All Articles: Sleeping Dogs

When Square Enix and developer United Front Games were putting together the Sleeping Dogs cast, they pulled out all the stops. According to the publisher, the game brings together the “finest vocal talent from modern Hollywood movies [and Asian cinema].” I don’t see Mark Hamill listed among the cast, so that’s not entirely accurate, but they certainly cast a wide net in assembling the Sleeping Dogs cast.

Will Yun Lee (Die Another Day) will star as Wei Shen, “an officer sent deep undercover into one of Hong Kong’s most feared Triad gangs.” He will be joined by Tom Wilkinson (as Police Inspector Pendrew, his supervising officer) and Edison Chen (as Jackie Ma, a low level thug) in this undercover operation. Their main target is Winston Chu (played by Parry Shen), a lieutenants in the Sun On Yee gang.

During the course of Shen’s undercover duties, he’ll run into an absolutely astounding group of actors including Emma Stone (The Amazing Spider-Man, Zombieland), Robin Shou (Liu Kang from Mortal Kombat), Lucy Liu (Charlie’s Angels), Yunjin Kim (Sun from Lost) and Kelly Hu (Lady Deathstrike from X2). Terence Yin, James Hong, and Tzi-Ma will round out the cast.

Sleeping Dogs will be available for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 on August 14.

Square Enix and United Front Games have released an extensive new trailer detailing the ins and outs of their Hong Kong-based sandbox thriller, Sleeping Dogs. While the game, formerly know as True Crime: Hong Kong, has undergone a name change due to being dropped by its initial publisher, Activision, it is in every way a spiritual successor to the True Crime franchise. The game promises a blend of open-world sandbox missions mixed with RPG elements, with a heavy focus on a deep, involving storyline and the emotional choices the main character must face.

“You get to play as undercover cop Wei Shen. His mission: infiltrate the Sun on Yee and bring them down. Wei’s loyalties will be tested to the limit, torn by the Triad’s code of honour and his duty to the badge. He is trapped in a spiral of deceit and paranoia.”

Featuring the most advanced combat system in an open-world game that may supersede Batman: Arkham Asylum, as well as a free running element akin to the Assassin’s Creed games, Sleeping Dogs is currently due for release in North America on August 14th, Australia on August 16th, and in Europe on August 17th.

Sleeping Dogs has taken a long and winding road to store shelves, but it looks like it’s almost over.

Canceled by Activision last year, the development team at United Front Games wouldn’t lie down on the job and eventually the game was adopted by Square Enix. Today, after some additional development time and a strong showing at PAX East 2012, the team’s new publisher is ready to announce that Sleeping Dogs will take a bite out of store shelves on August 14.

In addition to a release date, Square Enix has announced a trio of pre-order bonuses for their Hong Kong-set true crime saga:

Best Buy: Georges St. Pierre Pack

• Georges St. Pierre’s Signature “Flying Punch”
• Exclusive Georges St. Pierre Outfit (T-Shirts, Headband, and Shorts)
  Unlocks the “Flying Punch” and Increases Grappling and Throwing Damage

GameStop: Police Protection Pack

• Exclusive “High Speed” Mission
• Exclusive HK Police SWAT Outfit
• Exclusive Assault Rifle
• Exclusive SWAT Police Vehicle

Amazon: Martial Arts Pack

• “Shaolin Showdown” Mission
• Shaolin Warrior Outfit (with Increased Striking Damage)
• Bonus Triad XP Points
• Wing Chun Decoration for Safehouse (with Temporary Combat Buff)

If you plan to pre-order the PC version from Steam, don’t worry, Square Enix plans to offer a package of “exclusive content” for those who prefer to download their games as well.

About six months ago, Square Enix picked up Activision’s discarded open-world game, True Crime: Hong Kong. Now, the Japanese publisher has rechristened the game Sleeping Dogs and announced that it’ll be released for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 in the second half of 2012.

Developed by United Front Games, Sleeping Dogs (like the True Crime series before it) flips the typical open-world game on its head. Instead of featuring the criminal element in all of their sadistic glory, it follows an undercover cop, Wei Shen, as he infiltrates the Hong Kong Triad. Naturally, this involves a lot of fighting and brutal combat:

Offering players an island packed with action, every street corner, market stall, harbor dock or city skyscraper can become an opportunity for intense shoot-outs, adrenaline-fuelled street races and intense, brutal martial arts combat. Featuring one of the most intuitive and imaginative combat systems, Sleeping Dogs empowers players to perform an extensive set of martial arts moves, singlehandedly taking on numerous opponents. Players perform bone-crunching kicks and combos, vicious counters and a cinematic set of environmental takedowns making use of countless real-world items from circular saws to phone booths, incinerators to refrigerator doors.

To give you an idea of what the melee combat will look like, Square Enix has produced a live action trailer for Sleeping Dogs that you can view after the break. (more…)

It seems True Crime: Hong Kong is being given a new lease on life. Square Enix acquired the rights from developer United Front Games, who had ceased development after publisher Activision cancelled the game. The game will be managed by Square Enix London Studios and will continue to be developed by United Front Games, who is based in Vancouver.

Square Enix did not acquire the True Crime IP, and is currently working on re-branding the game. There’s also no word on when the game will be released, or what formats it will be released on. But one thing is clear – Square Enix is very excited about the game. Square Enix London Studios General Manager Lee Singleton said, “It’s one of those games where you don’t want to put the controller down; it’s what we call ‘sticky,'” and also mentioned the “incredible new game engine, rich new story with deep and complex characters, and gameplay features which have simply never been seen at this level in an open world game.”

This is great news. I got a chance to see True Crime: Hong Kong at last year’s E3, and frankly, I was completely blown away by it. I was shocked when Activision cancelled it and said it wasn’t good enough. I am eager to see what Square Enix and United Front Games are going to do with it.

[Source: Gamasutra]