Talkin' Turok - with the developers

Turok, initially a comic character, was first translated to video games in 1997 for the Nintendo 64 as Turok: Dinosaur Hunter.

The character went through a number of iterations through the years, but has been dormant since 2002.

Vancouver developer Propaganda Games - a division of Touchstone Games (part of the Disney Interactive group) - made a splash when they appeared at E3 in 2005. They didn't announce the franchise that they were going to be working on at that time, but promised with a wink that it was going to be reinventing something very cool.

Turok has been reinvented, that's for sure. The new game is a first-person shooter, and looks to have assimilated some very cool features from recent games in that genre. It's set on a distant planet in our future, and players "take on the role of Joseph Turok, a former Black Ops commando, now part of an elite Special Forces squad on a mission to take down a war criminal on a genetically-altered planet."

Well, Turok is nearly upon us. And Future Shop is giving gamers a chance to connect with each other and the creators in an online chat on launch day, Tuesday, February 5. The online chat starts at 5 p.m. PT (8 p.m. ET) and will run for 30 minutes. Access the chat at futureshop.ca and ask the game's creators any question you want, including hints on keeping Turok alive.

For those gamers who live in - or near - Vancouver, you can meet the creators in person at the Future Shop store at Granville and Robson. You'll be able to try the game, ask questions, and even get your copy signed by the guys and girls who made it. The in-store event runs for an hour from 5:30 p.m. PT.

Get more information on all this over here.

Anyone else out there planning on participating?