Splinter Cell: Conviction Remains a February Release

Several of the games from Ubisoft that were delayed for 2010 will be delayed again. But, according to the company's CEO, Yves Guillemot, Splinter Cell: Conviction won't be one of them. At the Tokyo Games Show Ubisoft announced that the title would be released in February 2010, and so far they seem to keep that promise. Whether they plan to break it or will do so unintentionally remains to be seen, as trust is a rickety bridge for Conviction.

The game showed its first signs of existence in 2006, got confirmed in 2007 and received an initial release date set for 2008. And then, just like Sam Fisher's trade move, it vanished into the shadows. For the past three years news stopped coming from Ubisoft concerning the game. Development was delayed, or maybe put to a hold to let the waters settle, as critics seemed unimpressed by the game. Another possible reason for Splinter Cell: Conviction going M.I.A. was the launch of the very acclaimed Assassin's Creed, which was part of the same genre, a stealth-action game. Even if it had the same team of developers, no one would want to compete with Altair in a fight for supremacy.

Splinter Cell: Conviction, part of the Splinter Cell game series, has its roots in the Splinter Cell novel written by David Michaels. The name is a pseudonym, and not all books were written by the same person. The first two belong to Raymond Benson, who also has several James Bond novels under the belt, while the rest are written by Grant Blackwood. Previous games of the series include the Pandora Tomorrow, Chaos Theory, Double Agent and Essentials, all developed by Ubisoft studios as well as the original Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell. The game, a stealth-action with gameplay focus on the stealth aspect, follows the missions of an elite secret agent, Sam Fisher, as he takes down evil organizations one by one.

The game was last showcased at E3 and displayed some amazing graphics and gameplay, along with a solid storyline and plenty of innovations. Let us hope that Ubisoft makes good on its promise and Conviction will come out in February and give us someone to sneak and kill until Assassin's Creed 2 is released.