Oh, hey, did you know: a new Xbox is about to be announced today. At 10AM PST, Microsoft will finally reveal its next-generation console, putting to bed a lot of the rumors that have been swirling around. Will this new console completely embrace mobile? The Internet seems to think so, which is why we're pretty interested in what Microsoft has to show.

Word on the street is that this next Xbox will have a much more of a presence on phones and tablets. We've heard just about everything, including the possibility of a straight-up Xbox-branded tablet that'll, presumably, interface directly with the console. There's also much more believable rumors, including the ones that say SmartGlass will be more of a thing with this Xbox, giving users to control over their new consoles via tablets or phones.

For what it's worth, our money's on the latter. SmartGlass was a pretty neat late add-on to the Xbox 360. Being able to view stats in Halo, pick songs in Dance Central, or see a map in Forza was helpful. Also, it felt kinda space age-y. With this new Xbox, you gotta figure that this "second screen" kinda stuff is going to be baked in, providing a richer and faster experience to users.

Who knows, though! That's why we're pretty stoked to see the event this afternoon. Feel free to throw your own speculation in the comments that way you'll more easily be able to be That Guy and say you called it.

So, if you're not in the loop, get this: today, in New York, Sony is widely rumored to be announcing its next-generation console. We probably won't see the console or hear a price or even a firm release date. If we had to guess, we'd say that most of the event will revolve around sizzle reels and a whole bunch of talk about digital downloads and the "cloud" and the social functionality of the console. Who knows, though? Maybe Sony will unveil a new take on its PlayStation Plus service. Maybe it'll show off a bigger, more touch-friendly controller. Or maybe, just maybe, we'll hear about some new cross-compatibility features -- features that might let you use an iPhone or an iPad with the console. That's neat, right?

The latter is what we're interested in. Word on the street is that the PlayStation 4 will allow owners to use a phone or tablet to access theirs consoles. At least, that's what a Kotaku source is saying. Here's part of the report:

New information revealed by our source suggests that on top of all that, you'll also be able to control the PS4 remotely from your tablet or smartphone. You'll be able to use a mobile device to chat with your PS4 friends or buy games which are then automatically downloaded to your machine, our source says.

We've seen similar support for the 360 in the form of the SmartGlass app, which for what is, works pretty well. The PS3 doesn't have an app like this, which is kind of a bummer.

We'll be keeping an eye on the event this afternoon since our Spidey Sense is tingling. We have a feeling 2013 is the year both Sony and Microsoft fall all over themselves to mention "social" and "mobile" as many times as possible before their new consoles hit. Surely, this'll be a good thing!

[via Kotaku]

Polytron's indie puzzle platformer Fez launched back in April on Xbox Live Arcade, and was featured prominently in the film Indie Game: The Movie. Shortly after it came out, we pondered on our podcast about if it would be possible to put Fez on the iOS platform, and a few months later we learned that Zynga had actually approached Polytron about porting the game to mobile platforms. Spoiler alert: Polytron declined.

However, in an end of the year wrap-up post on the Polytron blog, lead designer of Fez Phil Fish wraps up what a crazy year 2012 was for himself, and also hints at plans for 2013. Among those is porting Fez to more platforms.

While not specifically stating that it's coming to iOS, it's sure not hard to imagine that it's among the intended platforms. As we've discussed before, Fez relies heavily on its puzzle elements more than specific platforming, so precision and virtual control woes likely wouldn't be an issue. Plus, it would just be awesome to swipe the touchscreen to swivel the view of the world around, wouldn't it?

This is all just hopeful speculation right now, but we'll be keeping a close eye on Polytron in the new year to see what comes of Fez moving to new platforms and if that involves iOS in any way. In the meantime feel free to hop aboard the train at Speculation Station in the thread in our forums.

We don't generally report on Apple rumors, as that's a job much better left to our sister site MacRumors, but things are firming up quite nicely on the new iPhone front. This morning, iMore revealed they've heard that the "iPhone 5" and will be released on September 21st following a media event on September 12th where the next iPhone and potentially even the rumored "mini" iPad will be revealed.

Since then both AllThingsD and The Verge have "confirmed" the date. It makes sense it'd be happening soon, especially at the rate that things seem to be "leaking". Most recently a hands-on surfaced of what is thought to be the "iPhone 5" enclosure.

