Sly Denied

news via ign

Sony and PSM say, "What interview?"

One of the most popular rumors floating around the Internet last week was that Sly Cooper 4 is coming to the PlayStation 3. The gossip, reportedly attributed to the next issue of PSM, was popularized at PlayStation fan site PSX Extreme (via this article) and it spread to message boards from there. In the article, PSXE claimed that PSM held an interview with the Sucker Punch development team where the following was said...

"The graphics have been majorly overhauled and the gameplay will be more varied and focused this time around. We're aiming for a fully interactive 3D world, with no loads and seamless interaction between settings and characters."

Article author, Ben Dutka, speculated that the new Sly project would likely be for PlayStation 3 because "two Sly games are slated to come out simultaneously and have connectivity with one another." It was further reported that the two games, of which the other is supposedly for PSP, are likely be shown at E3 in July.

But here's the rub. Sony and PSM (USA branch) both deny that the interview happened.

"Yeah, it's not us," commented PSM Editor-in-Chief, Rob Smith. "It must be a PSM in Europe somewhere."

Sony Computer Entertainment PR Manager Jennifer Clark added, "There have been no announcements made in regards to future Sly Cooper products and there are no plans for the franchise to appear at this year's E3. Any information that has recently been reported is pure rumor and speculation."

Curious, we had our UK staff check the latest issue of PSM UK as well.

"There's nothing in there about Sucker Punch or a new Sly game," reported IGN UK guy, Alex Simmons. "And the next issue isn't to subscribers yet."

When contacted, PSXE editor Ben Dutka said that his original source for the article was a report found on News for Gamers (linked), where it's revealed that the whole thing started as an anonymous posting at GameFaqs.

"Obviously, it's only a forum post so that's hardly something concrete," commented Dutka. "But I believe it's true. Usually I get a notice from Sony or whomever if we post an erroneous article, and I would've expected to see something if this wasn't actually fact."

Does this long trail of rumors mean that Sly Cooper 4 and Sly Cooper PSP isn't happening? Not necessarily. Sucker Punch is working on at least one "next-gen" project as we reported in this story published last year, but then again, the existence of such a project does not automatically equal "Sly Cooper."

Thus far, everyone that would have been involved in the original interview (if it even exists) has yet to substantiate it.

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