Alpha Protocol shelved until '10?

What we heard: So far, 2009 has seen a drought of role-playing games, with fans of the genre subsisting on a steady stream of alternately tepidly and well-reviewed Fallout 3 expansions. All that was to change in October, though, when three high-profile RPGs were set to launch: BioWare's dark fantasy Dragon Age: Origins, Obsidian Entertainment's espionage RPG Alpha Protocol, and Gearbox's cheeky, postapocalyptic "role-playing shooter" Borderlands.

Now, following the delay of Dragon Age to November, another of the October 2009 RPG trinity appears to have slipped--all the way until next year. GameStop is now listing Alpha Protocol as shipping on June 1, 2010. Meanwhile Amazon's Canadian store has it as arriving in North America on June 30, 2010. The date change comes just over one week before the game's October 6 launch date on the PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360, which was announced in July. As recently as August 27, Obsidian staffers were saying the project was still on schedule.

The official story: Obsidian reps routed inquiries to Alpha Protocol's publisher, Sega, which had not responded to requests for comment as of press time.

Bogus or not bogus?: Likely not bogus. Two unconnected retailers wouldn't shift the launch date of a game eight days before its release for no reason, and Sega's silence speaks volumes.

If the delay is made official, it would mark the second time that a Sega-published Obsidian game has seen its release plans overturned. The first, a role-playing game based on the Alien film series, was indefinitely delayed in February before being canceled outright in June.

Orange County-based Obsidian, created by Black Isle Studios veterans, is currently at work on Fallout: New Vegas for Bethesda Softworks. The game will use the same 3D engine as Fallout 3, the post-nuclear role-playing sequel to the original, isometric, turn-based Fallout games many Obsidian developers helped create in the late 1990s.