Fallujah Devs’ Breach Delayed, Becomes “Hardcore”

Atomic Games’ downloadable military shooter Breach – the game that someone apparently tried to steal from PAX East – has been delayed to make it more “hardcore.”

Raleigh-based Atomic Games has the distinction of its games being well-known for everything but, erm, the actual game. The ill-fated Six Days in Fallujah made headlines when controversy led publisher Konami to back out, leaving it in limbo. Its followup Breach, a downloadable Xbox Live Arcade military shooter, likewise made headlines when some idiot apparently tried to steal the game’s code from the PAX East show floor.

It’s kind of a shame, too, because we saw Breach at the Atomic Studios, and it looked pretty impressive for an XBLA title. Unfortunately, though the game was originally slated as a Summer 2010 title, it has now been delayed to January of next year. Atomic will be using the time to add a “Hardcore” mode to the game, though what that means is anyone’s guess. Maybe it will insta-kill any Xbox Live kiddies who try to “teabag” fallen opponents.

Or, more likely, the game’s “Hardcore” mode will take advantage of the simulation systems Atomic builds for the U.S. Government. I like my idea better.

“While work on Breach is actually done, we did miss our small window with Microsoft to get it up on Xbox LIVE Arcade for Xbox 360 in late June as we had planned,” explained Atomic president Peter Tamte. “Luckily there were features we had been thinking of adding to the title, and now we have the opportunity to do just that. Unlike with Six Days in Fallujah, which was delayed indefinitely when Konami pulled out, we are publishing Breach ourselves, and it will be out in January.”