Saints Row 2 PC will miss its expected release today on Steam due to technical issues, according to developer Volition.

Retail copies of the game, which require Steam to run, will not be affected by the delay.

"It appears that we have experienced some issues with the Steam client and both THQ and Valve are working on the issue and hope to have it resolved soon," said Volition community manager V-Singular in an official forum post.

"This delay does not affect the retail version (in-store) of Saints Row 2 PC, but the game will not be available for digital download off of Steam today," added Singular. "Again, anyone who picks up a boxed copy today will be able to authenticate and play SR2 once installed."

The late-to-the-party PC port of Saints Row 2 will use only Steam for its copy protection, according to a forum post by Volition community manager Singular.

"We're trying to use a very low impact DRM here, since we've seen some of the headaches faced by other major game releases in recent months," said the spokesperson.

Saints Row 2 PC will be available January 6 in stores and on Steam.

The developer of the open-world title also revealed the minimum and recommended requirements for the game, which can be found below: ... Read more

The PC version of Jonathan Blow and Number None's acclaimed time-shifting puzzle-platformer Braid, once slated for release this year, is now expected in early 2009.

The game debuted as a downloadable Xbox 360 game over the summer, carrying a price tag of 1200 Microsoft Points ($15).

"At this time, we're looking at a window of February-March 2009 for the PC release," reads the game's official site, as spotted by Kotaku. "Once we slipped into mid-October and all the big Christmas-season blockbusters started coming out, it just seemed like a bad idea to schedule Braid for that time period."

Along with the PC iteration, there is potential for both PlayStation 3 and Mac releases of the game. A Mac version is "in talks" and could hit soon after the PC release.

As for the possibility of the downloadable title coming to PlayStation 3, the developer claims that it "depends on whether Sony is interested in the game."

Microsoft has confirmed that the winter-themed Knothole Island downloadable content for Fable II has been delayed. "Due to unexpected technical difficulties, the Fable II: Knothole Island expansion will not be available until late January 2009," wrote Microsoft on its calendar of events.

The DLC is set to add new quests, characters and items, for a price of 800 Microsoft Points ($10).

The one-month delay of Creative Assembly's Empire: Total War (PC) has provided a surprise bonus: the eventual addition of a full campaign multiplayer mode to the strategy title.

"The additional time will allow us to implement the underlying technology for a much desired feature; a multiplayer campaign mode," wrote Creative Assembly's Mark O'Connell on the company's official forums.

"An opportunity to participate in the 1 versus 1 multiplayer campaign mode beta will be made available to all Empire Total War buyers post release."

The feature will mark the first time that the Total War series has allowed for multiplayer within the expansive campaign mode.

Creative Assembly's large-scale, Napoleonic-era strategy title Empire: Total War has been delayed to early March, according to publisher Sega.

Empire was originally expected to hit the PC on February 3, so we're looking at approximately one extra month of waiting before we get our pretty revolution simulator, and about two months before us history dorks all head out to the store for a new PC.

For more on the game, check out our recent interview with CA's Kieran Brigden.

Tecmo today announced that its Wii remake of the disc-swinging PS2 action game Rygar, once slated to arrive in December, has now been delayed until February 3, 2009.

The Wii remake, titled Rygar: The Battle of Argus, new enemies, new game modes, new techniques and an edgier look for the main character alongside motion-based controls. Some new screenshots accompanied word of the revised release date.

THQ has confirmed to IGN the delay of Deadly Creatures (Wii), the unique insect action title by contrastingly-named developer Rainbow Studios.

Last slated for mid-December, the buggy Wii game will now see a February 2009 release.

Deadly Creatures puts players in the role of a tarantula and scorpion, on a quest to save mankind. The story will feature two secondary human characters voiced by actors Billy Bob Thornton and Dennis Hopper.

Were you looking to spend your Thanksgiving afternoon curled up next to a fireplace whilst collecting jigsaw puzzles as a lovable bear? Prepare yourself for crushing disappointment.

Due to Street Fighter II HD's release this week, the arrival of Rare's Banjo-Kazooie Xbox Live Arcade port has been pushed back to Wednesday, December 3.

The title will sell for 1200 Microsoft Points ($15), and will finally introduce the infamous "Stop 'N' Swop" feature.

Star Ocean: Second Evolution, the enhanced PSP remake of tri-Arce's action-RPG Star Ocean: The Second Story, has suffered a two-week delay in North America.

Once expected to arrive January 6, the game will now hit store shelves on January 20. No reason was provided for the postponement. The remake hit Japan in April of this year, with a European release expected next spring.

Along with new animated cutscenes, Second Evolution adds new playable characters and new dialog to the game, which originally appeared on the first PlayStation.

Alongside that Batman: Arkham Asylum, publisher Warner Bros. has released the first trailer for GRIN's Wanted: Weapons of Fate, which takes place after the recent film.

Along with a gratuitous amount of bullet curving action, the trailer presents a look at protagonist Wesley's assassin suit, culled from the comic that inspired the movie.

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Previously expected to arrive on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 this year, the licensed tie-in has been delayed to Q1 2009, putting its release no later than March 31, 2009.

Liquid Entertainment's Rise of the Argonauts has suffered another delay and is now expected to hit store shelves in early 2009, publisher Codemasters has revealed.

The mythology-heavy PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 action-RPG was originally slated to hit in November, but was recently postponed. At the time, Codemasters expressed hope that the title would still be released before Christmas.

Word of the delay accompanied new screenshots and two trailers. According to a Shacknews count, these mark the game's 21st and 22nd trailers... Read more

Webzen's oft-delayed shooter MMO Huxley (PC), originally slated to hit in 2006 and most recently expected to hit North America in late 2008, has been delayed once again.

