While we may not know the official title yet, Ubisoft today officially announced the next Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six game. Elite counter-terrorist action fans, or just fans of great realism-based shooters in general, take note. This spring, the new one's coming.

Under development both by original Rainbow Six creators Red Storm Entertainment and Ubisoft's Montreal Studios, the new title will see Team Rainbow deployed to unfamiliar territory in response to a bioterror threat. This time, though, a terrorist organization is targeting a few of the Rainbow operatives personally.

You'll play both as series regular Ding Chavez, as well as master sniper Dieter Weber. Helping both will be 10 multinational operatives, including Recon, Electronics and Demolitions experts. Enemy AI is sharper, however, so you'll need to make use of every resource, from reflexes to advanced technology to cunning team tactics. Luckily, you'll have new hardware such as motion trackers, battering rams, and the MTAR-21 micro assault rifle to help you along.

The new Rainbow Six will feature more of the online multiplayer action which made Rainbow Six 3 famous, as well as bonus multiplayer modes specific to the PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions of the game. PS2 players get Rivalry mode, an objective-based adversarial mode pitting Team Rainbow against mercenaries. Xbox Live players can use Career Mode to build an operative online, increasing skills and equipment in a series of missions.

The PlayStation 2 version will feature a graphics engine built by Red Storm specifically for the platform.

"With the Rainbow Six franchise hailed for its immersive single-player games and known as one of the best multiplayer experiences, our studios managed to fully optimize the next Rainbow Six on Playstation 2 for a breathtaking mix of fun and beauty," commented John Parkes of Ubisoft. "This new opus will also take the best and make it better: this time it's personal as Team Rainbow becomes the target. Tom Clancy's gut-wrenching tension, pulse-pounding action, close-quarter battle and hallmark realism are about to get a whole lot darker."

The next Rainbow Six is expected to ship for the PC, PlayStation 2, and Xbox in Spring 2005.Source: IGN