Rainbow Six Vegas 2

At the finale of Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas, the titular antiterrorist team foiled the launch of a missile toward the titular desert metropolis before uncovering a traitor in their midst. As a reward, players were greeted with a black screen bearing the words "To Be Continued," which all but confirmed a sequel.

Today, Ubisoft made it official: Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 is indeed in development at Ubisoft Montreal for release sometime next year. For now, the Francophonic publisher says the game is being readied for "next-gen consoles and PCs." No specific platforms other than the PC were mentioned, but the original Rainbow Six Vegas was released for the PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation Portable. (Proposed PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions of the game were canceled.)

Ubisoft was similarly cagey about Rainbow Six Vegas 2's plot, saying only its "intense solo campaign...uses new tactical possibilities in various locations around Sin City." Gameplaywise, the title will offer a range of online multiplayer modes, including adversarial and co-op, which would tie in to the single-player campaign.

Rainbow Six Vegas 2's release will roughly coincide with the 10th anniversary of the author-inspired franchise, which has sold more than 16 million units worldwide.

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Atlus plugs into Xbox 360

While not a high-profile publisher in the West, Atlus has developed a reputation for bringing relatively niche Japanese role-playing and action games to Nintendo and Sony platforms stateside. Today, the Irvine, California-based American arm of the Japanese company announced it would be extending that reach to Microsoft's Xbox 360 as well.

"We are very proud to pledge our support to the Xbox 360 and to officially partner with Microsoft to bring quality titles to their impressive entertainment system," said Atlus USA exec Tim Pivnicny. "Atlus is renowned for its expertise and excellence in the RPG genre with critically acclaimed hits like Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 and Odin Sphere, in addition to the award-winning Trauma Center franchise."

Along with revealing its agreement with Microsoft to become an officially sanctioned third-party publisher, Atlus has announced two games for the console, both due out in 2008. Operation Darkness is a strategy role-playing game that puts a fantastical spin on the European front during World War II, giving players magical powers to thwart Hitler's advancing tide. Atlus did not attach a developer to the game, though it did launch an official teaser site.

Also slated to arrive in 2008 from Atlus is Idea Factory's Spectral Force 3. Released for the 360 in Japan in 2006, Spectral Force 3 is the first installment in the role-playing series to arrive in the West, and Atlus claims the game features more than 50 hours of gameplay spread out over more than 150 missions. Players assume the role of a mercenary commander and are able to recruit 40 unique characters to their cause.

Neither Operation Darkness nor Spectral Force 3 has been rated.

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Terminator Game ?

A game based on the upcoming Terminator film "Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins" will be arriving on "next-generation consoles, PC and mobile" when the movie hits theaters in the summer of 2009. Terminator license-owner Halcyon Co. has formed its own gaming subsidiary to develop the title, according to Hollywood Reporter.

"When you own the intellectual property and have the creative control, you can make sure you're publishing a top-tier video game that will satisfy the needs of the marketplace," newly appointed Halcyon Games CEO Peter Levin told the site.

Development of the game has already begun. The studio's execs told Hollywood Reporter it also plans on making games based on Halcyon's recently acquired first-look rights to works by sci-fi writer Philip K. Dick. The first game adaptation of Dick's works will arrive in 2010, and the studio plans on creating original IPs as well.

Also onboard at Halcyon Games as production VP is Cos Lazouras, who recently worked for Tigon Studios, actor Vin Diesel's game production house.

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Alone in the Dark on Wii, PS2

Atari may be on the canvas and facing the 9-count, but that fact alone isn't going to stop it from releasing ported versions of upcoming New York based survival-horror Alone in The Dark on both PS2 and Wii.

The two new Alone in the Dark titles will stand beside their next-gen counterparts on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC. Unlike the previous versions which were developed by Eden Studios, the new ports will be handled by Hydravision -- a French developer best known for the (obscure) Obscure series of survival horror games.

While the PS2 conversion looks to be fairly standard issue, Atari has confirmed the Wii version will sport a "control system specially adapted to make full use of the Remote and Nunchuck to manipulate objects in real-time." So perhaps there's an incentive there for players to consider one of these new packs alongside their prettier cousins. The huge install base of both the Wii and PS2 sure isn't going to hurt the company's bottom line any either.

Announcement of the PS2, Wii release was made today by Atari Executive Vice President of publishing and production Mathias Hautefort. "Realizing the enormous ambition of Alone in the Dark is a huge technological challenge, which becomes even more demanding on Wii and PlayStation." he said. "However, we're certain players will be impressed with what Hydravision have achieved on the two consoles, not least with the Wii game which is perfectly adapted to the gameplay thanks to the console's unique controllers."

