Go Go Hypergrind: Spumco on GameCube!

Okay, bit of a strange one this, but Spumco, the creators of the fantastic Ren and Stimpy cartoon - you know, dumb cat, morbidly splenetic chihuahua - has been working alongside Japanese developer Team Poponchi on new title Go Go Hypergrind.

And any company that produces what is ostensibly a childrens' cartoon series featuring a board game entitled "Don't whizz on the electric fence" surely deserves a few moments of your time.

The concept behind this new GameCube 'toon-based Skateboarder is that Spumco is holding auditions for a new show called Hypergrind, and you're attempting to land the lead role by performing a variety of implausibly deranged stunts. With 12 characters to choose from, each with a different array of moves, and a familiar control system to Tony Hawk's, what sets Go Go apart from the competition is the comedy angle.

While humour is very tricky to get right in videogames, the cel-shaded characters have all been put together by Spumco's whacked-out team of designers, lending them at this early stage a style and charm that many titles struggle to reach.

There's also a scoring system called "negative reaction" that will up the laughter quotient - you score more points for placing your skater in cartoon style slapstick danger as you perform your stunts, getting covered in paint or flattened by an anvil, for instance.

Go Go Hypergrind is expected to arrive in the US towards the end of the year; ominously, there's no word yet on a European release...