Fatal Inertia

Original release date: PlayStation 3 launch title

Current release date: Spring 2008

The reason for the delay

Probably the most embarrassing PS3 delay to date. Koei’s futuristic racer was first announced as an exclusive launch title way back in the mists of time, but a year into the console’s life it still hasn’t appeared. Even worse, the game seems to have got sick of waiting and has defected to the Xbox 360 in the meantime. A demo is already available on Xbox Live, while the PS3 version has just been delayed until next spring. Oh dear.

The problem? Koei initially mentioned problems with the game’s engine, and that links in with a recurring theme in the PS3 delay saga. Fatal Inertia uses Epic’s Unreal Engine 3, and more than a couple of developers have mentioned problems getting it to run on Sony’s machine. There’s been a lot of talk of ‘middleware’ tools having a devil of a time working with the PS3’s Cell processor, so don’t expect this to be the last you see of the word ‘Unreal’ in this article