True Crime: Hong Kong Reborn, Retitled to Sleeping Dogs

Last year was a bit of a rough time for developer United Front Games.  In February their current title, True Crime: Hong Kong, was cancelled by Activision in a move that all but solidified the public perception that the Call of Duty franchise comes first for the publisher and everything else afterward.  SquareEnix, the Japanese publisher who last year lamented their E3 catalog of titles for their lack of Japanese-developed ones, swooped in to the rescue in August, albeit without the True Crime name attached.  Today, United Front can proudly re-announce their once cancelled title, now named Sleeping Dogs.

The live-action trailer above (obviously) contains no gameplay footage but it is fair to suggest that it'll be similar to what was shown last year before Activision brought the axe down.  As a reminder, I've put a gameplay trailer from 2010 below.  True Crime was quite a popular franchise last generation as it was widely touted to be the only true competition to the Grand Theft Auto franchise.  These days we have the likes of the Mafia and Saint's Row series but, if it releases this year, it will probably be a nice lead-up to GTA 5.  I'll need to see more before I make up my mind but it certainly looks nice.