SEPT. 30, 2007 • In an SEC filing, Midway Games announced that its PS3 exclusive, Unreal Tournament 3, will not be ready in time for the holiday season. Midway estimated the game will ship sometime between January and March. The title was considered one of the primary high-profile draws for Sony’s console during Christmas. Whether the delay will impact the release of the yet-to-be-announced Xbox 360 version was not announced. The PC version of the game will ship as scheduled in November. After Midway made the delay public, Unreal Tournament 3’s developer, Epic Games, said there was an outside chance the game could still ship before Dec. 31.

Impact: While Sony is quickly addressing issues of PS3 price of ownership, the other monkey on its back remains accelerating the arrival of more compelling exclusive titles for the platform. Perhaps consumers won’t pay much attention in light of the huge Halo 3 media barrage, yet we think Sony really needs as many exclusives like Unreal Tournament 3 as it can lay its hands on during the critical Christmas season. Otherwise, the rate of PlayStation 3 adoption that Sony could have realized by Dec. 31, may be pushed several quarters down the road.