“The postponed release dates for Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Conviction and R.U.S.E, which were previously scheduled for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2009-10, and will now be released in fiscal year 2010-11. Splinter Cell Conviction is now expected to hit the stores in April 2010.”

Upon hearing this news, Michael Ironside, who provides the voice of Sam Fisher in the Splinter Cell franchise, reportedly smashed the head of an Ubisoft Public Relations Representative through the driver-side window of a car, impaled their hand with a combat knife, then began asking them some very tough questions.

In all seriousness, is this really a bad thing? From what little we saw at Microsoft Canada’s X’09 event, this game has the potential to be phenomenal. If Ubisoft feels that they need a little more time to polish a few of the rough edges, then so be it! Regardless of when the game is released, I’ll be happily standing in line to purchase my copy.

So just how awesome is this first quarter? Check out the release dates below.

01.05 – Bayonetta
01.05 – Darksiders
01.12 – Army of Two: The 40th Day
01.19 – Dark Void
01.26 – Mass Effect 2 (can’t.. wait.. much.. longer..)
01.26 – MAG (try the Beta now!)

02.09 – BioShock 2
02.09 – Dante’s Inferno
02.16 – Heavy Rain (so looking forward to this..)
02.16 – Aliens vs. Predator
02.23 – Splinter Cell: Conviction (our favourite game of X’09!)
02.23 – Lost Planet 2

03.02 – Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (I know Brad can’t wait for this one..)
03.09 – Final Fantasy XIII (..!)
03.16 – Command & Conquer 4
03.30 – Crysis 2
03.TBA – God of War III (..!!)
03.TBA – Gran Turismo 5 (..!!!)

Is it just me, or is March going to be one of the best months for gaming, ever? Additionally, there are games such as ModNation Racers and Super Mario Galaxy 2 that are projected to be released sometime in early 2010, which may yet land somewhere in the midst of the games listed above. If your New Years resolution was to play fewer games this year, good luck with that.

If there are any releases that we overlooked that you think deserves a mention in this article, let us know in the comments below!

The demo started off with Mr. Fisher approaching a gang of enemies hanging out in front of a building full of terrorist types. As the demonstrator eagerly pointed out, Sam’s goggles are back due to popular demand. Using stealth and cover, Sam approached and scouted around. Finding a lone guard off to the side, he performed one of the various stealth kills that a badass is capable of doing, and this activated the marking mechanism that we saw in the trailer. Making the player perform a stealth kill before letting them use such a powerful tool for an encounter was a really smart way to balance it. Sam then proceeded to mark his targets in order of execution from his cover, and then popped out and executed them in a sleek sequence.

Then we were treated to the interrogation scene. After a brief scuffle, Sam ended up with his hand around the neck of some scallywag that had information he wanted. Ubisoft tells us that there will be several targets throughout the game that the player will be able to interrogate. Sam dragged his victim around, and using the environment, “convinced” the villain to talk. For example, he dragged him to the side of a car, and with the press of a button, started smashing the side of his head into the hubcap. The same button near a tree stump resulted in a slow-motion fight that ends up with Sam slamming a knife through the victim’s hand. While all this is happening, the voice-acted interrogation is ongoing, matching up with the violence that’s taking place. It was all really cool and I can’t do it enough justice with my meagre words. If you’ve ever seen Jack Bauer interrogate someone in 24, you get the idea.

As the guy starts spilling his guts, a video is played across the wall of the building as a sort of cutscene. The whole thing has an oldschool movie projector and home movie type feel and kept us immersed in the game. After the video, a mission objective is projected on a wall. Again, it is all very cool and immersive. The Ubisoft employee explained that there were different ways of entering the building, and instead of entering through the front door he snuck around and found a way up a pipe and in through a window on the side.

Once inside the warehouse, there were several ways to navigate, but of course Sam chooses the most badass way possible. He climbed a pipe and shimmied across the ceiling, looking for a lone guard to stealth kill. But first, he takes out a hanging crate that crushes three opponents. As the other bad guys go to investigate, they don’t see the devious Mr. Fisher hanging upside down from the ceiling, and I can’t help but feel like I’m watching a movie – say, any of the Bourne trilogy. Since Conviction is a personal story of vengeance, the comparison is even more apt. As things calm down around the area, Sam sneaks along and enacts a Death from Above maneuver on some poor guard. Then using the marking mechanics, Sam proceeds to take on a group of enemies. However, this sequence (involving three enemies) took too long to carry out, and he manages to only take out one of the bad guys before being attacked. At this point the fight resumes manually and the player is forced to take out the enemies by himself.