Considering how much the survival horror genre owes to its father-figure franchise, it'd be a real shame to see the series' resurgence be best remembered for a blaze of ill-advised and hurriedly executed 11th hour ports -- especially considering the trouble they must have had getting NYT bestselling author Lorenzo Carcaterra on board to do all the writing. Guess we'll just have to wait and see what the future holds for Alone in the Dark.

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Atari CEO Resigns as Company Withdraws from Production

Amidst concerns about the company's lack of funds and ability to continue its business, Atari officials announced today that the publisher will "re-focus its operations on publishing and distribution in North America, completing its withdrawal from the production business."

According to the release, Atari's operations going forward "will involve title acquisition, sales and marketing, and physical distribution of products from [Infogrames] IESA, its 51% shareholder, and other selected partners."

Atari has agreed in principle to terminate its Production Services Agreement with IESA in the near future. The company is planning to transfer certain employees and contract other staff on a project basis for a limited period of time. Unfortunately for Atari's employees, this restructuring initiative will also reduce the company's current workforce "in order to re-align the Company's cost structure with its on-going business base."

Along with the withdrawal from production, Atari CEO David Pierce has also announced his resignation. Curtis G. Solsvig III, Chief Restructuring Officer, has been appointed interim CEO and will assume Pierce's responsibilities for now. Atari said that an executive search for a new CEO has already been started.

"We appreciate David's support and commitment through a difficult period in the Company's history and wish him well in his future endeavors." said Gene Davis, Chairman of the Board of Directors.

Finally, as part of the new plan Atari has also licensed its Test Drive franchise to Infogrames under a six-year agreement that provides for a $5 million advance royalty. According to the terms, Eden Studios, which originally developed Test Drive Unlimited for Atari, has the rights to develop and market at least two new releases of the franchise during the life of the license. The deal was signed on Nov. 8, 2007, and Atari said it "will assure the continued vitality of the franchise and will strengthen the relationship between Atari and its parent company while providing an important element in the on-going financial restructuring of Atari."

"Atari continues to take important steps to stream-line operations and establish a winning business plan. We expect that the actions we are undertaking today will position us for the future as a preferred business and distribution partner," concluded Curtis G. Solsvig III.

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Blizzard bulking up Diablo dev team

It's been more than four and a half years since the Diablo II: Lord of Destruction expansion pack came out, and that time has apparently done nothing to diminish fans' enthusiasm for an unannounced sequel to the action role-playing series.

Even now, the slightest hint of Diablo III's existence is enough to get the Internet buzzing. Whether it's the acknowledgement that Blizzard North employees were working on an unannounced project when the studio was shuttered last August, or the e-mail of a Czech musician claiming to have recorded music for the project, rumors of Diablo III persist, popping up every few months to rile the Blizzard faithful.

This month's riling comes straight from Blizzard itself, which has posted a number of intriguing entries on the jobs section of its Web site. The positions, which were posted yesterday, call for an art director and various leads to join "the team behind Diablo I and II" for "an unannounced PC project."

The job descriptions offer few clues as to the nature of the next project. The lead 3D environment artist position calls for a candidate with a solid grasp of form, color, and light who "has experience modeling and texturing a diverse visual range of characters and creatures." Blizzard's also looking for a lead 3D character artist with "experience modeling and texturing a diverse visual range of characters and creatures" and a lead 3D character animator who has "experience animating both human and non-humanoid characters." The lead 3D character animator position also calls for knowledge of inverse kinematics and other facets of 2D and 3D animation, suggesting that the game will have some detailed visuals. Each position calls for familiarity with 3ds Max, while the lead 3D character animator will also need to know Maya and Character Studio.

Online speculation immediately turned to thoughts of Diablo, a franchise Blizzard has previously acknowledged wanting to continue at some point. Currently the company's only announced projects are the long-in-development Starcraft: Ghost for consoles and the Burning Crusade expansion for World of Warcraft.

Blizzard representatives did not immediately return requests for comment.

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Supreme Commander ordered to Xbox 360

Last month, Gas Powered Games founder Chris Taylor let slip in an interview that he was bringing his PC real-time strategy game Supreme Commander to consoles. THQ was mum on the subject at the time, for reasons made clear today.

Supreme Commander has indeed been announced for the Xbox 360 this morning. However, the company confirming the fact is not THQ, but Austin-based publisher Aspyr Media. Aspyr has teamed up with upstart British Columbia-based studio Hellbent Games to bring Supreme Commander to Microsoft's console. This will be the publisher's first game for the Xbox 360.

