Blacksite: Area 51 Moved To November Release

In its Q2 earnings call, Midway executives announced that its first person shooter Blacksite: Area 51 has been moved to launch in North America on November 5th, with European release slated for October 26th. Previous press releases have called the title a Summer 2007 release, while retail release dates currently have the title as slated for the first week of September. The push makes John Woo collaboration Stranglehold the publisher's sole third quarter next-gen console release. November will also see the launch of PC and PlayStation 3 timed-exclusive Unreal Tournament 3. As previously reported, though a brief "vertical slice" teaser demo for the game has already been released, producer Harvey Smith had said -- and executives have again confirmed -- that a new demo will be coming out in the "next few months" which will showcase a more " cinematic story scene." First officially announced for 2007 release this January, the game has players taking down alien enemies at the famous titular government landmark, and, Midway says, introduces more careful story-driven decision making, forcing them to choose between "professional orders" and their own "ethical standards" as they lead a squadron of secret soldiers, each of whom operate on a unique AI routine that judge their confidence on you as a squad leader based on your in-game performance.