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UPDATE: This has since been proven false thanks to the good men over at Pokejungle. Shame too, because Smugleaf’s final evolution looked great.

The day that all you Pokefans have been waiting for is finally here. Thanks to a leak via Japanese website 2ch, it seems as though the evolutions for the starter Pokemon in Black and White (lovingly nicknamed Smugleaf, Pignition and Wotter) have finally been revealed. Initially, I was hesitant to post the news when I saw it last night but, since then, Serebii Joe of Serebii.net has deemed it plausible enough to warrant a posting on his website and that is usually a good sign.

Read what Joe had to say about the situation and see what the starter evolutions look like after the jump.
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World of Warcraft’s newest expansion has been in closed beta for a full month now without a peep of a release date. Blizzard has said time and time again that they plan to launch Cataclysm this year. Blizzard’s lead game designer on World of Warcraft recently gave reassurance to the over 11 million subscribers.

“…the expansion still needs a couple more months.”, “…we are planning to ship the game this year.”

-Tom Chilton

Sounds like Azeroth won’t be ravaged until October at the earliest. World of Warcraft Cataclysm was originally rumored to launch before Blizzcon 2010 (Oct 22-23). Who knows? Maybe Blizz will pull a fast one and rollout patch 4.0.1 tomorrow.

worldofraids.com

Nintendo is working on the successor to the Wii, says president Satoru Iwata.

“We are of course studying and developing the next console to Wii. However, there is a big difference between studying a product and announcing what it is and when we will release it.”

“At the same time, it is really important for our business to positively surprise people,” Iwata continued. “Will you be surprised by our completed product if we told you how it is surprising three years in advance?”

“Therefore, we basically disclose information on our products as late as possible. We believe this is the best approach for the entertainment products we are developing. Again, we are planning the next products for Nintendo’s continuous growth, but we cannot tell you what, when and how we will release it here.”

To sum that up for you: they’re working on something new, but they think we like surprises more than we do.

http://kotaku.com/5604084/of-course-nintendo-is-making-the-wii-successor

Visionary director, Guillermo Del Toro, is working on a number of games with a “big game company.”

“We’re going to do games that are going to be technically and narratively very interesting,” Del Toro told MTV news. Coming from the man behind Pan’s Labyrinth and The Devil’s Backbone, that “narratively” part just got a whole lot more interesting.

Especially considering del Toro said, “in the next 10 years, there will be an earthshaking Citizen Kane of games.” Considering how genius his films are, we can make a safe assumption that del Toro will be the one to direct that game and it will be one hell of a game.

http://www.develop-online.net/news/35492/Big-company-game-deal-for-Pans-Labyrinth-director

Microsoft held onto Kinect pricing information during their E3 press conference today, butvideo game retailer Gamestop has listed the kinect pricing on their website. Gamestop is showing the basic Kinect selling for $149, a Arcade Kinect bundle for $299, and a Elite Kinect bundle for $399. These could well be simply placeholder pricing and should not be taken seriously.

At least lets hope that’s not the real price.

With just hours away from EA’s press conference a French fan site appears to of leaked a press release which confirms a new Battlefield Bad Company 2 expansion that takes place in Vietnam. The press release also outlines plans to launch a new program called the “Gun Club” which plans to offer members access to betas, demos, and content for titles like Medal of Honor, Battlefield, Dead Space 2, and more.

A Bad Company 2 expansion would make since considering DICE’s lack of upfront content support for BC2 since launch.

What keeps this news from being thrown into the “fake” bin is that the EA Gun Club link provided in the press release is legitimate. Check back here later today to see what develops.

Hit the jump to read the translated press release.

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This question has been picking at my brain since reading up on Bethesda’s list of games to be at E3. The magic four include Fallout: New Vegas, Rage, Brink, and Hunted: The Demon’s Forge. Interestingly, none of the four are actually being developed by Bethesda’s in-house team. So in that case, what is Bethesda Game Studios up to? The Elder Scrolls V? Elder Scrolls MMO? A new IP? Hmm…

Just a short thought to add to the already racing hype train that is E3 2010.

What are you hoping from Bethesda?

Many around the net this week are claiming Valve’s Gabe Newell has personally responded to numerous emails that are asking if next week’s big surprise reveal is the anticipated Half-Life 2: Episode 3. In one such email Gabe simply said, “It isn’t ep 3″.

Now rumor has it that there is a very good possibility that Valve will reveal the successor to the six year old Source Engine. A “Source engine 2″ (as forums are calling it) could defiantly be a possibility due to the current engine starting to show age. At this point anything besides the already confirmed Portal 2 is possible. Maybe Portal 2 is running on the new engine…interesting.

Whether or not this Gabe Newell is legitimate is still unknown. Either way, notice he doesn’t count out a Half-Life 3.

*Chills*

Andrew House, the European Playstation boss has confirmed that a subscription based PSN service is on it’s way, and that the details are to be revealed ‘soon’. E3 anyone?

The SCE boss added however that the PSN service “As you know it” will remain free. In his article over at the UK Playstation website Mr House referenced comments made by Playstations Worldwide boss last year in which he said to CVG:

“We are studying the possibility of introducing a subscription model, offering premium content and services, in addition to the current free services.”

“I can assure you that the current PSN as you know it will remain a free service,” said House. “It is something that our competitors don’t offer and something that shows our loyalty to the PlayStation Community.

“However, Kaz Hirai stated a few months ago that we were looking at a premium service to sit alongside the current free service and that objective has not changed. You’ll learn more about it very soon.”

A report by Joystiq on Monday stated that the service will be called ‘PSN+’ and will give subscribers access to additional bonuses without limiting multiplayer access to non-paying PS3 owners.

Allegedly, subscribers will have access to a  rotating list of PSP Minis and PSone Classics, exclusive in-game DLC, discounts on the PlayStation Store and “first hour” demo access to full retail titles Joystiq’s report said.

Also PSN+ subscribers are said to receive ‘Additional Protection’ for their consoles and exclusive access to the much needed cross-game voice chat. Pricing may be around $9.99 a month although SCE have yet to confirm this to any news outlet.

Is this a good move by Sony?, will PS3 gamers be prepared to pay for extra features also will they trust Sony in not casting the free subscribers into the shadows. Hopefully we will find out more at E3, stay tuned.

Well here it is people, the shadows that you have been waiting to see! Silhouettes of the starting Pokemon from Black and White. Wow.. I reckon that the left one is fire, the top one is leaf and the right one of water myself. But what do you think? Are you looking forward to another Pokemon game? Please tell us in the comments.

The full reveal will be made in the next episode of Pokemon Sunday, although since CoroCoro magazine’s next issue also has the scoop chances are we’ll find out way before the episode airs.