It's time to tear that one-way ticket to midnight: The illustrated fantasy magazine Heavy Metal is returning to gaming. The last two attempts to base games on the violent and often sexually charged science fiction and fantasy monthly (Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K. 2 for the PC and Heavy Metal: Geomatrix for the Dreamcast) were critical flops, but the recently announced Titmouse Games is hoping that the third time's the charm.

　　Everyone in the Heavy Metal universe is improbably busty. Titmouse announced a partnership today with Heavy Metal publisher (and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles creator) Kevin Eastman to create games based on the long-running magazine. The first project on the slate is an adaptation of Fistful of Blood, a story authored by Eastman and drawn by Simon Bisley.

　　The studio describes the game as "an over-the-top action game about an Alien Bounty Huntress who comes to earth in search of the creature that killed her father, only to find herself caught in a blood feud between rival gangs of Vampires and Zombies."

　　Titmouse Games announced itself to the world last week as the interactive arm of Titmouse Inc., the animation studio behind the Guitar Hero series' cutscenes and Cartoon Network's Metalocalypse. The game developer's mission is to create games based on its own intellectual property as well as "handpicked" licenses, with a focus on digital distribution.

　　The company's first major game will be Seven Haunted Seas, an action-role-playing game for unspecified consoles, although it is also working on an iPhone application called Dr. Zomba.