It's been rumored for about a year now, confirmed by Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), talked about by developers, but never officially acknowledged by Acclaim - until now. Today videogames.com brings you the first exclusive details on ECW Hardcore Revolution for the Sony PlayStation and Nintendo 64.

　　Set to release on Thursday, February 17, 2000, ECW Hardcore Revolution will offer players over 40 ECW stars to select from in order to battle it out. So far the confirmed characters are Mike Awesome, the legendary Sabu, "Mr. Pay-Per-View" Rob Van Dam, Tommy Dreamer, Raven, and "The Queen of Extreme" Francine.

　　Hardcore Revolution will be the first wrestling game to offer an "M" (mature) rating by the ESRB, making it the first wrestling title for players over 17 years old. Because of the strong rating, you can be assured that all the brutal aspects of the real ECW matches will be perfectly re-created in the video-game arena. Acclaim has already revealed that Hardcore Revolution will be the first wrestling game to feature a barbed-wire match, where ringside ropes are substituted with barbed wire.

　　"Players will go wild over the outrageous, edgy content and faster gameplay of ECW Hardcore Revolution," said Mike Archer, producer of Hardcore Revolution at Acclaim. "We expect our ECW games will be the most highly anticipated wrestling titles in the market."

　　Developed by Acclaim Studios-Salt Lake, ECW Hardcore Revolution is in the hands of the same crew that came up with WWF Attitude and Warzone for Acclaim.

　　"Acclaim is the most experienced, creative, and successful interactive entertainment partner when it comes to producing wrestling titles," said ECW executive producer Paul Heyman. "We are excited to partner with Acclaim - a company that has sold over 12 million wrestling games and has a dedicated internal development team that knows and loves wrestling. If you are a fan of wrestling, this will be a must-buy video-game title."

　　In addition to developing software based on the ECW license, Acclaim has announced that it has taken a minority equity interest in ECW. "We are thrilled to secure an equity interest in ECW and to bring its cutting-edge, over-the-top wrestling to the video-game market," said Gregory Fischbach, president and CEO of Acclaim. "ECW has a reputation as the most innovative and underground league. Featuring world-class wrestlers, ECW is at the forefront of the wrestling craze, which an estimated 30 million homes tune into each month. The ECW has all the ingredients video-game wrestling fans crave."

　　ECW Hardcore Revolution releases for the PlayStation and Nintendo 64 platforms on Thursday, February 17, 2000. For the first title screen of the game as well as some real ECW shots provided by Acclaim, click on the thumbnail above. And make sure to stay tuned to videogames.com for more ECW coverage in the near future.