According to the internet, those who crack open the pages of the Dutch flavored Official PlayStation Magazine will be treated to a multi-page preview of Final Fantasy XIII complete with a Yoshinori Kitase interview. It is rumored that Kitase, the game’s producer, talks a bit about the release date differential and DLC content, stating the following:

“At first we had plans to release the game simultaneously worldwide … so we had the intention to deliver identical version ..read the full article

Just a few short hours ago, Epic Games Design Director and Gears of War creator, Cliff Bleszinski, tweeted a promise of “kick ass news”:

“Kick ass news soon. VERY soon. Watch this space…”

As a huge fan of the Gears franchise, I’ll be watching and keeping you all posted.

Geeked-Out: Gears of War Snuggie OMG He’s Glitching: Gears 2 Glitch Collection Microsoft Game Studios Hiring Epic Liason/Producer For Gears of War & Shadow Complex Cliff Bleszinski Calls Borderlands New Diablo Gears 2 Update ..read the full article

When Electronic Arts closed Pandemic Studios in November, the 200 employees they left in the wake weren’t particularly happy about the affair… but boy, has it been great for gamers eager to get their hands on leaked information about Mercs Inc, the unfinished game they left behind.

Now, what appears to be the first concept art for Mercs Inc. has surfaced at the website of former Pandemic staffer Tony Ianiro — a artist whose resume claims the game was slated for ..read the full article

The latest not-so-positive update from the “hold your breath and wait” Metal Gear Movie universe features a quote from Producer Mike De Luca:

“… the problem with a lot of these adaptations is it’s such a huge franchise for the video game company. A movie can only hurt. If the movie’s great, you’re probably not going to sell more games. It’s such a separate thing. The franchise being as big as it kind of helps the ..read the full article

Alex Ziebart over at WoW Insider reported receiving a reliable tip yesterday stating that the next World of Warcraft expansion, titled “Cataclysm” will begin an alpha phase of testing open to Blizzard friends and family on January 12th (today). The tip also mentioned that the access would be obtained via a disc as opposed to being downloadable.

An image of the supposed disk later appeared on the twitter account of wowleak but was later confirmed to be ..read the full article

In an anonymous and yet-to-be-confirmed report sweeping the web, an individual calling themselves the “Rockstar Spouse” posted an open letter Thursday that denounced the working conditions at Rockstar San Diego.

Calling out management for pushing employees to the brink of depression with overtime while withholding overtime pay, the “Spouse” threatened legal action on behalf of many “determined and devoted wives of Rockstar San Diego employees.”

Today, it appears that employees’ well-being may not be the only casualty at the troubled studio. Joystiq ..read the full article

According to gossip heard from Mable during a recent game of  bridge at Blanche’s house, the reason Infinity Ward won’t commit to making a statement about Modern Warfare 3 is that they have a super secret project in the pipeline. This project? Yup, you guessed it- a Call of Duty MMO. This is entirely speculation for now, but Destructoid believes that IW is on a hiring blitz of Sony Online workers, including the lead designer of EverQuest II. If true, ..read the full article

According to a website that has pictures of pages from a Japanese gaming magazine, and I really can’t think of a more reliable source than that, Dissidia: Final Fantasy may be finding its way to the PS3 and Xbox 360 in the future. While there is currently no announcement or proof of this anywhere on the internet outside of these scans, it isn’t entirely out of the realm of reasoning considering Super Androgyny Bros would probably make big ole bags ..read the full article

Microsoft’s Channel 9 community site has accidentally posted a video interview with Robbie Bach, President of the Entertainment & Devices Division, before Microsoft’s annual CES press conference set for 6:30pm PST tonight.

According to Joystiq, the pulled video (which can be found here) confirms a 2010 Project Natal launch, which shouldn’t be that much of a surprise, and also discusses the “Xbox Game Room”.

Here’s what the Joystiq source had to say:

“Go to the 11:53 mark in the video to hear ..read the full article

Recently Microsoft has expressed interest in creating gaming opportunities on mobile phone devices. This became apparent after Microsoft posted a job listing on numerous websites. The job description encompassed the integration of Xbox Live on mobile devices. 

There is speculation that, Microsoft is expecting to release a new Windows Mobile operating system in late 2010 which may include Xbox Live capabilities. However there is a contradicting rumor, Microsoft may release their very own handheld system in an effort take ..read the full article

Square Enix Game Director, Tetsuya Nomura, has already revealed that he and his team are working on several unannounced projects, and a recently unearthed battle system patent may give us a look inside the game mechanics of at least one of them.

The patent, filed by Square Enix with Nomura listed as the inventor, revolves around a RPG character switching battle system that allows the gamer to switch from their primary character to various other characters ..read the full article

This listing from the GameStop website has surfaced on the internet (that’s where you are now). As you can see (with your eyes), the listing sets the date of release at the third of January 2011. Obviously this is over a year from now; it’s not often that we start hearing about a game this long before it launches, unless it’s something like Final Fantasy XIII, which has been in development for around 2000 years (and Chad’s been posting about ..read the full article

With the (rather underwhelming) Halo: Reach trailer being shown off at the Video Game Awards last night, it’s not uncommon for people to scour the internet looking for more information about the game. We don’t know very much about Reach, but the narrative trailer showed us that it would indeed be an origins-type story, and that there would be a beta coming out in the Spring with invites attached to Halo 3: ODST. Thanks to a listing from a Child’s ..read the full article

A recent Twitter post by Square Enix Senior PR Manager Sonia Im contains an interesting photo (shown above) with the following statement:

“The memo inside hinted at something cool most of you can participate in a few days from now ”

A little Photoshop zooming reveals bits of phrases that amount to “you may be wishing”, “survive until 03.09.2010 we hope this”, and “you over for a bit ”

I’m no child prodigy, but that sure as hell seems to me ..read the full article

The speculation as to whether the late Michael Jackson worked on the soundtrack for Sonic the Hedgehog 3 can finally be put to rest. A recently translated interview which appeared in “Black & White“, a French magazine about Michael Jackson, features the artist’s composer, Brad Buxer, talking about his work with M.J on the 1994 Sega title.

The publication asked Buxer for clarification on the rumor regarding their work on the game, to which he responded:

“I’ve never played the game ..read the full article

It seems that the previously announced price difference between the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 version of Bayonetta was not enough to temper the PS3 owners of the game who continue to cite slow loading time, lesser graphic quality, and frame rate issues with the port. Well, a fix may be on the way.

A recently translated post on French gaming site Gamekyo, claims the following:

“Sega and Platinum Games have taken responsibility for the bad port before deciding to work ..read the full article

We showed you the North American and European Final Fantasy XIII box art yesterday, and now we add two Japanese box art scans to the mix.

The standard box art is pretty much as simple as it gets — white background with the logo front and center. The PlayStation 3 Lightning bundle box art is confusing as hell though, as it shows the Lightning themed console next to a copy of the game sporting the North American and European cover. Huh?

Have ..read the full article

According to a tweet posted by Creative Director Mikey Neumann over at Gearbox, the makers of Borderlands (which I refuse to play because I fear it will suck me into a virtual world of RPG fun that will leave the site void of content much like the time I decided to “try” World of Warcraft) is hiring for a “super secret” project. Here’s the tweet:

“Gearbox is hiring for all kinds of stuff, including a super secret project that I’m working ..read the full article