Kojima and Square Plan Another Collaboration

Square Enix and Hideo Kojima are sitting in a tree. C-O-L-L-A-B-O-R-A-T-I-N-G. After agreeing to produce and distribute MGS Peace Walker figurines, Square appear to be brokering another deal with the legendary (if eccentric) developer.

Square Enix producer Shinji Hashimoto Tweeted the following missive- as well as releasing the incriminating photograph seen above. Whilst my (and Google’s) Japanese translation skills are a little rusty, andriasang reliably informs us that the tweet reads thusly:

“A new promotion with Hideo Kojima is set. Details will be shared at a later date.”

The fact that Hashimoto refers to the new partnership as a “promotion” suggests that it won’t be anything too major (maybe some more product placement or merchandising)…but you’d better believe that we’ll be keeping an eye on this one. The continuing cooperation between the two could well lead to something seriously exciting down the line. [andriasang]

ESRB Rate Sonic Adventures for XBLA & PSN

A couple of months ago, we intercepted some choice rumours about classic SEGA Dreamcast games finding their way to the downloadable marketplace- and one has finally made an ESRB appearance. The classic cross-genre Sonic Adventures (and its special edition DX version) has been rated for PSN and XBLA as well as an “extend package” seen on Xbox Live Marketplace. Sonic Adventures provided a different gaming experience for each of Sonic’s companions, ranging from to standard speed-based platforming to freeroaming ‘climb anything’ Knuckles levels that were years ahead of their time.

Crazy Taxi and Jet Set Radio have also been tipped to make a next-gen debut, but there’s still very little news on that front. It’s likely that SEGA are gearing up for an E3 reveal, though the cat’s pretty much out of the bag at this stage. Frankly, I’d love to get stuck back into these classic games with a comfortable controller- since the horrifyingly jagged and heavy DC controllers made for some serious carpal tunnel syndrome back in the day. [Joystiq]

News Update: Capcom Reveal E3 Lineup

Capcom has just revealed their E3 lineup to us. No real suprises here, but there’s a good selection of triple-A titles that we can’t wait to see in action.

Rumour Controlled: Valve’s Surprise is NOT Episode 3

Valve’s “surprise” E3 announcement sent the internet into uncontrolled excitement over the possibility of Half Life 2 Episode 3’s long-overdue unveiling… but Gabe Newell has spoken out to firmly squash this rumour once and for all. Replying to a user on the Halflife2.net fansite, Newell plainly stated that “is not Episode 3″ and went on to confirm that the ‘Freeman June 14th’ meme was completely fake (though we all saw through that one).

Consider this rumour controlled, terminated and crushed into a fine paste. Much like my hopes and dreams. [Halflife2.net via VG247]

BT Plans to Launch OnLive “Late 2011″

OnLive is set to launch in the States this week, but it’ll be over a year before it arrives on British shores. BT has announced that they plan to roll out the cloud-based gaming service in “late 2011″, but further details will be forthcoming over the coming few months.

BT secured the exclusive rights to the revolutionary new service earlier this year- and it’s likely that they’re waiting to see how well it sells stateside in order to fine-tune the networking and marketing strategy. In case you didn’t know, the service will allow you to play cutting-edge games remotely, using OnLive’s powerful computers to do the grunt work and transmitting it your computer via streaming video (thus allowing graphically demanding titles to be played on mediocre rigs with a fast internet connection). We’ve yet to see whether the service is truly lag free, but we’ll be interested to see