Splinter Cell: Blacklist hitting spring 2013

Sam Fisher will return next year. During Microsoft's 2012 Electronic Entertainment Expo media briefing today, Ubisoft representatives revealed Splinter Cell: Blacklist will ship during spring 2013. In development at Ubisoft Toronto, Splinter Cell: Blacklist will offer Kinect control for the Xbox 360 version and boast single-player, co-op, and spies-vs.-mercenaries game modes.

In Splinter Cell: Blacklist, a group of "rogue nations" have become fed up with the United States' armed presence in their countries. To combat this, they devised "The Blacklist," a series of terrorist attacks aimed at the United States.

A gameplay demo for Splinter Cell: Blacklist was shown during the briefing, showing Fisher sneaking into an enemy camp at the Iran-Iraq border. Players take on the role of series hero Sam Fisher in Splinter Cell: Blacklist and will have the soldier's iconic tactical suit and goggles at their disposal.

Ubisoft Montreal and Ubisoft Shanghai are assisting in development of the game.

For more on the announcements made during Microsoft's E3 2012 media briefing today, check out GameSpot's liveblog recap of the presentation.