Brutal Legend's premier fan site is declaring that Electronic Arts is about to rub it in the face of rival Activision by picking up its former property. Ever since the Activision/Blizzard merger, Double Fine's eagerly awaited action title has been stuck in limbo, but fresh evidence points to a publisher having finally been found.

The proof comes in the form of Brutal Legend's official Web site, which now no longer exists and instead points to a non-existent page on EA's servers. Going there now brings up the message: "The requested resource (/eagames_brutal_legend_brutal_legend/home.action) is not available."

This all points to EA now controlling Tim Schaffer's latest surefire cult hit, with the chance of a fresh site appearing very, very soon. If so, this is good news for everyone. It's been a long road for Brutal Legend, but hopefully this is the last leg of its journey. We'll keep you updated.

[Update: It's been confirmed via the gift of the press release, and the Web site is live. Hit the jump for the official word!]

Double Fine and EA Turn It up to "11" Next Fall with the Release of Brutal Legend

Tim Schafer Teams up with Jack Black for the Ultimate Rock Opus

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Dec 12, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) --

Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) and Double Fine Productions, Inc. today announced that they have signed an exclusive publishing agreement that will bring the highly-anticipated rock-adventure Brutal Legend(TM) to gamers, headbangers, roadies and rockers worldwide next Fall. The latest creation from gaming icon Tim Schafer and the award-winning team at Double Fine, Brutal Legend is a 3^rd person Action/Adventure game starring Jack Black in the role of roadie Eddie Riggs, who sets on an epic quest to build an army of rockers with only a broad axe, a big block V8 and his faithful guitar in hand.

"This is awesome news!" stated Tim Schafer, President of Double Fine Productions. "The quality and creativity of the games EA Partners has been involved with make it a perfect home for our baby, Brutal Legend. Some people were starting to wonder if the saga of Eddie Riggs would ever see the light of day, but now I think it's clear that this game, like Metal itself, cannot be killed!"

"Brutal Legend is shaping up to be a creative tour de force," said David DeMartini, Senior Vice President and General Manager, EA Partners. "At EAP, we are deeply committed to giving the industry's elite independent developers a platform to launch their creations to a worldwide audience. Tim Schafer is known for some of the richest stories and characters in our industry, and with Jack Black offering his vocal stylings for Eddie Riggs, we are extremely excited to help Tim and his talented team at Double Fine see their vision come to fruition."

Brutal Legend tells the tale of Eddie Riggs, played by Jack Black, who is drawn back through time to a mythical world dripped in Rock and Roll folklore; where great Metal titans once ruled and power chords rang from the countryside for all to hear. When an oppressed people request Eddie's knowledge of modern warfare, he pulls from his own experience in the only occupation he's ever had, a roadie for a Heavy Metal band. From this springs the most hellacious army man has ever seen, and thus brings this ancient world into the Age of Metal.

Also be sure to catch Tim Schafer and Jack Black unveil the first gameplay trailer for Brutal Legend at the 2008 Video Game Awards live this Sunday, December 14^th at 9pm EST on Spike TV.

Brutal Legend will be available for the Xbox 360(R) video game system and PLAYSTATION(R)3 computer entertainment system Fall 2009.

Double Fine is represented by CAA.

For more information on Brutal Legend please visit www.brutallegend.com.