E3 06: EA building next-gen Army of Two

Electronic Arts is forming an army, and the publisher wants you. And maybe you, too. That should be sufficient.

Perhaps recognizing that the video game cliché of a lone soldier toppling hardened street gangs, evil dictatorships, and intergalactic invaders is a bit unrealistic, the publisher is calling in a little backup for its latest title, Army of Two.

Announced today for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, Army of Two is an action game with a focus on cooperative work and coordinated strategies. Players will have to join up with the game's Partner Artificial Intelligence (PAI) or other players "to fight through war, political turmoil and a conspiracy so vast it threatens the entire world." Story details are vague at the moment, but the game does involve conflicts with private military corporations.

Army of Two has been under development at EA's Montreal studio for the last year. EA refers to the game as its "first original title for the next-gen systems." While a Web site for the apparently original role-playing game Project Gray Company has gone live, the company hasn't officially announced it yet. Army of Two is set for release in 2007.