Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) announced that Jak and Daxter and Ratchet & Clank series, created and developed by Naughty Dog, Inc., and Insomniac Games respectively, will return exclusively to the PS2 in Fall 2004.
The announcement follows a successful retail season as Jak II and Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando, last year's sequels to Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy and Ratchet & Clank.
As both franchises have sold through to consumers more than one million units internationally since their inception, it would seem that the platform genre continues to prosper. Demonstrating this, Jak II was chosen by PlayStation Magazine for Game of the Year, Best Character Design and Best Story, it was awarded Action Game of the Year as well as tied for Game of the Year by PSE2 and it received PLAY Magazine 's Hybrid Game of the Year.
Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando, was honored by Cinescape and Electronic Gaming Monthly ( EGM ) as the Best PlayStation 2 Game of 2003. The game was included in PSM 's Top 10 Games of 2003, was chosen by TechTV 's X-Play, and the Dallas Morning News as Best Platformer of the Year. PLAY Magazine labeled the title as both PlayStation 2 Game of the Year and Action-Shooting Game of the Year, and the San Francisco Chronicle and the San Jose Mercury News included Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando among its Top 10 Best Games of 2003.
This extensive list of awards and the announcement of the upcoming sequels just add further evidence to the case for the console platform game, a genre snubbed by the majority of hardcore gamers but one which seems to sell very well.