Secret of Monkey Island creator looking to get new title signed

Ron Gilbert, creator of the legendary Monkey Island series, has revealed in his latest weblog that he is working on an all-new title, and is currently pitching the game to publishers thought to include Ubisoft and Vivendi-Universal Games.

On the latest post to his Grumpy Gamer blog, Gilbert said: "I [was] supposed to jet off to Paris this week to meet with a publisher, but had to cancel because I got sick. The trip has been postponed until next month. I was looking forward to some wine and stinky cheese. I love stinky cheese."

The identity of said publisher wasn't revealed, but both Ubisoft and Vivendi-Universal Games are based in the French capital. However, don't rule out Lyon-based Atari; a company with a growing interest in the future of adventure games following the critical success of Fahrenheit - a game VU infamously let go.

As for the game, no-one apart from the man himself knows anything about that yet, but it's fair to assume that he's continuing to follow through on his quest to produce narrative-rich, humour-filled titles filled with brain-teasing puzzles and a cast of off-the-wall characters. In fact, keen-eyed website types Rebel.at points out that Gilbert hasn't denied it will be an adventure.

In a previous posting, Gilbert is quoted as saying: "Just curious, and I'm not saying it is or isn't, but why would you assume it's not an adventure?" Well, we wouldn't assume it was a beat-'em-up with RPG elements. Or a flying cat that you hang onto.

Whatever. The world needs Ron Gilbert back making games, and the fact that he hasn't given up and moved onto an art form more appreciative of his genius is genuinely good news. More news on his return to the fold when we get it.