Mafia PS2 and Xbox slips to January

Mafia has become the latest in a long line of Christmas titles to slip into early 2004, with the conversion team taking a couple of extra months to shoehorn the gangster epic onto the PS2 and Xbox.

Illusion Softworks' Gathering-published title was originally intended for a late Autumn release, but has now been pushed back to January to resolve some 'memory management' issues that have held up the ambitious conversion.

The original PC version arrived in August 2002 to a largely positive response, and many feel the game will fulfil its commercial potential on consoles, especially in the light of the success of other mission-based driving titles such as Vice City and The Getaway.

With only True Crime to compete against this Christmas, Mafia's original release spot looked inspired, but a delay to the graveyard of January may disappoint investors looking for another blockbusting Christmas hit.