Publishing executives say complimentary stuff about their upcoming games all of the time. So what. But there's an unusual history with Sleeping Dogs, which Square Enix will release Aug. 14—it was formerly known as True Crime: Hong Kong until Activision washed its hands of the franchise in the Feb. 2011 bloodbath that…

Undercover cop and protagonist Wei Shen of Sleeping Dogs—previously known as True Crime: Hong Kong—is on assignment in Hong Kong as an undercover cop. Fronting as a deported man come at long last back to Hong Kong, Wei Shen is on a mission to take down the local triad organization by the name of Sun Oh Yee.

There's a lot of action in this trailer for Sleeping Dogs, once known as True Crime: Hong Kong, which publisher Square Enix officially re-announced today. Unfortunately, none of it looks anything like a game.

The True Crime game canned by publisher Activision earlier this year has been revived. It just won't bear the True Crime name at its new home, Final Fantasy, Deus Ex and Hitman publisher Square Enix.

Publisher Activision has just added a few more games and maybe one more development studio to its kill count. A now partially confirmed report says that the mega-publisher has axed the Guitar Hero franchise, killed its True Crime reboot and fired much of Freestyle Games.

Activision did its part to thin the typically obese late year release schedule today, delaying True Crime: Hong Kong to next year. Originally planned for release this fall, the PS3, PC and Xbox 360 game will hit in 2011. Why?

As we mentioned earlier this week, GDC got some class this year with some pole-dancing, clothes-on erotic dancers.

Activision, the company that publishes Guitar Hero and Call of Duty, did not get the memo. The recent Game Developers Conference is not the venue for half-naked pole dancers.

Activision's True Crime series goes back to the drawing board with a Hong Kong action-adventure reboot, a game that puts the player in the role of an undercover cop, one who knows how to use a freezer door in a fight.