Just when we thought two Star Wars MMO’s were enough for any fan rumours rise out of the murky depths of Dagobah that Sony Online Entertainment is working on a new one. SOE have already tried this once with Star Wars Galaxies - which had a brief spurt of popularity but lost many fans when it was decided to introduce a ‘combat upgrade’ - and Bioware are currently working on Star Wars: The Old Republic, which looks very tasty indeed. An “insider source” is now saying that a third game may be on the drawing board, which is apparently going to be casual-centric and will most likely be based on the animated Clone Wars series.

Ten Ton Hammer says their anonymous source confirmed the rumour at PAX, where it was said that SOE will probably use the same engine as their immensely popular browser-based MMO Free Realms. So, if we’re talking that casual – combined with its roots in the animated series – then it’s probably not going to be something to get overly excited about unless you’re pretty young or a casual player who happens to like Star Wars. Going for the casual crowd means that SOE isn’t trying to be a direct competitor to Bioware’s attempt, and by doing this SOE may pick up the players who don’t want to sink a lot of time into a fully fledged MMO but still want to play a Star Wars game.

Given the source material the game will most likely take on the look of the animated series, which may or may not be a good thing depending on whether or not you liked the look of Clone Wars (I didn’t). Even so, if this rumour is true and SOE can successfully replicate the appeal of Free Realms to the casual crowd then they may have a winner on their hands to make up for the disappointment that was Star Wars Galaxies. Either that or they’ll fail miserably again.

(Image source)

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• Bioware Announces New Star Wars MMO

While a Battlefield: Bad Company sequel was inevitable EA officially confirmed it today, along with a surprising new addition to the franchise - Battlefield 1943. While some fans will be disappointed that it’s not a whole new edition to the series it still sounds pretty interesting.

Battlefield 1943 is basically a revamp of Battlefield 1942, the original game that became immensely popular. Along with brand spanking new graphics the game will be available as a download on PSN, XBLA and PC. Think of it as ‘Battlefield Light Edition’, that will apparently only weigh in at around 350MB and have pricing along the same lines as Braid.

Up to 24 players will be able to duke it out in three different locales; Wake Island (a remake of the fan favourite), Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima. The usual assortment of period weapons and vehicles will also be along for the ride.

Bad Company 2, meanwhile, will return with the same humour and story driven combat; except it will take place in a much wider range of locales. B Company will be fighting their way through thick jungles, snowy mountains and dusty deserts. As usual they’ll also be blowing up everything in their way, which is where your handy trigger finger and a grenade launcher comes in use.

My personal favourite of the Battlefield franchise is Battlefield 2 (you can get the complete Battlefield 2 collection here), followed closely by Battlefield 2142. Some may hate the bugs and the Titans in the latter, but I’ve always been quite fond of the futuristic shooter. That is, until, I crash my aircraft into the very Titan I was trying to land on.

An earlier rumour that the next Metal Gear game would be for the iPhone has been confirmed by Konami. The game will - fittingly for the iPhone - be called Metal Gear Solid Touch.

Returning to the universe of Metal Gear Solid 4 the game will consist of 8 stages with the promise that more will be added at a later stage. The game will also take full advantage of the iPhone’s touch screen, employing the zoom-in text method for controlling the sniping function. Bonus points earned through the game will also allow you to unlock stuff such as iPhone wallpapers. It’s slated for a worldwide release in spring 2009.

Konami also revealed three more of their franchises that will be making the jump to iPhone; Silent Hill, DDR and Frogger.

With Konami on board the iPhone has gained yet more respect as a valuable new gaming platform. It has also given me yet another reason to try and save up the money to buy one.

Before I forget, you will be able to download Metal Gear Solid sackboys for LittleBigPlanet from December 18th (the dates have since been removed from the Hong Kong Playstation site, so we’ll just have to wait and see if this date still stands). These should put your mind off the next game for at least a week or two, plus they’re incredibly awesome.

I’m starting to think that no other Final Fantasy game will ever come close to beating the experience I had with Final Fantasy VII. I adored every second of that, working through it slowly because I didn’t want it to end. Since then I’ve played every Final Fantasy game released (barring XI) and, while I’ve had fun, nothing has beaten those first steps into Midgar. Will Final Fantasy XIII change all this? I doubt it, but it sure looks awesome.

These two trailers were originally shown at DKΣ3713 during the summer, but Square Enix has finally decided to treat us. While, for the most part, these trailers may be pre-rendered they still look pretty amazing. I’m just thankful that I’ll be able to play the game on my trusty old Xbox 360 (did I really just say trusty?), even if the trailers still say Playstation 3. I suppose its half right, as Final Fantasy Versus XIII (below) will be an exclusive to Sony’s console. This may give me a reason to buy a Playstation 3, although my poor wallet won’t like it.

Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy Versus XIII are due for release sometime in 2009, but bear in mind that this is Japan; as there’s no word yet on a European/North American release yet.