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. The studio, which formed in 2004 under a number of Japanese gaming industry heavyweights, was shut down by Capcom in October 2006, not a month after the acclaimed action adventure saw release for the PlayStation 2 in the US. That game was ported to the Wii in 2008, courtesy of God of War: Chains of Olympus developer Ready at Dawn.

It now appears as if the Okami franchise may live on beyond its Wii port, if a relatively new trademark filing with the Japanese Patent Office is any indication. As first spotted by Siliconera and translated by GameSpot, Capcom filed to trademark the term Okamiden with the JPO in July 2009 (application no. 2009-051624). In its description, items ranging from video game software to mobile phone straps and collectible trading cards could be covered by the trademark.

Unfortunately, the trademark filing does not offer any additional details. However, with the Tokyo Game Show set to run September 24-27, Capcom still has a substantial venue yet open to it to make the reveal.

The official story: Capcom had not returned requests for comment as of press time.

Bogus or not bogus?: With so little information to go on, this one’s bogus for now. However, Capcom certainly has the option open, even if it did shut down the studio that made the well-received original.

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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. However, such was not the case, as the game was conspicuously absent from Ubisoft’s E3 presence.

It now appears as if Beyond Good & Evil 2 isn’t just unready for primetime–it may not be happening at all. According to Gamersyde staff writer Colin Solal Cardo, Ubisoft confirmed to him that Beyond Good & Evil 2 has been placed on indefinite hold.

“I got confirmation at Cologne’s Gamescom that Beyond Good & Evil 2 is on hold for now. No idea if it’s def or temporary but it sucks,” reads a post Cardo made to micro-blogging site Twitter.

Indeed, assuming the confirmation Cardo received is accurate, this wouldn’t be the first time Ubisoft has distanced itself from its May 2008 announcement of Beyond Good & Evil 2. Speaking to IndustryGamers in July, Ubisoft North America executive director Laurent Detoc addressed the aforementioned leaked in-game footage, casting a substantial shade of doubt as to whether the game will see release.

“Whether or not [Beyond Good & Evil 2] comes out remains to be seen anyway, but we didn’t want to abandon that IP because it has a cachet and authenticity about it,” Detoc said. He later continued, “Well, I didn’t say there’s definitely going to be another game. I said something had leaked, which means we’ve been working on some Beyond Good & Evil stuff, but whether there’s going to be another game or not, that’s something for the future.”

The official story: Ubisoft had not returned requests for comment as of press time.

Bogus or not bogus?: Not bogus that Ubisoft is on the fence about reviving Beyond Good & Evil 2. Whether or not development has officially been suspended remains to be seen, however.

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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. Just look at the FCC filing in question, which consists of radio test reports for 120GB and 250GB versions of Sony’s slimmed-down PS3. The filing was not actually made by Sony, but instead by Sand Dollar Enterprise, a Foster City, California outfit that shares an address with Sony Computer Entertainment America. Then there’s the Sand Dollar contact name given in the filing, SCEA senior vice president of legal Riley Russell.

So clearly, this is a Sony filing. And although it doesn’t explicitly include the PS3 Slim moniker, the filing lists the model numbers of the two systems as CECH-2001A and CECH-2001B. Sony’s own press pictures of the PS3 Slim display the machine with the CECH-2000 model number, while the system’s spec sheet lists its product code as “CECH-2000A.”

Of course, a PS3 Slim with 250GB of hard drive space falls right in line with Sony’s penchant for multiple hardware configurations. The standard PS3 has been available in 20GB, 40GB, 60GB, 80GB, and 120GB packages, with or without PlayStation 2 backward compatibility, and with or without bundled games like Uncharted, Metal Gear Solid 4, and Killzone 2. Clearly, it’s not a question of if Sony will tweak the PS3 Slim configurations offered to consumers, but when.

The official story: “We are not commenting at this time.” – A Sony representative.

Bogus or not bogus?: Not bogus that Sony is prepping a 250GB PS3 Slim package for possible release. The real question is when Sony will release it, what it will cost–and what Sony will pack in to the box to sweeten the deal.

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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. In October 2006, another top-selling game, Halo, would see its planned film adaptation put on indefinite hold and its would-be executive producer, Lord of the Rings helmer Peter Jackson, move on to new projects.

One of Jackson’s projects is producing the computer-animated version of the classic graphic novel The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn–which Spielberg is directing after he wraps the just-announced remake of Harvey. Now, in an incestuous twist all too common in Hollywood, comes another unconfirmed report saying that Spielberg may take over as executive producer of the Halo film, which remains in development limbo.

According to an article posted late Friday on IESB, Spielberg’s production company, DreamWorks, is in “active negotiations” with Microsoft to acquire the Halo film rights. Previously, 20th Century Fox and Universal Pictures were partnering to distribute the film, which was reportedly doomed by studio rivalry and concerns over its $160-$180 million production cost.

According to IESB’s multiple sources, DreamWorks wants the Halo property to be the first in a series of summer blockbusters it would release through its newly minted distribution deal with Walt Disney Pictures. (In a further touch of irony, DreamWorks had been negotiating with Universal just days before the Disney deal was struck in February.) Apparently Spielberg was sold on the project after being “blown away” by the latest rewrite of the Halo script by G.I. Joe screenwriter Stuart Beattie. (The original Halo screenplay was written by Alex Garland, who penned the script for the cult zombie-apocalypse film 28 Days Later and the dark travel novel The Beach.) Beattie’s script is itself based on Eric Nylund’s 2001 novel Halo: The Fall of Reach, which is believed to be the basis of what looks like Bungie Studios’ final Halo game, 2010′s Halo: Reach.

The official story: “We’re glad there’s still a lot of enthusiasm in the entertainment industry surrounding the idea of a Halo movie. That said, the Halo feature film remains on hold as we focus on projects like Halo 3: ODST and Halo: Reach. We have nothing further to share with respect to plans regarding a Halo movie.” — Microsoft rep.

Bogus or not bogus?: Though there’s only IESB’s word to go on, Spielberg-produced Halo looks plenty plausible. Besides being an avid gamer, Spielberg has strong ties to the gaming industry in general, having helped craft the original Medal of Honor and, more recently, having codesigned the Boom Blox games with Electronic Arts. Spielberg is also chummy with Microsoft and was on hand at June’s Electronic Entertainment Expo to talk up the possibilities of the forthcoming Xbox 360 motion-sensing camera, Project Natal. Whether that relationship translates into an executive producer role for the filmmaker remains to be seen.

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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. That date was eventually honed down to October 20.

Now, it’s possible that even those many months of extra development time won’t be quite enough. As first spotted by Shacknews, a handful of retailers have updated their online databases to indicate that Dragon Age has been pushed to November.

GameFly, which owns Shacknews, now lists the Xbox 360 edition of the game for a November 3 release, with the PS3 date pegged to November 19. Tech gear wholesaler Newegg lists both console editions as coming November 4, while the PC edition has retained its October 20 date. CD Universe, on the other hand, has the Xbox 360 and PS3 games holding onto their October 20 date, but the PC edition has been bumped back to November 4.

Notably, two of the largest retailers don’t reflect any change at all for the heavily anticipated game. According to Amazon‘s and GameStop‘s online databases, Dragon Age remains on track for its announced October 20 launch.

Retailers are often tipped off by publishers of changes in a game’s release schedule so that they can accurately allocate shelf space and promotion. However, their online databases are far from the final source of information concerning any given title.

The official story: [UPDATE] Over the weekend, BioWare confirmed that Dragon Age has indeed been pushed back to November. “Dragon Age: Origins will be released on November 3rd in North America and November 6 in Europe on the Xbox 360 video game entertainment system and PC. The PlayStation 3 version will follow later in November.”

Bogus or not bogus?: Not bogus.

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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. To date, Sega has only released a handful of screenshots and some concept art for the game.

Now, the reason for Cipher Complex’s radio silence appears to have surfaced. As spotted by the increasingly prolific Superannuation, the LinkedIn profile of a former Edge of Reality producer indicates that Sega pulled the plug on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 game earlier this year. “Producer for Cipher Complex that was canceled by Sega,” reads the job description of Rob Brown, who served on the project from July 2008 to January 2009.

