Platinum Games’ Bayonetta was freakin’ awesome, and will most likely be my game of the year for 2010. There’s now some buzz going around about a sequel thanks to a tweet by the game’s producer, Yusuke Hashimoto.

“Good morning. It looks like we’ll be able to share new information related to Bayonetta this week. Look forward to it.”

Obviously this could be anything, but Hashimoto has previously expressed interest in doing a spinoff-game. Hell, even DLC would be pretty sweet if it included some new levels and challenges.

Also, buy Bayonetta!

Warning, warning! Danger Will Robinson, Danger!

Nothing is official yet, but according to a source at French videogame site Woot Gaming, the creator of Beyond Good and Evil, Michel Ancel, has gone up and left Ubisoft Montpellier. Ancel is joined by “another well-known developer”, who’s name was undisclosed, to form a new studio.

The source at Woot Gaming cited internal problems during the development of Beyond Good and Evil 2, a game many still believe is caught in development hell. This could unfortunately mean that development on BGaE2 is paused, if not cancelled outright.

Keep in mind that this is still a rumour, so don’t go crying about on Twitter and Facebook just yet. An official statement will most likely follow in the coming weeks. Still. God damn you, Ubisoft! Why did you have to end Beyond Good and Evil on a cliffhanger, without knowing if you were going to pursue a sequel! Now we’ll never know the whole story! Damnit!

Nintendo is at work testing what appears to be the upcoming 3DS, possibly in association with the US Federal Communications Commission.

An image of what appears to be a Nintendo DS test kit or development station stripped down to the motherboard was found by WirelessGoodness, and further analysed by Digital Foundry.

What’s interesting to note is the different sizes of the two screens on display. The top screen is in widescreen, whith the bottom screen featuring the standard 4:3 ratio. It appears that the top screen will be using Sharp’s auto-stereoscopic 3D technology, with the bottom screen running without 3D functionality.

The 3DS is set to appear at this year’s E3, and we’ll be bringing you coverage of the entire event, both on-site and online. More news of the 3DS when they surface. Read the rest of this entry »

If an article on MCV UK is to be believed, the PSP, which has been with us for over six years now, may finally have an official successor.

According the site, the ever-mysterious “reliable source” has informed the site that their company is”s waiting on a specific announcement from the platform holder before it can reveal of its future PSP plans”

Apparently “two key publishers” are also expending their marketing spend on the format towards the end of the year, which anyone will admit is a surprising move to take.

This is all very vague and entirely rumour at this point, but I must say that if it’s true, now would definitely be the right time for the PlayStation Portable to get a new leash of life and finally move onto a new generation of hardware.

I guess we’ll all know the truth at this year’s E3.

[UPDATE]: So the whole thing was a hoax. Gee wiz, who’da thunk it!

Microsoft and Hideo Kojima seems to have something big planned for E3. At least if someone called Surfer girl is to believed. According to her online blog, an upcoming 360 version of a Metal Gear Solid game will be played using the Natal peripheral:

“And Natal? Let’s just say you’ll probably be both very surprised and very pleased by one of the games revealed… what is it?

Might Get Shot if I were to tell.”

In the same blog post she also claims Microsoft will reveal a slim 360 Natal Bundle, which is to be revealed at E3:

“What’s more the 360 will be getting a subtle rebrand, with a new logo and black as the new primary colour of the console. They feel that the new system needs to be black because a white Natal wouldn’t sit well next to the typical gloss black tv.”

In a follow-up blog post, Surfer Girl proceeds to write: “I wonder how Metal Gear Touch would work with no touch screen”. So I guess that’s the cat out of the bag. One question, though: Who is Surfer Girl and why should we believe her?

The 3DS seems to be nearing launch a lot faster than we would think, a whopping two months in advance of Christmas. But here’s the reveal: it’s Christmas of this year!

According to CVG’s “UK industry sources”, Nintendo is readying an October launch for the system, meaning it will go head-to-head with Microsoft’s Project Natal.

One of CVG’s sources (a publishing executive) was surprised at the reveal: “we were expecting it much closer to Christmas. But I suppose it gives Nintendo the opportunity to get it front and centre in people’s minds nice and early.

“In my experience, you don’t launch a product that early to Christmas unless you’re confident in it – and going to spend a lot of money on it. We’re reassured that Nintendo is going to give it some decent backing in Q4.”

Nintendo previously announced that the new handheld would come out before March of 2011. Way before, it seems. The 3DS will be playable in June, probably at E3. This is just a rumour for now, so take it all with a grain of salt.

According to BingeGamer, Activision has not paid royalties to Infinity Ward over the success of Modern Warfare 2.

The article cites sources “associated with Activision” who says this could be one of the reasons for the confrontation between publisher and developer earlier today.

