Rainbow Six 3 is Xbox exclusive

Those breathless Frenchmen at Ubi Soft have been banging on our virtual door this lunchtime with news that Rainbow Six 3 will be an Xbox exclusive this Christmas. And apparently we're not talking about a faithfully recreated, rebranded version of Raven Shield with an "Only on Xbox" jpeg pasted on top. Oh no. As they hinted in May when they announced "upgrades", it's mostly new stuff.

According to an Ubi spokesperson, "This is not Raven Shield, it is a totally new game exclusively for the Xbox." But you can see how we'd get confused, given that Raven Shield was called Rainbow Six 3. Ubi says the title "may change slightly in the future." Yeah, try sticking a bloody point-five on the end!

It doesn't help that on the surface at least Rainbow Six 3 Xbox sounds an awful lot like Raven Shield, either. It's made up of 14 single player missions, 9 multiplayer maps, and the same teamplay dynamic as PC release, but uses an upgraded engine borrowed from Splinter Cell. It's also got co-operative online play via Xbox Live, with communicator support and the promise of downloadable content. As if that wasn't enough, the surely requisite 5.1 surround sound will be reappearing. Sorry, appearing.

Never mind about it being the same old game with new levels though, eh, because Rainbow Six 3, Raven Shield With Different Levels or whatever you want to call it, remains a truly stonking game, and unless something terrible happens between now and Saint Nick's favourite festival at the end of the year, Xbox fans who don't own reasonably up-to-date PCs could do a lot worse.