Birds of Steel announced for Xbox 360, PS3

Grab your old-timey flight goggles, ladies and gents! Konami has announced Birds of Steel, a WWII-based game that will attempt the unholy task of melding the action of a first-person shooter and the combat of a flight simulator.

The Xbox 360 and PS3 title is in development at Gaijin Entertainment--the team behind the recently released Apache: Air Assault and IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey--is planned for an "early 2012" release.

According to a press release, Birds of Steel will feature "20 historical and a wealth of fictitious missions, spanning eight world-famous campaigns." A few of the named campaigns include "the battle of Midway, Guadalcanal, Coral Sea, the historic attack on Pearl Harbour, the Mediterranean Maltese island, [and] Germany’s Ruhr Valley."

The game is said to include "over 100 famous planes from the entire axis and allied forces rosters." Throughout the game, players will have the choice to battle for the Allies, Japanese or Axis Forces. Since historical battles are better with a friend, Birds of Steel features online modes, including co-op missions and team deathmatch.

"For far too long, first-person shooter fans have been tied to the foot soldier point of view," Konami Digital Entertainment General Manager Martin Schneider said. "We aim to bring the seat-of-their-pants skill and daring of dogfighting and aerial combat to a wider audience."