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The Rumor Round-Up summarizes and highlights the most important gaming related gossip over the past week. This weekly article, in conjunction with the Week in Review, will keep you plugged in and in-tune. According to GamerScoreBlog, Fable II will not ship with the much touted online co-op when it hits store shelves on October 21. Fortunately, the game will receive a patch as soon as the first week after release to provide support for the feature. Also, there will be local co-op right out of the box and host of other online features such as chat and item trading. According to a patent request made by Activision Blizzard and picked up on by GameSpot, Dance Hero may be the next music and rhythm franchise in the works from the creators of Guitar Hero. A patent and trademark petition certainly isn’t a guarantee that the game will in fact release. However, “if granted, the trademark would give Activision rights to the [Dance Hero] name for “computer game software,” “interactive video game programs,” “computer game discs,” “downloadable computer game software,” and other related categories.” In an interview with MTV Multiplayer, John Smedley of Sony Online Entertainment noted that the company has its eyes set on the PSP for future MMO development. “We started to get very interested in [the PSP] when we switched over from Sony Pictures to Sony Computer Entertainment back in April…And as we’ve kind of got our heads up looking around the world within Sony Computer Entertainment, we’re really starting to see a big push for PSP. We think it’s a world-class device… In the future, we see full MMOs that are designed for the PSP.” As for now, Mr. Smedley sees the integration of mini-games and pets from existing MMOs to be playable on the PSP, with full-fledged coming later. The intertubes are a flutter with rumors of the next Nintendo console. According to speculative articles, the platform in question may even release as soon as 2011. We’re not so sure about 2011, as finding Wiis on store shelves is hard enough in 2008. Nevertheless, Nintendo has been hard at work on the next console since before the Wii even launched. Nintendo’s R&D budget has tripled, which strengthens the claim for a 2011 release. Also, the speculation did reveal an interesting nugget in that the next console will be an improved iteration of Wii, with HD visuals, storage space, and better connectivity rather than an outright new platform. The console will supposedly keep the Wii name, and the improvement can be considered similar to the transition that was made from the Gameboy to the Gameboy Advance. Finally, rumor has it that LittleBigPlanet may in fact find its way to the PSP. According to an interview with Eurogamer via IGN, “Media Molecule Co-founder Mark Healy revealed during an exclusive interview– according to the article — that they had discussed the possibility but nothing was concrete yet.” The PSP version of LBP will likely be a curtailed version much like Spore Creatures is for DS. However, there may also be cross-platform sharing between the PSP and PS3. Thanks so much everyone and we will see you next week! |