Somehow I don’t see it happening, but I wouldn’t be too shocked if it did. Recently, an executive over at Electronic Arts hinted to the idea of Sony and Microsoft will be rolling out new versions of their current consoles before moving on to the next generation of their respective consoles.

To be perfectly honest, I feel we’re still too early in the actual life cycle to be discussing these topics, even then, some people might look at the upcoming Natal and PS3 motion hardware as a form of upgrade as it is. Rich Hilleman, Chief Creative Officer at EA, on the other hand, seems to think that we should be speculating now by stating, ”I expect we’ll see a PlayStation 3.5 before we see a PlayStation 4, and an Xbox 560 before we see an Xbox 720.”

I’m fond of the idea of providing consumers the opportunity to upgrade their consoles, but not if it comes at the price of completely replacing their current models, or having to pay a like sum. It already bothers me that there will be some titles that I just can’t play on my Nintendo DS that will work perfectly on the Nintendo DSi. I’d hate to think that a console which I already paid $300+ for would be reduced in a similar manner.

Being a games journalist, we tend to follow each other on Twitter. As a result, I sometimes find a nugget of hilarity among the countless tweets that pass through my Twitteriffic iphone app. One such tweet occurred the other week when Destructoid’s Nick Chester tweeted a link to a Google Trends page that graphed the search traffic for the words “Modern Warfare” and “Call of Duty”. Not that it wasn’t an obvious conclusion, but it does a very good job of illustrating a potential reason why the Call of Duty name got tacked back on to Modern Warfare 2, after the developer, Infinity Ward, wanted it taken off awhile ago.

This all came about when a photo of the box art for the 360 version of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was leaked the other week, which raised questions about the validity of the art, since it had the Call of Duty name placed back on the logo. The photo was later confirmed to be legit. Of course, Activision later told Destructoid, in so many words, that including the Call of Duty name was part of the plan all along; not that it matters though–after how good the last one was, the game will sell no matter what.

Larry Hryb, Microsoft’s Director of Programming, aka Major Nelson, posted on his popular blog in order to clarify the statements made by Steve Ballmer regarding the “new Xbox 360″ coming next year. While Nelson didn’t deny any claims regarding the new console being developed, he went on to note that the Xbox 360 is not even halfway through it’s current lifecycle, in reference to the statements Microsoft made at their press conference during E3 the other week.

Nelson also mentioned Natal in his post, stating that it will play an important role in expanding the lifecycle well into the next decade, but also stated that there was no word on when the motion controller will be officially released. Despite that, Ballmer’s statements give me the distinct impression that we’ll be seeing a 2010 release for the camera.

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Microsoft’s Chief Executive Office, Steve Ballmer, has confirmed that a new Xbox 360 will be available sometime in 2010. Ballmer went on to note that the new system will come with technology that will bring games close to reality, and will include a ‘natural interface’, as well as a camera that can recognize movement and voice. I can only speculate that he means the recently announced Project Natal.

Rumors can be confirmed, as Ballmer stated openly during a speech on the recession to those in attendance at the Executives Club in Chicago, a new Xbox 360 will hit the store shelves in 2010.

The new device will be equipped with technology that is “really, really, close” to an actuality. The console, which was described as having a “natural interface,” will have a built in camera with the ability to recognize movement and voice.

In my honest opinion, Ballmer’s statements are pretty vague, so while he does say a “new Xbox 360,” it could merely mean a new SKU, or a bundle, complete with a camera add-on. It could also mean the camera will be built into the system itself, but again, this remains to be seen. Microsoft also recently announced that they’ve added more ram to the existing consoles currently in production, as if the console actually needed it.

[via - TGdaily]

A number of the “press leaks” that flooded the news prior to the E3 conference came from a Twitter account claiming to be Sony PR.  This impostor went forward promising some big things which all turned out to be false, save for the new PSP that was already leaked so long ago.  Recently, Jeff Rubenstein, an actual agent for Sony’s PR team has posted on the official PlayStation blog that “the only real PlayStation PR person identifying himself as such on Twitter is… me. Think of this as ‘Jeff’s Place’.” It’s good to know that he is looking out for us.

 Speaking of Twitter, we’ve recently set up a Twitter account so you can stay updated with our news and editorial content. Our username is @ButtonSmasherUS. We’ll also be linking to it on our blog roll to the right. I do wonder if people are actually using twitter as their main source of news. It just seems to me that you can only fit so much into a tweet, and you’d think anyone actually using it to post news directly would need to spam it. It makes me wonder if any of you use twitter for more than just quick updates, and links?

[Image Source: SCEA]

Well, it’s been a long week so far, and I’m still finding myself trying to catch up with my E3 related work. The convention was really a blast. I met with all kinds of companies, got my hands on upcoming products, saw footage from projects in development, and even socialized with my game journalist peers. I sat through press conferences and listened to numbers and statistics, but what really mattered was the games and technology itself.

I wasn’t shocked to find that Sony and Microsoft were announcing their entry into the motion sensing market. It turned out that Microsoft indeed had a motion camera in development, though some reports hint to some potential problems with the recognition of certain skin pigmentation. I certainly hope they don’t run into those issues, especially since you’d think they’d test the Project Natal bar before showing off the technology.