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The folks over at XBLAFans have received a tip about a possible upcoming port of The Simpsons Arcade Game coming to Xbox Live Arcade, and if recent history is any indication, there's a good possibility that it could be coming to the App Store as well.

Twitterer @lifelower notes that the Australian ratings board has rated The Simspsons Arcade Game and attached Backbone Entertainment as the author. As you may already know, Backbone Entertainment is like a golden god of porting old arcade and console titles to the various digital mediums of today, and are already responsible for bringing two classic Konami brawlers to consoles in recent years with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in 2007 and X-Men late last year.

Now, consider that about 6 months after the release of X-Men on XBLA and PSN, a port of that port was brought to the App Store as a Universal game for both iPhones and iPads. The X-Men game did considerably well on the App Store too, which would lead me to believe that should one of their other highly regarded brawlers of the 90s arcade era, The Simpsons Arcade Game, come to XBLA then it would make good financial sense to see the game come to iOS as well.

Plus, iOS has already proven to be a great platform for old-school side-scrolling brawlers with Final Fight [$2.99], a great remake of Double Dragon [$1.99], 64th Street [$1.99], the Streets of Rage trilogy, and many more. As a huge fan of The Simpsons Arcade Game (and just The Simpsons in general), I would love to be able to have the game on my iOS devices, and while were at it that totally goes for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles too (why hasn't this happened yet?!).

One wrinkle in my rampant speculation is that, as you may recall, we've already seen a Simpsons game on the App Store. Electronic Arts released The Simpsons Arcade [99¢/Lite] almost two years ago in December of 2009. It was a side-scrolling brawler similar to the arcade original, but wasn't actually based on that game at all. It's a pretty fun game to be honest, if not a bit repetitive, but it's certainly not the same as having a port of the original arcade game. I have no idea if there is any sort of licensing issues with The Simpsons brand that might prevent a port of Konami's game making it to the App Store, but it's a possibility.

We'll certainly be keeping our eyes out for a more official announcement that The Simpsons Arcade Game is coming to the console downloadable space, and if it is, I'll be keeping my fingers and toes crossed that it eventually hits the App Store as well. In the meantime, check out this feature XBLAFans ran this past May discussing what they'd like to see in an updated The Simpsons Arcade Game port.

[Via XBLAFans]

The Apple rumor scene is always on fire with speculation of all sorts, but two things of note popped up on the rumor mill that pertain to iOS gamers. First off, lately reports have been flowing in that the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) have started a trial run to produce Apple's next generation processor. The A6 is suspected to be revealed in the second quarter of 2012 at the earliest, with a possible inclusion in the next generation iPad.

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This was posted on April Fool's day

We're back again turning the valve of the ol' rumour spigot to quench our undying thirst for all things secret. This week we've got an overflowing goblet of rumors straight from our most trusted industry insiders planted deep inside the world of iOS. Our first rumour comes courtesy of an unexpected agent we randomly found working the front lines of Apple retail at the Apple Store Friendly Center in Greensboro, NC. While casually wandering around the Apple Store looking to buy an iPod nano, we were approached and asked if we needed any help.

Naturally, we spotted our opening and went in for the kill, juicing the agent for every drop of rumour imaginable. When interrogated regarding the upcoming iPhone, we learned that Apple does in fact release new iPhones every year, confirming our suspicions that an iPhone 5 is in the works. Also, while we were unable to delve in to raw specifics, we confirmed that the device will likely be faster, potentially get better battery life, and even might have additional storage.

In other rumours, we've received direct confirmation from a Gameloft beta tester that the French mobile gaming giant plans to release additional iOS titles. Digging for more specifics we've learned that these future titles spread the gamut of first person shooters, third person action games, and even racing games. When pressed for further details we discovered that these games will not only include Gameloft Live, but also will be controlled using a variety of on-screen controls and even tilt.

Stay tuned for additional rumors.

According to a post in our forums, Japanese blog Esuteru (はちま起稿) has obtained a scanned image from V-Jump magazine which claims that Square Enix is readying a port of Final Fantasy III for iOS in addition to their already announced Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions port which is due sometime this Spring. This is exciting news to say the least, but unfortunately I don't read Japanese and therefore am left with quite a few questions.

