This FAQ was written by Azal as an attempt to stem the flow of "When is Thief 3 being released?" posts and is maintained here by David.

The first two items that need mentioning are the ones we get asked most often:

»» Thief III is currently under a media blackout.
We anticipate this blackout to end around the time of E3 2003 but we cannot be sure.

»» A release date for the game is not known - other than “When it's ready”.
The estimated release date falls between the start of Q4 2003 and the end of Q1 2004, again, we cannot be sure.

The rest of this FAQ should follow now at a nice leisurely pace :)

»» Console ports of the game are probably inevitable at some point in time, but assurances have been made that the PC is the first priority and is what the game is designed around.
It should be noted that Deus Ex 2 (Official Site) is certainly making an appearance on Xbox, with loads of screenshots from this version of the game.

»» Thief III will have real-time lighting (e.g. Splinter Cell) and shadows.

»» The AI will have facial expressions courtesy of LIPSinc technology which can be seen in mediocre detail in Splinter Cell.

»» You will be able to see Garrett's feet and hands during gameplay.

»» ISA has extensively re-written the entire game engine, except for UnrealEd (which probably has modifications to it as well)
Lighting, rendering, AI, Sound... you name it, it has been rewritten specifically for Thief 3 and Deus Ex 2.

»» As of July 2001, three missions were fully completed. As of that date, many of the core features (eg the bow, sneaking, base AI, and basic sound) were functional. Original text here.

»» There will be no third-person viewpoint in Thief III. - PCZone UK got their wires a little crossed and mistakenly stated that Thief III would have a third person viewpoint.

»» Ion Storm Austin (ISA) is currently working on both Thief III and Deus Ex 2, with DX2 to be released first. Because of this, they have reasonably decided to focus their efforts on DX2 and consequently most of the information available is about that game.
However, each game is utilizing the same engine – though extensively rewritten from the original Unreal – so when it comes to the technical aspects of the games, similarities can, when not otherwise explicitly stated, be expected.
There are to be several known differences between the DX and T3. In DX, the AI will not react to the player’s shadow, yet they will in T3.

»» Screenshots for DX2 can be found at Tiscali.cz and you can expect Thief to have similar graphics.

Quotes:

From Lead Designer, Randy Smith, at ThieveryUT quoted from PCGamer magazine saying that T3 will be single-player only

"Right now, we've got our hands full, trying to make the best single-player Thief experience of all time."

From Ion Storm's Kent Hudson, on the game engine, at the Ve3d forums:

"dx2 and t3 arent using unreal any more, other than the editor. we rewrote the renderer (lighting/shadows/normal maps/specular, etc), the sound engine, the physics engine, and all of the game code (properties/weapons/game systems). not that unreal doesnt look GREAT these days. we're friends with epic and respect them a great deal. but we just have a focused design and felt the need to have an engine tailor-made for the games."

Found at gamestar.de: (Translation by Matt Kimmich)

On a visit to the Ion Storm offices in Austin/Texas we were allowed an - albeit very brief - look at Thief 3. The third installation in the thieving saga (better known in Germany as Dark Project) almost threw us off our feet due to the excellent graphics, fantastic shadow effects and extremely realistic NPC models. Talking of feet: While the jumping sequences in the first two games still were a nuisance since you never knew when Garret had actually reached the edge of a chasm, in part 3 you'll actually see the master thief's feet when you look down. This makes climbing passages so much easier. Another improvement: When picking locks there's a nice animation of Garrett's hands actually manipulating the lock. Unfortunately there are still no released screenshots.

From Paul Touzor, AI Programmer at Ion Storm (quoted in PCGamer):

In Thief III, the AI will have an evidence-tracking system, which means it will retain information about which events made it suspicious and where. The AI will be able to draw better conclusions about which areas should be searched for intruders. When the AIs say 'It must have been rats,' they'll have really deduced that, although if you're playing the game well, they probably won't be right.

Here’s a quote from the Xmas issue of PC GAMER UK in the preview of 2003 section:

The return of light-fingered lead, Garrett, is as eagerly awaited in our office as Warren Spector’s other project, DX2. A brief glimpse of the Xbox game engine is all that’s been offered so far, although plans are afoot for a show stealing unveiling at next years E3 in May. If they can improve on its predecessor’s crude combat and occasionally sprawling level design, this could turn out to be one of 2003’s most important games.

Anticipation level 5/5

OUT: Xmas 2003

From Homelanfed:

"As far as Ion Storm's other in-development game, the sneak-action sequel Thief III, we were told to expect a big publicity push for that game at next May's Electronic Entertainment Expo."

From the February PCGames (Germany) DVD - That Thief III poster is hanging on a wall in Austin/TX: Animated image:

Blown up version of the above poster

(what do YOU think the thing in the background looks like? Azal says it’s Cthulhu. Others have suggested a burning haystack/building/ship, dragon, giant rat, treebeast/Ent, a burrick, or a huge sweel. Even a Rorschach test has been suggested.)

First look at Unreal Engine's capabilities. From Gamespot

This screenshot is using the vanilla Unreal engine - without all the modifications the ISA team has added

More to come as more is found…

If you have something you wish to contribute - email David here