SOCOM 3 to be PlayStation 2 online swansong – First screens inside!

As much grief as the PlayStation 2’s online push receives, there’s no denying that those plucky enough to beat their machines onto the Internet are amongst the most loyal gamers on the planet.

And its for this reason that SOCOM, the wildly popular team-based shoot-em-up still sees massive numbers playing across the globe, resulting in a third outing of the really rather enjoyable romp being announced.

As ever with a new game, you can expect improved graphics and, more importantly, reworked voice-recognition software for the girlfriend-worrying into-headset shouting. The game’s single-player campaign has been given much more attention too, aimed at balancing criticism levelled at the first two titles that, if you were playing offline, the experience really wasn’t up to much.

Developed again by the increasingly competent Zipper Interactive, SOCOM 3 will be available with or without its natty headset in the autumn of this year.