Sly Cooper, SONY's wily burgling raccoon, last had a solo outing in 2005 when Sly 3: Honour Among Thieves launched on PlayStation 2. The character dropped off the radar, but has recently made a comeback. Most notably with the rather lovely Sly Trilogy HD compilation earlier this year, and also as a playable character in PlayStation Move Heroes and PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale.
Now, finally, the slinky and sly hero will be getting a proper sequel, Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time. Development has been handed over from original creator Sucker Punch to new studio Sanzaru Games, which handled the HD trilogy collection. Gameplay will once again revolve around platforming and stealth, with a delicious cartoon twist.
Most interestingly, the game will be released for both PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita, and buying one version automatically grants you free access to download the game for the other platform. Save files can be synchronised, allowing you to carry on playing from one console to the other, while the PS Vita will also use its cameras for some bonus augmented reality gameplay.
Anyone who played the previous games in the series will know just how smart and cool the Sly Cooper experience is, and after being patient for over seven years we won't have long to wait for the next instalment. It's out in the UK from March 27th.