Hit the link for more concept art to help soften the blow of the unfortunate delay.

Jane's Gray Matter Blog [Official Website]

This time, it's Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X, according to CVG, which sails right past Fall 2008 to land anywhere between January and March of next year. Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway has been bumped forward a bit to September as well, presumably to fill in the gap.

Why does this happen? Sometimes, it has less to do with the pace of development on a title as it has to do with financials, financials, financials. The strategy of slating more titles for the year than the publisher expects it will actually launch is a common one; companies decide on product lineups, and then move titles to the most opportune launch dates to keep its balance books looking good.

While many publishers do follow this methodology, you might have noticed by now that Ubisoft is particularly aggressive about keeping its schedule flexible. Just recently, it moved Splinter Cell: Conviction back as well, ostensibly to put more work into it and position it as a key title.

It's possible we'll continue to see more titles slated for the nebulous "Fall 2008" period getting the bump into next year as publishers re-evaluate their plans.

Tom Clancy's HAWX slips into 2009 [CVG]

That is, until the delays begin. "Fall 2008" is liable to become any date from October to February, and that's exactly what's happened with the impressive-looking Afro Samurai, now delayed to January 27th. Feels funny calling it a "delay" when we never really had a date, huh?

Afro Samurai Delayed to January 27 [Shacknews]

Signs at Ubidays seemed to suggest that the game was undergoing a reworking, though Ubisoft's reps were specifically vague on details. We also heard that a "way too egotistical" Michael Ironside would no longer be returning as the voice of Sam Fisher.

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot elaborated a bit during the company's call to investors:

"We can give him a little bit more time to make sure it can become a huge product," Guillemot said.

Later, he added, "The way we build our [fiscal guidance] plan is always in having a certain number of products... that will not be automatically in the year. It was one of the products that was in what we call the 'risky products'... it's one product that is now leaving to another year, but it doesn't change our plans."

Guillemot defined "risky" as a title for which the company expected high returns, but for which research and development costs are also higher than with other titles.

Reason for the delay: lengthen the development process to improve the quality of the product. That has back-to-the-drawing-board written all over it, IMHO. The game involves surviving/coping with repeated natural disaster strikes while taking down a rogue military unit that's seized a nuclear weapon — 24 meets The Day After Tomorrow meets The Core meets ... So it will need big visuals and super realistic physics to be a winner. Maybe that's the problem, who knows.

Disaster: Day of Crisis Delayed Indefinitely [Quickjump Network, thanks El Cernex]

Report: Gizmondo delayed until end of 2008 [GameSpot]

There will be DLC next week. An announcement will go out today or Monday.

Sony's offices are closed next week and the DLC will be postponed for a week until they come back (but they'll be back on schedule the following week when they get a double-dose of DLC awesomeness). It will go up in the Xbox Marketplace as regularly scheduled.

Nothing like waking up the day after Christmas to find yet another gift under your tree, especially one that will keep you rockin' through the new year. If you have the 360 version that is....

Ubisoft's news today wasn't all good. Sure Assassin's Creed is doing amazing sales and the company as a whole is picking up, but it appears they've decided to push back three of their triple-A titles.

Or as Ubisoft puts it they've "strengthened its line-up of games for next year..." EndWar, Brothers in Arms Hell's Highway and Far Cry 2 are now all scheduled for release in fiscal 2008-09 rather than the fourth quarter of 2007-08.

This will let them push the expenses of developing those games into next year's fiscals and push up sales for that fiscal year, from what I make of the press release. Good news for investors, but boo for gamers.

The PC version of PC versus Xbox 360 real-time strategy game, and love of my life, Universe at War won't be hitting their Nov. 2 launch date after all, instead landing in the post-holiday dead zone of January.

Sega doesn't really explain the delay, telling Computer and Video Games that it will allow the PC version and 360 versions of the game to launch closer together. I suspect Sega made the wise choice of pulling out of the holiday bedlam that will see too many games to buy or play hitting stores at the same time, and have instead decided to release the game when it will get more face time.

