The above video represents Sega’s new attempt to ‘fix’ the rather mediocre Sonic series. With Sonic Unleashed, Sega is going back to their roots by offering users a game that will feature side-scrolling gameplay that gamers have been wanting from a console Sonic game since the Sega Genesis era. While Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2 were not exactly horrible games, many Sonic fans simply were not satisfied with how well it played. Countless other Sonic games have been made and most people will agree that none of them have delivered the gameplay that Sonic fans want.

While not many details are known about this game we can easily see that the game will play like the original Sonic games, feature impressive cinematic quality visuals and will feature a wide variety of locales. A ton of screenshots have already been released for the screen in which you can check out here and some more here. There is some speculation that these screenshots and video could be a well orchestrated hoax but until then I would assume that this content is indeed the real deal. The game is listed for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii and will likely be released sometime next year.

Just like that I have come up with what I consider to be a brilliant strategy.  That Intel might be working on which may possibly destroy both Nvida and ATI/AMD in the graphics marketplace. Intel is the world’s leading computer processor manufacturer. Many people have been speculating that Intel, with their integrated graphics chipsets, may end up killing PC gaming. However recent events have lead me to believe that Intel is working on a massive plan that will for sure revive the pc gaming market for years to come if executed properly.

Nvidia may be secretly working on developing integrated graphics that are much superior to the highly prices Nvidia cards today and by integrating them into their motherboards along with combining their multi-core processing technology, Nvidia could develop a GPU that would blow away anything offered by the competition and at an affordable (easy and cheap to develop) price. Imagine being able to get a killer PC gaming system that could run all games on max settings for less then half the price of a current gaming PC today. I believe Nvidia might just be working on.  Click below to continue reading.

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During the first few months of working on integrating Activision into Vivendi studios, head of Activision, Bobby Kotick mentioned the possibility of working on a massive multi player game that would potentially cost one billion dollars to create in order to compete with the successful World of Warcraft.

Talking with the investors at the Morgan Stanley Technology Conference, Kotick specifically mentioned Call of Duty:

What would be the natural evolution of a property like Call of Duty into a massively-multiplayer environment and how do you monetize that?

Kotick also mentioned the possibility of using in-game advertising as one of the sources of income from such a massive project. While Activision may only be considering a Call of Duty MMO at this time, they company is at the very least considering the possibilities of such a game. One thing is for sure, if we every do see a Call of Duty MMO, it won’t be for at least three or four years.

[Via Kotaku]

Kotaku has heard rumors from multiple sources that a sequel is in production for Dead Rising, which is fantastic news.  However, it appears a new developer will be handling it.  I find that worrisome to say the least.  Let’s try and remain optimistic though...things don’t always go wrong when development responsibilities change hands.  The current name being tossed around is Blue Castle Games, who recently released The Bigs...a baseball game.  Though it’s unlikely Capcom would hand their successful (and well reviewed) franchise over to just anyone.  Hopefully they can do this fantastic series justice.

[Via Kotaku]

This probably comes as a surprise to nobody considering the success of the Guitar Hero series, which was just a different take on Konami’s GuitarFreaks franchise.  Now it appears that they are likely attempting their own spin on one of Konami’s other successful music franchises, Beatmania.  Is it just me or is Activision becoming the next EA?  Their games come out way too often, don’t seem to be making huge improvements, and they’re just expanding way too fast into every aspect of gaming.

[Via Ars Technica]

Despite many sites “confirming” that Bioware was working on a new KotOR, we remained cautious, labeling it as a rumor.  It looks like this was the best approach as it has now been officially confirmed by EA that the “confirmation” was a misunderstanding.  EA was forming a list of developers showing off some of the best games they have created, KotOR being listed under Bioware.  The official word from EA:

The slide in John’s presentation is titled ‘Best Creative Talent’--it addresses future and past titles. “KOTOR, Black, Boogie, Skate and some other titles on the slide speak to past portfolio releases and the pedigree of the studio but do not specifically address future sequels.

[Via Destructoid]

According to an EA investor report, Bioware is heading up a new entry in the KotOR series.  Considering the investor report doesn’t provide any solid details I’m marking this as a rumor for now.  The game appears to be in production but things change, games are canceled, etc. so it’s always best to not get your hopes too high until we actually start seeing a finished product coming together.  The series has a large fanbase so I’m sure EA will be making a sequel sooner or later.  The real question is, who’s hands will it end up in?  Let’s hope it’s Bioware.

[Via Joystiq]