Back at PAX East in March, Peter and I spent some time trying out Breach, a downloadable Xbox Live Arcade first person shooter. While pricing hadn’t been revealed, it was tipped that the game would likely be available for around $15. Breach was impressive enough that $15 seemed like a steal.
The game itself is along the lines of a TF2 or Counter-Strike experience but with a heavy emphasis on a truly destructible environment. In what Breach developer Atomic Games calls the Destruction Toolbox, you’ll find some of the various ways you can cause damage, including blowing holes in floors, ceilings, and walls, and leveling sniper hideouts by shooting out support beams for elevated areas they may be hiding. You can basically shoot up an entire building if there are people hiding inside.
While initially slotted for a summertime release on both Xbox Live Arcade and the PC, the company has announced that the Breach launch has been pushed off until January of next year. The reason for the delay is a bit murky, with the press release stating the following:
“Breach was delayed largely due to later availability of an Xbox LIVE Arcade for Xbox 360 ship date from Microsoft than anticipated, which allowed the company to add in new features. Atomic is using the extra time to add in a new Hardcore mode as well as other new content. Breach will now be coming out simultaneously on Xbox LIVE Arcade for Xbox 360 and on Windows PC in January…
…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. Luckily there were features we had been thinking of adding to the title, and now we have the opportunity to do just that.”
According to Joystiq “the company missed Breach’s originally slated June date, and the XBLA schedule was apparently just too full to slip it in any sooner than January.”
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