Ubi makes a date

Ubi Soft has updated its release dates, giving us a better outline of their plans for the rest of the year. This month things are relatively quiet, with just Pirates of the Caribbean on PC (August 15th) and Xbox (August 29th) trying to capitalise on the cinematic release this week.

Moving on, there's good news for fans of Ghost Recon, with the second online-enabled instalment coming to Xbox - the standalone expansion Island Thunder - due out on September 5th.

Then later in the month on September 26th, Ubi Soft will allegedly release Dragon's Lair 3D on PC and Xbox, but don't put too much stock in those dates - Ubi has slipped this one twice a month for about a year, and THQ seems incapable of releasing their PS2 and Cube versions either.

In October, we're looking forward to the Raven Shield expansion Athena Sword on the 3rd, with XIII making its long-awaited debut on PS2, Xbox and PC on the 31st. November then heralds the release of the WarCraft-inspired Sony Online title Lords of EverQuest on the 7th, as well as the PS2-exclusive-except-on-the-PC Beyond Good & Evil a week later on the 14th - it's due out on Sony's console and the beige box under the desk, but don't tell anyone.

Finally for November, there's Harvest Moon on Cube and GBA on the 21st, and then the last game of the year for Ubi should be EverQuest II on December 5th. Or at least, that seems to be its last chance to make it this year. Retailers needn't worry about it missing the Christmas rush though - we doubt EQ players are all that aware of it.