Jaffe's PS3 game renamed

David Jaffe's forthcoming PlayStation 3 downloadable game, Criminal Crackdown, isn't called that any more. Instead, it'll go by "Calling All Cars".

But why? Well, according to his blog, the idea was to give it an identity far removed from existing game names - something that they couldn't guarantee in the rush to get things sorted ahead of the game's unveiling last month.

"We were in a mad rush to reveal the game at GAMER'S DAY a few weeks back and all the legal checks had not yet come down giving us permission to use that name," Jaffe explains.

"Unlike some other companies that seem to have no problem giving their games titles that SOUND pretty darn close to other games, Sony likes to give us as much room as possible between our game names and other game names. Which is nice. But challenging as well because there have been A LOT of video games made over the last 30-35 years so it makes it tough to find a name that is fresh and appropriate and fun, while at the same time being something that will not get you thrown into a court room."

It's happened to him before, it turns out - the name-changing, that is. Apparently Twisted Metal was going to be called Urban Assault, then Cars And Rockets, then High Octane before eventually settling, while "God of War went by the name Dark Odyssey for at least two years".

"So with ALL that said, Criminal Crackdown is dead. I assume it's because MS has a very sweet looking game called CRACKDOWN coming out and the titles were just too close for comfort... but I am just guessing," he adds.

"I wonder if we'll also have to change the title of GOD OF WAR 2 to something else since GOD OF WAR 2 sounds a bit too much like GEARS OF WAR? We'll see," he then says, perhaps explaining what he was on about earlier in the post. Fight! Anyway, "Calling All Cars" is quite good.

And the game, which Jaffe recently billed as "cops and robbers meets basketball", hopefully will be too. It's one of the titles due out through Sony's e-Distribution Initiative (think Xbox Live Arcade on PlayStation 3) - something Jaffe said recently that he's very much enjoying developing for.