There was a whole lot of chatter regarding the next Xbox late last year, with multiple rumors popping up from a variety of sources, most of which indicated Microsoft is preparing to make the big reveal at some point this year.

Microsoft still hasn’t said anything, but that isn’t stopping the rumor mill from churning. A couple of new reports surfaced that once again suggests that Microsoft will be announcing their next-gen console this year, and it may have “six times” the processing power of the Xbox 360.

The rumors all started with a report from Fudzilla, which said that Microsoft has already begun production of the system’s GPU. The report claims that the chip, apparently called Oban, has a  “PowerPC CPU that is married to an ATI Southern Islands GPU”, and will be equivalent to a 7-series ATI card.

Following up on Fudzilla’s report, IGN backed up several of the claims. According to IGN, mass production of the hardware is expected to begin by late 2012, but the next Xbox won’t be packing a 7-series GPU–instead, IGN’s sources say that Microsoft’s next-gen console will have a GPU equivalent to ATI’s Radeon HD 6670.

Early dev kits are said to already be in the hands of developers, and finalized builds are expected to be released by August. As expected, Microsoft declined to comment on the rumors.

[Rumor] Next Xbox to have “six times” the processing power of Xbox 360 is a post from: The Inquisitr

Khloe Kardashian is shutting down today’s rumor that the late Robert Kardashian is not her biological father. The youngest of the Kardashian three went ballistic on Twitter today, hacking away at any suggestion that she’s anything but 100% Kardashian.

“The audacity you have to mention my father’s name like this! Should be ashamed of urself! I let a lot of things slide but this one is really low,” she tweeted.

27-year-old Khloe continued:

“YOU ARE DISGUSTING! (yes you know who YOU are),”

“Khloe is not his kid. He told me that after we got married, [...] He just kind of looked at me and said (it) like it was a matter of fact [...] He said, ‘Well, you know that Khloe’s not really a Kardashian, don’t you?’ And I said …’Okay,’ and that was it.”

“Khloe brought it up all the time, [...] She looked nothing like the rest. She was tall, had a different shape, light hair, curly hair. Didn’t look anything like the other three children.”

“This is the same woman who locked Kim, Khloe and Kourtney out of her house and wouldn’t let them see their dying father,” said the source.

“Robert did question the fact that Khloe was his,” said Ellen, “Any normal man would if they knew their wife had cheated on him. (But) he never would have considered a DNA test, he loved her very much.”

Khloe Kardashian Insists Robert Was Her Dad Despite His Rumored Doubts is a post from: The Inquisitr

Nintendo already has an app store of sorts available on all of its platforms, such as the Wii Shop, the DSi Store and the 3DS’ eShop. According to a report by The Daily, Nintendo is planning on launching a Wii U app store as well, one that may even offer non-game apps.

Citing a person “familiar with the matter”, The Daily says that Nintendo’s Wii U app store will offer a much wider variety of apps than what we’ve seen on Nintendo’s current digital marketplace. With the Wii U, you’ll reportedly be able to download apps from the Wii U such as MLB.tv, or even possibly web, email and social networking apps.

Considering that the Wii U controller is essentially a tablet, this makes a good bit of sense and certainly seems credible. Nintendo hasn’t exactly had the best track record with its online services in comparison to, say, Microsoft and Sony, so something like this would at the least help bring Nintendo in line with its competition as far as online features are concerned.

Source: The Daily (via Game Informer)

[Rumor] Nintendo planning to introduce app store with non-game apps for Wii U is a post from: The Inquisitr

It wouldn’t be a proper year in the gaming industry without at least one rumor regarding Half-Life 3 and/or Half-Life 2: Episode 3, and this year we’ve had several.

Recently there’s been rumor that Valve was gearing up to kick off an ARG (alternate reality game) leading up to an announcement of Half-Life 3. Not only that, people picked apart Wheatley’s speech at the 2011 VGAs and found what they believed to be references to Half-Life 3. Unsurprisingly, a Valve employee recently confirmed that those rumors are false.

Valve writer Chet Faliszek took to the Steam forums and denied the recent Half-Life 3 rumors as well as Valve’s supposed plans to launch an ARG. Faliszek wrote in the post: “You are being trolled. There is no ARG. Wheatley’s speech was set in Portal 2 fiction – that is all. There has been no directive from Gabe to leak anything. That is all false.”