First of all, the announcement of Final Fantasy III refers to a Japanese release, so even if it is officially in the works there's no guarantee that it will also come to the US. Given the success Square Enix has seen with their iOS Final Fantasy games stateside, I'd imagine that it will, but it would be nice to know for sure. Also, it isn't clear which version of Final Fantasy III would be ported. It was originally a Japanese NES game that wasn't released in the US until the 2006 Nintendo DS 3D remake. It could be a direct port of the NES title, a port of the DS version, or something entirely different.

It's important to remember that the Final Fantasy III that most Americans have fond memories of on the Super Nintendo is actually Final Fantasy VI in Japan, so don't get your hopes up if that's the version you're envisioning for this release. I never played the original Final Fantasy III on NES, but I did really enjoy the DS remake from a few years ago. I would hope that if Square Enix does release a version for iOS that it would be based off of this version, or at the very least an enhanced 2D version along the same lines of their Final Fantasy [$8.99] and Final Fantasy II [$8.99] releases on iOS.

There's a thread in our forums where discussion of this possible upcoming game is taking place, and we'll of course bring you any new information regarding official confirmation of Final Fantasy III for iOS from Square Enix just as soon as we get it.

(Thanks to Joystiq and Siliconera for bringing the post in our forums to our attention!)

Before I get started with this, please take everything in this post with a grain of salt. The accuracy of the Apple rumors community historically has varied widely between spot on, and, well, about as good as the ancient art of Tyromancy. That being said, because of how secretive Apple as a company is, following these rumors sure is a lot of fun-- Regardless of whether or not they turn out to be true.

First off, since we learned about the Retina Display of the iPhone 4, the Internet has been rumbling with the potential of a similar "Retina" display in the successor to the iPad. According to Mac Rumors, this might not be as far fetched as originally thought. Apparently, version 1.1 of Apple's iBooks [Free] "accidentally" included some graphical resources that are twice the size of the ones currently in use on the iPad.

Now, depending on how you read these virtual tea leaves, this could mean one of two things: Someone at Apple knows that rumor hounds will dig through absolutely everything they can for any kind of hint, or the screen resolution of the iPad 2 will be double that of the current iPad. This would put the screen resolution at 2048x1536, sporting 260 DPI. It's not quite the pixel density of the iPhone 4's Retina Display, but you typically hold the iPad much farther away from your eyes. This means that even at a lower DPI this screen could potentially provide a similar "Retina" effect. (I suppose there's a third alternative that this means neither of these things, but how much fun is that?)

Things get even more interesting though when you consider that Global Direct Parts, the guys who had the "iPhone 5" parts video (which actually turned out to be the CDMA Verizon iPhone), also have their hands on a screen that fits the previously mentioned description. The price of this part? $218.19, compared to the original $144.99 the original iPad screen cost at launch from the same site.

But what does the higher price of the components have to do with anything? Well, as appleguy123 points out on the Mac Rumors forums, according to Apple's 2010 Annual Report:

The Company expects its gross margin percentage to decrease in future periods compared to levels achieved during 2010 and anticipates gross margin levels of about 36% in the first quarter of 2011. This expected decline is largely due to a higher mix of new and innovative products that have higher cost structures and deliver greater value to customers, and expected and potential future component cost and other cost increases.

Whether this refers specifically to the increased cost of the components in the iPad 2, or something else entirely is anyone's guess, but it is a curious coincidence. If the screen does turn out to be 2048x1536, there's an entirely new issue to be addressed: The sheer number of pixels the iPad GPU is going to have to push. For the sake of comparison, the resolution of a 30" LCD is only barely higher, at 2560x1600. Gaming at that resolution is a formidable task for even dedicated gaming PC's, much less a mobile device. That's higher resolution than what we consider "HD" these days as well, which only weighs in at a paltry 1920x1080 in comparison.

Mac Rumors has an answer to this too, courtesy of Apple Insider. If these rumors turn out to be true, both the iPad 2 and iPhone 5 will use a dual-core SGX543 GPU from Imagination Technologies. What makes this rumor hold more water than your typical bean spillage by an "industry insider" is the fact that the iOS 4.3 beta already includes drivers for this GPU. Odd coincidence, eh? What's even cooler is that not only do these GPUs boast some incredible performance figures, they also support anywhere between two and sixteen cores handled entirely by hardware, without a single change to any software required to scale performance.

