Ubisoft Montreal's stealth-action effort Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Chaos Theory and Swingin' Ape Studios' action game Metal Arms: Glitch in the System will be the latest additions to the Xbox 360's downloadable Xbox Originals catalog, Xbox Live director of programming Larry "Major Nelson" Hyrb has revealed.

Both titles are slated to arrive in the console's online Xbox Live Marketplace next Monday, April 21. As with previous Xbox Originals releases--including Dreamfall, Ninja Gaiden Black, Halo and Psychonauts--the games will each sell for 1200 Microsoft Points ($15).

While Ubisoft Montreal would eventually create other titles, such as Assassin's Creed, Metal Arms was the only game to emerge from Swingin' Ape Studios.

After Blizzard Entertainment and original StarCraft: Ghost developer Nihlistic parted ways, Swingin' Ape was brought on to bring the ill-fated action title to life. Though Blizzard purchased the studio outright in 2005, the game was later placed on indefinite hold.

French publisher Ubisoft has revealed that it is latest publisher to make its PC titles available via Valve's digital distribution platform Steam, with the upcoming PC release of Assassin's Creed: Director's Cut Edition currently available for pre-purchase.

The stealth title Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell and Crytek's non-linear shooter Far Cry mark Ubisoft's initial offerings, with Far Cry priced at $9.95 and Splinter Cell going for $19.95. Both will sell at a 10% discount until April 8.

Over 40 titles will be eventually be available, including Tom Clancy games, the Heroes of Might & Magic series, the IL-2 Sturmovik collection and more, along with upcoming releases such as Far Cry 2. According to Valve, bundles packaging franchise entries together will be available in the coming weeks.

"Ubisoft will be delivering the largest library of titles available from any single publisher or developer to Steam," said Valve business development director Jason Holtman, director of business development at Valve.

"We look forward to working with Steam and continuing to strengthen our commitment to the PC gaming community with innovative products and wider distribution channels, added Ubisoft senior sales director Andy Swanson.

Though Ubisoft already reported its second quarter results last month, it officially presented its first-half fiscal year 2007-2008 financial earnings today. The company delayed four unspecified games during its second quarter announcement, and today Ubisoft has furthered the release dates of two additional titles.

Though it was confirmed for a December 14 release just a week ago, Free Radical's drug-enhanced shooter Haze (PS3) will now make its way to stores in the company's fourth fiscal quarter, pushing its ship date out of the former holiday 2007 window. The game joins several other recently delayed titles now scheduled to retail during the period of January through March of 2008.

Sam Fisher's newest outing has also been postponed, as Ubisoft Montreal's Splinter Cell: Conviction (PC, X360) has been removed from the fiscal year calendar entirely. It's now slated for an ambiguous release sometime in the next fiscal year, which begins April 1, 2008. It was previously scheduled for a fourth fiscal quarter ship date.

Both titles were mentioned in Ubisoft's previous delay announcement as being on track for current fiscal year releases.

The company is still on track to reach its sales estimates due to 52% higher revenues for the first half of the year. The company also reported selling 1 million copies of Assassin's Creed (PC, PS3, X360) since its launch last week.

Paris-based publisher Ubisoft announced its first quarter earnings yesterday, detailing a 90.5% increase in sales to 134 million euros (US$185 million). Though coupled with the news was a delay for the forthcoming game in Ubisoft's espionage action series, Splinter Cell: Conviction. The title will now retail in the fourth fiscal quarter--January through March of 2008--rather than the planned holiday release in the third quarter.

Attempts to contact Ubisoft for details on the delay have not yet received a response.

In light of the higher-than-expected sales, Ubisoft has raised its predictions for total fiscal year earnings to 825 million euros (US$1.14 billion), up from 800 million euros (US$1.11 billion). Sales of PlayStation 3 software accounted for... Read more

Pro-G has posted a Splinter Cell: Conviction Q&A, asking senior producer Matthew Ferland about the newest Sam Fisher game. Topics include the series' new direction, stealth and crowd manipulation, game pace, and locations.

Computer & Video Games is the latest site to feature a Splinter Cell: Conviction preview. The article offers impressions of a two level build shown at Ubisoft's Montreal offices.

