Celebrated Oscar-winners and distant cousins of Morph, Wallace and his clever canine chum Gromit, are heading to PC and Xbox 360 later this month in 'Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Adventures', courtesy of Telltale Games.

If the name doesn’t ring a bell they're the same outfit behind the reliably offbeat Strong Bad titles on WiiWare and, more famously, the Sam & Max series. And there are several more reasons why Grand Adventures’ should be worthy of your attention, since the duo’s inept exploits will be charted in four separate downloadable episodes.

The first, entitled ‘Fright of the Bumblebees’, sees the pair running a honey business, although with inevitably comedic consequences as a swarm of giant bees is unleashed and Wallace finds himself kidnapped by one wearing lipstick. Needless to say fun puzzles and madcap contraptions are a major part of the action, and the game introduces many fresh faces - including girl-next-door love interest Felicity.

As mentioned, Fright of the Bumblebees is just the first of four episodes to be released on a monthly basis. The others to look forward to being The Last Resort, Muzzled and Boogeyman. Reassuringly, Aardman Animations has been on hand throughout development, even lending Telltale their cherished original Plasticine models to make sure our heroes are replicated as faithfully as possible. The results are pretty impressive, as you can see.

Fright of the Bumblebees launches via PC download and Xbox LIVE Arcade on March 24, price tbc, but cheapish with any luck. Until then the new trailer and free playable demo are well worth a look. Find them both at our US sister site http://videogames.yahoo.com/events/wallace-and-gromit/wallace-and-gromit-demo-download/1297318