Again, I'm not entirely sure how true these rumors are, but there is something strange afoot. It would make the most sense to double the iPad screen resolution, as it would allow graceful upscaling via pixel doubling much like running a non-Retina Display app on the Retina Display of the iPhone 4. If Global Direct Parts' pricing can be trusted, the component cost of the screen doesn't seem that far out of line. On top of all that, it's really hard to deny the coincidence between the GPU rumors and Apple actually including the drivers for that very GPU inside of their own operating system.

We'll have to wait and see what Apple reveals as the inevitable iPad 2, but if the Apple rumors scene is to be believed, it has potential to be an insane gaming machine.

According to the folks at tech gadget site KnowYourMobile, yes it is. They have posted a video on YouTube showing a very playable version of the game running on iPhone, which they apparently caught a glimpse of during a visit to EA Mobile's offices in London. The video is shot from kind of far away, and doesn't really show a whole lot, but is unmistakably Mortal Kombat on an iPhone. As a huge fan of the 2D Mortal Kombat games, I would be immediately skeptical of controlling such a game with a touch screen, but the video shows a virtual stick and button setup that seems to perform pretty well, and the game is running at a decent speed.

With the long-awaited Mortal Kombat franchise reboot slated for early to mid 2011, a version of the series on iOS would make sense. EA Mobile also recently released a version of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 for JAVA, so it's conceivable that they could have had an iOS version in the works as well. It's not known whether this is a port of the Ultimate Mortal Kombat that hit the Nintendo DS a few years ago, or possibly a version of the Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection HD for consoles that was leaked a few months back but has yet to actually surface. If it does end up being a collection of the first 3 arcade games, then consider me overjoyed.

Feel free to speculate about the game with members in our forums, and we'll be eagerly anticipating any additional information or official word from EA Mobile on this release. KnowYourMobile has said the game will be launching in December, and with nearly half the month already gone I'll be interested to see what becomes of Ultimate Mortal Kombat on iPhone in the next couple of weeks.

Update: An EA representative in our forums has confirmed the existence of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 for iPhone. Though scant on any details regarding release date or pricing, he did graciously post a couple of new screenshots from the game (click to enlarge):

What is interesting about these screens is that they show that the game is actually not a direct port of the original, as the characters seem to be 3D models rather than digitized sprites. From a purist's standpoint, this may be disappointing, but I think it's actually a really good thing. Running sprites with many frames of animation takes a lot of RAM, something that only the iPhone 4 has a decent amount of currently. 3D polygonal characters is likely the reason the game is able to run so fast and smoothly, and hopefully means it will work on a wide range of devices. I'm happy to see that the game has been confirmed, and I think it's looking pretty great so far. We'll bring you any new information on Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 as soon as it's available.

We're not entirely sure what to make of this, but here's what we know so far:

Sega has been teasing the reveal of "Project Needlemouse" since September of last year, which we found out tonight was officially an episodic sequel to Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles to be released on WiiWare, PSN, XBOX Live Arcade, and a yet to be revealed mystery platform. Sonic 4 is abandoning the 3D platforming that has plagued recent Sonic games and going back to its 2D roots as you can see in the following trailer:

Where things get crazy is when it comes to a few details which will be unlocked when a few different timers hit zero on the Sonic 4 web site. According to SonicStadium.org and a post on NeoGAF, finding out what lies behind promo1_locked.png and promo2_locked.png on the web site was as simple as removing the "_locked" from the URL. Of course these files are nowhere to be found now, but here are the two images that allegedly were found on Sega's servers:

Now, it's entirely possible we're being pranked here, but, at the same time, Sega is revealing a fourth platform that the game will be on soon. Episodes of Sonic 4 are obviously being distributed digitally, and aside from the Wii, PS3, and XBOX 360, there really only is the DSi, PSP, and iPhone left that Sega would even conceivably release the game on... So, if nothing else, we've got a 1 in 3 chance of seeing Sonic 4 on the App Store.

The entire internet seems to be in a frenzy today regarding the unannounced Apple Tablet. Between the CEO of publisher McGraw-Hill confirming its existence and Daily Finance already reporting on things they don't like about it, speculation, rumors, rants, and questions which won't be answered until Steve takes the stage tomorrow are running rampant.

