Midway’s announcement yesterday that Unreal Tournament 3 for the PS3 had been delayed until 2008 was a killing blow for Sony’s Xmas 2007 offensive. Back at E3, the timed exclusive was revealed as a spearhead for the then-promising line up of titles due out in time for the crucial holiday period. But as uber-heavyweight GTA IV, analyst heartthrob LittleBigPlanet, and Home – PlayStation’s very own answer to an Orwellian society – disappeared into the great beyond of 2008, the console giant was left with a rather tepid selection of games to rally around.

Still, consoles tend to dislodge themselves from shelves a little easier when Santa’s about and we’re all remortgaging our houses just to kit out our loved ones with shiny electronic goodies. Two big names were on the imminent horizon, designed to flesh out that disheartening PS3 games selection – Heavenly Sword and Lair. Well, we all know how that ended up: Heavenly Sword – too short, Lair – too fiddly (has Sony even bothered to release Lair in the UK yet? Do we even care?).

Which leaves? Unreal Tournament 3 and Haze, both due to arrive in November 2007. Or rather that was until Midway called a halt to that idea and thus rendered Sony’s timed exclusive utterly pointless and all-but neutered its Christmas offensive. However, this sudden change of tack may very well turn out to be a clever move designed to improve the prospects of both the game and the PlayStation 3 after its punishing debut year.

Don’t be mistaken, there are still plenty of games, PS3 games even, coming out in November which is a crucial point. We’re well used to publishers purposefully gunning for October-December release dates because of the increased amount of cash floating around. This year it is all getting a little silly.

Without even looking at release schedules I can think of at least five potentially huge games coming out in that time period: Assassin’s Creed, Pro Evolution Soccer 08, Kane & Lynch: Dead Men, Army of Two, and The Orange Box. Notice anything about these? They’re all multiplatform; include all the others and we’re probably nearer fifteen. But the volume of multiplatform games is important because we already know that Xbox 360 has the PS3 at a severe disadvantage when it comes to straightforward price comparisons. Meanwhile, that same pesky box also has it’s own aces up its sleeve, in the form of the recently released Halo 3 and the one game that makes me think seriously about re-investing in the Xbox despite it dodgy internals, Mass Effect.

Fair enough, the PS3 has a couple of promising exclusives of its own – Haze and Uncharted: Drakes Fortune. Haze is probably the one that grabs the most of my attention as an FPS junkie, but its scope for innovative multiplayer AND compelling single player probably puts one over Uncharted.

Anyway, back to UT3. It almost definitely wasn’t the case that game wasn’t going to be finished in time – instead, it just wouldn’t make sense for Epic to release the game right in the midst of that gaming maelstrom. Why risk having a major title overlooked amidst so many other strong offerings just for the sake of it? Plus, with Sony being forced to push its focus further back into next year anyway, why not realign the game’s release to coincide with that?

As if that’s not reason enough to convince Midway shareholders, consider the mysterious Gamercard we spotted at the recent EIF event. We’ve since learned that this was already an option available – but still deactivated – in the PlayStation Home betas. Now that Home has been delayed, it makes sense that any game taking advantage of the Home-related Gamercard feature would need to be held back further or be patched later on.

Much though I like the PlayStation 3 – and I do, despite all my naysaying – and believe there’s bucket loads of potential in there, it hasn’t had the smoothest of rides in its first ten months. Meanwhile, rival Xbox 360 has really come into its own and through some kind of incredible public relations hoodoo has emerged almost unscathed from all the negative vibes that its persistent hardware problems have created. Of course, Microsoft’s seemingly bottomless pit of money has helped smooth things over considerably, but there’s no denying that the Redmond Giant’s strategy when it comes to tackling the 2007 holiday period is proving almost infallible.

Sony does have a couple of surprises in store just to keep its arch rival on its toes. There’s that lower priced 40GB model we’re expecting to be announced next week, for example, plus there are just about enough multiplatform titles arriving in the near future to keep current PS3 owners happy and skint for Xmas time and a fresh influx of Blu-ray Disc titles should keep the PS3 ticking over as a cheap Blu-ray player. However, for all that, Sony will still be struggling to keep up with Xbox 360 sales simply because even its cheapest offering will linger above that of its rival and yet still play mostly the same games.

Multiplatform titles might be what publishers love, but they are not what the PlayStation needs in the long term; it can never hope to establish its own unique identity (other than ‘overpriced + Blu-ray’). Without it, the PS3 will always be destined to play second fiddle to the 360, and risks going the same route as the Nintendo GameCube or, worse, the Sega Dreamcast.

Earlier, I said the UT3 timed exclusivity was rendered utterly pointless now that it is missing the Xmas window, but that might not be the case. As Sony regroups and prepares a fresh offensive for 2008, I’m betting that Sony will be using that timed exclusivity to carefully orchestrate a PlayStation Home - UT3 joint offensive. It takes UT3 out of that overcrowded November window and its advanced multiplayer features seem absolutely perfect for showcasing the power and functions that Sony is touting for Home and will also ensure that PS3 is offering something unique, unmatched by either of its rivals.

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