Bungie details iPad release of Crimson: Steam Pirates, coming next week

Man, after all the rumors, it almost seems expected: Bungie has finally announced its first original project for the iPad, a game called Crimson: Steam Pirates. It's due out on the iPad next week, and will let you command a steampunk crew across a turn-based battlefield, combining strategy, action, and Bungie's own polish and experience into what looks like a pretty impressive iOS game.

The best news is that it's free to play -- the first chapter of the game contains eight missions, two multiplayer scenarios, and lots of extras like Bungie.net and Facebook integration. Other chapters will soon be available for $1.99, with chapter 2 coming immediately after release, and presumably more content later. For now, the app is iPad-only, which leaves us iPhone owners out of the loop, unfortunately.

Still, the game looks good, and Bungie has had few bad games in its time. Stay tuned -- we should see it ready for download next Thursday.