14 DAY TRIAL // Zipper Interactive, the studio behind the popular SOCOM PlayStation-exclusive franchise, revealed about its upcoming release, SOCOM 4, that it is the first "real" title in the series for the PlayStation 3.
This statement seemingly casts aside the multiplayer-only SOCOM: Confrontation, which was released back in 2008 by Slant Six Games.
Zipper Interactive is now getting ready to debut SOCOM 4, a new squad-based first-person shooter, that will be deployed onto the PlayStation 3 a few months from now.
"You know, that's their [Slant Six's] game. I mean, we really have been focused on SOCOM 4 and doing our own thing," said SOCOM 4 designer Ben Jones in an interview with Destructoid.
"I think, for the franchise, SOCOM 4 is the real first SOCOM on the PS3," he added.
Jones justifies his statement by saying that SOCOM 4 is a "fully featured" game, unlike Confrontation, and includes both a single-player campaign, which can be played cooperatively with up to five players, as well as a 32-player multiplayer mode.
The addition of PlayStation Move support and for stereoscopic 3D also makes SOCOM 4 superior to Confrontation.
Zipper Interactive's last title in the series was SOCOM: Fireteam Bravo 2, which arrived on the PSP in 2006.
After that, the studio went to work on the multiplayer-only MAG shooter for the PlayStation 3, while Slant Six Games completed SOCOM: Confrontation.
MAG went on to be released at the beginning of last year, and while it impressed with its massive multiplayer mode, with support of up to 256 people on huge maps, didn't really achieve high sales.
The title was boosted once more last year, when it received the MAG 2.0 update, complete with support for the PlayStation Move motion control peripheral.
Zipper Interactive is now focused on getting SOCOM 4 ready for release on April 19, exclusively for the PlayStation 3.