Hydro Thunder lives!  The first of what may prove to be several game announcements at the inaugural PAX East event,  Microsoft has revealed that Hydro Thunder Hurricane will be boosting to Xbox Live Arcade this summer.

Featuring 8 all new "theme park" environments, boats from the original game, 8 player online, and 4 player split screen, Hydro Thunder Hurricane is looking like the sequel so many of us have been waiting years to play.  Check out the Hydro Thunder Hurricane trailer:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1R_7REzHjCQ&feature=player_embedded

As you can see from the trailer, Hurricane looks extremely faithful to the original Hydro Thunder (a good thing, in my book).   Matt Small, Creative Director at  Hydro Thunder Hurricane developer Vector Unit, explains:

"We're huge fans of the original Hydro Thunder. There's so much there that already works -- the exhilarating boost speeds, the crazy shortcuts, the gigantic jumps and drop-offs. We knew we wanted to keep all of that -- even add more of it. At the same time, we had to bring something new to the table, something more than just recreating the original game with high-res graphics."

Hurricane is playable at PAX East this weekend.  No doubt about it, this looks like a game I could really get into.  How about you?

Hydro Thunder Hurricane releases exclusively for Xbox Live Arcade this summer.

Source: Gaming Age, Kotaku