There's a Splinter Cell: Conviction preview on Eurogamer, offering another look at the new installment in the spy game series.

GameSpot and 1UP both have Splinter Cell: Conviction first looks, checking out what at first glance looks like the Sam Fisher hobo sim.

New at FileShack this morning is the Splinter Cell: Double Agent 1.02 patch. The patch fixes the unlockables bug in the singleplayer mode, while also taking care of a variety of multiplayer issues.

Ubisoft sends along two seperate Splinter Cell: Double Agent demos, Splinter Cell: Double Agent singleplayer demo and the other Splinter Cell: Double Agent multiplayer demo. The 851mb demo singleplayer demo includes part of the Okhotsk mission, while the 789mb multiplayer demo includes 1 map that you can play in free or rankings modes.

Over at FileShack you can now find a 1.01 patch for Splinter Cell: Double Agent. It fixes online issues, and some minor singleplayer issues.

Over at FileShack you can find a new Splinter Cell: Double Agent movie, offering a minute of cinematic and gameplay footage.

Last night, internet sleuths, including one on the NeoGAF forums, uncovered a massive 2GB+ RAR file on Ubisoft's FTP site containing concept art, logos, and tech demos for a variety of Ubisoft games, some of which have yet to be announced. Much of the material was related to a Far Cry sequel that seems to be entitled simply Far Cry 2. Given that original Far Cry developer Crytek is currently working with EA on Crysis, and given Ubisoft's heavy use of its own Far Cry Instincts spinoff property, it is likely that Far Cry 2 is a successor to the Instincts line rather than the original PC title. It also seems that a PSP version of Far Cry is in the works, referred to only by a working title of Far Cry PSP.

Materials related to the unannounced fifth main game in the Splinter Cell series were also included among the files. The game's logo reveals that the game is entitled Splinter Cell Conviction.

Unsurprisingly, Ubisoft also looks to be adding another game to the Prince of Persia franchise. The leak included concept artwork and a logo for the game, but as of now it appears to have a working title of simply "Prince of Persia." The three previous current-gen Prince of Persia games were collectively referred to as the Sands of Time Trilogy, so it is likely that this new game is starting its own progression of games.

Other unnanounced titles include Surf's Up, a surfing game featuring playable penguins, and a PSP game based on the Rocky films that appears to be entitled "Rocky Balboa: It's not over, until it's over."

Ubisoft has offered an official response to these developments:

We are clearly displeased that confidential information from Ubisoft has been distributed on the internet. The publication of this type of information can only be harmful to the game development process and we will take all steps necessary to prevent this from happening in the future. We are still investigating the events that lead to this information leak and at this time have no further comment.

GameSpot and IGN bot have new Splinter Cell: Double Agent previews, going hands-on with the game's multiplayer. Meanwhile the game itself has suffered another delay, as Ubisoft has announced that instead of September, the game is now due out late October (thanks FiringSquad).

The official Splinter Cell website has been updated, offering this in-house produced interview about the game's music. Lead sound designer Romain His talks about the use of real instruments for the score, the music capturing the feel of the game's different locations, composing a theme, and interactive music.

Computer & Video Games has a new Splinter Cell Q&A, asking Ubisoft producer Mathieu Ferland about the past, present and future of the popular franchise.

New at Computer & Video Games today is this Splinter Cell: Double Agent preview, offering impressions of the early stages of the game where you are in prison and trying to break out.

This Israeli game site has a new Splinter Cell: Double Agent Q&A, talking to Ubisoft associate producer Daniel Roy about the new Sam Fisher game. Questions are about things like the storyline and new features, as well as multi-platform development. Thanks Blues News.

New at GameCloud this morning is this Splinter Cell: Double Agent Q&A. Associate producer Daniel Roy answers questions about the game's storyline, gameplay improvements, multiplayer features, graphical improvements, platform differences and demo plans.

A new Splinter Cell: Double Agent Q&A can be found at Computer & Video Games. Producer Julian Gerighty talks about Sam being in prison, Sam's changed appearance, AI companions, new characters, new environments and platform differences.