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?

The nerds over at That VideoGame Blog claim, per a source they say is “reliable,” that Activision’s pursuit of Vietnam War-era music is a sign they are gearing up for a new Call of Duty set in the Vietnam War. They also claim that Treyarch will develop this latest CoD.

Activision is said to also be pursuing rights to Cuban, Soviet Union, and African music. The Cuban and Soviet music sounds less likely to be involved in Vietnam, and more likely to fit into a potential Cold War game. I wonder, however, just how a Cold War-era game would play. A cold war, after all, is all about politics and threats — not trench fights and bombs.

One thing is certain: if Treyarch is indeed working on a new Call of Duty, this is a good sign. The European and Pacific theaters of World War II are played out and dry. We need new ideas in first person war shooters. And while a Vietnam War-era shooter isn’t terribly original, at least it’s new blood for the Call of Duty franchise.

What say you? Would you prefer yet another wartime shooter, or something new and unexpected, like a Cold War action game?

Really, Microsoft?  You’re surveying people to determine if they’d like to increase their gamerscore with other activities besides playing games on their game console?

This survey, snuck out onto the internets via Loot Ninja, reveals some puzzling possibilities- which may mean MS giving out GS for watching DVDs on you Xbox 360, and Lord knows what else.

Strike back in the comments!  Let’s hear your most ridiculous ideas for non-gaming achievements!  We’ll post up the top 10 or so in fancy mock-ups with pictures and everything, maybe.

I like LN’s idea -

(Achievement Unlocked:  Went through 10 RROD’s and still gave MS your money – 20k gs)

From secondstorygamer.com:

“One of the biggest questions that came out of EA’s acquisition of Bioware in late 2007 was the exclusivity of the Mass Effect trilogy. Would the games remain on the 360 and PC or would Sony get a piece of the pie as well?

A fairly reliable source close to Electronic Arts tells us that the sequel (and subsequent iterations) will be available the PlayStation 3 as well as the Xbox 360 and PC. According to our source, EA decided to make the series multiplatform mostly due to the “the economic outlook”.

Our source claims that because of the current state of the economy, Electronic Arts is looking to squeeze as much money from its portfolio of games as it possibly can. Obviously, making Mass Effect 2 and 3 multiplatform would increase their sales, as the game would be available to more people.

But what about the PS3 owners who missed the first game? Our source says it is “likely” EA will release a PlayStation 3 port of the original Mass Effect, debuting sometime in mid-2009. Similar to Take-Two’s decision to make a Bioshock port on the PS3, this port would introduce PS3 owners to the series and give EA almost risk-free profit from its sales.

The official announcement will “take place at GDC” (which starts March 23), according to our source. Of course, take this with a grain of salt till then.”