The dudes over at ScrawFX found what appears to be a teaser for an inFAMOUS 2 reveal due in next month’s issue of Portugal’s version of PlayStation: The Official Magazine. If you follow the link above, you’ll see an image from the original inFAMOUS of protagonist Cole McGrath’s eyes above a message that, when translated, states: “The announcement of a great PlayStation 3 exclusive sequel in the next ROPS.” (ROPS, by the way, is the Portuguese abbreviation for PlayStation: The Official Magazine.)

Call it a leap if you will, but I think it’s pretty obvious what sequel they’re talking about. Why specifically use an obvious image from inFAMOUS if they’re not going to reveal a forthcoming sequel? I don’t think anyone will be surprised to hear of a sequel in the works. In fact, most—including me—will be excited to know they get to step into Cole’s shoes again.

Folks that download and play the new Green Day: Rock Band demo on Xbox Live and PlayStation Network will be greeted with this screen upon completion:

Notice the new instrument icon at the end? Looks like Rock Band 3 will include a keyboard/piano instrument. Hopefully this isn’t what Harmonix means when they say Rock Band 3 will shake things up. How does adding the ability to play A Flock of Seagulls change rhythm gaming? I’m not saying I don’t want to rock out to “I Ran (So Far Away)”—I’d love to, actually—but I hope Harmonix has more up its sleeve for the third RB installment.

UPDATE: Ars Technica’s oft-reliable industry source claims the new instrument will not be a keyboard. Instead, it will be a keytar. The source also claims that all Rock Band 3 instruments will be exclusively designed by Mad Catz and will likely be more realistic.

I think a keyboard would be easier to learn than a keytar, but maybe I just don’t want to look like a washed out former member of a glam metal band. What do you folks prefer—keytar or keyboard?

According to a recent post at IGN, an Uncharted movie is getting closer to a reality.  By the sounds of the post, the seems to be in final stages and Sony is looking for someone to direct the movie.  As long as it is not Uwe Boll directing, I think this has a chance to be a decent movie (as far as game movies go).  Now the question for you all.  Who would you like to see play the main characters?

According to the keyboard-clacking monkeys at Kotaku, the Dreamcast classic Sonic Adventure may be coming to Xbox Live Arcade in the near future. A port of the game that some consider to be the last decent Sonic title popped up on the gaming press incarnation of XBL on PartnerNet, but was promptly removed when word began to spread. Sega remains silent on the issue.

What say you? I’m not afraid to drag out my Dreamcast and fire up Sonic Adventure whenever I’m in the mood, so this news doesn’t light any fires in my mind. You readers, however, might be jumping for joy at this news for all I know. If so, looks like Microsoft and Sega are about to hook you up. If not, well, there’s always Modern Warfare 2 to keep you busy.

As you probably know, the PSP Go is a digital-only device. It does not utilize UMDs for storage, but rather an internal flash drive (16GB to be precise). Some PSP owners are up in arms about the inability to obtain digital versions of their UMDs for free—something Sony initially promised but had to give up due to legal issues. Another issue: game rentals. After all, there currently exists no means of renting digital versions of games through a major rental service.

That might soon change, if screens from the new PSP Go are any indication. As you can see in the picture above, a game’s information panel now includes “Starts,” “Expires,” and “Hours Left,” possibly hinting at future rental options for Go owners. This is backed up by a survey released by Sony earlier this year that spoke of a potential subscription-based rental service. This information panel is similar to those seen in PlaySation Store video rentals, which must be watched within 24 hours of activation.

Did any of you fine folks pick up a PSP Go? If so, are you intrigued by the idea of a PSP digital rental service? I don’t currently own one, but I’ve thought about picking one up. I certainly like the idea of a rental service, provided it isn’t prohibitively expensive. Let us know what you think.

Are you folks getting sick of hearing about PlayStation 3 price cuts? Do you wish Sony would just man up and announce it? I’m with you folks, and it looks like K-Mart is too—well, they were.

Kotaku is reporting that image above was found on K-Mart’s website earlier, then promptly taken down. The image is however still hosted by K-Mart.com, whatever that may mean. My guess is that K-Mart jumped the gun by posting the image, letting the cat out of the bag before a likely release later this week.

The image also suggests that we may be seeing the PS3 Slim redesign. That’s another rumor I’m sure you folks would like to see laid to rest. Whether it’s real or not, we all just want to stop reading about it every time we check out a gaming news site. Well, that’s how I feel about it…

As we stated before, GamesCom is this week, where Sony is expected to officially announce the PS3 price cut. Add this new image to the mounting pile of evidence suggesting Sony will do precisely that. Say it with me now: “It’s about time!”

