It's being developed by the Chicago/Hunt Valley outfit Day 1 Studios, the house behind early Xbox titles MechAssault and MechAssault 2.

Though eight years have passed since MechAssault 2, Reign of Thunder can boast TJ Wagner, who served as a design lead on MechAssault and as producer for the sequel, along with several other long-serving designers and programmers.

More recently, the team was behind 2011's FEAR 3 which, though it may have struggled to match Modern Warfare 3 as a military shooter or Dead Space 2 in the scare stakes, was generally thought to have a clever approach to online multiplayer.

Wagner also has links to the original MechWarrior video game, having worked at FASA, the company founded by MechWarrior and Battletech creator Jordan Weisman, a man who ended up instrumental in conceiving Halo 2's innovative I Love Bees viral marketing campaign.

It's a good time for fans of giant mechanical battlesuits, with Iron Brigade (formerly Trenched) on Xbox 360, Armored Core V making its way from Japan to Xbox 360s and PlayStation 3s in March, and the Kinect-enabled Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor and promising PS3 title Starhawk on the horizon.

There's no release date for Reign of Thunder as of yet, or even details of its target platforms (though PC would be most likely), but Wagner is promising that its time is drawing "very, very near."

Timing is something that Wagner's outfit has down pat, given that the officially licensed MechWarrior Tactics had already made public its plans for a separate announcement on Tuesday.