Sony announces Sly Cooper

Sony has announced a new PlayStation 2 platform game in the form of Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus. The game, developed by Seattle-based Sucker Punch, puts the player in the role of a raccoon named Sly Cooper. On Sly's eighth birthday, he is given the Thievius Raccoonus, an instruction manual on how to be a great thief that has been passed down through the Cooper family for generations. But ruthless villains bust in and steal the manual, splitting it amongst themselves and vanishing. So Sly, along with his two friends Bentley and Murray, must embark on a platforming adventure to recover the pages of the book and prove to the world that Sly Cooper is the world's greatest thief.

Throughout the adventure you'll have to use different skills, such as stealth tactics and platform jumping. You'll also pilot vehicles, play minigames, and fight bosses as you proceed through the game. The entire game is impressively toon-shaded, giving it a very smooth, stylized look.

Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus is scheduled to ship in September. We'll have more on the game later in the week.