This morning, Stand Alone Inc announced their intentions to bring Crosswords [$9.99] to the rumored Apple tablet device. While they may be jumping the gun a little bit, announcing a game for a device which hasn't even been officially announced, Stand Alone does have a fair amount of street cred' in tablet application development. They were a major developer for the now defunct Apple Newton and authored an impressive library of software for the Newton, which is still available online.

Crosswords is among the better crossword games available on the App Store, and is one of the few games which has lived on my phone since its initial release in 2008. If the Apple tablet does run the iPhone OS as many are speculating, and it has either its own associated App Store or operates off the existing App Store, we expect this will be the first of an avalanche of announcements of software coming to the device.

Apple's keynote begins tomorrow at 10:00 AM Pacific, and will be covered live by nearly every tech-related web site. We will be providing live updates with anything that pertains to gaming, regardless of what is announced, and if Apple's tablet does end up serving as a gaming device, expect tablet game coverage to supplement our existing iPhone and iPod touch coverage.

The Apple rumor mill has been going absolutely wild with speculation lately on what could be in store for us at Apple's event on the 27th where some form of Apple tablet is expected to be revealed. From a gaming perspective, there have been several hints that App Store gamers could be in for a treat, with the Wallstreet Journal reporting that Apple has been working with EA to show off the gaming capabilities of the rumored tablet device.

Considering the mysterious delay in the release of Mirror's Edge, a game we got a preview of last month, with this recent news it may not be that far fetched to expect to see it as part of a demonstration of the tablet's array of games. Other developers have also been asked by Apple to produce versions of their games that are resolution independent, allowing them to seamlessly scale up to the presumably higher resolution display.

To make things even more interesting, Kotaku and several other general gaming sites have also been invited to the event, along with representatives from quite a few popular iPhone game studios. Of course trying to discern what Apple is up to by reading between the lines of rumors and event invitations is open to all forms of interpretation, but it seems the stars are aligning to a serious gaming announcement on the 27th.

We will have live keynote coverage of the event, and if the Apple tablet does turn out to be a gaming device, you can expect to see reviews of any noteworthy tablet games to supplement our existing iPod touch and iPhone game focus.

Most of you have probably seen World of Warcraft-on-iPhone claims/videos/mock-ups before, but this time it looks like it might actually be true.

Someone posted this YouTube video of World of Warcraft running on an iPhone:

A few interesting things to note. The game is running in the Vollee client, an application from a mobile company whose main purpose is to develop software to allow mobile 3G phones to play CPU intensive PC applications over the network. From an interview:

Through the VolleeX engine, we can take full PC games, MMOs or even virtual worlds and stream them to any 3G enabled handsets. This means that you can now access games or full persistent online worlds right from your mobile handset. It's a real step forward for mobile games as you can now have meaningful connected experiences on your handset.

Vollee's first public demonstration of the product showed off Second Life on a mobile phone. Vollee has announced a partnership with ActivisionBlizzard making a World of Warcraft port a possibility -- one that people have been speculating about for some time. And as a final piece to the puzzle, Vollee said back in 2008 that they will be supporting the iPhone.

When questioned about the functionality of the app, the poster of the video claims it's a "fully working app."

So, there you have it... a very convincing video (or a very intricate hoax).

Thanks MICHAELSD

Last week we published an article about upcoming iPhone gaming controllers. Specifically, we recapped the iControlPad project, but also published a diagram (see right) of what appeared to be another gaming controller for the iPhone that was in development.

The original image had been submitted anonymously and simply claimed that testing would begin in October. Some commenters from the original discussion were concerned that these controller pads would be relegated to jailbroken iPhones only due to lack of official SDK support.

A new image that we've received, however, suggests that this upcoming iPhone controller is actually from major accessory manufacturer Belkin and does indeed have official App Store support:

The ad copy promotes using the Joypod to squeeze the most out of your iPhone or iPod Touch to play App Store games in the easiest way. Other features listed include:

If all true, then Belkin's involvement certainly suggests that Apple will be building support into the official SDK to allow App Store games to take full advantage of these controllers.

Update: Belkin denies the rumor.