Kingdom Under Fire spared until 2008

Add Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom to the list of holiday 2007 games that have slipped into early 2008. Microsoft today confirmed that the Blueside-developed action-role-playing game will be released in North America on January 8, with European, Middle Eastern, and African releases scheduled for February 1. However, Japan, mainland Asia, and Australia and New Zealand will still receive the game in time for the holidays, with a planned December 13 release in those regions.

Microsoft Game Studios' Kingdom Under Fire series received two largely unheralded but critically well-received hybrid action and real-time strategy games on the original Xbox. For the franchise debut on the Xbox 360, Microsoft and developer Blueside decided on a new approach, with a spin-off game in the more conventional hybrid genre of action RPGs.

Instead of taking to the field of battle in command of an army, Circle of Doom players will explore randomly generated dungeons, learn new abilities, customize their weapons, and stave off thousands of enemies onscreen at a single time. Players will also be able to form parties of up to four adventurers over Xbox Live and quest together online.

For more on the game, check out GameSpot's previous coverage.