Publisher Atari has announced that the fifth installment of Alone in the Dark will have its North American release date pushed back from June 2nd to the 24th. If it makes you feel any better, the Europeans are getting screwed even more: they were supposed to get the game a full month before we did but now Alone in the Dark 5 will hit the Old World on June 20th.

But don't worry, there's a good reason! According to Eurogamer, Atari delayed the game to give it more polish. Yep, polish. In other words, they're zapping bugs.

Delays sucks but we should probably be thankful for this extra diligence. The last Atari game I played, Neverwinter Nights 2, had some pretty ground-breaking new glitches. For example, party members would inexplicably and permanently vanish, like characters written out of a sitcom. I half-expect that while I'm playing Alone in the Dark 5, Edward Carnby will fall through an invisible hole in the level and land on my couch. If a movie were made based on that situation, by the way, it would only be half as terrible as the 2005 Alone in the Dark film.

With all of Atari's financial woes though, I guess they're bound to be gun-shy. This is the first next-gen game in the Alone in the Dark series and they're rolling it out for every non-portable platform so they really want/need it to be a hit. Here's to hoping they use the extra three weeks wisely.