Tarit Posted February 13, 2012 Report Share Posted February 13, 2012 Developers : United Front Games Square Enix London Publisher : SQUARE ENIX Genre : 3rd person shooter/Sandbox Platforms : Xbox 360,Playstation 3,PC Release Date : August 2012 Sleeping Dogs (originally True Crime: Hong Kong) is a video game in development by United Front Games and is to be published by Square Enix. It was going to be the third installment and a reboot of the True Crime series, and it would not be developed by Luxoflux, largely due to the studio being closed in February 2010. Square Enix picked up the publishing rights to the game after Activision originally cancelled it. The game remains in production at United Front Games, but the project's now being overseen by Square Enix London Studios (the same office that looked after Batman: Arkham Asylum and Just Cause 2), and the game was renamed as Square Enix did not purchase the True Crime name rights. Inspired by classic Hollywood and Asian cinema style action thrillers, Sleeping Dogs is a gritty open-world cop drama set in the vibrant city of Hong Kong. Sleeping Dogs catapults players into the role of undercover cop Wei Shen, tasked with taking down one of the world’s most fearsome criminal organizations from the inside... the Hong Kong Triads. As players explore the bustling and crowded Hong Kong island, through its neon-lit side streets and sprawling street markets, an incredible story unfolds of loyalty and betrayal where Wei begins to question his own motives as he is sucked in deeper than he could ever imagine. Offering players an island packed with action, every street corner, market stall, harbor dock or city skyscraper can become an opportunity for intense shoot-outs, adrenaline-fueled street races and intense, brutal martial arts combat. Featuring one of the most intuitive and imaginative combat systems, Sleeping Dogs empowers players to perform an extensive set of martial arts moves, singlehandedly taking on numerous opponents. Players perform bone-crunching kicks and combos, vicious counters and a cinematic set of environmental takedowns making use of countless real-world items from circular saws to phone booths, incinerators to refrigerator doors. True Crime: New York City was met with mixed reviews and did not meet sales expectations. Although a True Crime 3 was said to be in production, these low sales numbers for New York City made Activision cancel a third game and focus on other titles.No mention of another True Crime game was made for several years. Then, on December 12, 2009, Activision debuted the announcement trailer for the series third game, simply titled True Crime, at the Spike Video Game Awards 2009. The trailer confirmed that Activision would be publishing and that a new developer, United Front Games, would be developing in place of traditional True Crime developer Luxoflux.The game was set to be released for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 by Activision. On August 6, 2010, it was announced that the game would be delayed until 2011 to give more development time.According to Activision CEO, Eric Hirshberg, who’s assured that the August delay of True Crime: Hong Kong had greatly "paid off." "The additional development time invested in this game has really paid off, for gameplay mechanic the make the fighting and shooting as sophisticated as the driving, which is something that’s very hard to achieve in the open-world genre," said Hirshberg. On February 9, 2011, Activision decided to cancel the game, in order to focus on online games that have a higher margin.Activision stated that True Crime had ceased production along with their Guitar Hero franchise quoting: "These decisions are based on the desire to focus on the greatest opportunities that the company currently has to create the world's best interactive entertainment experiences."The game was declared cancelled for being "just not good enough" to compete in the open world genre. Activision didn't expect True Crime to generate enough profit and stopped development.Even with its most optimistic projections, said the firm, it couldn't see True Crime reaching the top of the open-world genre.United Front Games announced their disappointment on their website: "We are sorry we did not get a chance to complete this project with Activision, but we understand why. We are both committed to doing quality games and nothing less. Maybe we will have a chance to work together in the future, but in the meantime we are setting our creative sights on a different horizon."The game's executive producer Stephen Van Der Mescht told Computer and Video Games that True Crime: Hong Kong was playable from start to finish and "virtually complete" in terms of content before Activision canned it.Despite Activision's low expectations, Van Der Mescht said the game "stood apart" from the competition.Rights acquired by Square Enix "Our team has worked very hard to find a solution where everybody wins. Square Enix gets the benefit of the tremendous investment we've made in the game thus far. UFG gets to stay together and complete their vision. And gamers get to play a great game. We couldn't be more thrilled." —Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg about the publishing rights On August 2, 2011, Square Enix picked up the publishing rights to the game. Square Enix will still be working with United Front Games on True Crime, but the game will be renamed as Square Enix did not pick up the True Crime IP."When we first saw and got our hands on the game we fell in love with it," Square Enix London Studios general manager Lee Singleton told Gamasutra. "It's one of those games where you don't want to put the controller down; it's what we call 'sticky'," Singleton added. "When we met the team at United Front Games, it was a done deal in our eyes - we instantly recognised the huge potential in the game and the team."United Front Games' President Stefan Wessels stated he is excited and "really pleased to be working with Square Enix London Studios and their excitement on the game means a great deal to us". Reports of the rename Sleeping Dogs surfaced following a Sony retailer event in February 2012. No information had been released publicly by Square Enix, but numerous reports from the Destination PlayStation event indicate that the game will be released on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in August 2012.Following U.S. online retailer Future Shop Gamer published an image, which looked a lot like True Crime: Hong Kong, but with the Sleeping Dogs logo.A Sleeping Dogs trademark by Square Enix was spotted January 2012, mistakenly associated with a new entry in the Kane & Lynch franchise. Following the reports, Square Enix revealed that True Crime: Hong Kong is Sleeping Dogs. The announcement was accompanied by a live action trailer and several in-game screenshots. Square Enix London Studios general manager Lee Singleton stated that Sleeping Dogs "has one of the best melee combat systems out there". It is scheduled for release in "the second half of 2012" on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tarit Posted February 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2012 I can't wait for this one.Looks like a typical John Woo action flick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScrewyAurum Posted February 13, 2012 Report Share Posted February 13, 2012 Thread already made. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tarit Posted February 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2012 Can you post the link here ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScrewyAurum Posted February 13, 2012 Report Share Posted February 13, 2012 http://www.indianvideogamer.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=30173 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tarit Posted February 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2012 Thanks for notifying. I'll delete this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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