The recent dating of Dead Space, Fallout 3, Resistance 2, and Call of Duty: World at War has gamers’ fourth-quarter schedules rapidly filling up. Now they’ll have to mark their calendars again, as Ubisoft has finalized the ship date of its upcoming shooter, Far Cry 2.

Though Far Cry 2 has long had a general October release, it now has an official October 24 launch date on the PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3--in Europe, anyway. American Ubisoft reps confirmed that the game will launch in the US on all three platforms three days prior on Tuesday, October 21. The date had been listed by online retailers for some time, but is now officially official.

Far Cry 2 is a sequel of sorts to Far Cry, the critically acclaimed 2004 shooter from now EA-allied German developer Crytek. The game ditches its predecessor’s science-fiction-tinged setting for a more straightforward action premise. Instead of lab-bred mutants on a tropical island, players will take on arms dealers camped out in the wilds of Africa.

Far Cry 2 will retail for $49.99 for the PC and $59.99 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. As part of Today’s European announcement, Ubisoft unveiled a collector’s edition of the game (pictured), which will also include an "Art of Far Cry 2" book, a guide book, the obligatory making-of DVD, and a map of the game’s 50 square-kilometer open world. In the UK, the CE will be available exclusively through retailer GAME. Ubisoft reps confirmed that the CE would also arrive in the US under a similar arrangement, but had no further details as of press time.

By Tor Thorsen