Sam Fisher shows his softer side

For his latest adventure in Splinter Cell: Conviction (which appears to have dropped the capital "V"), Sam Fisher has gone positively emo. His face is capable of a wider range of emotions, he's kicking it in the Mediterranean and he's even ... grown his hair out. Mary De Marle, "narrative designer" for the game, told IGN that Sam has always been this way; he's just been waiting for the chance to let his softie flag fly. "Somehow, we are presenting the 'original' Sam, as we have been thinking him since the first days of the first Splinter Cell," De Marle said.

To help compliment this new "make love, not war" ethos, Sam has forsaken the tech supplied to him by Third Echelon in favor of the hottest new SC gadget: The hoodie. No, seriously. Sam will be able to pull it up in crowds to make himself less noticeable or to hide the single tear he's crying for his lost innocence. But mainly just the first one. When you combine some of the latest revelations with what we learned earlier this month, the new Splinter Cell sounds like a major departure from the norm -- and that sounds just fine to us.