Starhawk announced as Warhawk 'spiritual successor'

Ever since Lightbox Interactive was founded by veterans of Warhawk developer Incognito, it's been rumoured that the studio was working on a follow-up to the walking-driving-flying multiplayer PS3 shooter. Today that became official, as Starhawk was unveiled as its "spiritual successor."

Starhawk promises "epic 32 player online battles" on foot, in vehicles, or in air, much like Warhawk. Players will be able to customise the battlefield with a feature called 'Build & Battle,' instantly dropping turrets, bunkers, walls, towers and other structures down from orbit. They're all destructible, of course.

Unlike Warhawk, Starhawk will also feature a single-player campaign. Playing as "outcast gunslinger" Emmett Graves, you'll be defending interstellar mining colonies from miners mutated by a mysterious mineral. The world always needs more space-cowboys. Starhawk will also offer online and offline co-op survival modes.

Starhawk is due to release exclusively on PlayStation 3 in 2012, published by Sony. If you're wondering just who these Lightbox chaps are, look, here's another trailer introducing the studio: