SCEA Update - Lair (Already at Gold Status) Delayed

Just last week, Sony's PlayStation Blog revealed through an entry made by Associate Producer for Lair, Ryan Hamlyn, that the PS3 exclusive was currently being manufactured for a North American release on August 14, as it had reached a golden status. More recently though, the same Ryan Hamlyn posted an update on the blog, confirming that "an extra step in QA testing to enhance the community features" has forced the company to push back the game's release date until September 4th, as I found via 1UP.com.

"Natural challenges that arose while finalizing the offline game to include key online features - such as leaderboards and medal systems - have led to the difficult choice of pushing back the release date," said Hamlyn. "We appreciate everyone's excitement and patience for the game and look forward to its release on September 4."

Now, here's what the same man originally said, at the time they'd announced Lair's Gold status:

"Given all the content and interest here on Lair, I figured you guys would also be interested to hear that the North American version of Lair has completed its development and is now in manufacturing!" reads Hamlyn's post up on PlayStation.Blog. "That means that we are on track for our August 14 release date. It goes without saying that we're eager to get this out to those of you that have been waiting so patiently (or not!) for it to arrive. Considering the new PS3 price and now Lair, hopefully there's even more of a reason to scoop up a PS3 if you haven't already!"

As you'll see below, the same post gave the first clue that not everything was exactly into place yet:

"For us," Hamlyn continued, "there's still a bit of work to do, as we have localization to finish up for Europe, Japan, Korea, and more, which will all hopefully follow very soon. Once those are out, our leaderboards will truly be global, and then we can see once and for all who the best Lair players are out there! The gauntlet has been thrown, and North American players are getting Lair first, so don't give that advantage away…"

Without a doubt, Lair's delay may spark some competition between the PS3 exclusive and another Sony exclusive, Heavenly Sword, which is slated for a September 4th release as well, according to GameStop. As soon as anything new pops up, we'll be sure to keep you updated.