Some on the Japanese internet are suggesting that the reason for the delay is that cute cartoon characters have four figures — “four” is the equivalent of “13″ in Japanese, a highly unlucky number that can reference death. Also, when yakuza chop off fingers to apologise for mistakes, they are left with four digits.

However, Mickey Mouse has four fingers in Japan, so not sure if I entirely buy that reason. However, the cover art for Left4Dead ran into censorship issues in Japan regarding missing fingers…

The release date for Fat Princess in Japan is TBA.

PlayStation.com(Japan) | お知らせ | PlayStation®3専用ソフトウェア『ぽっちゃり☆プリンセス』（PlayStation®Storeダウンロード専用タイトル）発売日延期のご案内 [Sony via はちま起稿]

Furthermore: “You’ll also have Prestige Mode in PC as well as lots of Steam support,” Bowling writes. No word yet on minimum PC specifications, but “hopefully” they will come soon, he adds.

fourzerotwo [Twitter, thanks Jon]

Citing the “unprecedented recession”, the ¥5,040 (US$56) game will not be released on November, but instead the title will come out on December 23 as part of D3’s budget line SIMPLE 2500 Portable!! series.

Exorsister [Official Site via はちま起稿]

The sales-tracking firm was scheduled to release today its listings of US video game hardware and software sales for September. The report would have provided a glimpse of how the likes of Halo 3: ODST and The Beatles: Rock Band have been faring, along with the price-cut PlayStation 3.

But the report won’t be released until Monday, October 19. In a statement sent to the press, NPD spokesman David Riley blamed “last minute processing requirements”.

We’ll have our usual NPD coverage on Monday.

First our fall games are delayed. Now the sales reports too. What’s next?

While Sega still hasn’t responded to our multiple requests for confirmation on the delay, the publisher’s official web site is typically a good resource for this kind of information. The PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC versions are all listed loosely for “Spring, 2010″ but earlier today, some of those dates were for a more solid May 6, 2010.

Alpha Protocol [Sega]

The release will altered from November 11 to January 14, 2010. The reason for the delay is the discovery of a “fatal bug”, and further development time is needed to make sure the game isn’t released all buggy-like.

Besides fixing the bug, Acquire is adding the ability to transfer data from PSP to PSP as well as the ability to save the game to a Memory Stick.

With all the brouhaha (NSFW) caused at this year’s Tokyo Game Show, the company is also planning to use the gladiator lady at more promotions in the future. Imagine that!

Recently updated ship dates from GameStop and Amazon.ca list Alpha Protocol for June 1 and June 30, 2010, respectively. Most online retailers still show the game due the last week of October of this year, but if two independent retailers are showing a delay, don’t be surprised if others follow suit.

If those retail listings are accurate, it wouldn’t be the first time Alpha Protocol has been pushed back. The game was pencilled in for a release as early as February 2009. Perhaps Sega took some of Sony Computer Entertainment America’s rumoured comments about the game to heart?

Whatever the reason may be, if Alpha Protocol has indeed slipped, it will join the recently delayed Blur as one of the many titles that will miss the typically heavy fall release schedule.

We’ve reached out to Sega of America to verify that change, but haven’t heard back yet.

A short statement from Ubisoft says the delay is to ensure “a bit more time for the dev team to deliver the best quality game to you”.

All well and good considering the problems that plagued the PC release of the first Assassin’s Creed, but still a little disappointing.

UPDATE: Just to add that it’s been delayed to the “first quarter of 2010.”

[Ubisoft @ Twitter]

Because Gearbox are “optimizing the PC version”, a process “which takes a few days longer than expected”, the North American release of the PC version of the game will be out on October 26. For those outside North America, this means their version has dropped back to October 30.

Borderlands Gets Slightly Delayed [Borderlands]

It’s all in the name of multiplayer, according to the Activision press release announcing Blur’s move into next year, a move that will give the development team “more time to enhance the game’s innovative and distinctive online multiplayer gameplay”. In other words, the online isn’t quite finished yet.

“We are committed to making Blur a great new racing franchise, and we are very encouraged by the game’s design,” stated Mike Griffith, President and CEO, Activision Publishing. “The additional time will allow the studio to fully optimise the vision they set out to create for Blur including a distinctive and groundbreaking multiplayer mode that will appeal to a broad audience.”

It remains to be seen when in 2010 the game will be released, with the company only mentioning the year without any specific month or season or even half. Here’s hoping it’s early in the year, for the sake of anyone who might have been really looking forward to it. Anyone?