Inversion upturning 360, PS3 in 2010

The laws of physics have been repeatedly violated by the gaming industry in recent years, thanks to the likes of Valve's Portal or LucasArts' Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Today, Namco Bandai announced that it would be taking its own liberties with Sir Isaac Newton with Inversion, a new gravity-defying gaming property. The game is expected to arrive for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in 2010.

Described as a third-person co-op shooter, Inversion sees gamers manipulating gravity with the help of the versatile "grappler" weapon. The device will let players turn heavy objects into shields or high-velocity bullets, and it can also be used to expose enemy combatants hiding under cover. Namco Bandai notes that Inversion will feature destructible environments courtesy of the Havok Destruction engine.

Beyond its physics-heavy gameplay, Inversion tells the story of a near-future human race that has been overrun by a foreign enemy known as the Lutadore. The invaders bring with them the game's defining gravity-manipulation devices. These weapons' effects are complicated by a seemingly tangential rift in the fundamental physical force that ties objects together, causing various parts of the unidentified city to become zero-gravity hot zones.

Inversion is in development at Saber Interactive. The New York-based developer is perhaps best known for TimeShift, a sci-fi shooter that received lukewarm reviews upon its release for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC in 2007.