Samurai Warriors 4 announced for PS3, Vita in 2014

Omega Force and Tecmo Koei today surprised absolutely nobody by announcing a new entry in the Samurai Warriors series, although the fact that it's not going next-gen is a bit eyebrow-raising.

Siliconera reports from Famitsu that Samurai Warriors 4 is due in northern spring 2014 on PlayStation 3 and Vita.

There will be over 50 characters, including Mitsunari Ishida, Hanbei Takenaka, Nobuyuki Sanada, Yoshitsugu Otani, Yukimura Sanada, Inahime, Kanbei Kuroda, Goemon Ishikawa and Musashi Miyamoto. The story will be told from Yukimua Sanada's perspective, but there'll be at least one other story mode focused on another character,

As in Samurai Warriors: Chronicles and Warriors Orochi, players will bring two characters to each stage and switch between them at will. It also boasts new mode where players create a custom character and fulfil quests.

Unable to leave well enough alone, Omega Force has of course introduced some new systems - Godspeed Action and Secret Musou. No word on what that means yet.

We don't have any assets yet so the image above is from Samurai Warriors 3; we also don't have confirmation of western release but, you know. Likely.

Since stablemate Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme Legends is coming to PS4 at launch; it's not clear why this one isn't making the next-gen jump yet. The last Samurai Warriors game was a Wii exclusive at first, so perhaps Omega Force is hoping to cater to its core PS3 fanbase for a bit.