After the massive disappointment provoked by Take Two’s decision to postpone GTA IV, it appears that another craved title is slipping into next year: this time it’s the long-expected FPS Unreal Tournament III.

Curiously, when I had first read about the news of a postponement for UT III, it was still called Unreal Tournament 2007. I’m thinking now that the game’s name was changed because the guys at Epic were uncertain about whether their online-focused FPS would actually ship this year…

Marc Rein, Epic’s boss, confronted UT III’s anxious fans on the official forum and had this not-very-encouraging-news to divulge:

“We do not know exactly when the game will be completed. All we've said is that we're hoping for a November release but as you know we value getting it right over getting it right now so there's no guarantee of that.”

Although I personally prefer seeing a game indefinitely delayed rather than owning a half-assed title that makes me want to think why I spent my money on it in the first place, it is still frustrating to see that a gaming powerhouse like Epic, which has been working at the next installment in the extremely profitable Unreal Tournament franchise for like ages is still not capable, after so many years (when was UT 2004 launched again?...) to offer its fans at least a hint, not even for the PlayStation 3 platform, which owns the UT III exclusivity among next-gen consoles.

Moreover, speaking to GameIndustry.biz, Rein reiterated only the aforementioned exclusivity, but no details were revealed as to when we are going to get our hands on that FPS masterpiece.

"The PS3 console exclusivity is not in doubt. We are shipping the game on the PS3 well before the Xbox 360 version ships," Rein told GamesIndustry.biz "That's the version we are working on right now. We do not have a date for the Xbox 360 version."

"Nothing has changed at this point," Rein said. "We're working toward a November release."

However, Rein did confirm that we are going to be able to test an early build of the game during this year’s Tokyo Game Show, held in, well, Tokyo, between Sep. 20 and Sep.23 at the Makuhari Messe.