Splinter Cell Conviction and Red Steel 2, two of the breakout titles from this year's E3 Expo, won't be making their original 2009 release dates, according to Ubisoft's first-quarter 2009 sales report. The two titles are now slated for release in the 4th quarter of 2009, which in Ubisoft's case places their release sometime in the window of January to March 2010. Two additional titles, I am Alive and Ghost Recon, have been pushed to fiscal year 2010-2011, which kicks off in April of 2010. From Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot:

"We are disappointed that we have to postpone the release of several major games but we consider that this choice is the best one in the long-term interests of Ubisoft. Lastly, we are having to adjust our full-year targets to take into account the fall in business over the first half. The excellent response to our games at E3, as well as the high buzz generated for titles such as Assassin's Creed 2, Splinter Cell Conviction and Avatar, reinforce our belief that the company can achieve strong growth in the second half of the fiscal year."

During the conference call, Yves furthe rexplained that the team working on Red Steel 2 requested more time to polish all of the maps, and that the demo shown at E3 didn't reflect the quality of the rest of the game in its current state.

On the bright side, we should have plenty of money to buy presents for other people this Holiday season, right?

Multi-platform I Am Alive is set in Chicago after a major earthquake. It's a more realistic take on the survival genre, showing in first-person how one man survives a catastrophic event that could indeed happen.

The game was slated for release this spring, but has been pushed back to March 2010.

According to Ubisoft, "In order to respect the new launch date for this ambitious title, and Darkworks having other obligations, we have mutually decided to complete development of I Am Alive at Ubisoft Shanghai, as the two studios have collaborated on aspects of the title over the past year."

Ubisoft pulls I Am Alive from Darkworks [Games Industry]

Among the games will be Assassin's Creed 2, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon and Anno. The company also plans to release three new brands, including I Am Alive, four movie games, including Avatar and a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and tons more games ending in the letter Z.

"2009-10 looks very promising and our teams are working flat-out to provide gamers with the best the industry has to offer," said Ubisoft president Yves Guillemot. "Our line-up comprises several potential blockbusters with the launch of seven franchises, including Assassin's Creed, Splinter Cell and Ghost Recon, as well as four license-based games including James Cameron's Avatar, three new brands and a further-enhanced casual games portfolio. Although we have to be cautious in light of the current economic environment, we expect Ubisoft to once again be one of the most dynamic and profitable publishers in the games industry in 2009."

Guillemot also let slip that Ubisoft is indeed working on a MotionPlus-sporting Red Steel 2, but declined to discuss any details about the game.

Ubisoft expect the video game market to grow five to 10 percent in 2009 and also expect to invest more in blockbuster games and less on casual ones.

Not that they're giving up on their Petz or Imagine brands.

I Am Alive, originally scheduled for a 2nd quarter 2009 release, is a survival game developed by Cold Fear developers Darkworks, that takes place after an earthquake devastates the city of Chicago. It's a more realistic take on the survival genre, showing in first-person how one man survives a catastrophic event that could indeed happen.

So the game has been pushed up a bit, but we've still not really seen anything outside of the trailer. Should we be worried, or is Ubisoft just waiting to drop something amazing on our heads?

I Am Alive due by end of March - Ubisoft [Eurogamer]

I Am Alive takes “more realistic approach to survival,” says DarkWorks [VG247]

Ubisoft announced at its press conference earlier today — via the trailer above — that I Am Alive, a title that looks to be a third person survival horror title that looks heavy on survival and light on horror. Well, light on zombies or demons from a netherworld, but horrific nonetheless. It's the title that Assassin's Creed producer Jade Raymond is rumored to be attached to, if that happens to do something for you.

It's not quite official confirmation, but Gamekyo has the trademark document for the game over at their site, so there's a pretty good chance this is a solid rumor. Still, even a solid rumor is still a rumor. The only thing that really strikes me as odd about the whole thing is I known people from Chicago, and no piddling city-destroying earthquake could take them down.

Jade Raymond working on I Am Alive [Gamekyo]