Game Consoles

Source: A filing with the Japanese Patent Office , unearthed by Siliconera . What we heard: If Clover Studios had to go, Okami represented a fine swan song

Source: The Twitter feed of Colin Solal Cardo, staff writer for French gaming site Gamersyde . What we heard: Less than a month before the 2009 Electronic Entertainment Expo , leaked in-game footage of what appeared to be Ubisoft’s Beyond Good & Evil 2 popped up on popular video-sharing Web site YouTube. The footage appeared to presage Ubisoft’s blowout for the game, which was first announced as part of UbiDays in May 2008.

Source: An FCC filing brought to light by PS3 News . What we heard: Even though news of the PlayStation 3 Slim redesign leaked out six ways from Sunday before its official unveiling today , it was not for lack of surreptitious behavior on Sony’s part.

Source: Film enthusiast site IESB . What we heard: In June 2006, unconfirmed reports claimed that famed filmmaker Steven Spielberg was in talks to direct a World of Warcraft movie–a gig Spider-Man director Sam Raimi would land three years later

Source: Gaming site Shacknews , spotting a handful of retailer Web sites. What we heard: Initially, the PC edition of BioWare’s fantasy role-playing game Dragon Age: Origins was expected to ship before March 31, 2009. However, to the collective groan of all who had been waiting for the game since it was announced in 2004 , EA said in February that the PC edition of the game had been bumped to this fall to coincide with the launch of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions.

Source: Data-mining blog Superannuation , relating the LinkedIn profile of a former Edge of Reality producer. What we heard: Edge of Reality’s Cipher Complex charts the travails of one John Cipher, a secret US government operative who is tasked with investigating a downed recon satellite. It could be considered apropos, then, that so little information regarding the modern-day first-person shooter has been doled out since the game was announced in June 2006.

Source: A report on the financial Web site Market Watch . What we heard: With no end to the global recession in sight, many nervous publishers have been pushing their games out of the 2009 holiday season.

Source: Gaming site Superannuation spotted a number of updated user profiles on professional networking site LinkedIn suggesting that Midway Games’ Chicago outfit has been renamed WB Games Chicago. What we heard: With Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment acquiring most of the assets of the bankrupt Midway Games , it was clear changes were in the offing. Indeed, they came quickly, with Midway’s Newcastle studio shut down the week after the acquisition and employees at its San Diego shop and Chicago headquarters all given 60 days’ notice

Source: Telefilm Canada , a division of the Canadian government, as spotted by the Silicon Knights community forums . What we heard: Silicon Knights’ future seemed to be locked into a definitive course in 2005, when studio president Dennis Dyack announced that his Norse mythology-infused sci-fi action role-playing game Too Human would be a trilogy .

Source: Internet-mining site Superannuation . What we heard: Superannuation has been on a tear of late, unearthing an abundance of United States Patent and Trademark Office filings and online resumes that point to a variety of publishers’ potential plans for the future