This morning Activision announced that it will be publishing the sequel to one of the most influential PC games of all time: Wolfenstein 3-D. The announcement came somewhat as a surprise to the industry, despite the rumors of this game's existence that surfaced on the Web a few months ago.

　　Called Return to Castle Wolfenstein, the game is currently being developed by Gray Matter Interactive Studios, a group of ex-Xatrix designers. Gray Matter was awarded the rights to the Wolfenstein license from id Software a few months ago, and it is using id's Quake III engine to design the game.

　　"Activision and id continue our highly successful partnership with the development of Return to Castle Wolfenstein,'' said Activision executive VP Mitch Lasky. "The combination of the incredibly popular WWII shooter universe of Wolfenstein with the technology of Quake III Arena will make for a landmark entertainment software title. With highly interactive environments and complex scripted events, we expect Return to Castle Wolfenstein to start another revolution in games.''

　　Although no release date for Return to Castle Wolfenstein was given, an old report on 3DShack indicated that the game could be out as soon as Christmas 2000. It'll certainly be interesting to see how BJ Blazkowicz deals with Nazis in the new century.