Splinter Cell: Conviction, R.U.S.E. delayed

Sam Fisher has been working on his escape from Ubisoft's game factory since 2006, when Splinter Cell: Conviction was announced for the Xbox 360 and PC. After a host of holdups, it appeared as if the Splinter Cell hero would at last find freedom on retail shelves, when Ubisoft attached a firm February 23 release date to the stealth-oriented action game in September.

Unfortunately, that will not be the case, as Ubisoft announced today that Splinter Cell Conviction has been delayed out of its current fiscal year and into April 2010. The publisher also said that its all-new World War II strategy game R.U.S.E. has been pushed into its upcoming fiscal year, which runs from April 1, 2010, to March 31, 2011. Ubisoft gave no explanation for the delays.

Conviction is set two years after Splinter Cell: Double Agent, which saw series hero Sam Fisher become a fugitive from the FBI, NSA, and Interpol. In the course of investigating his daughter's death, the now-unkempt Fisher discovers that his former employer, the covert organization Third Echelon, has double-crossed him. Avoiding capture, he travels to Washington, DC, to uncover the conspiracy that led to his undeserved disgrace.

As for R.U.S.E., the game is in development for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC at Eugen Systems, the France-based developer of Atari's Act of War series. An RTS game with a twist, R.U.S.E. encourages players to resort to deception, using special cards to fool players with nonexistent units, make weak units look strong, and vice versa.

Check out GameSpot's previous coverage for more on Splinter Cell: Conviction and R.U.S.E.