Publisher Codemasters on Wednesday revealed to IGN that is planning to release a new take on its popular Overlord franchise exclusively for Wii. The title, built from the ground up for Nintendo's system by Climax Studios, is called Overlord Dark Legend and is set for a 2009 release. Players control a young, new Overlord as he takes control of his evil minions. The "trainee tyrant" will, according to Codemasters, "be able to take his growing pains out on the local fairy tale inhabitants as he protects his castle and lands."

Dark Legend will feature an original tongue-in-cheek storyline penned by award-winning games author Rhianna Pratchett, and is set to include a host of old and new franchise-favorite characters, including Halflings, trolls, elves and dwarves, as well as new wicked witches, gingerbread men, and Lil' Red Riding Hood, "the seeming sweet girl with a very personal lupine secret."



The Overlord franchise sparked to life on Xbox 360 in 2007 and immediately drew comparisons to Nintendo's own Pikmin because the main character, although very different from Captain Olimar, controlled his squad of minions around the world very similarly to the way Olimar did the Pikmin. Players used the second analog stick to move the Minions about like a wave.

Of course, Overlord Dark Legend will make full use of the Wii remote to further enhance the experience. According to Codemasters, the Wii remote enables "unprecedented control over the minions." Using the controller, gamers can pluck a minion from the horde, hold him by the neck and shake him around, "throttled to imbue him with some Overlordly power and turn him into a manic minion missile." Now charged with an explosive body, the in devilish critter can be guided into enemies with "hilarious, if rather fatal, consequences."