I saw it's a wise decision because, as with all rock solid games, Universe at War can stand on its own merits and doesn't need a Thanksgiving-to-Christmas buying binge to jump start its sales. I know it's almost blasphemy to say, but let's hope that more triple-A titles follow suit and that next year maybe publishers won't feel the need to release all of their top tier titles in the same three months.

Universe at War delayed till 2008 [Computer and Video Games]

On a somewhat related note, does anyone believe ship dates when they're more than 2 months out? Because I sure don't. My heart's been broken too many times as I've sat alone at my TV with an empty bottle of wine and a plate of cold quail, settling for XBLA ports in the dark.

Sega Announces Ship Date for "The Club" [gamingtoday]

The thing is: the skate.reel video upload functionality is much more technically complex than a standard offline demo. So after submitting it to MS, we got blindsided by a technical (server related) issue we needed to address. Unfortunately it wasn't really something that could have been avoided - just an unfortunate side-effect of doing something totally new in a demo environment.

Demo Timing Announcement [Skate Forums via Destructoid]
image courtesy of Gotcha

The latest Game Informer reports that Spore has been "delayed indefinitely", but reached for comment today, Electronic Arts says that "Spore has slipped out of fiscal 08 and into fiscal 09". Either way you cut it, it means that the game we've all been waiting to play on our computers isn't coming anytime soon.

With all of the videos we've seen of gameplay showing off the different stages of Spore development and all of the media stops Will Wright has done talking about the game, it's kinda hard to figure out exactly what is taking so long. Could they be trying to port it to a console for a dual launch? Did the game need a major overhaul? Does Will Wright hate me and just like torturing me with some sort of non-existent Sisyphusian game?

Actually, I don't really care what the reasons are, I just want me some Spore. Brian Crecente

Well it looks like I'll be looking forward to it a bit longer than that. In his latest developer log, Flying Labs CEO Russell Williams explains why the June date has been scrapped.

Part of what has taken so long is that I'm 100% dedicated to maintaining control of the game. That's a very unique position in this industry, and honestly, I don't think a contract like this has ever been done, so there's a lot of education that has to occur ... We have a lot of long-range plans for the game after we launch and we intend to be working on it for quite a few years. So I'm not going to rush a contract in order to "get it done" - it has to be done right.

So now there is no concrete date, but things are definitely moving forward, with a massive beta expansion towards the end of June as they move into the home stretch. Not an open beta mind you, which they view as "entirely a marketing device", but wide-scale testing of the final release code.

In short, the game is quickly approaching done, but as is always the case with piracy, the law (or legalese) is getting in the way. Let us hope for a speedy resolution, as Captain Duck Ass (secretly a ninja) yearns to feel the sea air on his face as he bravely runs away once more. Yar! Michael Fahey

Contract status, and steady on course [Pirates of the Burning Sea]

We have made the decision to move our ship date for the US and Europe to the first quarter of 2008. (Release dates for Asia will be announced at a later date.) Since our acquisition by EA, we have been afforded many wonderful development opportunities and we plan to take full advantage of everything that is available. This includes taking several additional months to make the best MMORPG possible.

Warhammer Online Delayed [Voodoo Extreme - Thanks Cyanbane!]

Just what the hell is Chulip, you're probably wondering. Why it's a kissing game for the Playstation 2 and Game of the Blog has word that it isn't shipping on time despite the official site's petulant teasing.

GOTB reports that the "game" has been pushed back to the 19, stead of Valentine's day. I'm not so sure about this game, but I like the art, it's very... gimpy.

No Chulip for Me [Game Of The Blog]

An Activision spokesperson recently told Eurogamer to expect the game before Christmas, and that "it's an id Software title so it's done when it's done." Michael Fahey

Quake Wars in fiscal 2008 [Eurogamer]

Funcom and Eidos pushed back the release date of their lush, jungle MMO Age of Conan.

The new release date is now Oct. 30, it was supposed to come out this summer. Great, now I can't get all lathered up in oils before I play.

"Age of Conan is truly a labor of love for Funcom and I am proud and amazed at the accomplishments of our world class development team. The extra development time on Age of Conan will enable us to deliver a truly awesome MMO gaming experience - with next generation MMO-combat and a lush and vibrant world to live in, said Gaute Godager, founder of Funcom and Game Director on 'Age of Conan'. "Now we can pack even more punch into the brutal world of Conan, and, by Crom, I feel certain that we will deliver a game that will appeal to a broad range of players as we introduce new features to the genre.'

