There's bad news for anyone hoping to find the new game in a stocking or Easter basket anytime soon, have shunted the game back to somewhere between 1st April 2009 and 31st March 2010.

Ubisoft's said "Splinter Cell is a very important franchise for Ubisoft and we have high anticipation for this game. It is a major product and we want it to be able to catch all the gameplay opportunities it is offering to us today. There are lots of opportunities that we want to take and so that is why we can give [them] a little bit more time to make sure it can become a huge product."

Splinter Cell: Conviction attracted criticism following its showing at last years UbiDays for sporting a reduced control scheme and instead relying on context sensitive moves. Following on from that, reports earlier this year suggested the title had undergone a redesign and although these were denied at the time its fair to say the announcement of this only adds fuel to that fire.

By Paul Newcombe