PC UTIII golden, dated

Today, Midway announced that Epic Games' Unreal Tournament III has at long last gone gold for the PC. The gladiatorial sci-fi shooter will land on retail shelves on November 19 and be available in a $49.95 standard edition and $59.95 limited edition. Blinged out with tin hard-cover packaging, the limited edition will contain a concept art book and a bonus DVD that features various "making of" videos, as well as a video tutorial on making mods. An online multiplayer demo is currently available for the game, and GameSpot's previous coverage has more.

The release date for Unreal Tournament III has been a difficult one to peg down. Announced in 2005, the game was initially slated to arrive for the PC in 2006 under the moniker Unreal Tournament 2007. In January 2006, the game picked up a PlayStation 3 version that was said to be a launch title for Sony's system, which was at that time still expected in the spring of that year. However, that fate was quickly cast in doubt when Epic VP Mark Rein said the game would only ship once it was done, and that a PC version would most certainly arrive before its PS3 counterpart.

In July 2006, Epic confirmed that UT 2007 had officially vacated its 2006 release window to "the first half of 2007," and dropped hints that the PS3 wasn't the only next-gen platform that the floaty shooter would rage on. With its new 2007 release, the game's title was clearly passé, and Epic officially redubbed the game Unreal Tournament III in January while subsequently confirming an Xbox 360 version was in development.

Though Epic had scored a massive hit with Gears of War in 2006 for the Xbox 360, the developer said during this year's E3 Media and Business Summit that it would be giving Sony its due with limited console exclusivity. As such, the PS3 and PC version would arrive in November 2007 and the Xbox 360 game would trail in early 2008. The exclusivity Sony brokered has now been cast into question, however, as Midway has officially delayed the PS3 version to 2008, with today's announcement noting the PS3 version's release will follow the PC game "soon."