Remember how Socom used to be good? You know, before Socom: Confrontation? Those were the days before Slant Six took one of the premier Playstation franchises and screwed it all up. Well luckily that wasn’t a real Socom game because Sony have just announced Socom 4 and it is being developed “From the ground up for the PlayStation 3” by Zipper.

As if you didn’t know, Zipper is the developer that created the just released MAG with 256 players online and Socom 1,2,3 and Combined Assault on the PS2. Well this Socom game is only going to have a maximum of 32 players but will also have a singleplayer campaign set in South East Asia.

From the Playstation Blog:

“Your mission is to step into the well-worn boots of the Ops Com, a NATO Operations Commander of an elite, five-man squad. You must venture deep into inhospitable jungles, city streets and crumbling urban ruins to engage an army of rebel fighters and discover their plans. Although you’re vastly outnumbered, you’re armed with the latest weaponry and your men are second to none – but do you possess the stealth, speed and tactical thinking to lead them to victory? Time is not on your side: you have just six days to complete your mission. To emerge victorious, you must lead from the front, maintain control of the situation and fight with sheer intensity”.

But don’t stress Zipper Fans! MAG is still going to be supported, for a few months anyways, since this is not likely to come out unit the holiday season. To remove our fears, Zipper Interactive's senior community manager Jeremy Dunham (You may remember him from IGN) has answered a few questions on the Playstation Blog. You know community managers don’t lie right… Right?

“First, if you play MAG and wonder what this means for the game's future, wonder no more – we're still fully committed to supporting MAG for a long, long time and the addition of another game in our lineup doesn't change that. Second, it's been great to hear from SOCOM fanatics located in every corner of the globe as we led into today's announcement. We're extremely excited to be attached to this beloved franchise again and knowing that so many people wanted us to return to something that already meant so much to us has been both inspiring and touching – so thank you to all of you who wanted it to happen! We look forward to living up to your expectations.”

The game is looking good if the screenshots are anything to go by, the trailer below doesn't show much gameplay (if any) but seems to carry a serious tone, Look for it to drop in fall.