Beyond simply adapting the PC game's interface to work with a standard controller, Hellbent and Aspyr are adding exclusive new units, additional multiplayer modes, and tweaked maps. Naturally, players will be able to test their strategic aptitude against one another over Xbox Live.

For more on what Hellbent and Aspyr are working from, check out GameSpot's full review of the PC original.

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Microsoft axing big-name project?

Source: The latest 1Up podcast, during which EGM executive editor Shane Bettenhausen teases that he knows of "a big Microsoft first-party title that's been in the works for a very long time that people are very excited for sounds like it's being cancelled."

What we heard: At the end of 1Up.com's latest podcast, Bettenhausen tossed out the rumor with little background or explanation. Telling his fellow podcasters that he'd heard the rumor "from all over" and saying they had "a 97 percent chance of being true," Bettenhausen teased audiences with the information but refused to go into any more detail on what he had heard. Given an unsubstantiated and unsourced rumor, the Internet did what it is wont to do and began speculating wildly about Microsoft-published games that could conceivably fit the given criteria.

Rare's new Banjo Kazooie project was among the first games floated, but the UK developer was quick to shoot down such speculation, proactively reaching out to gaming press.

"It's definitely not Banjo," a Rare employee told GameSpot. "That said, I haven't heard these rumours internally, so it could all be hot air for all I know."

Next up on the list was Silicon Knights' Too Human. Given the prolonged development cycle of the game and the legal battle being waged between Silicon Knights and Epic Games over the former's licensing of the latter's Unreal Engine 3, such a cancellation would not be entirely surprising. However, when contacted by GameSpot, a Silicon Knights representative shot that suggestion down as well, saying, "It is definitely not Too Human."

Another game that would certainly fit the "long-awaited" label of the rumor is Remedy Entertainment's Alan Wake. Originally announced in 2005, Alan Wake has remained on many gamers' lists of most-anticipated titles despite keeping a very low profile since its original announcement. Troubled development would explain why so little of Alan Wake has surfaced in the last two years, but again, the developer was quick to shut down the notion of it being canceled. In a post on the studio's official forums, a Remedy representative assured fans the rumor "has nothing to do with Alan Wake..."

Peter Molyneux is known for having his ambitious and heavily hyped game designs overstretch his studio's ability (or perhaps any studio's, for that matter) to make them a reality. While he always seems to find a way to get a game finished and out the door, it's conceivable that Microsoft could pull the rug out from one of his titles if it appeared to be unsalvageable. Fable 2 didn't appear to be in such a state the last time it was shown off to the press, but just in case fans were worried, Lionhead's community manager debunked the idea on the game's official forums, simply saying, "It's not Fable 2, I can tell you that much."

An Ensemble Studios poster on the official Halo Wars forums didn't specifically deny that the high-profile real-time strategy spin-off of Microsoft's sci-fi cash cow was canceled. However, he did post a picture of a man in a tinfoil hat in the thread on the subject, showing exactly what was thought of the suggestion.

As of press time, representatives with Cryptic Studios, developer of Microsoft's upcoming Marvel Universe massively multiplayer online game had not responded to a request for comment, and a browsing of the studio's forums failed to turn up any Cryptic-penned posts on the matter. However, a MMOG attached to a license as powerful as the Marvel Universe will likely get every chance to succeed, and Cryptic's recent sale of its interest in City of Heroes and City of Villains to NCsoft suggests the developer's other projects are going well enough that it doesn't need a safety net to fall back on.

Developer denials aside, 'tis the season for publishers to evaluate their slate of projects for the coming year and determine if there's any dead weight that needs to be cut loose. Ideally, the people who have devoted years of their lives to a project should know if it's going the way of the dodo before word leaks out to the press (and certainly before anyone in the press leaks that rumor out to the world), so it should be safe to take these developers at their word.

It's possible that final decisions on Microsoft's lineup haven't been made yet, and Bettenhausen's tease is based on what a handful of people involved in the process expect to happen. Though he certainly believes the rumor to be true, he admits there's a slim chance his info is wrong. Combine that with 1Up News' complete silence on the matter, and it appears that whatever information Bettenhausen and the Web site have isn't quite concrete enough to run with yet.

The official story: "No comment."--A Microsoft representative.

Bogus or not bogus?: Bogus that Banjo Kazooie, Too Human, Alan Wake, Fable 2, or Halo Wars has already been canceled. Abstain on whether or not they (or any other Microsoft projects) will stay that way.

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