This coutndown page has sparked a lot of new speculation about Kojima’s next Metal gear project. As you can see it recently showed an image of what appears to be Big Boss. Famitsu have also shown the image, along with one of what appears to be Raiden.

I say “appears to be” because there are plenty of hints in the text with Kojima (see it after the jump) that it it not Big Boss or Raiden at all. Also mentioned is that the game may cover all time periods over the Saga’s chronology, and that “Raiden” may be Grey Fox and “Big Boss” may be another clone. Speculation has hit overdrive once again. Thanks a lot, Kojima.

Translation:

NOTE: The interview was censored in certain parts in the Famitsu issue, hence the X”s at some points.

“1. (The Big Boss image is posted above)

Interviewer: “Is that Big Boss?”

Kojima: It’s a little different from XX

(or XXX’s next form is a little different)

Interviewer: “Whaaaattt? Different???”

2.　

Kojima: I still can’t tell you what the title is, but this is the real
deal. Put it this way, it’s part of the orthodox “Metal Gear Saga”

(The text below was mostly blocked out, but it talked about what
timeframe the game is based in, and it appears that it’s across all
time periods)

3.

Kojima: I want the game’s core to be aimed towards Japan, and released globally. XXX… It’s being made by MGS4 staff

Interviewer: That’s awesome!

4.

Kojima: The symbol on the cap of the old man (he did not say Big Boss) will be important

Interviewer: This symbol is different from the fox, it looks like a world map

Kojima: No just the mark, but the system of the game will be new!

Note: Kojima uses “This old man” a lot through the interview rather than referring to Big Boss

5.

Interviewer: It sounds interesting, but do you think people will understand it at all?

Kojima: I think people will understand

Well… Tried my best to translate it, but it’s so hard with all the
blocked out text… bloody Kojima. That’s all I can do for now, maybe
I’ll give it another go later

Summary:

Interestingly the old man in the cap might not be Big Boss, the story will be part of the main MGS saga and it will go through different time periods. New game system, and it’s being made by the staff from MGS4

And yet another translation:

Famitsu: Is the generation XXX?

Kojima: No, it’s XXX. If I were to say it all, perhaps XXXXX. I’m currently doing the game design and direction.

Famitsu: Really!

Kojima: I believe Japan will be the focus, but it will be sold
throughout the world. Within me, this is XXXX. I won’t say it’s X, but
I am making a proper story, and it is being made by the MGS4 staff.

Famitsu: Really! That’s amazing.

Elsewhere, the interview touches a bit upon the content of the game:

Kojima: The mark on the old man’s hat is very important

Famitsu: This mark is different from a fox. It’s like a world map.

Kojima: Not just the mark, but the game systems are also new.

Famitsu: Is it XX-XXXXXXXXXX?

Kojima: Yes. We’ll be doing stuff that one would expect of
XXXXXXX. XXXX and so-forth are obvious, so those will be included.
Uh-oh… I said stuff that was unplanned (laughs)

Famitsu also asked Kojima about the setting. “The setting is
XXXXXXX,” responded Kojima. Apparently, something called “XXXXXXXXX”
happened in this location, leaving it as a “XXXXX” country.

PSU have posted up an intriguing rumour concerning Rockstar’s blockbuster GTA franchise. The site claims that the latest issue of Game Informer features news that a new full retail game, in a similar style to ‘GTA: San Andreas’ and the like (new game, but not full sequel), will release by the end of 2009. Choice quote from the magazine:

“We’re not talking about new DLC or a collection of previously available DLC, we’re talking about a full retail game. We expect this title to follow the suit of previous GTAs and use a subtitle such as GTA: San Andreas, etc. Tokyo might be a possible setting for the game, but details are non-existent at this time.”

Tokyo certainly sounds like a jolly good choice if you ask me. I’m sure Sean will agree with me on that. Just remember this is total fact completely a rumour at this point.

[Update]: Kotaku have recieved word from Rockstar that there’s “no truth” in this rumour. Never mind, eh?

Being that this is the internet, a bunch of rumours pass across the Ripten tipline in the span of a single day, and for the most part, we try to post as many as we can. Though the cries of a thousand deluded forumgoers screaming “Crysis upgraded for mobile phones!” will always be ignored, one tip piqued my interest, coming straight out of the November issue of EGM.

