UbiSoft goes shopping for comics

French publisher UbiSoft has announced that it has signed an exclusive licensing agreement with Dargaud to make next-generation console games based on the "XIII" comic book series. We're not going to claim that we've heard of it before, but apparently "XIII" (which is made in France by Jean Van Hamme and William Vance) has sold 6.5 million books across nine countries (most of them French speaking) since its inception in 1984. Like the comic strip, the game will mix action and adventure as you play a mysterious man known only as XIII, a man who is suffering amnesia after a failed murder attempt.

According to UbiSoft's Rob Cooper, "the game will include the same features that made XIII a cult series: suspense, plot, realism, complex developments and a wide variety of characters, all against a backdrop of spying and political intrigue". While it is sure to be big in France, whether or not it will prove popular with the rest of the world remains to be seen. After all, the comic is barely known outside of Europe and Canada, and French .. well .. pretty much everything really, is something of an acquired taste. If you want to find out more, read the press release.