Normally we do not write gaming news on Saturdays or Sundays, but I found this to be really interesting.

World of Raids speculates that World of Warcraft’s third expansion might be Maelstrom. Kody of World of Raids reports that when he was logging in to do some dailies, he noticed that the “Test Server” tab was active on the realm list selection screen. He then found a server named “Maelstrom 3 Test” in this server tab.

This could mean that the next expansion might be Maelstrom-related. Blizzard might announce a new expansion at BlizzCon 2009 that is right around the corner.

Comments from Mike
I personally thought that the next expansion would be Emerald Dream, since there are a lot of quests and stuff involving the Emerald Dream. But we have to keep in mind that this is just speculation. I wonder what Hero class would be fitting for Maelstrom expansion?

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Square Enix has opened up a countdown site for their new unknown game. The site itself has some sort of “retro” music and scenery in the background accompanied with the number 4. Let’s see what Square Enix has in store for us!

Capcom has also opened up a teaser site for their upcoming game. This teaser site features numbers “1560″ accompanied with eerie music. It could be noted that this teaser site is accessible from Sengoku Basara’s (or Devil Kings) official site, so it could be a new game for the series.

Comments from Mike
It’s really hard for me to comment on this one. I have never played or actually heard anything about Sengoku Basara. I am more interested on Square Enix’s new game, which could possibly be a remake of something. Only time will tell..

Sources: IGN

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Max Payne 3 Screenshots Released

Rockstar Games has released 6 screenshots of Max Payne 3. This time Max is seen somewhere around Brazil and he has left behind the dark and depressing city life.

If you are interested on seeing these screenshots, you can find them here for example.

Final Fantasy VII Popular on PSN

The well known and loved Final Fantasy VII has been highly popular on the PlayStation Network.

Final Fantasy VII recently became available to download for Playstation 3 owners and it has already been downloaded over 100 000 times.

While touting the “power and interoperability built into the PlayStation brand,” Sony also officially announced additional PS1 games for release later this summer: Wild Arms 2, Mobile Light Force and Spec Ops: Stealth Patrol. It’s unlikely any of these games will even come close to what Final Fantasy VII was able to achieve.

Sources: GameSpy

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Things have been little bit confusing these past weeks when the rumors of a new Xbox console started popping up.

Destructoid had a chance to talk with Microsoft’s Aaron Greenberg and he stated:

“I can tell you that we are not launching a new console in 2010,”.

“We’re not going to have to require customers to reinvest in an entirely new platform,” he says. “We’re able to add [Project Natal] on top of what’s already there.”

“This will work with your Xbox 360 if you’re buying one today, a year from now, [or] if you bought one at launch,” he reiterates.

When asked plans to create a new SKU that would bundle current Xbox 360 consoles with Project Natal hardware, Greenberg states they’re still working out the details of how their “go-to-market plan

Now this seems to confirm that no new Xbox console would be made for 2010, but it could be speculated from Aaron’s speech that a new Xbox 360 SKU integrated with Natal could be released sometime after the release of Natal.

Comments from Mike
That’s pretty much what I thought when these rumors started to pop up. If you ask me, it would probably be too early to start making new consoles.

Few days ago we posted an article in which we told you about the rumors of a new revision of Xbox that would be released with the new controller-free motion control technology named Natal.

Microsoft has now kinda commented on the rumor. Microsoft’s Aaron Greenberg states

I think part of the excitement about this announcement is that in many ways we are delivering a next generation experience this generation. With that said, I can confirm that Natal will run on Xbox 360 so no new console investment will be necessary.

Although we already know that Natal will run on Xbox 360 as was demonstrated on E3, this still doesn’t confirm the possibility that a new upgraded Xbox bundled with Natal would be released in the near future.

Comments from Mike
Releasing a new and improved Xbox could be a decent way for Microsoft to get the attention of those people who don’t own an Xbox 360 yet. I doubt that this rumored new Xbox would be superior enough to the Xbox 360 for their owners to ditch their old console and get this new model.

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1UP is rumoring that a new Xbox might be released at 2010 accompanied with Microsoft’s new controller-free motion control technology named Natal. 1UP even states:

Earlier this week gaming blog Kotaku quoted Microsoft’s Shane Kim as saying that the launch of Natal, Microsoft’s new controller-free motion control technology, would be as big as the launch of a console. Not surprising. That’s because Natal is going to be a new console.

This new Xbox might probably just be a new revision of Xbox 360, not a new generation console. 1UP mentions that this new revisioned Xbox 360 could be compared to Nintendo when they made their leap from GameCube to Nintendo Wii. Slightly better graphics + Motion controls (or in this case, a camera).

It is rumored that this new and more powerful Xbox will have slight upgrades to consoles performance and graphics. Old Xbox 360 games would be compatible with this new console and it is also said that this console is going to be aimed directly at a mainstream audience.

Don’t start start jumping out of windows in excitement yet, these are only rumors and speculation!

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