They COULD release it by Christmas.

Col. Abrams and teh leading columns of Patton's tanks reached Bastogne on Christmas morning.

EA is cliche and obvious like that (just look at the way the game is soooo much like SPR (Omaha), Where Eagles Dare (blasting through the corridors in Trondheim and Shmerzen), Kelly's Heroes(the tank, Oddball style assault), and the Indy films. (algiers, the sub pen, and the music)