Unreal Tournament III dated for Xbox 360

Back in February, Epic Games president Mike Capps lamented the unfortunate timing of Unreal Tournament III's launch for the PC and PlayStation 3. Released toward the tail end of the "FPS Christmas of All Time," the latest in Epic Games' first-person shooter series was competing against The Orange Box, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and Crysis, not to mention fall releases like BioShock and Halo 3, to name just a few high-profile entries in the genre.

Now Epic's latest shooter might be getting a second lease on life. Unreal Tournament III publisher Midway has announced that the Xbox 360 edition of the game would be arriving in stores July 7. The game will be released in Europe on July 4.

While owners of Microsoft's system have had to wait a half-year longer for the game, they are getting more features and content as a result. In addition to a new two-player split-screen mode, the game will come with five new maps, two new characters, all previously released downloadable content from the PS3 and PC editions, and a video preview of Epic's next Xbox 360 game, Gears of War 2.

For more on the Xbox 360 edition of Unreal Tournament III, check out GameSpot's latest hands-on preview.