Apparently it will be an Xbox 2 launch title, and still release on Xbox in fall 2005.

Battlefield: Modern Combat is on its way to Microsoft's next-generation console, developer Digital Illusions CE recently announced. The console spinoff of the popular team-based online multiplayer shooter will hit the successor to the Xbox when that console launches, which Digital Illusions currently expects to be around the fall of 2005.

Modern Combat will still see release for PlayStation 2 and Xbox in the fall of 2005, whether or not the next-generation version arrives in that timeframe as well. The game was originally planned for release this year, but Electronic Arts and Digital Illusions chose to push the game back a year so as to add a more extensive single-player component to the game.

Today's announcement from DICE sheds a little more light on the division of labor involved in the game's development. DICE's Swedish home office is working on the multiplayer half of the game, while an internal team at Electronic Arts is composing the single-player elements.

This gives DICE no less than three officially-announced projects in the works for next-generation hardware. The developer recently announced that its Swedish team is working on two untitled games for next-generation consoles from Sony and Microsoft, one an action game due for release in 2007 and the other a more shadowy title slated for release in 2006 or 2007.

At an investor conference earlier this year, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer denied reports that the company's next game console would launch within 2005, but circumstantial evidence like today's announcement from DICE is mounting to dispute that claim. We'll look forward to more concrete details over the next few months, until E3 next May settles the question conclusively.