Ubisoft today announced that they have not forgotten about PC gamers as we will see Rainbow Six: Lockdown. The PC version will appear early next year, and will not just be a port as Ubisoft promises improved graphics, and several additional game features that will make the wait worthwhile. We have four new screenshots, and here are some of the PC specific features (more here)

* New Multiplayer Features
- "Class Style" gameplay for multiplayer, allowing more specialization
- Multiplayer reward system
- New "Free-for-all" game type
- The return of 3 classic maps -- 747, Mint, and Bunkers
- Re-imagined missions, more challenging than ever before
- Re-vamped Rivalry Mode: Rainbow vs. Mercenaries, battling over three different objective types simultaneously. No two Rivalry matches play out exactly the same way!
* New Weapons and Attachments
- 20 new weapons -- 42 overall
- 6 brand new weapons never used before in a Rainbow game
- 14 fan favorites from franchise history
- Customize your weapon to suit your style of play: Silencers, Scopes, red-dot sights, hi-cap magazines.

Ubisoft sends along word that the Xbox 360 version of Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter has been delayed until February, with IGN confirming that the delay is for all release platforms.

GhostRecon.net has posted a Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter Q&A, asking CEO Bo Andersson of PC version developer GRIN in detail about the game.

Ubisoft sends along some new screenshots from Ghost Recon 3: Advanced Warfighter, coming to PC and console systems later this year. We have four PC screenshots and three Xbox 360 shots.

GameSpot has a Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter Q&A posted, asking Ubisoft's Christian Allen about this futuristic tactical shooter. New media is included.

Another Rainbow Six: Lockdown video has been released, this time focusing on the game's realism. Runtime is 4 minutes and 53 seconds. Thanks 3D Gamers.

Ubisoft has released a new Rainbow Six: Lockdown video development diary, focusing on the game's AI and combat.

Over at the Ubisoft forums you can find a new Rainbow Six: Lockdown Q&A, answering fan submitted questions about the PC version of the game. Thanks GameCloud.

Ubisoft sent out a press release, announcing that the PC version of Rainbow Six: Lockdown is currently scheduled for early 2006 and is thus still in development despite some recent confusion. In related news the developers will be attending an IRC chat about the game this Thursday. The place to be for that is irc.gamesurge.net, channel #rainbowsix (7PM CST start time).

Ubisoft has finally confirmed that Ghost Recon 2, released on console systems last year, will not make its way to the PC. According to the Ghost Recon website update, Ubisoft has instead decided to focus completely on Ghost Recon 3 which they hope will be "a much more satisfying and evolved gaming experience" (the Xbox version had decent reviews, the PS2 and GameCube versions did not). Ghost Recon 3 is expected to be released during the fourth quarter of this year.

Ubisoft sends along this in-house Rainbow Six: Lockdown Q&A, which is about the game's storyline. There are also some new screenshots here.

How did you come up with the darker storyline? Was there something from the original stories that made this transition a natural progression?

We looked to the Tom Clancy novels Rainbow Six and The Bear And The Dragon for inspiration. In the books, we see a darker side to Clark and Chavez, as well as moral ambiguity and conflict between team members (such as Johnston's infamous "missed" shot at Worldpark). We really wanted to create some grey areas in the way that the team operates. In terms of earlier games, Rainbow Six 3 (PS2) featured a mission in which two members of Team Rainbow were captured by a terrorist group, and had to be rescued. However, we felt that the overall tone of Lockdown should be much more sinister than previous installments, given the subject matter.

The new Rainbow Six is scheduled for release on PC, Xbox and PS2 this March.

GameSpy and IGN have their own previews of Rainbow Six 4: Lockdown posted, also going hands-on with Ubisoft's action game sequel which is going easy on the tactical part this time around.

And another preview from GameSpot..as they also recently got to check out Rainbow Six 4: Lockdown. There are singleplayer and multiplayer impressions, and some console version screenshots.

There's a Ghost Recon 2 Q&A on FileFront today, chatting with Ubisoft producer Heather Chandler about the action game sequel which was released on console systems last month and is expected on PC later this year.

Computer & Video Games has a Rainbow Six 4: Lockdown Q&A today, asking game designer J.P. Cambiotti about the game's features and the reasons they are changing this franchise. Here's a bit on why they are making the game "more accessible".

Cambiotti: In the past Rainbow Six got criticism for being too difficult, too hard to get into - the one shot, one kill hardly makes it very instant. Although we've kept that in for the hardcore fans, we've also tried to open it up to people who haven't really picked up the series before. So you've now got aiming assistance and a 'save anywhere' feature. Plus, there's a sniper vision that's more of a departure from the regular Rainbow fare [enemies are easier to spot]. But despite these options, there's still a lot of the 'room playing' and the tension generated by one-shot kills that fans have come to expect.

Ubisoft sends along a press release announcing that Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 4, which they announced a few weeks ago, is now officially called Rainbow Six: Lockdown. A teaser site can be found here.

In Rainbow Six: Lockdown, players lead Team Rainbow, the world's most elite counter-terrorist unit, as they are called into action and dispatched into unfamiliar territory to battle a bioterrorist threat. Stakes escalate as they are personally targeted by an evil terrorist organization. Used to protecting the lives of others, Team Rainbow must now embark on a mission to fight and save some of their own.

Over at Worthplaying you can find a few more screenshots from Rainbow Six 4, the console and PC action game sequel which Ubisoft announced a couple of days ago.

GameSpy and IGN have posted their own Rainbow Six 4 previews, going hands-on with the new Ubisoft shooter which was announced yesterday.

Guess we don't have to wait for GameSpy (story), as Ubisoft today announced development of Rainbow Six 4. The game, in development at Red Storm Entertainment and Ubisoft's Montreal Studios, is scheduled for a spring 2005 release on PC, Xbox and PS2.

The next Rainbow Six installment will build on the ingredients that have made the Rainbow Six franchise a runaway success, and will introduce new single player experience with a personal darker storyline, state-of-the-art equipment, and offer gamers the chance to play as two members of Team Rainbow: Ding Chavez, the fearless leader of Team Rainbow, and a new sniper role portrayed by Dieter Weber, who must cover his team's movement with deadly accuracy.

Like Ghost Recon 2, the PS2 version of Rainbow Six 4 will have its own graphics engine, with Xbox and PS2 also receiving exclusive multiplayer modes. Additionally Ubisoft promises 'Stunning graphics and ultra-realistic "ragdoll" physics', increasingly intelligent AI and new weapons and items. We have some console version screenshots here, and on FileShack we have a teaser trailer. Update: GameSpot has a preview with impressions.

GameSpy's main page mentions that that they'll have Rainbow Six 4 details later this week, so we'll be hearing about the latest entry in Ubisoft's tactical action game series soon.