Faliszek continued: “I just want to say this so there is no confusion. This is the community trolling the community nothing more. While it is nice to see people excited about anything HL, I hate seeing people be trolled like this.”

Well, there you have it; Valve isn’t going to be talking about Half-Life 3 or Half-Life 2: Episode 3 anytime soon. There’s always next year!

Source: Steam forums (via G4)

Valve writer shoots down Half-Life 3 rumors is a post from: The Inquisitr

Bombshell Olympic Skier Lindsey Vonn is fighting tooth and nail to quash rumors that she has a secret boyfriend, Mile High Miracle Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow. Vonn just recently announced, that after four years of marriage, she is divorcing her husband  Thomas Vonn.

This Sunday as the Denver Broncos were pulling off another late game miracle against the Chicago Bears, Vonn was sitting in the Tebow family box cheering on the star quarterback.

Evangelical Christian, Tim Tebow,  has previously announced he was “saving himself for marriage,” is no stranger to rumors he has been doing nothing of the sort by being seen hanging out with Vonn at the ESPY Awards and at various ski races. Vonn has even been shot by photographers Tebowing (bowing down in prayer).

Vonn’s representatives told Fox News’ Page Six, “Lindsey is just friends with the Tebow family. Anyone who is trying to suggest any more to their relationship is wrong.” Vonn herself tweeted, “Hearing a lot of crazy rumors but rest assured I am not dating Tim Tebow (or anyone else).”

Rumors have circulated all over the web suggesting a more than platonic relationship between Tebow and Vonn have popped up. There have been online rumors that Tebow is a factor in Vonn’s upcoming divorce.

Following Sunday’s game, Vonn wrote in the Denver Post: “A lot of people are wondering what’s up with me and the Tebows. I’m just friends with the family. I met Tim and his brother Pete at the ESPY Awards like three or four years ago in the gym — we were working out there. I spent more time with Tim and his brother at the V Foundation Golf Tournament, and this year at the ESPYs.”

Do you think Tebow and Vonn would be a good couple?

[RUMOR] Tebow “Saving Himself” For Olympic Skier Lindsey Vonn is a post from: The Inquisitr

Last week there were rumblings that Verizon was gearing up to launch a new web-based movie and TV streaming service in direct competition with Netflix. According to the last rumor, however, it looks like Verizon has a new plan to get a piece of Netflix’s pie: buying them out.

The news comes from DealReporter, which says that Verizon is “considering” Netflix as one of its options to break into the lucrative video content streaming market. Another option that Verizon had recently been considering was Hulu, but that deal is now out of the picture as the company pulled itself off the market.

DealReporter isn’t the only source talking about a possible bid from Verizon to acquire Netflix. Porter Bibb, managing partner at Mediatech Capital, said in a TV interview (via Bloomberg) that he’s been “hearing rumblings from inside Verizon that they are very serious about either Netflix or something similar,”

Considering that Netflix’s market value is now around $4 billion, down from $16 billion from July of this year, the idea of the company selling themselves off doesn’t exactly sound out there. The company has been struggling to recover from what was essentially a mass exodus from the video content service after the company raised prices and (unsuccessfully) attempted to spin off their DVD-by-mail service. Putting themselves on the market would be at least one way to sort things out.

What such an acquisition would mean for consumers is unclear, but investors seem to be interested in the idea; Netflix shares rose 5.6% to $74.85 in afternoon trading on Monday.

[Image credit: REUTERS/Rick Wilking]

Rumor: Verizon Looking to Purchase Netflix is a post from: The Inquisitr

We recently started hearing of rumors regarding the next Xbox and the PlayStation 4 (among other things), and now there’s a rumor going about that claims the Wii U’s hardware will be 50 percent more powerful than the Xbox 360′s hardware.

An unnamed Japanese developer, who is reportedly working on porting a PlayStation 3 title over to the Wii U, told website Wii U Daily that the console will have a processor similar to the one found in the Xbox 360, but considerably more powerful. The rumored specs are:

• Quad Core, 3 GHz PowerPC-based 45nm CPU, very similar to the Xbox 360 chip.
• 768 MB of DRAM “embedded” with the CPU, and shared between CPU and GPU
• Unknown, 40nm ATI-based GPU

The same source told the website that Nintendo is testing two versions of the console, one with 768 MB of DRAM and one with 1 GB. Like the SKU with 768 MB of DRAM, the 1GB version’s RAM is also embedded with the CPU.

