Hollenshead: Xbox Doom 3 "unlikely" in '04

It looks like Xbox owners won't be going to hell for Christmas vacation. Shifting from his formerly ambivalent position, id CEO Todd Hollenshead now says it is "unlikely" that the console version of Doom 3 will ship this year.

"It's probably not going to come out this year," Hollenshead told Reuters today. "Back in May, we were kind of hoping we'd have a holiday launch. I'm not sure we're going to get there." Previously, Hollenshead had not leaned one way or the other, offering only neutral statements such as, "It is still up in the air" or "We can't say, at this point, that it's going to come out this year." Hollenshead's latest statement seems to be a concession that id will again take its time to bring Doom 3 to market.