Minutes ago, Xbox chief Don Mattrick announced the highly anticipated steampunk game Zybourne Clock will be a launch title for Microsoft's newly-unveiled Xbox One console. It will be one of the first games to take advantage of the next-gen console's 8-core CPU, dynamic impulse triggers, and SmartGlass integration.

Stuck in development hell for years, Zybourne Clock's rebirth is nothing short of miraculous. Meteoritech, the game's original developer, followed a shameful path that lead the company to two bankruptcies, mass staff defections, and a lawsuit over drug paraphernalia. Meanwhile, the game faced numerous delays: scripts were continually scrapped and rewritten, and years of progress were discarded several times as the development team continually switched game engines. Eventually the team decided to build their own engine, dubbed Chronospire, which was designed from the ground up to handle the game's revolutionary time travel elements, but development was halted just three months later.

Yet Zybourne Clock's long gestation only made it more popular as it became something of a white whale for the gaming community, many of whom found themselves enthralled by the developers' promises of completely reinventing the entire gaming paradigm and the scant pieces of concept art and story fragments made publicly available. "Zybourne gave gamers everywhere something to hope for," remarked Paul Hack, a writer for Game Jolt.

Two years ago, with help from the fan community via Kickstarter, indie developer Chillaxe Studios purchased the game's source code and Chronospire engine from Meteoritech and restarted development. With this new infusion of CAPITAL, Chillaxe was able to bring in millionaire badboy authors Mark Brendle & J. Ingwit Cahill to rework the story and recruit A-list actors to provide voicework, including Neil Patrick Harris as protagonist/(spoiler) antagonist Sylus Camgroove, Ryan Gosling as brooding anti-hero Johnny Fiveaces, and Werner Herzog as the dreaded Dr. Malaprop.

During the announcement, Mattrick showed off exclusive gameplay footage of Johnny Fiveaces and his partner Schlotz escaping a zeppelin explosion, thrilling attendees who gave it a standing ovation.

Zybourne Clock will retail for $70. A collector's edition of the game will come encased in a golden egg and include a luxurious "Art of Zybourne Clock" hardcover book.