It didn't take long for Variety's Lost story to get out in the open, thanks to Ubisoft's press release officially announcing a long-term worldwide licensing agreement with Touchstone Television, for the development and publishing of a video game based on ABC's Emmy Award-winning television series "Lost". The first game, which is planned for home and portable consoles as well as PC, will come out in 2007 - or Christmas 2007, if we're to indulge Variety's wild (yet plausible) guess.

The project is being developed by Ubisoft's inexhaustible Montreal studio, who on top of all their previous hit franchises, are also working on a couple of new titles announced shortly before E3 2006: Assassin's Creed and Open Season (another film adaptation, based on Sony's animated CG movie). Unfortunately, Ubi revealed no hints as to the game's nature, or any kind of media for that matter. So for now we'll have to be satisfied with just the usual promotional mumbo-jumbo:

"The creative appeal of 'Lost' transcends borders with its character driven stories and addictive mysterious mythology," said Julia Franz, executive vice president, Touchstone Television. "It's not enough for fans worldwide to just watch 'Lost,' the game is a wonderful opportunity to organically extend this creative phenomenon into an interactive consumer experience."

"Many of us on 'Lost' have been hardcore gamers for years and the chance to work with Ubisoft, a company behind some of our favorite titles, has excited us to no end," said "Lost" executive producer Bryan Burk. "With the ability to tell new interactive stories within the 'Lost' universe, we're giddy to be developing a game that, once completed, will be as engaging and fun to play as it is to create."

(N.B. Archive text, links removed)