Did that guy just use the phrase By Crom? Brian Crecente

Blue's News points out that four of the developer's games have been delayed including Grey Matter, an adventure game by Gabriel Knight author Jane Jensen.

The other's on the list are role-playing game Drakensang: The Dark Eye, point and click psychiatry adventure Overclocked and World War II steal-action game Sabotage.

I never played Tony Tough so I'm not up on Anaconda's chops, but they sure work on some interesting concepts. Brian Crecente

Drakensang, Overclocked, and Sabotage Delays [Blue's News]

flOw in Feb [IGN]

In a recent interview Sir Howard seemingly delayed the European launch of the PS3 from March to April.

Not so says Sony, he just misspoke:

In a recent interview, Sir Howard Stringer stated that the launch for the PS3 in Europe and other PAL countries is slated for April. Sir. Howard meant to say the launch was set for "this Spring." The release for the PS3 in Europe and other PAL countries remains March. Please update any stories you might have posted on this subject.

OK, put down the torches and pitchforks, everything's going to be OOOOK.

Crackdown Demo Delay [IGN]

Fret not! It's no biggie. MotorStorm's Japan release has been shoved back from December 7th to December 14th. The snafu is being blamed on production probs, but doesn't sound like anything serious. The Western version, which includes online multiplayer, gets a few more tweaks and will hit next Spring. The Japanese version is offline, however. While, the game won't live up to its E3 2005 trailer, I am personally excited about this title (Resistance is fun, but I'm ready to move on). Brian Ashcraft

MotorStorm Delayed A Little [Eurogamer]

Starting today, DS owners will be able to download game demos from kiosks installed in Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

Six of the kiosks went live today in the airport's T, A and B concourses and the airline plans to do the same in other airports in the coming months.

I'm not quite sure if Delta has figured out a way to make these demos available onto to their customers or if anyone can swing by a kiosk and get to downloading. Also, aren't you supposed to turn off your DS on take-off? That sorta sucks, because the demo will disappear.

Other than the odd take-off issue, it sounds like a great fit. Delta's got like a 50-percent on-time ratio for their flights, so you need something to do while you sitting around the airport watching all of the other airlines fly out on time. Brian Crecente

Game On! Delta Air Lines Partners With Nintendo to Provide Travelers Access to Free Video Game Demos

ATLANTA, Nov. 20, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) — Just in time to entertain holiday travelers, Delta Air Lines is partnering with Nintendo to provide customers with access to free video game demos for the Nintendo DS portable gaming system. Today, on-the-go Nintendo lovers can begin downloading the interactive demos — including Brain Age, Elite Beat Agents, Clubhouse Games — in Delta terminals at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

Through this new service, travelers can easily and wirelessly download Nintendo video game demos for free by bringing their Nintendo DS video game systems with them when they travel to or through Atlanta, standing within a few feet of the DS Download Station and following the simple download instructions. There are six units in the Atlanta airport on Concourses T, A and B. Delta also plans to provide this exciting enhancement in other airports in the coming months.

``Delta is excited to partner with Nintendo, makers of some of the most popular video games of all time, to provide yet another innovative entertainment offering to travelers,'' said Joan Vincenz, Delta's managing director of Product Marketing. ``This program reflects our ongoing commitment to provide a distinctive, enjoyable travel experience — both on the ground and in the air — especially during the busy holiday travel season.''

This airport technology addition is one of many changes Delta is making to improve the travel experience for customers. In September, Delta introduced the first of its new two-class, domestic transcontinental aircraft featuring all-leather seating in both first-class and coach. On these refurbished aircraft, every customer has a front row seat to great entertainment with Delta's state-of-the-art, digital in-flight entertainment — boasting movies, live television, music and games — available on demand at every seat. The airline's new standard in domestic transcontinental flying will be available to all passengers traveling on select Delta flights over four hours (or more than 1,750 miles), including those from Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport to cities including Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Seattle and others, beginning this month.