Oddly, if Cipher Complex has been canceled, Sega and Edge of Reality have made no outward signs of saying so. The game’s Web site remains wholly intact, if devoid of content, and the developer’s Web site continues to promote the project. Still, Sega has been less than forthright with other canceled projects this year. Notably, the publisher didn’t confirm the cancellation of Obsidian Entertainment’s Aliens role-playing game until June, four months after the information initially surfaced.

The official story: Neither Sega nor Edge of Reality had responded to requests for comment as of press time.

Bogus or not bogus?: Barring some kind of vendetta, it seems unlikely that Brown would fabricate Cipher Complex’s demise, so this one’s looking not bogus. Officially, though, the game remains on Sega’s books.

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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. One-time 2009 titles include Sega’s Bayonetta, Ubisoft’s Splinter Cell: Conviction and Red Steel 2, and Take-Two’s Red Dead Redemption, Mafia II, and BioShock 2. The world’s current top third-party publisher, Activision Blizzard, also recently postponed its high-profile new IP Singularity until the first quarter of next year.

Now, though, worries are spreading that Activision Blizzard may soon announce a much bigger schedule change. In particular, Market Watch is wondering if fears of a Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty delay are behind the publisher’s 14 percent, 30-day stock slide. As evidence, it points to several analyst notes which raise the specter of the game slipping into 2010.

“While it is not inevitable that Starcraft II is delayed, the speculation is running rampant that this is the case,” said Signal Hill’s Todd Greenwald. Brean Murray’s Jess Lubert got even more specific, saying, “The beta testing for Starcraft [II] hasn’t started yet. If it starts in August and takes 5-6 months, then launching the game this year is next to impossible.”

The official story: Shortly before last month’s Electronic Entertainment Expo, Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime said that he expected the first of the three Starcraft II installments to launch by year’s end. However, he gave the typical Blizzard caveat that it would only ship when it was done.

Morhaime’s words were echoed today by a Blizzard rep, who would only say the following: “Development on Starcraft II is progressing nicely, but as with all Blizzard games, we won’t release it until we feel it will meet our high standards and the expectations of our players.”

Bogus or not bogus?: With Blizzard remaining mum, GameSpot asked two top game analysts whether they thought Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty would be delayed. One believes it will, the other is less sure.

“Starcraft II will likely be delayed into Q1 or Q2 of next year,” declared Jesse Divnich, director of analyst services at Electronic Entertainment Design and Research. “The rumors of a Starcraft II delay are rampant, very similar to the same rumors that existed with Splinter Cell. And like Splinter Cell, the parent publishing company is not going on the record to dismiss these rumors…probably for good reason.”

As evidence of a delay, Divnich points to Activision’s announcement last week that it will release its quarterly numbers the afternoon of Wednesday, August 5. “Pre-announcing the delay of Starcraft II without informing investors on how this may or may not affect the company’s financial health is borderline illegal and in bad taste. With their quarterly call just around the corner, we can expect Activision to make a firm decision on whether or not Starcraft II will be hitting store shelves this holiday season.” He pointed out how Take-Two Interactive announced BioShock 2′s delay via a conference call.

Webush Morgan Securities‘ Michael Pachter is less sure that Starcraft II has left 2009′s orbit. “Nobody actually knows,” he declared. “Blizzard quite likely made a flawless game, so the beta test is not going to be about discovering bugs in the software. It’s all about balance of gameplay, making sure that the three races have equal powers, weapons, defenses, etc. Blizzard has probably gotten pretty close already (the friends and family beta is going on right now), but until they get 30,000 people playing 20 hours a day, it’s going to be tough to know if everything is perfectly balanced. Will this take more than 4 months? Who knows.”

The oft-quoted analyst does think that the massive media push behind another Activision Blizzard holiday release will act as an insurance policy. “Activision has taken steps to mitigate the possible delay by deciding to advertise the heck out of Modern Warfare 2,” declared Pachter. “They hope to drive higher sales of the game this fall, partially or fully mitigating the loss of sales from a potential Starcraft II slip.”

