Visceral Games working on XBLA, PSN offerings, says general manager

Now that Dante's Inferno has been loosed upon the gaming populace, the question of "What's next for Visceral Games?" is asked with increasing (and often comical!) frequency. Yeah, we know about Dead Space 2 and there are murmurs of "The Ripper" being in development at Redwood Shores, but what else? While emphasizing the studio's focus on the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC, general manager Nick Earl said, "That's not to say that we don't have smaller efforts under way and direct-to-consumer efforts on XBLA and PSN."

Earl points to DICE's downloadable Battlefield 1943, "which was created in a studio even bigger than Visceral" and managed to break sales records. "That is showing the opportunity there," says Earl, noting that Visceral will "have some interesting offerings over this year and next."

We're fine with that strategy so long as one of those offerings is "The Body Count of Monte Cristo." The pitch: You play as the wrongfully imprisoned Edmond Dantès, toiling away years of captivity under the tutelage of your friend, the monk Abbé Faria. Learn mathematics, history, language, and kicking ass, all in preparation for your escape. Resurface years later as the Count of Monte Cristo and exact your revenge across 20 levels of 19th-century action, bond market simulation, and romance minigames. This summer, count down to action with The Body Count of Monte Cristo, from Visceral Games!