Pacific Assault held back until November

The crowded 2004 holiday release calendar got a little more crowded late Friday, when Electronic Arts announced that Medal of Honor Pacific Assault won't ship until November. In a message on the game's official Web site, the producers of the game laid out their reasoning for the delay. The note read, "EA has listened to the feedback of critics and consumers who have played an early build of Medal of Honor Pacific Assault; their high expectations encouraged us to add some extra time to the development schedule in order to add new features and an extra coat of polish to the game."

That polish will come in the form of several new additions to the game. Foremost among them is the brand-new "combat squad control" feature, which will allow players to control their squad during combat with on-the-fly, single-key commands. The addition is the first for the series and is reminiscent of a similar feature in Ubisoft's upcoming WWII shooter, Brothers in Arms. "We believe that adding this new feature and giving the game more time for polish will pay out," said EA in the statement.

EA did not say whether the delay would affect release plans for the Pacific Assault demo, which was announced one day before being delayed itself. For more on Pacific Assault, check out our previous coverage.