UPDATE: Sony announced at their GamesCom presentation that the PS3 Slim is indeed real and will retail for $299. It will feature the same attributes of the current PS3 models—Bluetooth, two USB inputs, Wi-Fi, all that jazz—and will have a 120GB hard drive. Sony also announced that the current 120 GB PlayStation 3 unit’s price will also be cut to $299, starting tomorrow. No pictures just yet, but IGN says it looks pretty much the same as the current model—just smaller.

UPDATE 2: Here’s a picture of the PS3 Slim unit, courtesy of the kind folks over at Kotaku. Also, I forgot to mention the release date for the Slim: September 9.

Hints have been circulating the teh interwebz regarding the Xbox 360 Pro saying bye-bye to store shelves for a few months, but until now we had no evidence to support the rumor. Today we do, courtesy of a GameSpot employee (and Kotaku). Said proof can be seen below.

As you can see, the Arcade box on the right displays a different configuration chart than the older box on the left. The left box shows what until now has been the norm: comparisons between the Arcade, Pro, and Elite units. The new box on the right shows only the Arcade and Elite. So, we have to assume that if this is legit, the Pro will be no more soon.

One can only hope that if this is true, Microsoft at least gives gamers a price drop on the Elite unit. Not that I’d ever bother with an Elite anyway. If something happens to my Pro—say, perhaps a Red Ring occurs—I’m not going through the usual Microsoft crap to get a new one. Instead, I’ll just buy an Arcade unit and pop in my 120GB hard drive. Easy peasy.

1Up ran an article recently that claimed a new Xbox console was in the works for a late 2010 release, most likely packaged with Project Natal. Gaming blog Kotaku speculated that there likely wouldn’t be brand new hardware, but rather a revision of the existing Xbox 360 technology. Kotaku’s speculation certainly makes more sense, given the state of our economy and Microsoft’s continued dedication to the 360 brand.

Microsoft essentially backed up Kotaku’s theory today when they shot down the new Xbox rumors. Aaron Greenberg, director of product management for the Xbox brand, states that with Natal “we are delivering a next generation experience this generation.” He goes on to say that he “can confirm that Natal will run on Xbox 360 so no new console investment will be necessary.”

Notice that Greenberg didn’t rule out the possibility of a new 360 iteration, like a 360 slim or something similar. While I wouldn’t be interested in such a device, that would be a more welcome situation than the launch of a brand new console. The Xbox 360 has a lot of life left in her (go ahead and make your Red Ring jokes); a new console next year could potentially kill Microsoft’s momentum. Plus, buying a new console at this time is an investment I cannot afford, and I’m certain millions of American gamers share my feeling (and lack of funds).

UPDATE: Team Xbox, the folks with the first official word on Xbox 360, are claiming that not only is 1Up’s rumor false, but that they know the true details of the next Xbox console. Per the tease in their article, and a second tease on their Twitter account, Team Xbox claims the next Xbox console won’t launch until HDTVs capable of stereoscopic 3D are widespread. Sadly — or thankfully, if you’re in the same poor boat as me — such technology won’t see a mainstream success for quite some time, so don’t expect a new Xbox for at least three or four years…if Team Xbox isn’t full of it, that is.

Hideo Kojima is a man of many announcements. It has gotten to the point where his announcements need announcements. If he’s going to tease us with something, it’s most likely going to be engulfed in a thick layer of secrecy.

A short while ago a countdown leading up to today started on a Konami site teasing some sort of Metal Gear announcement. Hopeful fans speculated about the nature and ramifications of this announcement by picking apart the accompanying images and literally doodling Xbox 360 controllers and Solid Snake faces in the images clouds.

We don’t need teasers for trailers, we don’t want countdowns to announcements. This slow trickle of information is almost insulting, as if to say “You are absolutely hanging on every word. We don’t even need to show you anything anymore.” I can imagine that the target demographic for this video game honestly gives a crap about a Kojima teaser site dedicated to a countdown, nor do I want to engage in conversation with anyone who is.

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PlayStation LifeStyle is claiming that Sony is set to announce a PlayStation 3 redesign at E3 in early June. They say there is no official word on what the redesign could be, but the two strongest possibilities are:

1) A new silver PS3 with the same hardware design as the current model

2) A PS3 Slim of some sort

Releasing a new silver-colored model and calling it a redesign would be foolish at best, so I lean toward the second option. Of course, this is just a rumor, so take this information with a grain of salt. To be fair, though, PlayStation LifeStyle isn’t the only gaming news outlet making this claim. But what interests me most of all is this: would you folks without a PS3 be willing to throw down for one if Sony introduced a new slimmer design?