In news that comes as not so much of a shock as a disappointment, the third instalment in the Driver series has slipped from a March release to a global launch on June 1. The news filtered in overnight from Atari’s US offices, news that led us to believe it was only a matter of time before there was a European announcement. All was quiet for an hour or two, and we almost convinced ourselves that we’d got the jump on America. Our smugness did not last however, and the June release for Europe was confirmed this morning by Atari’s UK PR company.

Bruno Bonnell, Chairman and CEO of Atari stated, "We believe that this additional time will give our marketing team the ability to exploit DRIV3R's full potential, meeting the high expectations of gamers, media and shareholders."

He’s right, of course, but what is arguably the biggest release of 2004 is now further away than you, dear reader, had previously thought. With the GameCube version already canned, the June release means you’ll have a little longer to save up for DRIV3R on PS2 and Xbox. The PC version is due later in the year.