Climax, the developer behind the critically acclaimed MotoGP 2, announced today that it has already begun development on a racing game for the next generation of consoles. Code-named "Avalon," the game is being prepped at Climax's UK studio in the seaside resort town of Brighton. Even though the company says the game is already at "an advanced stage of development," Avalon won't be released until the Xbox 2 and PlayStation 3 debut, presumably in 2005. Further details were unavailable, although the game will have a new, as-yet-unknown actual title. (MotoGP 3, perhaps?)

　　Avalon will use Climax's proprietary Blimey 2 engine, which the studio unveiled last month. Designed specifically with the PS3 and next Xbox's capabilities in mind, Blimey 2 uses highly optimized four-pass rendering, advanced particle systems, and the DYNE2 physics library to create extremely realistic gameplay. "Thanks to the Blimey 2 engine, we're way ahead of the curve in the next generation arena," said Tony Beckwith, the apparently immodest head of Climax's Brighton studio. "There has been significant interest from publishers already and we are going to take our time to select the right publishing partner."