According to a NeoGAF member that recieved their issue early, Quartermann’s monthly rumour section held some pretty surprising information, namely that Sony’s 1st-party blockbuster LittleBigPlanet would have Disney-related DLC, as well as other third-party characters. Of course, this single piece of news wouldn’t suffice to fill Quartermann’s rumour section as a whole, so hit the jump to read the full list of rumours.

• Devil May Cry style Strider game
• Lucas Arts handing Rogue Squadron rights to new publisher. All games released on one Wii disk with enhanced visuals and Wii controls.
• Kojima wants to make a FPS game. Has been seen talking to Infinity Ward, Guerilla Games, and Treyarch
• Fast domestic release of the Disgaea side scroller
• non-Sony property LittleBigPlanet DLC coming very soon including Disney and characters from 3rd party games
• Every single 2009 PSP game will also be offered as a download

In an apparent lapse of concentration, Surfer Girl (or one of the few Surfer Girls as we presume) previously let the games of GDC ‘08 slip, or at least she made unconfirmed predictions. She has now removed all of her comments from the article, stating in an update:

Note to self: Don’t answer things when half-asleep leaves rooom for error.
Note to self: Don’t type things when half-awake leaves room for errorr.
Note to self: Proofread.
Note to self: Go back to sleep.

As with the nature of these things, any listed titles are of course rumours and Surfer Girl does not act as any sort of confirmation. And yes, we noted the irony in the spelling of “errorr” too. Get some sleep Surfer Girl.

However, nothing has changed from our predictions. The Final Fantasy XIII engine will be presented in a tutorial by Square Enix, and we’re hopeful that there’ll be extensive footage of this previously unseen game.

The Force Unleashed engine will be on show, along with a discussion on Far Cry 2’s procedural storytelling. Pandemic will be presenting Mercenaries 2: World in Flames’ destructible environment, and ID Software’s Rage engine has a high chance of making an appearance.

There will be a walk through of the Frostbite engine (Battlefield: Bad Company), in addition to three big Fable 2 announcements. You can also expect new footage of Sony’s HOME and XNA announcements from Microsoft.

There is a chance that you’ll see the first footage of Resistance 2, since Insomniac will be discussing the improvements they have made with their PS3 engine. However, if we don’t see the game at GDC, I’m certain we’ll see it elsewhere very soon.

It is unknown whether the public will get to see any of this, but at least you’ll hear about it from us.

A rumour hit last week suggesting that Microsoft had another Xbox 360 sku on the way; an Ultimate Xbox 360.

With a scheduled release of Fall ‘08, the Ultimate will come packed with a 320GB harddrive, full 1080p support through HDMI, hi-def audio, built-in wi-fi, and perhaps most importantly: a delicious 65nm chip and a cooler, quieter fan.

What’s strange about this is that this is the Xbox 360 Elite with a bigger hard drive and built in wi-fi. The smaller chip and quieter fan should naturally make their way into Xbox 360’s as time goes on, since console manufactures continue to improve their console in private – adding reliability and reducing cost, not adding specs.

Thus, in my eyes, the Ultimate would be a useless console. Instead, just release the 320GB Hard Drive add-on and be done with it. Yes a built in wi-fi would be nice, but just add it as standard in the Elite sku. Why they didn’t do so in the first place is confusing, when their online capabilities are one of the consoles strong points.

Creating a new console sku with insignificant features would be both confusing and damaging. Confusing consumers with yet another sku could make them stray to the competition, and buyers remorse would be felt in recent Elite purchasers

Furthermore, if you’re adding specs, you’re going to increase the price. This new Ultimate 360 will only be successful if it comes in at the same price as the Elite, so as to save the Xbox 360 price advantage over the Playstation 3. This outcome enforces the conclusion that these features should just be added to the Elite, instead of producing the “Ultimate”.

But wait. Isn’t “Ultimate” just a name created by Stuff.tv who originally reported the upgrade? If so, then isn’t putting these features into the Elite the very same thing as releasing a higher spec sku? That as it may be, the point I am trying to make is that the price should be the same after the addition, and should not be percieved as something completely new.

What’s more worrying in the rumour is that it will include a built-in HD-DVD player:

To top off this already ultimate Ultimate, they’re throwing in a fully integrated HD-DVD drive.

This would be a grave mistake. Such a move would send out mixed messages. Didn’t Microsoft always say that unlike Sony they wanted its customers to have a choice, thus providing an HD-DVD player as an optional add-on.

