Double Agent dated, demoed

At the end of last month, Ubisoft released its financial results for the first quarter of its fiscal year. Amid the numbers and exec-speak of losses and operating margins was some honest-to-goodness news for gamers. Unfortunately for fans of the Splinter Cell series, the news was not good. Ubisoft announced that the next game in the series, Splinter Cell: Double Agent, is being delayed until October.

Now, thanks to a post on the game's official forums, gamers know exactly when Double Agent will hit the street. "Rhoulette," part-time Frag Doll and part-time Splinter Cell community manager, told fans that Ubisoft has confirmed October 19 as the game's official release date. Rhoulette did not mention any specific platforms.

Those planning on playing the game on the Xbox 360 or PC who can't wait until mid-October also got some good news. Rhoulette revealed that the Ubi staff is working on PC and Xbox 360 demos of the game. A multiplayer demo is scheduled for the 360, and PCs will get both single-player and multiplayer demos.

No release date for the demos have been confirmed, but Rhoulette hints that gamers shouldn't expect the trials sooner than a month before the game's release. For more information on the game, check out GameSpot's recent hands-on with the multiplayer portion of Double Agent.