This week's major videogame release,Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction, is the latest in a long line of games endorsed by Tom Clancy. Indeed, while an older generation probably knows him best as a best-selling author of spy and military fiction, and Baltimore residents may think of him as a co-owner of baseball's Orioles, the Tom Clancy name is most closely associated these days with the world of videogames.

In the 1980s, Clancy first became a household name behind strong sales for books revolving around CIA analyst Jack Ryan. Several of these titles also became movies, including the Alec Baldwin-starringThe Hunt for Red October58andClear and Present Danger74with Harrison Ford, further boosting the author's name recognition.

After conquering the worlds of publishing and film, Clancy moved into gaming in the mid-1990s, establishing the developer Red Storm Entertainment, which, among other titles, began churning out games based on Clancy properties. The developer was so successful that it was eventually acquired by publisher Ubisoft. Over the past 15 years, the Tom Clancy brand has appeared on over three dozen game titles, including the ongoingRainbow Six,Ghost Recon, andSplinter Cellseries, although Clancy's actual involvement in many of the releases is minimal.

The latter series — all stealth action titles — gets its newest chapter this week withConvictionfor the Xbox 360 (a PC version also arrives in two weeks). The first newSplinter Cellgame in four years,Convictionfinds protagonist Sam Fisher, formerly an elite government anti-terrorism agent, striking out on his own in search of his daughter's murderer. Reviews are generally strong, with a lot of praise for the gameplay, though several critics feel that the new game is far too short.