Stranglehold hits gold on Xbox 360

In July, Midway announced that Inspector "Tequila" Yuen's long, hard road to reach the interactive medium was nearing its conclusion. First unveiled in 2005, John Woo's Stranglehold was initially slated for a holiday 2006 release, but was subsequently bumped to the first quarter of 2007, and then again to August. However, like an unforeseen twist at the end of any action flick worth its weight in bullets, the game apparently had to overcome one last development obstacle to make it to store shelves, and was once again delayed, this time to September 4.

Now it appears John Woo's Stranglehold is in the clear, as Midway today revealed that the gangster shooter has gone gold and will be available September 5--for the Xbox 360, at least. As part of today's announcement, Midway noted that the PC version, originally slated to launch alongside the Xbox 360 version, has been delayed until September 18. Following suit, the PlayStation 3 version of the game has also been pushed back a week from its projected September 17 release date to September 25.

Developed by the same team behind Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy, Stranglehold is the continuation of John Woo's cult gangster drama Hard-Boiled. As detailed in GameSpot's previews, Stranglehold features the same style of action seen in Woo's gunplay-heavy film. The cinematic shoot-outs will be further augmented by highly destructible environments and a slow-motion, Max Payne-esque shooting sequence known as Tequila Time.

Stranglehold is rated M for Mature and will retail for $59.99 on the Xbox 360 and PS3, and $49.99 on the PC. An Xbox 360 collector's edition that includes a second disc with a behind-the-scenes documentary on the game, extended cutscenes, and more will be available for $69.95. The PS3 version will also receive a $69.95 collector's edition that will include a Blu-ray copy of Hard-Boiled.