That said, one thing Pachter is absolutely confident of is that Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty will soar at retail. “I think Starcraft II will sell 4 million its first quarter, and 2 million in the three quarters thereafter,” predicted the analyst. “I’d bet that 3/4 or more of these units are international.”

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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.

With the still-indepdent Midway winding down operations, the fate of its main internal studio–which was bought outright by Warner Bros., building and all–is coming into focus. The Superannuation report links three different LinkedIn profiles one reportedly stating “I work at WB Games Chicago (used to be Midway Games Chicago) on the Mortal Kombat team,” and another listing the job title, “Head of WB Games Chicago.” As of press time, the profile linked to the former quote did not exist on the site, while the job title of the latter profile was listed as “Head of a Game studio in Chicago at WB Games Inc.”

However, the third profile linked, that of a WB Games recruiter and former Midway project manager, continued to reference a WB Games Chicago. One of the recruiter’s current employers was listed as WB Games Inc., with the additional clarification that, “The WB Games family of studios includes Monolith Productions, Snowblind Studios, Surreal Software and WB Games Chicago.”

The official story: A representative with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment had not returned requests for comment as of press time, and attempts to contact the studio directly were unsuccessful.

Bogus or not bogus?: Not bogus. A rebranding is likely imminent, but the apparent changes to those profiles and the lack of any comment suggest WBIE doesn’t want them known about yet. Whether that’s because the name isn’t finalized or the publisher would rather make a major press event out of any change is uncertain.

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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. However, following Too Human’s weak critical and commercial launch in August 2008 and an ongoing lawsuit with Epic Games over Unreal Engine 3, the future of the franchise is anything but clear.

Still, Silicon Knights remains at work on an undisclosed number of other projects, one of which was apparently unmasked by the Canadian government last week. As part of an announcement detailing 56 government grants to a host of media companies, Telefilm Canada said that Silicon Knights had received funding for work on a “console or portable console game” titled “Siren in the Maelstrom.”

No other details on the project were revealed by the Canadian culture agency. Less clear is what the name could refer to. In addition to the aforementioned Too Human trilogy for Microsoft Game Studios, Silicon Knights has also signed with Sega to develop a largely under-wraps new game. According to court documents associated with the Epic Games suit, Silicon Knights’ Sega collaboration will be a single-player-only PlayStation 3 exclusive with a unique camera control scheme.

The official story: “Silicon Knights is busy working on several exciting projects. Unfortunately, it is too early to disclose any details.”–A Silicon Knights representative.

Bogus or not bogus?: Not bogus that the Canadian government has offered Silicon Knights money to make a game currently titled Siren in the Maelstrom. However, what exactly that project is has yet to be revealed.

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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. And if the site’s latest nugget of information is to be believed, Disney Interactive Studios doesn’t plan on returning to its new off-road racing franchise Pure anytime soon.

As spotted by Superannuation, the online resume of a former Black Rock Studios artist states that Disney scuttled plans to publish Pure 2 on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The artist, who accordingly worked on the project in 2008, posted a number of shots along with his resume to advertise his work, including concept shots of two different ATVs seen from various angles for Pure 2.

Pure met a strong critical reception upon its release for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC in September 2008. However, the game’s retail performance was less impressive, with the title shifting just shy of 300,000 units across all platforms in the US through June, according to the NPD Group. Black Rock Studios–known as Climax Racing before Disney purchased the UK outfit in 2006–is currently at work on Split/Second, a cinematic racer due for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC in early 2010.

Like many others within the game industry, Disney has been feeling the impact of the global economic downturn. In January, the publisher trimmed headcount at Propaganda Games, which developed 2008′s Turok revival. At the same time, Disney consolidated its Avalanche Software and Fall Line Studios locations, which resulted in more staff reductions.

The official story: Disney Interactive Studios had not responded to requests for comment as of press time.

Bogus or not bogus?: Likely not bogus that Disney halted development on Pure 2. However, with Split/Second speeding toward release early next year, there’s nothing stopping Black Rock Studios from returning to the franchise in the future.

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