PlayStation 3 owners have grown immune to outrageous rumors, and now Xbox 360 is getting a taste of its own medicine. Recently a rumor was started that Gears of War was coming to PS3, and Epic Games' Mark Rein didn't hesitate to make a statement:

"This story is complete bull****. I emailed the site and asked them to take it down. We're very happy with our relationship with Microsoft. If it weren't for them Gears wouldn't be the huge hit it has become."

I wonder how well Gears of War would sell on PS3, since most PS3 owners I know swear that the game of the year was shit compared to their beloved Resistance: Fall of Men. Although, it probably won't be much longer until we hear more about Epic Games bringing their game to the PC.

As the chief designer of Silent Hill 5, Masashi Tsuboyama has been closely watched over in the last few months. In a recent interview he confirmed that the Xbox 360 still hasn't been ruled out yet, and that a multi-platform release will be discussed. Despite Nintendo's overwhelming console sales, he did say that Silent Hill 5 will most likely not come to the Wii due to its family oriented audience of gamers. No surprise there, what I'm more worried about though, is that Silent Hill 5 is probably nowhere near complete or even playable if they still seem so unsure of which current generation consoles it may or may not be released on. Although, he did hint that we might see a trailer at this year's E3 in July, so another month and a half of waiting won't hurt.

Here's a new Japanese trailer for Eternal Sonata, showing the fast paced gameplay. It's hard to know what's going on for sure, but the interface looks simple enough, with attack and movement commands at the bottom, energy bars to the side, and life at the top of the screen. The enemies are entertaining, and their shape-shifting when provoked makes them even more intriguing. We get a sneak peak at an extra photography feature in the game, and then see several more stunning combo attacks. Eternal Sonata is expected to be released in America in August, but if you pre-order it from Gamestop now, you'll get one of the five new limited edition custom Xbox 360 faceplates for free.

The highly anticipated Mass Effect is still months away from its expected September release, and I'll take whatever updates BioWare will give. These new pictures of the science fiction action RPG aren't as revealing as the ones we saw in February, although there's a piece of concept art included in this update. There's also a recent interview with Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk about the game's progress. They've managed to fit their entire galaxy-sized game, including over one hundred voice acted characters, on just one DVD. However, they suggest they'll release downloadable extra content in between each game of the trilogy that they're calling the "best game BioWare has ever done."

With Halo 3's beta gaining lots of attention, and its September 25th release slowly approaching, the Halo movie hopes are being raised once again:

"That ever-elusive Halo film may soon see the light of day, according to attached producer and Hobbit scholar Peter Jackson, but that he'll only do it if Neill Blomkamp stays on as director."

Peter Jackson thinks that Halo 3's sales will speak loudly and get everybody to rethink letting this cinematic opportunity pass by. With the Legendary Edition costing $130, Microsoft and Bungie might as well finance the movie themselves, and release it as a straight-to-DVD film that costs some other outrageous price that we'll still eagerly pay to see.

This new video shows us the many ways to torture the other people inhabiting the underwater city in BioShock. Had you been wondering how to electrocute  a nurse or how many hits to the head wit ha wrench it takes to kill a janitor, this videos of short clips edited together has examples for every bloody and fiery death in the game. I like how you can use wet spots in a level to electrocute several seemingly harmless enemies all at once. If the goal of Irrational Games is to make us feel like an aquatic asshole before even playing their game, they're doing a great job. The flooding levels look intense though, I'll kill as many big daddies as it takes to beat this game when it comes out in August for Xbox 360. For more brutal imagery, check out the new pictures below.

Aside from Halo and Halo 2, Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay was one of the few games that Xbox owners tried to brag about. With great graphics for its time, and surprisingly fun gameplay, we were able to forget about Vin Diesel's terrible movies and just enjoy the action and adventure in this first person shooter. According to the UK magazine MCV, a remake is in early development, with Starbreeze planning to bring it to both the Xbox 360 and PS3. On top of better graphics, players will also get to play through extendd single player campaigns and online multiplayer. Starbreeze also worked on The Darkness, which will come out next month for PS3 and 360, so we can use that to judge what they're capable of so far with next generation possibilities.

Also, is it time to start calling it current generation yet? Now that PS2 has finally peaked with several awesome games released in the last year, I think it's time to make the change.

The original Xbox had many gamers eager to mod it. I've seen more PC-to-Xbox-to-TV chaotic cable arrangements in college dorm rooms then I can remember. If you're one of the people who decided to mod your Xbox 360 as well, then you might be in trouble if you enjoy playing on Xbox Live. After participating in the Halo 3 beta gameplay online, many are reporting that they're seeing the message above, followed by "Status Code: Z: 8015 - 190D" which is George Lucas speak for "your console has been banned from Xbox Live." So be warned, their zero tolerance policy for modded consoles connecting online is more than just scare tactics. I can imagine some gamers are furious, having to wait an extra day to get access to the Halo 3 beta, only to find it was a trap and now they're kicked off for good. Sux 2BU!

Rockstar has announced Midnight Club: Los Angeles, its fourth racing game in the series. Aside from announcing that Rockstar's San Diego studio would be working on the new game, they don't have many details or any pictures for us yet, but they did say that it will come out in early 2008 for both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

After getting "DUB Edition" as the third game, Midnight Club: LA is a bit boring for the fourth title. They should build the excitement factor up a little more, like Midnight Club: LA Playas Edition. Although then the Spanish people might expect a nighttime beach racer, that could be misconstrued as false advertising. All Rockstar would mention for gameplay is that they plan to redefine the genre and include completely immersive racing offline and online, or in other words, they'll probably just make the graphics more pretty with more car customization.

All the commotion over the upcoming Halo 3 beta makes it feel like some sort of Gamers' Suffrage movement just ended. Bungie has been offering beta Halo 3 gameplay to a select few since Friday, but tomorrow at 8 A.M. Eastern Time (5 A.M. Pacific Time) the public beta download for Halo 3 will finally be available on your Xbox 360s. Here's a epic sized Bloomberg prediction: There will be lots of lag and timed out connections with fans bitching about having to wait a few more hours than they expected to get their hands on Halo 3.

To help speed up the process and cut back on the chaos, Bungie has an official guide here for you to read, that'll answer your setup, gameplay, and customization questions. Either give it a browse now or save it for tomorrow morning when you're waiting for the massive download, but you might want to at least take a quick peak at their weapons and vehicles and equipment pictures to get a preview of what's in store for you tomorrow. And if all Halo hell breaks loose tomorrow and you don't get a chance to play, don't worry too much, the open beta will run through June 6th.

The tips on how to set things up depending on whether or not you have Crackdown or not will help a lot of people, but the things I found helpful were the elaborate map guides for Highground, Snowbound, and Valhalla. Once you've gotten some gameplay time in, be sure to come back here and leave your feedback on which guns and maps you liked the most and least.