Last week, my friend and colleague Matt Cabral wrote up an excellent preview of Hitman: Absolution for Kotaku. I was given the same demonstration by IO Interactive and Square Enix this week at CES and couldn't agree with him more - the game is going to be bloody fantastic.

Ubisoft's Splinter Cell: Conviction lived two very public lives. The first had Sam Fisher looking like the sexiest homeless man on the planet. That version was binned. The second version, the one that was actually released, was more "traditional".

"BUY ACTION FIGURE" may not have been written across the side of a building during the latest Splinter Cell game, but for die-hard fans it should have been, given the impending release of a new, plastic tribute to Sam Fisher.

I can't think of another game so destroyed by its dialogue as Splinter Cell: Conviction; not by bad lines alone (which are nothing novel in gaming) but by the way Ubisoft's designers and programmers used them.

Ubisoft is giving Splinter Cell Conviction a surge of fresh Deniable Ops, pricing and dating the Xbox 360 and PC game's first batch of downloadable content for next week.

As a longtime public radio listener, I often imagined Corey Flintoff as someone resembling Wilem Dafoe. Turns out he looks a lot more avuncular. Famous game characters likewise bear little resemblance to their voice actors.

Note to flacks: Cops aren't considering concepts like viral marketing or cosplay when an actor staggers into a pub district to point a plastic gun at the patrons. Promoters of Splinter Cell Conviction just learned this in New Zealand.

Ubisoft wants PC gamers to know it's heard the complaints and anger regarding its DRM "online services platform," and, after careful consideration, it's digging in. The creative side of the company is now calling it vital to what they do.

Sam Fisher returns in Splinter Cell: Conviction, on the run from old allies and old gameplay conventions alike. Should he be on the run from the assembled video game critics as well?

The president of the United States featured in this week's newest Tom Clancy game, Splinter Cell: Conviction, looks like no real U.S. president. She's a woman. The possibly nefarious vice president, however, looks familiar.

Even a good game can glitch. This is the best one our new intern, Lauren Orsini, has found for Splinter Cell: Conviction on YouTube so far. The guy's just trying to shake tape off his hand. Too bad he's dead.

I had a problem. I had to complete the Splinter Cell Co-Op campaign, but my co-op buddy was gone for the weekend. So be it. I turned on the game and prepared to wield two controllers.

Splinter Cell: Conviction, out this week, is pretty good. It's also been a long time coming, having been originally due for release in 2007. Why the delay?

Multiple day-one purchasers of Splinter Cell: Conviction are seeing the game freeze on its second level and at other moments. Publisher Ubisoft tells Kotaku the issue is being investigated. Please note: There is a temporary fix. [UPDATE: Ubisoft resolves problem?]

Several years in the making, and at least one false start later, a new Splinter Cell is finally upon us. Fittingly, the best part of it sneaks up on you.

Today's kids need to know how to go about getting revenge for the murder of their daughter using the skills they acquired as a top-secret secret government operative. The Splinter Cell Activity Book for Kids can help.

Ubisoft drops new details on the latest game in their modern warfare franchise, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, with a reminder that every copy of Splinter Cell: Conviction will come packed with an invite to this summer's multiplayer beta.

The Splinter Cell Conviction collector's edition has just been reduced in price, from $80 to $70. It's hardly an act of charity, though; you can instead thank some dodgy USB drives for the savings.

While a lot of the game's marketing has focused on the fact it's coming out on Xbox 360, let's not forget espionage title Splinter Cell: Conviction is also on the way for the PC.