, but one could imagine modes such as Capture the Hatch, Pregnant Woman Rescue, and Team Freak-out popping up like a season or two's stranded passenger hallucinations. (Then again, maybe not...)

Whatever the case may be, is this alleged adaptation of ABC's hit TV show a clever April Fools' Day con, or does it signify the next step in viral game licensing (with a series that's as ARG-y as they come)? Given the nature of licensed television titles--if true--it's unlikely that the property will hit next-gen consoles at launch with only the Xbox 360 in sufficient stock for the holidays this year. Episodic content for a console version of Lost would probably not occur, either, as developers usually have to play catch-up with the typically fast-moving plotlines of their TV-based material (at least in comparison to an average game development cycle). We're forced to wonder, however, how such a game would work as an online shooter, action-fighting hybrid, or story-centric mystery/RPG. Puzzling...

See also:

• Interactive games page on Lost's official TV home page in the U.S.
• Peter Moore: episodic nature of TV's Lost worth emulating in games
• Does Lost owe its soul to video games?
• Gaming and 'Lost'
• Desperate Housewives to despair on PCs
• Apple's iGame is totally iFake [this was EGM's 2006 April Fools' gag]
• Battlefield 2142 scans of PC Gamer cover story leaked [this was real]