"As far as roleplaying goes, the fantasy genre's been a little overdone over the last 20 years," Iron Lore head honcho Brian Sullivan tells us. "We think ancient history is a nice refreshing topic for the genre." With his rosy cheeks, dazzlingly white teeth and tightly coiffed blond hair, Sullivan reminds us strangely of Lethal Weapon and Predator 2 actor (and prize nutcase) Gary Busey. Thankfully, he decides not to hold his hand above a fag lighter before fighting us bare-knuckle on Danny Glover's front lawn before developing one of Hollywood's most famed coke habits. Instead, he opts to run through a demo of the game he's been working on for the past half decade.

Titan Quest is extremely Diabloesque in essence, if not in setting. To distil it down to the basics: you take control of a little pectoral man (or breasted woman), and move around an environment, clicking on baddies to hit them or chuck spells in their general direction. Many dead monsters yield random loot and weapons as they breathe their last. You level up and improve your character, then resume the beast-bashing. It's a sub-genre that hasn't had a decent injection of love and tenderness since the days of Diablo (Dungeon Siege withstanding), and Sullivan, starting up Iron Lore after a rewarding spell at Ensemble Studios, reckons filling this gap is the perfect way to pin his new company's colours to the mast.