TwitchGames, the studio behind iOS finger-dicer of Slice HD, has teamed up with game publisher Activision to bring free marketing spin off ProtoSlice to iPhone and iPad.

It's being used to hype the upcoming sequel to 2009 console title Prototype, which will be released April 2012.

The game centres around protagonist Sgt. James Heller who must wield a blade arm in a 'visceral scare puzzler': Basically, you have to press a button without getting your finger sliced and blood all over the screen. 

Chop, chop

What's really interesting about the game, however, is that Activision's attitude to mobile games has historically been fairly conservative. 

Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg spoke out in June 2011 about his company's reluctance to commit to a future release of its biggest selling franchise Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.

"What we're trying to do is use new technologies and new devices in gaming to strengthen our core business," he said.

"We don't just want to go and spread our roulette chips around the table. We also don't want to do anything that we can't do with excellence."

Since then though, CFO Thomas Tippl suggested that his company would be approaching mobile gaming in "a thoughtful, methodical way".