Midway and Epic Games have today announced the official launch date for the Xbox 360 version of Unreal Tournament 3, and great news, it’s coming very soon! UT3 for the 360 is set to ship globally on July 7th, so that leaves only a few more weeks to wait. The Xbox 360 version will feature all the downloadable content that’s been released thus far for the previously released PC and PS3 versions in addition to a number of exclusive features not found on the other platforms, including five new maps, two new characters, added two-player split-screen support and a special video preview for Gears of War 2 containing never-before-seen multiplayer footage narrated by Epic’s Cliff Bleszinski and Rod Fergusson.

The day has finally come. Unreal Tournament 3 for the PS3 has landed on store shelves right in the nick of time for gamers to add to their holiday wish lists and last-minute shoppers to snag for their PS3 gaming loved ones. Supply is most likely going to be limited given the late push to get the game out before year’s end, but keep your eyes peeled and you should be able to find a copy in time. If you do, it’ll put a $59.95 dent in your wallet. Or you can pick up the previously released PC version for ten bucks cheaper. Either way, get UT3. It rocks!

“Unreal Tournament 3 sets a new benchmark for graphical quality and what a first-person shooter gameplay experience on the PLAYSTATION 3 system should be,” said Steve Allison, chief marketing officer, Midway. “The game is a must-have for a PLAYSTATION 3 system owner this holiday season.”

“We are thrilled to put Unreal Tournament 3 in gamers’ hands before the holidays,” said Mark Rein, vice president of Epic Games. “The game plays so amazingly, and I think this is the pick-up-and-play shooter people have been waiting for on PLAYSTATION 3. In addition, UT3 is the first game ever to allow truly robust user-created content – we call them ‘mods’ (as in ‘modifications’) – on any console platform, and we can’t wait to see what the mod community creates for this game. User-created content has always been the remarkable backbone component of the Unreal Tournament series, and we think PLAYSTATION 3 system users are in for a huge treat when the mods start to appear.”

“We are excited about our continued collaboration with Midway on Unreal Tournament 3, exclusively for PS3,” said Riley Russell, senior vice president of third party relations, Sony Computer Entertainment America. “Unreal Tournament 3 is sure to be a hit this holiday season as it allows gamers to embrace the creativity of user-generated content utilizing the power of the Unreal Engine 3 on PS3.”

It has now been confirmed, Unreal Tournament 3 will in fact make it to the PS3 this year! In recent weeks it appeared the title was sure to slip into early 2008, but in a post over at the Epic Games forums Mark Rein has announced that the PS3 version has just gone gold, receiving final approval from SCEA last night and getting sent off to manufacturing. An official North American release date is expected early next week, but according to Mr. Rein the current estimate is for the week of December 10th. Either way, it’s great to see one of the big third-party PS3 holiday titles actually make it in time, unlike the just-delayed-to-2008 Haze.