Being the ultimate badass, Sam doesn’t need many gadgets. But the ones he does have are really neat. He has his sonar goggles so that he could see and mark his enemies through walls, which is a nice twist on an old gadget. The flashbang was also demonstrated and this works as you expect. However, the best thing that was demonstrated was the sticky camera. You can toss the camera at a wall and then see what it sees, and mark your targets and plan your execution through it. Additionally, the camera doubles as an explosive when you’re done with it.

Since somone spotted Sam earlier, the guards around the hostage were on alert and Sam had to resort to a flashbang to eliminate the myriad of opponents in the small area. After this there was plot exposition through an in-game cutscene, and that was the end of the demo. To me, Conviction was the best game of the show. The ease with which you can perform amazing close quarter combat moves, as well as the variety of stealth kill animations and interactions, seem unparalleled. The level design was clever and allowed multiple ways to navigate and attack each area.

Most of all though, the game made me feel like a complete badass, and I was just watching it. When all is said and done, Splinter Cell: Conviction could do for the stealth action genre what God of War did for action: push it to a whole new level.

Ahem.

GameNorth spent the a day in London yesterday. Not London, England, or even London, Ontario, but This is London, a trendy nightclub nestled in the heart of Toronto’s fashion district. Typically home to dance parties and fashion shows, This is London hosted a different kind of event yesterday: Microsoft Canada’s annual holiday gaming preview, X’09.

The venue was smaller than the one used last year, but that didn’t stop Microsoft Canada from filling it wall to wall with their most anticipated first and third-party titles of the upcoming holiday season. And if you were unable to make the trip out to London yesterday, have no fear, GameNorth took one for the team and played each and every one of them.

Throughout the remainder of the week, our Microsoft X’09 coverage will include previews and impressions of Splinter Cell: Conviction, Left 4 Dead 2, Modern Warfare 2, and more, as well as interviews from the event floor. We may even provide details on a top secret project out of Harmonix that involves the one and only MC Hammer!

Also noteworthy were the games and developers that were absent from X’09 this year. BioWare was a no-show, leaving many who were hoping to see Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age: Origins disappointed. Alan Wake and Crackdown 2 were also absent, and several third-party developers, such as SEGA and Namco, chose not to make an appearance at the show. Regardless, we had a great time, played some great games, and met some great people. We can’t wait to do it all over again next year!

If you have any X’09 stories, feel free to post them in our comments below.

Next up, the Wii MotionPlus-enabled sequel to Red Steel will also be delayed until 2010. As probably the only title worth anticipating for the Wii remaining in 2009, I suggest you go play a real console. Just kidding Wii, we only hurt because we are sad.

Finally, Ubisoft comes back up to bat with a pair of home runs, announcing both I Am Alive and Ghost Recon 4 are delayed until sometime in fiscal 2010. I wonder how Quantic Dream feels about all this after having delayed Heavy Rain’s release to 2010 in order to avoid crowding during the holiday season.

Destructoid is reporting, and we have confirmed, that the GameStop site is offering a code for an in-game automatic shotgun for people willing to shell out a $5 deposit before the game comes out. And yet, EB said that they have no idea about any pre-order bonus for this game. Pre-ordering the game on GameStop’s website won’t work either as they won’t deliver the game to Canada. Bummer.

This bonus is better than some other pre-order bonuses, and if the trailers are any indication, this game should be the best to come out of Canada’s very own Ubisoft Montreal. So what gives? I suspect that this may change later on, as the leftover codes from the States trickle through to us. If you have any new information on this, please let us know with a comment here.

Source: Destructoid

Splinter Cell: Conviction was originally set to be released on November 16th, 2007, but fell subject to a string of delays. The story of Conviction is rumoured to take place two years after the events of Splinter Cell: Double Agent, when Sam Fisher is forced out of hiding in order to aid a friend in danger.

Source: Ubisoft Quarterly Report