Earlier this year, Delta also began updating its international BusinessElite class with a similar, industry-leading entertainment system on its current fleet of 75 aircraft flying international routes. And beginning in 2008, Delta will be the first U.S. airline to offer its international business class customers a true lie-flat seat in its BusinessElite(r) cabin on ultra long-haul flights to Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.

Look I hate to keep being the bearer of bad news, but here it comes again. Valve's Doug Lombardi confirmed the Half-Life 2 Episode Two delay to Computer & Video Games, offering up a heartbreakingly vague "summer 2007" release date. And that's the "target".

You know what this means. No Portal until summer. No Team Fortress 2 until summer. No happiness on Earth until summer.

I'm starting to think that "Best Action Game of E3 1999" Team Fortress 2 is again bogging down development, cursing all future Valve releases. This game must be destroyed to save us all! Michael McWhertor

HL2: Episode Two, Portal, TF2 all slip [C&VG]

After pulling the global launch rug out from under our friends across the pond, it seems that Phil Harrison, President of Worldwide Studios for Sony, would like to prepare the Euros for further disappointment. Just to be safe.

Speaking with the UK version of the Official PlayStation Magazine, Mr. Harrison had the following to say about the proposed March 2007 launch date for the PS3:

Given that all of our previous statements about launching in Europe simultaneously with the US and Japan turned out not to be the case, I would not like to make any definitive statements on that. It's not my job to comment on hardware supply issues other than to say some very smart people are working very hard to catch up. In fact, the ramp up is already starting to happen in supply and output, just obviously too late for us to have launched in Europe at the same times as the US.

Well, that's fair! Stil, I can't imagine that anyone will be happy to see units dedicated for the European market shifted to other territories. With the exception of the country of Japan and North America! Hahaha! Take that, France, Germany, Spain and the UK! You too, Luxembourg and Austria! Michael McWhertor

Phil Harrison Interview [ThreeSpeech]

Another PlayStation 3 launch game bites the dust.

Following yesterday's announcement that Sega's next-gen Sonic the Hedgehog would ship after November 17th and the cancellation of NBA Live 07, comes word from Bethesda that The Elders Scrolls IV: Oblivion would also see a delay.

The game is now schedule to ship in the first quarter of 2007, with no specific reason given for the delay, but we're guessing the limited number of PS3 launch units, combined with alleged issues on the downloadable content front might have something to do with it. PC gamers and Xbox 360 owners will still get their expansion, Knights of the Nine, before the holidays.

You know what this means? More money for extra copies of Resistance! Michael McWhertor

The Elder Scrolls Forums: News and Information

Those of you looking forward to spending more time with Shadow the Hedgehog, this time on your PlayStation 3, are going to have to wait a little bit longer. Another PS3 title is going to miss the launch, and this time it's Sega's own flagship mascot, Sonic.

Why the delay, this close to launch? It seems Sega wants to spend more time working on downloadable content, but didn't specify exactly what that downloadable content was. I can only assume they're working on new ways to ruin my positive childhood memories of the Sega Genesis or they've finally inked a deal to get some 50 Cent tracks for Shadow's in-car stereo.

The game is specified now as "holiday 2006". Hopefully, they'll update it to "never". Sorry, I'm surly tonight. Still bitter about that whole Shadow thing. Michael McWhertor

Sonic PS3 Delayed [IGN]

News is coming in from cities such as New Orleans, LA, Cleveland, OH and Timonium, MD about delayed Gears of War shipments to their local EB/Gamestops. Other states have also reported in about the missing shipments including Florida, Alabama, Virginia and North Carolina. EB/Gamestop is pointing the finger of blame directly at FedEx who apparently left a huge shipment at their hub in Memphis, TN.

EB/Gamestop has even gone so far as to send their customers automated phone messages stating a "shipping issue" and warning people to call their local store before making an unnecessary trip. They assure that they will have the game in stock tomorrow.

