Sony announces Jak III and R&C3
Both due this year, too.
Sony has announced what most of you had no doubt rightly guessed - that both Jak & Daxter and Ratchet & Clank will be returning for their third respective platforming instalments exclusively on PlayStation 2 later this year.
Specifics on both games should be announced soon, and in the meantime we have a solitary screenshot for each game, so click here to see what Jak III looks like and here for Ratchet & Clank 3.
As you might imagine, both titles are still in the more than capable hands of their respective developers Naughty Dog and Insomniac Games, and we'd imagine following Jak II and R&C2's playable debut at last year's E3 trade convention that the two third-generation platform titles will form the backbone of Sony's offering this May.
According to a Sony spokesperson both titles will be released in the US and Europe in autumn of this year, a pretty smart turnaround for a pair of new sequels in such a significant pair of franchises - although Ratchet & Clank 2: Locked & Loaded was produced in 12 months following the success of its forebear, the hugely ambitious and visually stunning Jak II: Renegade took the best part of two years.
That presumably accounts for the similarity of the two screenshots we've seen to what has come before. In Jak III's case the visual style is almost identical as Jak kills off one of his Metalhead enemies - although an aerial adversary this reporter doesn't immediately recall seeing in Jak II is clearly visible in the foreground with plenty more in the distance. Ratchet & Clank 3 meanwhile has gained some more detailed foliage but otherwise it's plainly business as usual.
For the moment though there's little to do but wait and speculate. Back at the start of January a Swedish publication called Superplay (no relation) reported that Jak III was in development, and claimed to have seen some early desert areas, but other than that fans are probably going to be left waiting until E3 for the real meat of the announcement. Rest assured though that if anything comes up we'll hit it harder than Daxter in a whack-attack mini-game.
Oh, and if you came in here without a clue in the world about Jak & Daxter or Ratchet & Clank, you'd do well to check out Kristan's take on Jak II: Renegade and my own ramblings about Ratchet & Clank 2.