Brothers in Arms enters release-candidate phase

A brief message on a Web site belied the approach of one of 2005's most anticipated games. In a short post uploaded this afternoon, Gearbox Software president Randy Pitchford casually told the world that Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 "is essentially finished."

According to Pitchford's post, the WWII-inspired, first-person shooter has been in the release-candidate phase "since as early as January" for the PC, Xbox, and PlayStation 2. However, the game is still not quite ready to be submitted to its publisher, Ubisoft, for approval--the last step before a game goes gold and is sent to the factory for duplication. The news means that the game will almost certainly make its previously announced March 1 ship date.

"The team has been working on the release engineering and details required for a solid, major launch of a AAA game like Brothers in Arms," said Pitchford. "I would expect a wide press release soon that confirms the release to manufacturing of the gold master for each platform and the final shelf date of the game." (Emphasis in the original.)