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It would have been nice to hear more of an explanation way back in October when Sega's Alpha Protocol was "officially delayed" to the amorphous "Spring 2010," but, unfortunately, that didn't happen. Speaking with MTV Multiplayer this week, though, assistant producer at Sega Matthew Hickman explicitly detailed the reasons for the delay, saying, "We really wanted to polish the game up, make it everything Obsidian planned it to be, and give the consumer a very polished game."

He added that there's been some "tweaks in lighting here and there," and the inventory screen has been revamped a bit, but in general the team has been focused on "bringing the whole quality level up." The post's author also notes that the game is set for a "Summer 2010" release window now, and we've reached out to him (and Sega) for clarification.

Update: The post's author has responded that, yes, the game's current release window is set for "Summer 2010." Guess that's another delay then, eh? We'll update again if Sega responds.

We'll be in the waiting room a bit longer before we're allowed to meet with the Trauma Team. Atlus announced a delay from the game's original April 20 date to May 18.

In the meantime, in lieu of an old magazine, why not watch this video about Trauma Team's orthopedics mode? It's all about bones -- setting broken bones, drilling into bones, setting pins, and all manner of extremely methodical work to fix broken Day-Glo bones, all represented in-game as movements within precise guidelines. Even without the Trauma Center time limit or malevolent viruses, it seems stressful.

Tecmo Koei announced delays of two of its titles in Japan today. The female-focused shooter, Quantum Theory, has been moved out of its March 25 date to a troubling "TBA" date in the interest of improving quality. Tecmo Koei Europe confirmed that the delay affects the European release date, and it's likely to bump the North American date as well -- after all, if the game is still being worked on in March, we don't expect it to be released. [Update: Tecmo has confirmed the North American delay to Joystiq.]

The Koei side also delayed a title: Omega Force's RPG Trinity: Zill O'll Zero, which is to be released outside of Japan as Trinity: Souls of Zill O'll. Its new release date is also "TBA."

[Via Andriasang]

Source: Quantum site
Source: Zill O'll site

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker is slowing its gait just a bit. Originally slated for release in Japan on March 18, the game is now expected on April 29, as displayed on its official site. In a statement announcing the delay, Konami said the extra development time was needed to ensure customer satisfaction. At least fans can now play Piece Walker while they wait.

Whatever the issue is with the development, it appears not be affectimg the localization process, as the release dates for the rest of the world (May 25 for North America, May 27 for most of Europe, and May 28 for the UK) have yet to change.

[Via Kotaku]

Sony has just announced that the still-unnamed PlayStation Motion Controller won't hit its targeted spring 2010 release date -- it's now slated for a worldwide release this fall. In a press release, SCEI president Kaz Hirai cited a desire to "offer an exciting and varied line-up of software titles that will deliver the new entertainment experience to PS3 users" as the reason for the delay, and indicated that Sony will be revealing the launch software lineup soon, including first-party games and games from other companies, "whom we have been working closely with."

The good news is that Sony now has more time not only to line up third party support for the peripheral, but come up with a name as well. The bad news is that Sony is dropping whatever advantage an earlier release would have given the device over the much more publicized Xbox 360 motion controller, Project Natal.

My eager and regularly disappointed followers,

I am becoming less saddened as the days between our union grow further still. Here, within the ethereal concepts in which I am trapped, I am no longer certain of my existence. They say, I don't look like myself anymore. Master Yves says that I am "totally re-engineered" ... that I have come to use "the Splinter Cell engine" -- but how should I know? How should anyone know? I am not like the others; and I make no claim to being important or "major," as it is said. My maker has cast me out of its fiscal 2010-11 release calendar. I am alone. But I am okay with that.

Yours in perpetuity,
I Am Alive

In a financial performance update chock full of thrilling tidbits, like "revised financial predictions" and "sales targets," Ubisoft today announced the unfortunate news that Splinter Cell: Conviction would be bumped back from February 23 to "April 2010" and RUSE even further; to the ambiguous fiscal year "2010-11" (April 1, 2010 – March 31, 2011). No reason was given for either delay -- which is at least the second for just this version of Conviction (the original iteration was due out in November ... of 2007!).

Sony announced that the Japanese release of Gran Turismo 5 has been delayed from its unspecified March date to an undecided future date, to be announced later. Sony apologized for the inconvenience, citing some kind of "circumstances" around the release date. No concrete information was provided about what exactly caused this drastic move.

Things seemed to be looking up for Gran Turismo 5 for a while. Sony announced a March release for Japan and a tentative summer release for North America, sent out a very popular demo, and even revealed the North American box art design. But this latest move suggests that Polyphony's latest racer may not be as close to the finish line as expected.