Personally, I think Mr. Cliffy B. needs to climb on his Segway or skateboard or whatever the cool kids are riding these days, and hand deliver those copies himself. Flynn De Marco

Sony has fired back at claims that the PS3 has been pushed back in Europe. Again. Spanish website Meristation says that Ken Kutaragi has warned that a Japanese and North American shortage means fewer consoles for Europe, meaning a longer wait. Sony's response:

Any reports of a further delay to the launch of the PS3 in Europe are categorically not true. We are still fully committed to a March 2007 launch date. Ken Kutaragi has not done any media briefings since the Tokyo Game Show, and the story is not true.

So the console will launch in Europe next March, and it will be chaos. Brian Ashcraft

No More Delays [Eurogamer]

Be prepared to stagger under the bright, bright light of resplendent genius: analysts at UBS Investment Research think that the PAL delay of the Playstation 3 is bad. Like, that's 500,000 gamers who won't be buying games during the Christmas crunch. Fingers point specifically at Activision as a company that built Q4 targets around the Playstation 3. They predict that companies will delay the launch of titles until March to take part in a bigger market.

Ah, analysts. Is there any common sense observation to which they can't lend the air of impervious respectability? Thanks for the heads up, Einstein! Florian Eckhardt

Shares of Electronic Arts dropped 1.3 percent, Activision dropped 3.5 percent, Take-Two Interactive dropped 2.5 percent and THQ dropped 3.7 percent.

Analysts, confronted with hard facts, seemed confused about how to react.

Webush Morgan analyst Michael "Nothing to see here" Pachter said that while he expects U.S. publishers to lose $125 million in overall holiday game sales, he thinks it won't be enough to "move the needle."

On the other end of the hyperbole Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey said he thinks this could be the first step in a total delay of the Playstation 3.

"I think it raises concerns that maybe Europe is the first and possibly not the last to fold in its launch plans," Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey told Reuters.

So there you have it. Sony drops news, analysts think it could mean the end of the world or absolutely nothing. Brian Crecente

Sony console delay stokes holiday sales worries
[MSN Money]

"I really think it's unfortunate for European consumers, but the delay makes clear that Sony intends to fight the Blu-Ray - HD-DVD battle on US soil."

Pachter does go on to say that the shortfall in PS3 sales will be "absorbed by higher purchases of Wii and Xbox 360 hardware and software." Do you think?

Pachter kicker quote is the best part of the whole interview. Apparently delaying your console launch for a huge chunk of the planet and and having next to none for what's left over is just a "headline."

"I think on balance, this is just a bad headline, and that it will be forgotten in a year or so," Pachter concluded.

Brian Crecente

Europ PS3 Delay Shows Sony's Commitment to US [GI]

Korean electronics giant Samsung announced that its Blu-ray Player BD-P1000 will be pushed back in until autumn. Recent reports suggested that while the Sony and Pioneer Blu-ray machines had been pushed back, the Samsung unit was still on time. This seems no longer to be the case.

The format was created by electronics dream team Sony, Samsung and Matsushita (Panasonic) and is battling it out with HD DVD for the next-gen format crown. Sony is supposed to release Blu-ray movies in seven days, which can be viewed on a PC Blu-ray drive or a Blu-ray notebook. We're still waiting on the HD TV ready players.

Whether or not these delays are affecting the PS3's planned November release is not known. Brian Ashcraft

Update: Kotaku reader Richard pointed out that the player is delayed in the UK, because big electronic companies hate the Brits. The product is still on schedule for the Yanks. Thank gawd!

More Here [I4U]

Matthew Perry is mad as hell and he's not going to take it anymore. Perry, a Nintendo fan in Europe, launched a site called NoE Watch to keep an idea on Nintendo and how they ghettoize Europe with late release dates and general disinterest.

Perry dropped us a line to let us know why he felt the need for the site:

The site's aim is to both highlight the way Nintendo treats European gamers in comparison to their American counterparts, and to act as an easy reference tool for potential importers. The site uses a clear and simple traffic light system to rate upcoming releases and the Nintendo websites. Also, for a bit of fun (however tragic), I've created a 'Hall of Fame' and 'Hall of Shame', where those rare release date miracles are celebrated and those all-too-common debacles are highlighted.

Did you know that European gamers are still waiting for Wario Ware Twisted? If the game meets the projected release date of July 1st, we will have been waiting one year and one month longer than the Americans.

Nintendo of Europe Watch [Thanks Matthew]