In an exciting development on an old story, it turns out that our 2012 report of a spiritual successor to the beloved game Banjo-Kazooie is actually happening.

The team behind the project have named themselves Playtonic Games, and comprise a team of six, all of whom were once core members of Rare, the well-known studio who brought us the likes of Donkey Kong Country and the original Banjo-Kazooie.

The team are working on a brand new game – their first together – titled ‘Project Ukulele, posting the news on their website:

Playtonic’s the name, and fun games, unique characters and absolutely-frickin-amazing worlds to explore are our game. Or at least they will be, once we eventually get around to releasing our first project instead of faffing around on WordPress.

Currently we’re a sextet of artists, programmers and designers – sort of like The Pussycat Dolls with computer science degress – with one thing in common; we were all once core member of famous UK studio Rare, where we helmed franchises such as Banjo-Kazooie, Donkey Kong Country and Viva Piñata.

Together, our all-star ensemble is aiming to build its debut game, ‘Project Ukulele’, into a worthy spiritual successor to those fondly remembered platforming adventures we built in the past.

The team continues, informing us that the journey is still in the early stages, with a lot of direction hopefully coming from the fans themselves. Early footage is due to be revealed in Edge magazine tomorrow, so we’ll post more information as soon as it’s available.

In the meantime, you can check out Playtonic’s website or follow them on Twitter. And be sure to let us know in the comments section your thoughts on this exciting premise.