UK publisher Reef Entertainment has snatched up the rights to Rambo from film company StudioCanal, and plans to release a game starring the character next year for PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360.

Reef's business so far has extended to publishing PC titles and a handful of Wii games like Rogue Trooper: Quartz Zone Massacre and Sniper Elite. The untitled Rambo game will be its first effort on hi-def consoles.

The company is hoping to become a bigger contender in the game market, and is planning to use the name of the Sly Stallone character to build their reputation. "We have big ambitions for Reef and the Rambo IP is the first step in establishing us as a worldwide player," said commercial director Craig Lewis. Its agreement with StudioCanal means Reef can continue making Rambo games well into the future, MCV reports.

Company CEO Peter Rezon says that the timing was a calculated move. "With the success of the most recent Rambo film, and an international appetite for action movies with Expendables 2 scheduled for release next summer, we felt now was a good time to do something special with this license."

And by "something special" we can only assume he means "allow players to shred enemies into bits of pulpy meat with a mini-gun." Just like Rambo.