Eidos has revealed the next project from its recently-acquired IO studio, announcing, to no huge surprise, another game in the acclaimed Hitman series, this time carrying the menacing subtitle Blood Money.

To be made available for Xbox, PlayStation 2 and PC in the spring of 2005 (unless of course, this proves to be another case of Eidos enforcing unrealistic release dates on its developers, something that wouldn’t come as a surprise to SPOnG) on all platforms.

Eidos describes the game in its natty press release thusly: “When assassins from Agent 47's contract agency, The ICA, are systematically eliminated in a series of hits, it seems a larger, more powerful agency has entered the fray. For Agent 47 it's business as usual, until suddenly he loses contact with The ICA. Sensing that he may be the next target, he travels to America, where he prepares to make a killing. Agent 47 is back and this time he's paid in cold, hard cash. How the money is spent will affect his passage through the game and the weapons at his disposal, resulting in a unique gameplay experience for each player. Powered by a new version of Io's stunning Glacier engine, Hitman: Blood Money will deliver the most brutal and realistic simulation of life as the world's deadliest assassin.”

No word on gameplay updates at time of press, same goes for images of the game. However, we have better than that! A corporate quote ‘written’ by Eidos CEO Mike McGarvey! “The Hitman series is one of Eidos' biggest franchises and goes from strength to strength with every new instalment. Io-Interactive is one of the world's most accomplished developers, and yet again has raised the stakes in terms of graphics and gameplay with Hitman: Blood Money.”

Oh yeah!