Last time we mentioned it, back in March, Mass Effect was still one of the big huge Xbox 360 titles (alongside Halo 3 and PGR 4) whose final release date had yet to be confirmed by Microsoft. And despite BioWare's comments from GDC 2007, leading us to hope for a June / July release, today's headline rumour is that the next-gen role-playing game is being delayed all the way to September 2007.

This morning, CVG reported that Microsoft had just made the disapointing announcement at a press event, making it sound pretty official as far as we're concerned. SPOnG, however, took the time to contact a Microsoft rep (Andy Irving, Xbox UK PR manager), who told them that "As yet we don't have a confirmed release date".

"Microsoft seems keen to avoid jumping the gun", the report continues, "with Irving also saying, "BioWare just want to make the best game they can." To SPOnG's ears that sounds suspiciously like we should be prepared for Mass Effect to ship even later than September."

Delaying the launch to September would also mean that Mass Effect would be shipping during the same timeframe as another anticipated Xbox 360 RPG, namely Blue Dragon. This may be a relatively wise decision for Microsoft, who will thus avoid the infamous Summer drought. But any way we look at it, it's nothing but bad news for us.

P.S. If you missed them earlier this month, our Mass Effect gallery has some new screenshots on display.

(N.B. Archive text, links removed)