Pirates of the Burning Sea delayed

Those scurvy sea dogs and scallywags looking forward to Pirates of the Burning Sea will have to keep their flintlocks holstered a while longer. A message on the game's official Web site now says Flying Lab Software's massive multiplayer online role-playing game won't be leaving the harbor until Q4 of 2004. In the message, the developers say "playing the Alpha has been a lot of fun--in particular, combat is shaping up great--but it's also made us more aware of areas that we believe need more work. As a result, we're moving our expected ship date to Q4 2004 and expanding our programming and art staff to tackle the next milestone."

Though it has yet to find a publisher, Pirates of the Burning Sea has already generated significant interest among MMORPG players. The game will feature a skill-based character development system and a whole fleet of customizable 18th-century ships, It will also let players enforce or break the law of the high seas by joining the navy or becoming a pirate.