What we know:

Resistance is one of the big PlayStation brand exclusives that Sony has been cultivating since the launch of the second home console in the line-up and, with the upcoming launch of the Vita handheld, the series will get yet another outing with Burning Skies, a game which returns the player to the initial invasion of Earth.

The player will be in control of a new character called Tom Riley, an everyman who has a job as firefighter before the Chimera invade Earth and he is called to join the resistance movement as an irregular.

It will be interesting to see how the creators of Burning Skies handle the move to the Vita, a device that has already proven that it can deliver graphics similar to those on the PS3 but might be inferior when it comes to controlling a straight up shooter, especially given the fact that at least one mechanics will need to use the touch screen, even if there’s no need for that at all.

The big problem with Resistance: Burning Skies is that the development process is being handled by Nihilistic Software, a studio that was not affiliated with the franchise before and has only handled projects like Zombie Apocalypse and PlayStation Move Heroes.

Why it matters:

The PlayStation Vita performed less than admirably during its Japanese launch, despite the fact that it had a solid launch line-up of video games, including Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception.

Resistance: Burning Skies is one of the games that will arrive on the device in the summer of this year and has been specifically tailored for Western tastes and for first person shooter fans which means that it’s success can easily be taken as a gauge of the device’s appeal to the hardcore crowd.

The full Incoming 2012 series of articles can be read on Softpedia right here.