Beware the Were-Rabbit

Konami of Europe has announced it is to publish the official video game based on Aardman and Dreamworks' forthcoming Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit movie, both due in October.

The cheese-loving Wallace (voiced by Peter Sallis) and his loyal dog, Gromit, make their big screen debut in a tale of giant vegetables, terrifying lupine beasts, and inventions gone awry. Featuring the vocal talents of Helena Bonham-Carter as Lady Tottington and Ralph Fiennes as her snobby suitor, Victor Quartermaine, the film centres on the annual Giant vegetable Competition, which Wallace & Gromit have been protecting with their latest 'Anti-Pesto' company, which keeps rabbits away from the would-be winning veg.

However, a huge, veg-eating beast starts to terrorize the neighbourhood and is destroying the prize exhibits. Wallace & Gromit are hired by Lady Tottington to save the day, but the unscrupulous Quartermaine demands to hunt down the 'Were-Rabbit', and hopefully win the hand of his good Lady in the process. But what are his real intentions...

Konami's Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit game closely follows the events of the Aardman film, with players using co-operative modes to guide any pairing of Wallace, Gromit or their rabbit friend, Hutch, through four huge areas. Players are given a free reign of the area as they attempt to solve the problems besetting the Giant Vegetable Competition, and their mission takes them from the seaside to suburbia as they venture out at night to confront the beast responsible for the vegetable-based carnage.

Adding to their troubles, though, the villain of the piece has seized control of Wallace's 'Mind-Manipulation-O-Matic' device to transform common garden pests into bigger, more dangerous Were-beasts, and only Wallace's Bungun - a device to suck up adversaries or anything that is lying around and then fires them at tremendous speed - can save the day. Wallace's skill with gadgets also ensures that further apparatus is available, with Electric Screwdrivers, Harvesters and Grapplers appearing throughout the game to bolster the inventor's arsenal and help bypass puzzle-based elements in the game.

With its huge, free-roaming play area (the first time Wallace & Gromit's town has appeared in a video game), inventive action, plentiful gadgets, varying sub-games and visuals that mimic the distinctive look of Aardman's film, The Curse of the Were-Rabbit perfectly captures the fun and menace of Wallace & Gromit's first silver screen outing.

"The game has given us the opportunity to create a more adventurous environment for the characters. Deeper storylines, that couldn't be accommodated in the film, have been developed and are there ready to be explored" commented Nick Park, Creator and Director of Wallace & Gromit. "The Were-creatures, for example, was a theme we would have loved to have included in the film, I'm delighted to say that they are here in the game."

"We are delighted that our video game interpretation of Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit will be released alongside the film," commented Kunio Neo, President of Konami of Europe. "The film is certain to be a massive success and we look forward to its fans playing this fun and enjoyable game. We are certain they will love its inventiveness and the chance to interact and further enjoy the unique humour of Wallace & Gromit within its many stages."

Wallace and Gromit "The Curse of the Were-Rabbit" ® Aardman Animations Limited 2005.

Wallace and Gromit are the exclusive property and trademarks of Aardman/Wallace and Gromit Limited and are used in licence.

Game Engine ® 2005, Frontier Developments Ltd. Published by Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. and Konami of Europe GmbH under license from Aardman Animations Limited.

'KONAMI' is a registered trademark of KONAMI CORPORATION.

Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit will be released for PlayStation 2 and Xbox in October. For more information, please contact Steve Merrett at Voltage PR on 020 7903 5122 or email steve@voltagepr.com.