Blizzard Working on New Redneck Rampage Shooter?

04 Apr 2009 at 13:39:50 by Paul Younger
Following the recent news of a fifth title being worked on at Blizzard it has come to light they have secured the trademark rights to Redneck Rampage.

Redneck Rampage was originally published by Interplay back in 1998 and the game was designed by Xatrix Entertainment, later known as Gray Matter Interactive, former creators of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2; Quake II: The Reckoning; Return to Castle Wolfenstein; and Call of Duty 2: Big Red One. Activision then went on to purchase the studio in January 2002.

The Redneck Rampage trademark was then subsequently acquired by Vivendi Universal in July 2004 and the latest trademark notices for Redneck Rampage, which are listed as 'active', show that Blizzard Entertainment has now secured the rights to Redneck Rampage.

The three trademarks that have been secured by Blizzard include Redneck Rampage (released 1997), Redneck Rampage Rides Again (released 1998) and Redneck Rampage Suckin' Grits on Route 66 (released 1998).

The original Redneck Rampage was developed using the Duke Nukem 3D engine and set in the fictional town of Hickston, Arkansas. The plot revolved around an alien invasion and the rescue of their pig Bessie by the rednecks:



This may sound like an odd choice for a new Blizzard title but after some investigation there are Blizzard team members who worked on the original Redneck games, including WoW's Senior Producer on Wrath of the Lich King, Burning Crusade and StarCraft Ghost who was Lead Level Designer on Redneck Rampage.

The facts as we know them are that Blizzard are working on two new unannounced titles of which trademarks would have been secured, whether Redneck Rampage trademark is one of them remains to be seen.