While their motion sensing technology seems pretty impressive, Sony’s latest handheld console, the PSP Go, seems to be rather expensive considering it’s cheaper for them to make than the previous models. I’m not the only one to point this out, but you’d think they’d want to save consumers money. They’ve already announced that they’ll be discounting their development kits for potential developers, which is a good first step. Maybe now we’ll expect to see more great titles like Patapon 2, and God of War: Chains of Olympus.

Either way, Nintendo doesn’t seem the least bit worried, and why should they? They really do own that market right now, and they’ve done well at creating an entirely new market with their Wii console. They have a new Zelda in the works, multiple Mario titles, and a brand new Metroid developed by Tecmo, of all people. In short, this is going to be a great year for games.

 [image source: E3 Logo - e3insider.com]

Apparently there is a new camera rumored to be in development for the Xbox 360. It’s said to have full body motion sensing abilities, and might be capable of providing all sorts of new methods to control games. While I have little doubt that any sort of motion sensing would be a successful feature for any console, I’m a little apprehensive as to how the product is going to be used.  If it means potential ports of Wii exclusive titles for next gen systems, that’d be awesome. The only issue there is the pile of shovelware that we see released for that console. I’d rather not see those titles in our Xbox 360 libraries. 

One of the suggested methods of control included punching and kicking, similar to that of the old Activator accessory released in the mid-90’s by Sega. If you ask me though, I’d rather poke my eyes out. A lot of the time, I feel like an idiot while I’m doing the motions with my wiimotes–I can only imagine how terrible it’d be doing it with my entire body.

Still, if this product is in development, we might expect to hear more about it next week as Microsoft gears up for their major press conference. Already I’m hearing mentions of a major AAA titles coming out of their camp, though details have been quite scarce. I suppose we’ll just have to wait to see.

[via destructoid]

The teaser site for Kojima Productions upcoming game has finally revealed what appears to be a man who resembles Big Boss.  You may remember as the protagonist of Metal Gear Solid 3 and Portable Ops–however, some of you may have been around to play the original Metal Gear, and recognize him as the final boss of that first game. Magazine scans of what I could only guess is Famitsu, have also been floating around with images of Raiden from Metal Gear Solid 4, complete in his cyberninja outfit. Given that we’re still only able to speculate on what exactly the game could be, I’d feel it’s safe to assume, from Kojima’s GDC presentation, that it’s the next installment of Metal Gear Solid. 

There is also no hint regarding potential console exclusivity, but as always, there are plenty of rumors floating about regarding an Xbox 360 port of the previous title Metal Gear Solid 4. Kojima has always looked to the future of gaming when designing his titles and has expressed, time and time again, that he would prefer his games be able to take advantage of the latest in technology. It became rather obvious that he was displeased when Sony decided to remove the rumble feature from it’s latest console, and many people attribute addition of Dual Shock for the PS3 to Kojima’s scrutiny. Arguably so, Sony wouldn’t want to lose one of it’s biggest supporters, and what could be considered a “system selling”, AAA franchise. While I can’t say for sure, I would say the safe money is on it being yet another PS3 exclusive, at least, for the time being. We’ll see if any of that changes next week.

[Image Source: http://www.konami.jp/kojima_pro/next/]

IGN is reporting that the classic PSone titles, Resident Evil and Metal Gear Solid, have recently received ESRB listings– strongly indicating that they may be released via Playstation Network in the near future.  In the past, these listing have been used to determine upcoming releases for both the Playstation Network and Xbox Live Arcade. While there is no news regarding which versions of these classics have been cleared, I could only assume that Resident Evil will come with the dual shock that was included in the directors cut. My prediction for Metal Gear Solid is that it will not include the VR missions– however, this remains to be seen.

These titles will join the recently released Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage!, R-Type Delta, Bowling, and SNK classic King of Fighters ‘99. While Japan has been enjoying a wider selection, it’s likely that Sony will continue to bring us releases in the coming months. Capcom has recently gone on record stating that they hope to make more classics available.  With any luck, we should be seeing some of those released on Xbox Live as well. While it’s nice to see more content on the Playstation Network–which sony still prides itself on for being free of charge–I still find myself wondering when Sony will make the PS3 itself more affordable. With E3 coming up, Sony has yet to give any hints towards a price drop. How big of a cut would you need to see before you pick one up?

[via IGN]

Several sites have been posting rumors about the upcoming announcements Sony has in store for us at this year’s E3 expo in June. We’ve seen various rumors pop up about portable systems, and even phones, but this latest rumor caught me by surprise, and apparently Sony as well. The rumor in question had to do with a new, slimmer PS3. Though Sony has provided us with slimmer consoles during the later life cycles for previous Playstation incarnations, a spokesperson spoke to CVG Wednesday’s and promptly shot the rumor down.

While I’d love to see a slimmer PS3, I’m not surprised that a redesign isn’t on Sony’s mind at this point. Especially considering that the previous Playstation redesigns came during the later half of each consoles life cycle. Frankly, it’d be jumping the gun and might give some journalists the impression that the system is merely a sinking boat. With a strong line up of triple A titles likely to be announced and the prospect of a new PSP, I’m led to believe that Sony might finally get that year they’ve been talking about for the last 3. Would you want to see the PS3 redesigned, and what other rumors are you hoping come true at this years E3?