Splinter Cell only for PC and 360?

Welcome to the final part of our week-long Splinter Cell preview. Check out Part1,2,3and4 if you haven't already done so, then read on for more tantalizing detailson this promising reimagining of the stealth genre.

Splinter Cell has traditionally appeared on every format going, all the way down to Game Boy Advance. However, for the fifth installment in the series, Ubisoft Montreal has decided to make the game for PC and Xbox 360 only. But that's a good thing, if not for PS3 fans, then at least for the game itself.

Too many times we've seen games programmed with the lowest common denominator in mind. WWE SmackDown vs Raw 2006 was programmed with base code that will run on PSP; Tomb Raider Anniversary, King Kong and Need For Speed: Carbon were coded to run on old- and new-gen machines, and even Pirates of the Caribbean on PS3 suffers from being essentially the same game as the Xbox 360 version.

But not for Splinter Cell Conviction. As Senior Producer Mathieu Ferland points out, "Developing a game for multiple consoles is not so difficult, but requires certain compromises, usually quality compromises... not having to worry about other consoles for development is an important benefit because you can simply focus and develop following a technical design that fits perfectly with the console."

He continues: "We'll end up with better performances (such as frames per second), allowing opportunity to add more content on-screen - content that would most likely not make it into the game if development was also done for other consoles."

Sounds promising, doesn't it? Adding more tasty info to whet our appetite still further, Ferland states: "It will make Xbox 360 owners take full benefit of their console, for both online and offline features."