Ubisoft’s long-awaited update of the Tom Clancy-inspired stealth-action series is going to be even longer awaited – 2010 to be, um, vague.

Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Conviction for Xbox 360 has been bumped back to early 2010. We’re fast running out of blockbusters to enjoy this Christmas, and losing count of how many have dropped off the October-November 2009 schedule. Publisher Ubisoft claims that both Splinter Cell and Wii samurai shoot-‘em up Red Steel 2 are being held back to allow for more quality assurance. Yves Guillemot, Chief Executive Officer, is quoted today as saying: “The changes on Splinter Cell and Red Steel – it’s just a question of polish. The team was asking that they couldn’t be with the level of quality on all the maps and all the game for the end of the year, so they had asked for more time to be able to come with a better product, for both of those games.”

In other words even their own mother wouldn’t like them at the moment, but give them time to grow and they’ll be real charmers. Here’s to Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (PS3) and Halo 3: ODST (Xbox 360) then… about all we’ve got left to look forward to... but that ain’t so bad.