Splinter Cell Conviction has been taken " back to the drawing board" by Ubisoft Montreal.

That' s according to a report in the latest Xbox World 360 mag. Though Ubisoft isn' t saying anything, the mag says it' s heard that the surprising development decision has forced Splinter Cell back into the festive period of 2009 - or as late as Spring 2010.

Conviction has been in development for some years now, surfacing early last year with combat involving dynamic scenery and crowd stealth gameplay that focused on mixing in with the public in Washington DC - a bit like Assassin' s.

According to XBW, it' s likely that the decision was made after Conviction was outdated by more recent gaming developments - most notably Ubisoft' s own Assassin' s Creed.

Ubisoft' s UbiDays event is due to take place in Paris next week, so hopefully we' ll get an official word then.

I didn' t know it was a X360 exclusive but okay

Source

I was getting very skeptical of the game design decision!

Sam Fisher is cool! but maybe they pushed his story a bit too far with double agent.

Maybe a new agent could be introduced, schooled by Sam in some way

Yeah. It seems they went a bit too far from the formula and ended up with something that wasn' t Splinter Cell.

Damn it! Another two years of waiting... that' s not fair.

ORIGINAL: Rampage99

Damn it! Another two years of waiting... that' s not fair.

It' s either that or hand the project to Ubisoft Shanghai.

ORIGINAL: Nitro

ORIGINAL: Rampage99

Damn it! Another two years of waiting... that' s not fair.

It' s either that or hand the project to Ubisoft Shanghai.

I guess I' ll wait the two years...

If it means we end up with a title that' s as badass as Chaos Theory was then it' ll be worth it.

Ubisoft Montreals priorities have obviously changed in light of Assassins Creed' s success. They' ll be looking to solidify that franchise as well as Far Cry 2 and the new Prince of Persia game.

The only other 2 studios that could have handled it are Paris and Shanghai. Paris have Red Steel II and the next GRAW game in development, and while Shanghai only has EndWar at the moment, after Double Agent... i' d rather Montreal handled it.

while double agent wasnt bad, it could have used a yaer more in the works. The story felt half.

Double Agent was very bad. When half of the game is the same level repeated there are some serious problems. I only have one level left on that game and refuse to finish it out of spite.

Double Agent was very bad. When half of the game is the same level repeated there are some serious problems. I only have one level left on that game and refuse to finish it out of spite.

the first is still my favorite

Thank God. I was incredibly worried about the direction they were taking with the title.

I want an epic no-frills sequel to the original Splinter Cell, and the ever-awesome Chaos Theory. I' m more than happy to wait the extra time for the new title. I consider this seriously good news.

the first is still my favorite

Same here. I want another game where you can finish it without firing a single round.

This has been denied by Ubisoft:

Ubisoft has dismissed rumours that Splinter Cell Conviction is heading back to the drawing board as speculation.

The publisher was responding to a report in Xbox World 360 magazine that claimed the game was being redesigned because it wasn' t groundbreaking enough, and had even been outdated by Ubisoft titles such as Assassin' s Creed.

The rumours suggested that Conviction would go back into development and be given a fresh release date of Christmas 2009 - or even spring 2010.

Not so, said Ubsioft, telling Eurogamer the report is " pure speculation" .

Splinter Cell Conviction was revealed last year at the Paris-based publisher event UbiDays. The 2008 show takes place next week.

The fifth instalment in the sneaky Sam Fisher series does away with all the gadgets and casts you in a fugitive role where you will have to use your surroundings to survive: blend with crowds, throw tables at ice creams at people, that sort of thing.

LINK

No it hasn' t.

They chopped up that quote. Ubisoft' s official spokesman actually said:

“There is no official comment on this story, which is based on a purely speculative news piece.

If it didn' t have an element of truth to it, why wouldn' t they simply squash the rumor quickly? Historically speaking, for having a " Rumor and Speculation" policy, the game industry goes out of it' s way to put down the incorrect rumors before they can spread.

Damn

Damn because it' s not binned, or damn because there' s still a chance it will get binned?

If it didn' t have an element of truth to it, why wouldn' t they simply squash the rumor quickly? Historically speaking, for having a " Rumor and Speculation" policy, the game industry goes out of it' s way to put down the incorrect rumors before they can spread.

Thanks for the " Whole" truth Eddie. I have all the faith in the world in Ubisoft Montreal, so if they do have to push the release back it will only make this game better.

Eddie, you continue to impress me. You have learnt a lot about this industry very quickly, and your most recent posts have all been spot on... or at least the exact same way i see these things

edit

i hope its true

Eddie, you continue to impress me. You have learnt a lot about this industry very quickly, and your most recent posts have all been spot on... or at least the exact same way i see these things

Thanks. It' s something I really am interested in, so I try to absorb as much information as I can from people more knowledgeable than myself, and make it useful.