Breach Delayed Until January

It’s that time of year, kids. The Post-E3-yes-we-said-it-was-coming-by-year-end-but-we-want-to-improve-it season.

Last week, it was Ubisoft’s Driver: San Francisco that got pushed to next year. Today, Atomic Games announced that CIA–based FPS Breach would also not be seen in a year ending in zero.

You remember Breach? That’s the little Xbox Live Arcade title that almost got an unoffical extra-early release by a fanboy with a flash drive on the PAX East show floor? Well it looks like he and the rest of us will be waiting until January to get our hands on a copy.

Details after the jump…

In a press release, Atomic’s president Peter Tamte said Breach would have been out already except that the company missed Microsoft’s release window for the XBLA. However, it may end up being a good thing, since it gives the company more time to add features.

“While work on Breach is actually done, we did miss our small window with Microsoft to get it up on Xbox LIVE Arcade for Xbox 360 in late June as we had planned,” he said. “Luckily there were features we had been thinking of adding to the title, and now we have the opportunity to do just that.”

Features being added: Hardcore mode and “other new content.”

This may seem a familiar tune to those of you who waited — and continue to wait — for the developer’s Six Days of Fallujah.

“Unlike with Six Days in Fallujah, which was delayed indefinitely when Konami pulled out, we are publishing Breach ourselves, and it will be out in January,” Tamte added.

The hardcore mode, according to insiders, will be more like “hardcore squared.” Developed separately from the game, it was originally created as a special-operative combat-training simulation for the US military. Once the XBLA window was missed, Atomic reportedly decided to take advantage of the extra time and integrate this more intense mode into the XBLA game.