The North American release was delayed due to localization issues, publisher NHN USA informed Big Download, with the English version of the free-to-play game now expected to hit within the first half of 2009. The Korean version is currently in open beta.

No details were provided as to the Xbox 360 version, announced in 2005, though Webzen has long promised that it will follow the PC release.

Once slated for this summer and then pushed until the end of 2008, the launch of DICE's free-to-play PC shooter Battlefield Heroes has been delayed until next year.

The game, currently in a closed beta test, will see the current testing period end this Friday, November 14. "We expect to re-open the beta early next year," senior producer James Salt wrote on the game's official page, as noticed by Blue's News.

While the closed beta is, er, closed, DICE will work on the game's backend.

"You know the old saying about icebergs being 10% above water, and 90% below? Heroes is a little like that," Salt explained. "There's the 10% game part you can see, and the hiding 90% is what we call the 'backend.'"

"The backend does a lot of things," he added. "From running the website's features and looking after the items you have, to collecting the results from each Heroes game and matchmaking players into games."

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick let slip during a presentation in New York that both Grand Theft Auto 4's Xbox 360-exclusive downloadable content and Rockstar Leeds' Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (DS) are facing delays.

On the DLC front, MTV Multiplayer quoted Zelnick as saying, "It's close to being complete. That said, it may move into the second quarter." Take-Two's Q2 starts on February 1, which could place the DLC well beyond the fall 2008 target.

Zelnick's statement puts an even longer hypothetical delay on the DLC than that of producer Sam Houser, who expressed uncertainty this week whether the added content would reach the Xbox Live Marketplace this year. Currently, that DLC is expected in Take-Two's current quarter, which runs from November to January.

As for the Nintendo DS' first iteration in the hijacking-happy action series, Kotaku has Zelnick on the record with the following: "Chinatown Wars we've decided to move out of the first quarter in order to fill out a better launch and marketing window. The title will ship in the first half of our fiscal year."

The executive pegs Chinatown Wars for Take-Two's fiscal Q2, which means the drug-dealing handheld title is expected between February 1 and April 30, 2009.

Entrenchment, the upcoming "micro-expansion" to Ironclad Games' Sins of a Solar Empire (PC), has been delayed to January 2009, publisher Stardock has announced.

VE3D has confirmation of the delay of the defensively-oriented expansion from Stardock. Though its release has been delayed, Entrenchment will be released early to pre-ordering customers as part of a beta test to help balance the expansion. However, no date for the pre-order beta has been provided.

Entrenchment adds a Starbase defense platform to each race, giving them armored bases with a variety of weapon, and upgrades that make them capable of defending an entire planet. Adding to that are turrent upgrades, mine fields and a "Subspace Inhibitor platform" which will slow down nearby enemy ships.

Entrenchment is the first in a series of micro-expansions that will later include new ships, technologies, and diplomacy features. Come January, Entrenchment will be available on the Sins of a Solar Empire website and Stardock's Impulse digital distribution platform.

The PC release of Ubisoft Montreal's colorful platform Prince of Persia has been delayed one week after the console versions hit, according to reports and retail listings.

Blue's News noticed that online retailer Amazon.com shows the PC version hitting North America on December 9, with the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 editions still on track for the promised December 2 launch. This coincides with Eurogamer's official confirmation of a one-week delay for the PC version in European territories.

No reason was provided for the delay, though Ubisoft and Electronic Arts are among the many publishers that have been postponing PC releases until after console versions arrive, as was the case with EA's Dead Space and Mirror's Edge. Ubisoft Shanghai attributed the delayed PC release of EndWar to piracy concerns

However, not all of Ubisoft's PC-console titles have been delayed--Ubisoft Montreal's Far Cry 2 launched simultaneously on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in late October.

Sega's Werehog-filled platformer, Sonic Unleashed (360, PS3, PS2, Wii), has been pushed out of 2008 in its home territory of Japan, leaving its North American release date of "holiday 2008" in question.

Sega's Japanese site for Sonic Unleashed--known as Sonic World Adventure on the other side of the ocean--has the news of a delay from the game's intended December 18 Japanese release all the way to a nebulous "spring 2009."

Citing quality concerns, the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 editions were held back, while the Wii version is unaffected by the delay. No mention is made of the planned PlayStation 2 version.

Shacknews has contacted Sega of America to find out about changes to the North American release.

Many thanks to Siliconera for pointing the way.

Publisher THQ announced today that it has delayed Volition's Red Faction: Guerrilla (PC, PS3, 360) and Vigil's Darksiders: Wrath of War (PS3, 360) until its next fiscal year, which begins April 1, 2009 and ends on March 31, 2010.

Previously, both titles were expected to arrive on store shelves within the publisher's current fiscal year, which means they would have hit retailers by March 31, 2009.

No reason was provided for the delays, though the company lowered its net sales expectations for the current year by $125 million to compensate.

Update: Harmonix has hit an "unexpected delay with getting the content online with Microsoft" and "have suspended sending out the token codes until the content becomes available," going by a new post from the developer.

"We hope to have this resolved in the next 24 hours and apologize profusely for the delay," wrote community manager Sean Baptiste. "Again, we apologize for the delay and are working our butts off to get the content out to you."

Original Story: If you've bought Rock Band 2 and registered for the 20 free downloadable songs that were slated to arrive yesterday, Harmonix hasn't forgotten.

On its official forum, the studio noted that download codes for Xbox 360 owners began going out last night, but that "due to the volume of emails being sent, these will roll out over a 24 hour period." Harmonix also stressed its appreciation... Read more