Eidos recently revealed that the next game in the Hitman series would be titled Hitman: Blood Money. Developed by Io Interactive, Hitman: Blood Money will be released worldwide on PS2, PC, and Xbox in Spring 2005.

"The Hitman series is one of Eidos' biggest franchises and goes from strength to strength with every new installment," says Mike McGarvey, CEO of Eidos. "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."

The story of Hitman: Blood Money starts 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. Agent 47 suddenly he loses contact with The ICA, and sensing that he may be the next target, he travels to America, where he prepares to make a killing (I'm really, very sorry for that pun - Ed.).

In Hitman: Blood Money, the money Agent 47 spends 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 Glacier engine, Hitman: Blood Money should be the most graphic (There those puns go again - Ed.) game in the series yet.

"Considerable time and effort has been spent developing a new version of the Glacier engine that enables us to implement many new and exciting features," says Janos Flösser, managing director of Io-Interactive. "The quality of the graphics and A.I. surpasses even our own expectations and this combined with a gripping narrative and the introduction of some really inventive characters makes us confident that Blood Money will be the greatest Hitman title to date."