I just came back from having dinner with Enric Alvarez, the CEO of Mercury Steam and currently hard at work on Clive Barker’s Jericho. We shared a roundtable a couple weeks ago in Art Futura, but didn’t have much time to talk there. Great food and even better conversation. Although it’s not been easy for such a small studio, they seem to be doing a great job transitioning into the fabled next-gen.

So before heading to bed I drop by The Escapist, and see the following stream of news:

– "Valve has revealed that Episode Two and the included Team Fortress 2 and Portal games have been delayed from February to Summer, 2007."

– "Gears of War Has ‘Zero Innovation’ According to EA Executive."

– "EA has announced that the PS3 version of NBA Live 07 has been cancelled. Oblivion has officially slipped to next year and Sonic the Hedgehog has also been delayed."

– "When asked by the Uk’s official PlayStation magazine about the European PS3 launch scheduled for March, [Phil] Harrison shied away from making any promises."

– "PS3 Online Misses the Boat."

The games industry is a strange place.