The Week in Review & Rumor Round-up: Japanese 3DS Release Date Possibly Leaked, PS3 Backwards Compatibility Adapter Patented, APB Goes Under, and Several Games Get Announced

Earlier in the week a random tweet with some potentially interesting information concerning the 3DS’s release date was uncovered. Coming from a former employee of Keys Factory, a company known for creating peripherals for the Wii and DS, this tweet discussed how the peripherals the employee had made for the 3DS would be launching alongside the handheld in Japan, on November 20. While this information is to be considered rumor and speculation, both the tweet and the former employee’s Twitter account disappeared shortly after this message was found.

A patent for what is essentially a backwards compatibility add-on for the PS3 was found this week. Based on the schematics, the device seems to likely connect via a USB cable and will include its own CPU, DVD decoder/emulator, and sound and graphics processors. Now the only question is, does Sony actually plan to release this add-on so that all PS3 owners will finally be able to play all of their old PS1 and PS2 games on their latest system?

In some sad news, Realtime Worlds has been forced to pull the plug on APB, their “GTA meets MMO” that was released only about three months ago. The announcement came from community officer Ben Bateman posting “despite everyone’s best efforts to keep the service running, APB is coming to a close” on the game’s official forums. While this was likely a terrible announcement for fans of the game, there is still a glimmer of hope for the title, as Epic is rumored to be in discussions concerning a potential buyout of APB. Keep those fingers crossed.

Last but not least, with TGS raging in full effect, there were several new games announced. Along with a release window for The Last Guardian (holiday 2011) and confirmation of the long rumored Team ICO Collection, Capcom announced a new Devil May Cry game (DmC) and Dead Rising 2: Case West (an epilogue for Dead Rising 2, similar to Case Zero), EA and Suda 51 unveiled Shadows of the Damned, and Team Ninja revealed Ninja Gaiden 3. All but Case West, releasing sometime after Dead Rising 2, and the Team ICO Collection, coming out in the Spring, are still quite a ways out, so continue to check back for the latest news and information regarding their progress.