Activision has announced that the company signed a multi-year exclusive agreement to develop and publish games based on Live Nation's popular Monster Jam monster truck tour for major console, PC, and handheld platforms. The first game to be released as a result of the agreement is expected to ship worldwide during the 2007 holiday season, and will include 20 monster trucks featured on the Monster Jam circuit, including Grave Digger, Maximum Destruction, Monster Mutt, and El Toro Loco. The deal marks the second time Monster Jam has made its way into video games, with the brand having been given the video game treatment in 2002, with Ubisoft's Inland-developed Monster Jam: Maximum Destruction. However, given the exclusive nature of this latest agreement, it seems as if the franchise has found a long term home with Activision, which has previously dabbled in the genre with its Tough Trucks PC racing title for the Activision Value offshoot in 2003, but has not previously acquired a major license. “We feel we have found a partner in Activision that shares our vision for both an authentic Monster Jam game that will appeal to the core Monster Jam fans, and a game which will also appeal to gamers by going above and way beyond anything we could do at the live events; it will have it all,” commented Charlie Mancuso, president of Live Nation - Motor Sports. “Activision's strong relationships with retailers in addition to their strategic marketing and promotional direction for the game were key in our decision to partner with them.”