A built in HD-DVD drive would just look as though they were unsuccessfully trying to trump Sony. The reason the inbuilt Blu-ray player is a perceived success for the Playstation 3, is because it was inbuilt from the beginning. It’s a standard and can even be used by PS3 game developers. This would not be the case with the new Ultimate, where DVD would have to remain the standard for game development.

Moreover, the price of an inbuilt HD-DVD drive would be extortionate. These drives are expensive. As much as $200 on the PS3’s release, Sony was losing a hell of a lot of money. Though the price has gone down considerably, if Microsoft were to make any profit out of this new sku, they’d have to price the Ultimate even higher than the Playstation 3.

More importantly, an end to the format war is beginning to transpire. Microsoft would be wise to wait until the war was over before they introduce any HD drive in their console. By such a time, it might be better to wait until their next console.

Plus, what kind of image would the Xbox 360 have with a dying format inside? It would start to look like a piece of useless kit, just like the HD-DVD players surrounding it. This is very much the problem the Playstation 3 faces, but with movie studios beginning to back Blu-ray, Sony might have just gotten themselves out of a sticky situation.

Thankfully Microsoft have put this built-in HD-DVD rumour to rest:

Microsoft does not comment on rumors or speculation.

Ironically Microsoft then go on to comment on the rumour. Or is their comment a sign that an inbuilt HD-DVD is not in fact a rumour? Hmm.

We have reiterated multiple times since launching the Xbox 360 HD-DVD Player that we have no plans to integrate an HD-DVD player in to the Xbox 360.

We feel that offering the drive externally is the best way to give consumers the ultimate choice to create their own high-definition experiences.

In conclusion, Microsoft would be mad to go Ultimate. With repercussions threatening to confuse, anger and scare the consumer, Microsoft could weaken their position in this console generation.

Sony is just as guilty in this multiple sku age and yet both companies fail to see that the console outselling them both is the HD-less, uni-sku’ed Wii.

Whether Microsoft are announcing an Ultimate console is likely to be revealed within the next few hours as their conference at CES begins.

*Update* Microsoft and Bill didn’t announce an Xbox 360 Ultimate in their CES keynote. Thus, either they are holding back, or it was a false rumour in the first place.

Xboxer.tv question whether the Xbox 360 Ultimate was canceled after Warner decided to go Blu. Even hypothesising that an HD-DVD enabled Xbox 360 was some kind of insentive for Fox and Warner to exclusively support HD-DVD, only to be cancelled when this deal fell through.

Microsoft have always been good at business decisions, and this time they made the right one once again.

A predictable outcome for Ubisoft; a company that doesn’t like to keep all its eggs in one basket, as was seen in Assassin’s Creed reaching both consoles – and soon to be PC.

Whether the console iterations of Far Cry 2 will be as solid and impressive as the PC version that we’ve always been expecting, we’ll have to wait and see.

Here’s the press release, which is regrettably in French. Nothing against the language, but it’ll be foreign to the majority of you.

Ubisoft annonce aujourd’hui que Far Cry® 2 est actuellement en développement sur Xbox 360® de Microsoft et PLAYSTATION®3 de Sony. Far Cry 2 est un jeu de tir à la première personne développé par le studio d’Ubisoft Montréal.

Plus qu’une performance visuelle et technologique, Far Cry 2 constitue pour le joueur une expérience de jeu inédite, basée sur un moteur de jeu conçu spécifiquement pour l’occasion. Les joueurs seront plongés dans un univers de jeu totalement ouvert, au sein de somptueux paysages africains, grâce à la haute définition et à la technologie next-gen.

La sortie de Far Cry 2 est prévue pour l’année fiscale 2008-2009.

In way of a translation: Far Cry 2 is being developed for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, which will be released in the fiscal year 2008-09. Or there abouts.

Heavenly Sword has been updated to 1.10 and only one feature can be confirmed. Rumble.

Some impatient souls were complaining that Heavenly Sword had not joined the rumbling ranks. Ninja Theory’s PS3 offering now has (along with Warhawk which joined last week) and update 1.10 can be downloaded on start up of the game.

Other than rumbling, there are rumors that loading after death is faster and some framerate problems have been improved. I believe that this is just a placebo effect, and the problems were never that bad in the first place.