Yesterday I received an email asking for my participation in a quick survey on the behalf of Netflix. These types of email are quite common and drew no notice until it began to ask console specific/internet connectivity questions. Last March, the rumor mill began to spin when Netflix released a similar round of surveys asking, if streaming functionality were available to the PS3 for a fixed fee, how likely would you use it?

In this batch of questionnaires, the offering by Netflix was a streaming disc provided for free. Without sounding too much like a spokesmodel, I am a Netflix junkie. The more ways to get my movie fix is great for me. *Fingers crossed*

At the beginning of March we had reported George Miller of the Mad Max franchise was planning a 4th installment to be a 3D animated film. While there has not been confirmation the anime project has been cancelled, industry reports and the Aussie newspaper The Herald Sun are reporting that scouting locations are underway for a live-action film.

Many of us here were hoping for the 3D anime to be green lit. With the possible cancellation of the animated feature and Mel Gibson being deemed “too old” for the live-action role, many questions now arise. First and foremost if Mel isn’t Max, who will take his place and how can they be mad?

[Digital Spy]

[Herald Sun]

Well, i thought we had heard the last of this, but it seems the Tokyo Game Show has brought this rumor to surface again. Yoshitaka Arai, the public relations head for Konami was heard telling the Japanese investor bulletin "Morningstar" the following:

"The worldwide demand for an Xbox 360 version (of MGS4) is quite high, and it is something we are currently looking in to."

Sounds like things are still hopeful for us Xbox fans out there, and I’m sure any fan of the series would love to see more people get the opportunity to play it. Will it ever come to fruition? Only time will tell, but keep your eyes pealed!

[Yahoo! Japan]

If you’re an avid JRPG player, especially a fan of Gust and Nippon-Ichi, you’ve likely been casting a longing glance every once in awhile at the super-crossover PS3 title, Cross (X) Edge. Perhaps you’ve even had moments of insanity where you’ve considered dropping 80 bones on the title when it drops this week, without knowing how to read a lick of Japanese, just because you knew in your heart that it would never come stateside and the gameplay videos looked so appealing. What? You haven’t?

Desperate measures aside, word on the streets is that this title has somehow managed to get through what would presumably be more licensing red tape than one should see in a lifetime and is now headed to North America, as Siliconera reports: “A trusted inside source tells me Cross Edge will see a US release by a company “we (i.e. Siliconera) know very well”.”

Chaos Wars made it stateside (with the greatest English dubbing a game has ever seen), so believing this news isn’t that big of a stretch. We’ll soon see if this rumor comes to pass!

[Siliconera]

Kotaku received an anonymous tip yesterday which contained the supposedly complete songlist for Konami’s upcoming band game Rock Revolution. Some interesting things to note are that these are all licenses, and no Konami originals (often the hallmark tracks of Bemani games) are included here.

The tracklist is a believable one, sporting a lot of generic tunes and familiar names to the American rhythm game scene (Foo Fighters, Fall Out Boy, Rush, and The Who). Some songs like “Detroit Rock City,” “Highway Star,” and “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” of course, have already appeared in Rock Band.

A few tracks are a bit of a surprise to see on this kind of list: Lacuna Coil’s “Our Truth” and Dream Theater’s “Pull Me Under” are some metal oddballs that seem a bit out of place. Overall it’s a solid list that will appeal to a lot of people, but at 41 songs, it’s just too little too late, if indeed it is the real deal. Hit the jump for the full list.

Read more!

I gotta say this is one of the more hilarious examples of wishful thinking I’ve ever seen. The folks over at Qj.net thought that Square’s DKΣ371 event may have been named as a twisted sort of 1337 anagram of the words “REMAKE 7.”

However, they note the name stands for the releases covered by the event (the Σ stands for Sigma Harmonics, by the way). So there’s a pretty fat chance that this rumor is true, but I got a good laugh out of it.

[Qj.net]

It turns out that Best Buy, Circuit City, and Gamestop have all slated Starcraft II’s release date as December 3rd of this year. It’s unusual to see multiple retailers agree on identical dates unless it’s been made official, so one can’t help but wonder why else they would choose it. 1up speculates Blizzard could announce this at their “Worldwide Invitational Event in Paris” this weekend.

[1up]

According to Kotaku’s Square Enix insiders (yes, this is a rumor), company president Yoichi Wada has put his foot down and told developers to avoid making eccentric games that they believe are scaring away their mainstream audience. It’s hard to guess what games he’s referring to in particular, but current speculation has been pointing toward The World Ends With You as a possible example. It would be a shame if this trailblazing gem became an example of what the company doesn’t want to produce.

One worry is that the company is relying too much on its old franchises, and some of those could become stale quite soon. Is there really any more room in the market for extra entries in the Mana and Star Ocean series? Can they rely on Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest forever?

[Kotaku]

It’s just a rumor as of now, but Joystiq seems to consider it a strong possibility. Harmonix has confirmed that international tracks will continue to be a focus for Rock Band’s DLC, and when someone asked about Japanese tunes the response was to wait “a little over a week” for future announcements regarding DLC. Fingers crossed! I’d love to see some Maximum the Hormone on this mother.

[Joystiq]

I have heard from a couple of sources I respect that there will be an announcement made by Rockstar regarding GTA IV in 5 days. This really should come as no surprise as Rockstar has announced several GTA games in early march, San Andreas included as it was announced on March 1 of 2004. As much of a tradition it is and as much as I trust this sources, I’ll file this in the rumor file.

Its also worth mentioning that it has long been expected that GTA IV will take place in London just like the expansion to the first GTA game, London 1969. As much as I would love a British GTA antihero, I think I’ve had it with the retro settings. And lastly, its also rumored, but my sources wouldn’t comment on it, that GTA IV will make its way into the Wii.

5 days, get the countdown going!