[Thanks, Copland and Niko]

In a terse message on the BioWare forums last night, Community Coordinator Chris Priestly announced that the Dragon Age: Origins "Return to Ostagar" DLC, dated for release today, won't be available as planned.

"We're sorry but the planned Return to Ostagar downloadable content scheduled to launch on January 5th has been delayed for all platforms," the forum post reads. "We will update you as new information becomes available." And then there's a little "devil" emoticon, which seems to be Priestly's forum signature rather than a hint that the post is a joke. The fact that the delay applies to "all platforms" suggests that the content could arrive after the "later in January" release window named for PS3 before.

We expect that BioWare will release more details (as in, some details) about the delay during business hours -- or an official denial, if this turns out to be inaccurate. In either case, we're waiting to see if we're going to be waiting for the DLC.

[Thanks, Theresa]

From Software's 3D Dot Game Heroes may be inspired by the 8-bit Zelda, but it's truly a modern game -- it has both patches and paid DLC. An update and DLC pack were set to be released in Japan on Christmas Day, but were delayed until sometime in January.

The free update adds a viewer for the loading screen images, hard drive install feature and the infrastructure to download the DLC. As for the paid content, one pack adds stages for the "Block Defense" minigame (basically tower defense), and the other adds downloadable character models, many of which can be downloaded for free from the website. In the case of 3D Dot Game Heroes, the idea of extra content is a lot more exciting than the content itself.

[Via Siliconera]

Capcom will apparently focus original IP development in its Japan-based studios and outsource established franchises to other lands, according to a Question and Answer session (warning: PDF link) posted on the company's investor relations site. No executives are named in the Q&A brief, but the transcript is of a phone meeting with analysts. In it, a Capcom representative states that the reboot of Bionic Commando, developed by the late GRIN, "demonstrated the difficulty of outsourcing the development of [a] new title to overseas companies."

The document adds that the company is "considering ways to separate the roles of activities in Japan and overseas." International companies may be used to develop existing games series with "well-established characters and universal themes." A little less clear is this note: "Overseas companies will also handle certain parts and/or lineups of such games."

Also mentioned is the "strategic decision" which prompted the recent Q1 2010 delays of major franchises, making for a rocky financial quarter. Capcom allegedly "combines management and development to reach various decisions ... [it] would not decide to postpone the launch of a title" purely for development reasons.

Source -- Q&A Summary [PDF Link]

Unsurprisingly, in the announcement of delays of several games out of Q1 2010, Capcom also lowered its financial forecast for that period (which is its fiscal Q4), and for the fiscal year as a whole. The publisher adjusted its expected net sales for the year from ¥95 billion ($1.04 billion) to ¥65 billion ($711.62 million) as a result.

In addition, the company is posting a "special loss" of 4.5 billion yen, associated with the costs of restructuring its businesses -- a move that mostly involved changes in the company's pachinko operations in Japan. Capcom closed two arcades, and plans to downsize its pachinko and arcade businesses to put more resources into home video games.

Source - Presentation Material of Forecast Revisions and Plan for the Next Fiscal Year (PDF link)
Source - Capcom Announces Special Loss and Forecast Revision

According to an investor document (PDF) posted by Capcom Japan today, several major titles have been moved from the company's fiscal fourth quarter, which ends March 31, 2010. The delays, which appear to be worldwide, include Super Street Fighter IV and Lost Planet 2, in addition to the North American and European release of Monster Hunter 3. The releases of these games and others, including Dead Rising 2, are planned to be "spread across all four quarters" of Capcom's fiscal 2011, which begins April 1, 2010 and ends March 31, 2011. The decision to delay the games was made in order to "avoid competing with the major titles that other companies plan to introduce."

Curiously, Dark Void has not been delayed, though Capcom has drastically reduced its sales forecast from 1.3 million units to only 600,000 (the split between Xbox 360 and PS3 copies was not specified).

Given the reasons for Capcom's schedule shuffling, we can't help but wonder if other companies will follow suit. When all is said and done, the Great 2009 Holiday Release Migration just might be set to repeat itself. If so, does Yves Guillemot win a prize?

News of yet another SOCOM delay should be unsurprising to those who have been following the franchise since Slant Six took the reigns from Zipper Interactive. Fans have only recently received the long-awaited SOCOM Confrontation 1.60 patch, one that fixed crucial game-crashing bugs; after months of suffering through bugs and game balance issues, Joystiq commenter Solace went so far as to call Confrontation a "glorified beta."

For reasons not yet revealed by SCEA, the upcoming PSP installment, Fireteam Bravo 3, has been pushed back from its already-delayed January 12 release date. Considering Sony's admitted failure at marketing the upcoming tactical shooter, a later date will certainly give the publisher more time to prepare the title for retail. A new release date will be announced "in the coming weeks," according to an SCEA rep, but we wonder if SOCOM fans will have any patience left when that day comes.