MAG Being Pushed Back to January

Yet another title has been delayed from its initial holiday season release date. Instead of late 2009, MAG will now be released for the Playstation 3 on January 26, 2010.

The developer behind MAG is Zipper Interactive. Founded in 1995, the development studio worked on several PC games like MechWarrior 3 and Crimson Skies before moving on to other platforms.

Zipper Interactive came to fame with the SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALsseries. The first game was released in 2002 and became one of the most popular online games of the Playstation 2. The exclusive title showed Sony that online gaming has a future in the video game industry. As a result, the PSP and Playstation 3 came packed-in with online capabilities.

After the big success of the first game, Sony and Zipper Interactive turned SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs into a franchise. SOCOM II: U.S. Navy SEALs was released a year after the original followed by SOCOM 3: U.S. Navy SEALs in 2005 and SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs: Combined Assault in 2006. Zipper Interactive also made two handheld games on the PSP:SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo and SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo 2.

For the Playstation 3, however, Zipper Interactive decided to start a new franchise. MAG is an ambitious project where up to 256 players participate in an epic battle across a large battlefield. Players are divided in squads and different classes. It coined the term massively multiplayer online first-person shooter. There is no other game quite like it on the Playstation 3 and other home consoles.

Because of MAG's ambitious nature, however, development is taking a long time. MAG was first revealed at E3 2008, which was in the middle of last year. However, it will be one and a half year since its unveiling that the Playstation 3 exclusive game will finally be released. Part of the reason for the long development time of MAG is due to the Playstation 3 hardware. For a first time developer, the complicated architecture can be quite daunting. Furthermore, Zipper Interactive is also building a brand new network structure so that the upcoming game can support 256 players without any connection problems.

Another possible explanation for the delay is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The highly-anticipated sequel, which is similar in gameplay to MAG, is slated to become the biggest game of 2009. Releasing MAG so close to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 could result in lesser interests since most consumers will be busy playing the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

Whatever the reason is, we won't be seeing MAG on the Playstation 3 until January 26, 2010.