A throwaway post on the infamous Tribalwar forums by 'ajaxprojection'—who we're told is a Garage Games employee—linked to this video of an "old capture of what may be at GDC." Garage Games, as you may remember, was formed by core members of the now-defunct Dynamix, makers of Tribes and Tribes 2.

Watch the video: There's no mistaking that for anything other than a Tribes-inspired game, complete with Tribes' hallmark spinfuser. While Garage Games doesn't hold the Starsiege license from which the Tribes series draws its backstory (Vivendi still holds that, we believe), the core gameplay of Tribes could certainly be emulated in a new 'spiritual' successor, not unlike what Ken Levine's Irrational Games is doing with its upcoming System Shock-alike, Bioshock.

Update: This could be an official Tribes Universe game after all. Why (and the rest of our original post) after the jump.

Update 2: Yet another video has been discovered by Tribalwar. We've got a copy after the jump.

To describe us as rabid Tribes fans would be understatement. While the last title Tribes: Vengeance (coincidentally, produced by Irrational) was well-intentioned, it ultimately fell flat due to an ill-timed launch and a negligence to incorporate the broader strategic gameplay that was as much as part of the Tribes magic as the free-flowing movement of jetpacks and skiing—the same strategic gameplay that made the Battlefield games so gratifying as team-based shooters. Indeed, the Battlefield team has often given a nod to Tribes as a source of inspiration for their extremely successful gameplay model, going so far as to add a jetpack in one of the 1942 expansions.

A new Tribes game with the same attention to teamplay as Battlefield 2 would be the true sequel the series' fans deserve.

We'll be at GDC, so expect us to be all over this one, but in the meantime, we'll see what else we can dig up.

News: Garage Games - what exactly are they working on? [TribalWar]

Update: This post by 'ajaxprotection' says "MarkF is in France this week." Surely he means Mark Frohnmayer, President of Garage Games, who just happens to have also been lead programmer of Tribes and Tribes 2.

France happens to be the home of Vivendi Universal, holders of the Tribes license. Could Frohnmayer be working out the details of the next Tribes game even now?

We've also gathered that Garage Games' Marble Blast Ultra 2 Xbox 360 download game is selling very well, perhaps giving them enough fiduciary leeway to start development on a new, triple-A title like Tribes.

Update 2: We talked to Garage Games' Jay Moore, who told us, in essence, that they have no current plans to work on an update to Tribes and that the video and images are related to Torque engine upgrades (with 100 kilometer view distances, no less) and not a retail title. Our impressions are that a Tribes sequel is possible, but probably only in the initial discussion stages, if at all.

Nevertheless, we hope against hope. We'll find out more when Kotaku visits with Garage Games at the GDC.

Update 3: Another video!

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