BingeGamer also mentions that Infinity Ward have been looking for a new deal with another publisher.

IW is contracted to Activision as a developer until October, and it’s rumoured that Activision’s move is a power play to try and bully Infinity ward into staying with Activision. Both developer and publisher owns equal parts of the Call of Duty Franchise, so Activision might be moving to acquire IW’s half of the CoD name.

A curriculum vitae has leaked the identity of Silicon Knights’ new IP.

According to the Chinese notes of ex-Silicon Knights artist Zhan Shao-Yong, his previous work includes Too Human (SK’s last game) and a game titled “The Box” for Xbox 360 and PS3. Shao-yong helped shape visual effects for “explosions, smoke, water, fire, weather and so on.”

So that’s it. The Box.

It’s amazing how all these CVs gets leaked onto the ‘net all the time. One would almost think it was deliberate…

Legendary British developer Rare may be planning a move into the UK’s second city Birmingham with negotiations for them to move into Digbeth’s Fazeley Studios allegedly reaching the final stages.

The Birmingham Post reports that sources at Fazeley studios say that the deal for Microsoft-owned Rare to move into Fazeley have been in the works for “seven or eight months.”

Fazeley Studios is a new development in Birmingham designed to put some of the largest creative enterprises together in one place and help define Birmingham as a technological powerhouse of a city.

Rare are currently based in a private compound in Twycross, the ownership of which was part of the $375 million Microsoft paid for the developer.

It’s currently unknown if the Fazeley Studios offices would be a studio expansion or outright move. Fazeley Park is located a mere 26 miles from the current Rare HQ.

Update: The guys over at VG247 have got in touch with Microsot, who have officially denied the story. A few minutes later we got through to them and got the same response – so maybe this is just a nasty mistake on the part of the Birmingham Post.

As if almost 1,000 licensed cars and 70-odd circuits wasn’t enough to get racers excited about Gran Turismo 5, a spokesperson at developer Polyphony Digital has confirmed to Everything for Gamers – officially, so it seems – that the final product will feature a comprehensive track editor:

‘Yes [the game] will have a track editor. You will be able to rebuild a track from scratch or edit the tracks that are already put in Gran Turismo 5.’

Unfortunately, representatives were not so loose-lipped when asked about territory release dates, responding with ’sorry, we can’t give out any of that information at the moment’.

You can imagine our surprise when we read that, can’t you?

Am I the only one who finds it odd that game programmers/designers/whatever post their resumes on the internet? Craig Peck, a game animator, has done just that. Upon doing so he may have inadvertently revealed that a Wii version of the classic N64 title GoldenEye.

Animator – GoldenEye 2010 (Wii)
Animator on Activision’s James Bond series for the Nintendo Wii assisting in: Key frame animation, the preparation and clean-up of motion capture data, prop animation, in-game cut-scene animation, scene layout, and camera animation.

Keep in mind this is nothing more than a rumour, but this being the internet we’re allowed to massively speculate on such matters.

OPM UK has said in their latest issue that Killzone 3 is in development, and is slated for a release some time in 2010. No, not 2011, 2010.

The magazine also stated that a sequel to World at War is on the cards, and that Resistance 3 will is also due next year, too.

Don’t take this as gospel truth. Whilst Killzone 2 took 4 years to develop, for Killzone 3, they already have an engine to work with, which should reduce development time. We’re betting on either very late 2010 at the earliest, if it comes out before 2011.

Here are some interesting rumours that should excite fans of portable gaming. Nintendo released the DSi just this year, but already rumours are circulating that a brand new DS is in the works. Gossip has surfaced concerning a new DS generation, “DS2″, apparently a complete overhaul with some serious power courtesy of the Zune HD processor.

Nvidia has allegedly won a contract to provide Nintendo’s DS2 with Tegra chips, replacing the current DS’ processors with something a bit stronger. The new DS will also be backwards compatible, something Nintendo’s handhelds have always been a master of.

The biggest part of the rumours is that the DS2 could be arriving as early as neext year, which is a let down for all of those who shelled out for a new DSi. Whatever the status is on a new DS, Nintendo’s sure to keep their cards close to their chest for now. Though DS2 sounds a bit weird, doesn’t it?

A survey being sent out by Microsoft hints at the possibility of a Avatar arcade coming to the Xbox 360, not unlike the PS3′s Home.

The suvey asked: “Which of the following names would most compel you to purchase the product?: Game Room, RetroCade, Game Gallery, Tower of ROM, Tower of Game(s), and “Classics LIVE”, among others. Personally I like Game Gallery and Tower of Games.

Microsoft was quick to act upon the speculation by saying that a survey was sometimes just that – a survey: “We regularly conduct surveys about our products but they’re not indicative of any planning,” said a Microsoft spokesperson to VG247.

New Xbox Live feature or just a survey?