Killzone: Mercenary Release Date Pushed Forward

Sony's push for more PlayStation Vita content continues with announcing one of their major titles being released one week earlier.

Killzone: Mercenary is now set for a September 10th release date in North America on the Vita. Preorder content includes a double XP boost for 48 hours in multiplayer, similar to Killzone 3's release, and enough bonus money to buy another weapon before playing multiplayer.

After a disastrous start to the first-person shooter genre on the Vita, K:M has a lot to live up to. Both of last year's releases, Resistance: Burning Skies and Call of Duty: Black Ops - Declassified, were failures on the handheld.

Resistance failed with boring gameplay and a quick single-player campaign, basically "Resistance Lite" on the go with a playable multiplayer. COD was worse and failed at everything, most of it feeling like a rushed project.

With the handheld receiving more push by Sony, bigger franchises need to succeed and separate Vita from a typical Android mobile device. There's nothing wrong with the indie gaming push; it feels great to play those games with actual buttons. But casual consumers won't consider purchasing a separate $200-plus device to play games that can also be done on their smartphones.

[Source: PlayStation Blog]