Last night, Ripcord and Zombie VR Studios held a party at a popular San Francisco club to celebrate the launch of Spec Ops 2. The designers and producers have worked countless weekends and 16-hour days, so we were pretty sure that the last thing they wanted to talk about was Spec Ops 2, so GameSpot News struck up the only logical conversation we could think of: Spec Ops 3.

　　According to Zombie, Spec Ops 3 has been in development for about two months. The game will retain the "buddy system" feel that made the previous Spec Ops games so popular but will forgo using US Army Rangers in favor of the more popular Navy Seals. This will undoubtedly open up more gameplay options, since Seals are known for being adept at land, sea, and air operations. One Zombie producer we talked to mentioned levels that will consist of HALO (high-altitude, low-open) jumps, underwater insertion into enemy territory, and other flashy military maneuvers.

　　Also, Zombie will be ditching the Viper 3D engine (used in Spec Ops 2) and licensing the much more robust LithTech engine, developed by Monolith, to power Spec Ops 3. Many considered the Viper engine, which was developed in house at Zombie, to be the weak link in previous Spec Ops games. The incorporation of an engine as powerful as LithTech will not only cut down on development time, but it will also make for a much more visually pleasing and physically accurate game.

　　Spec Ops 3 is tentatively scheduled for a November 2000 release. More details about the game will most likely be revealed in the weeks leading up to E3. Spec Ops 2, however, will be available in stores starting November 11.