Splinter Cell designer can't confirm or deny exclusivity

Lead designer Steve Masters appears to be tied by corporate strings that stop him from confirming Conviction's Xbox 360 console exclusivity.

Sadly, Splinter Cell Conviction has been delayed until 2010. Yes, get the tears out of the way now, because it's for the good of the game.

Echoing Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot's view that the delay is to allow for further polishing, the game's lead designer Steve Masters told Joystiq:

"Really [the delay] was just a decision to allow us to polish up and really deliver the experience that the fans are looking for.

"Right now we're about to hit alpha - literally this week," Masters added. "So that means the levels are largely complete, and now it's just time to polish them up and get them looking really great, and playing really well."

Some joined up Ubisoft's financial woes and Conviction's delay to a possible PS3 release. We thought this was nonsense, but then Masters can't seem to throw a timed exclusivity period out of the window.

When asked about the game's exclusivity, Masters replied:

"I can't really go into the details there. All I can say is that we're really exploiting the full power of the Microsoft console here, and Microsoft has been tremendous in giving us a lot of support and really helping us to utilize the full power of the 360.

"I don't think that we're ever gonna go to the PS3. But I can't confirm or deny it," he concluded.

Oh, just deny it. What's the point of covering your bases so early on in the game? We'll have forgotten about all of this in a years time when Conviction comes out for the PS3 anyway...

Read more about Splinter Cell Conviction here.