You probably don't need us to tell you how rare it is for a video game release to be moved one week earlier than its original target, as opposed to, you know, twenty weeks later. Still, that's the case with Splash Damage's upcoming, multiplayer-centric shooter Brink -- its May 17 release date in North America and May 20 release date in Europe have been bumped up seven days, to May 10 and May 13, respectively.

Bethesda's Pete Hines explained, "Production wrapped on Brink earlier than we planned and we didn't see any reason to keep gamers from getting their hands on this highly anticipated game as soon as it was ready." Couldn't think of a reason, huh? How about this tattoo we got last weekend, which reads "On The Brink: 5/17/11," and then there's a picture of one of the dudes from Brink? That seems like a pretty damn good reason.

Oh, also, the new date deftly avoids competition with LA Noire -- a policy which we've elected to nickname "The Alan Wake Maneuver."