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?

Square-Enix are up to their old tricks again, teasing yet another new title. Their countdown site hit the interweb on Friday and is currently counting down to June 6.

More recently a sketch showing off a dragon appeared, but no other solid details. Kotaku reckons the game could be a new SaGa title, but rumours are abound about Drakengard or Grandia. As long as this teaser site doesn’t go the way of Kojima, I’ll be excited no matter what they announce.

The official Tekken Twitter feed, also known as “tekkenbob”, dropped some rumours regarding Namco Bandai’s upcoming fighter. Along with a tweet mentioning a “sneak peek”, as a picture of a rather odd, but familiar looking, character.

This is still a rumour and needs to be confirmed, but doesn’t that look a lot like the Cardboard Tube Samurai from Penny Arcade?

The rumour currently stands that Cardboard Tube Samurai is not a separate character, but indeed a costume. Probably for another, similarly themed character.

A sequel to Street Fighter IV has been “practically confirmed” according to Capcom’s Japanese Q&A blog. In the blog post Capcom was dropping hints of a SF4 sequel, even going as far as to refer it to as “SF 4 DASH”.

This might not be surprising for those who know their Street Fighter History, with new versions of the same basic game being released almost left and right as the engine is being continously refined.

No real information is made available, but Capcom several hints were dropped on what a sequel or future version of Street Fighter 4 might contain:

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According to Serebii.net there’s a new Pokémon game in the making.

On the Pokémon Sunday variety show website it was annouced that during next week’s episode they will reveal a “world-exclusive bit of news”. The general consensus is that Pokémon Gold and Silver are being remade.

From a sneak preview of the episode, two pokéballs, coloured gold and silver respectively, could be seen hanging from the studio celing. Pokémon Red and Blue was remade in 2004, so it’s not unlikely that Nintendo wants to bring the second generation of Pokémon to a newer handheld generation of players.

We here at The Gaming Vault are certainly used to Hideo Kojima keeping gamers out of the loop, and he doesn’t seem to be stopping any time soon.

After his recent keynote at GDC, Kojima payed Apple Store a visit and was asked about Metal Gear Solid 5.

“I can’t really speak specifically right now,” said the developer, speaking through a translator. “All I can say right now is that maybe we can do some announcement during E3.”

Kojima has previously mentioned he will announce a new game at E3 this year. Will it be MGS5? Only Kojima knows.

Destructiod has posted an anonymous email supposedly detailing a promotional video of Assassin’s Creed 2.

According to the email the sequel is set in 15th Century Venice, with our assassin friend being able to disguise himself in order to reach his targets.

It sounds plausible, but also a bit too convinent when you read the post.

One of Eurogamer’s “secret sources” has told them a sequel to last year’s “Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games” is on the way. This one will feature a winter theme.

Capcom has previously been asked about “Mario & Sonic at the Winter Olympics” and was quick to state “no comment”. But EuroGamer has something else to say: “a person who knows about this sort of thing has since confirmed the sequel is in the works, and will have a wintry theme.”

Considering “Mario and Sonic” was one of the best selling games in 2008 (5 million sold in 3 months), a sequel isn’t that hard to imagine.