It's certainly exciting news for fans of the series, but it also gives us an idea of the System Shock 3 timeline -- and it seems like we shouldn't be holding our breath right now. Otherside's press release indicates that Spector won't be ramping up the game's development until later this year, so we're likely not going to see this game actually hit for a long time.

Still, it's good to see Spector, who has also worked on the Deux Ex and Ultima series, back where he belongs. He sounds appropriately energized to bring the series into the current day -- the last System Shock game is over 16 years old at this point. "Working on System Shock was one of the most fulfilling things I've done in my career," Spector said in a press release, "and it's hard to describe how much I'm looking forward to sharing with players what SHODAN has been up to since the last game was released."