Going by what Nintendo showed off in their tech demos at E3 this year, these specs don’t seem all that far-fetched. Still, you should take this rumor with a grain of salt until Nintendo gets around to hammering out the final specs.

Source: Wii U Daily

[Rumor] Wii U specs surface is a post from: The Inquisitr

Rumors regarding development of a next-gen Xbox and the PlayStation 4 have been going on since.. well, not longer after the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 were released. Over the past year, however, the rumors have been piling up, with reports of all kinds that suggest both manufacturers are gearing up to announce their respective next-gen consoles.

The latest in the string of rumors come from Edge, which reports that a source from within Ubisoft says that the developer already has access to “target boxes” for Microsoft’s next-gen Xbox. While not an actual dev-kit, the source says that Microsoft is getting ready to release full-on dev-kits to developers by the end of the year.

The report goes on to say that Microsoft may be aiming for a release of the next Xbox just in time for the 2012 holiday season, which falls in line with similar rumors that have popped up over the past few months.

Additionally, Edge reports that a “major” Sony studio has ceased development on PlayStation 3 titles, and is now focused entirely on developing for the PlayStation 4 hardware. Not only that, their source says that the studio has been involved in the development of the console’s graphics technology.

As usual, take both of these rumors with the appropriate grain of salt. We all know that both companies are working on their next console, but how far along in development they are is unknown for certain.

Source: Edge

Rumor(s): Ubisoft working with next-gen Xbox hardware, Sony studio focusing on PlayStation 4 is a post from: The Inquisitr

In news that will likely surprise almost nobody Kim Kardashian’s former publicist says the reality TV star staged her entire wedding to rake in a big payday.

Jonathan Jaxson says Kim:

“Knew weeks before getting married she didn’t want to do it.” Jaxton went on to add that “she’s never gotten over [ex Reggie Bush].”

Jaxson worked with Kardashian from 2007 to 2009 on the Elvis Duran Morning Show.

Apparently this wasn’t the first time Kardashian has staged events to make her life seem more “real.” Jaxton says he also staged “several of the moments that the world has seen of her, such as a ring that we alleged was from Reggie Bush.”

“It was calculated to a T and then it was leaked to a magazine” Jonathan revealed.

Adding a tiny bit of support to Jaxson’s claims are new reports that not only did Kim break off the relationship very quickly, she has already been linked to Lance Gross, her co-star in the upcoming Typer Perry film The Marriage Counselor. I know what you’re thinking and I agree the name of the movie seems fitting given her recent marital issues.

As I said in the beginning of this post, it’s probably news that surprises nobody but I have to admit I’m impressed with how easily Kim Kardashian has been able to control her image while keeping interest in her “brand.”

Are you really that surprised to learn that most of Kardashian’s shocking news was staged in advanced and then reported by her own people?

[Image via DFree / Shutterstock.com]
 

Kim Kardashian’s Ex-Publicist: She Staged The Wedding is a post from: The Inquisitr

There’s been a veritable flood of rumors and speculation on just when Apple will announce the iPhone 5, but all of that speculation could come to a close on October 4.

According to a report by AllThingsD, Apple is gearing up for the company’s next big media event on October 4. As you may recall, October just so happens to be the long-rumored date for Apple’s announcement of the long-awaited iPhone 5.

AllThingsD’s sources say that while the date may change, Apple is currently set to announce the successor to the iPhone 4 during the big media event. The sources also claim that Apple will make the iPhone 5 available to the public a few weeks after the announcement.

Assuming that the sources claims are true, the iPhone 5 will undoubtedly be the highlight of the event, but it will also mark the first time that Apple’s new CEO, Tim Cook, introduces a major new product from Apple – and it will also be his first public appearance after taking over the company’s reigns.

The iPhone 5 may not be the only big news we hear about at the event, either. There’s been strong evidence recently that another provider will be announced this year, with evidence pointing at Sprint. T-Mobile was previously a rumored candidate, but T-Mobile Chief Marketing Officer Cole Brodman was recently quoted as saying “We are not going to get the iPhone 5 this year.”

When the iPhone 5 is inevitably announced, do you plan to make the upgrade?

iPhone 5 announcement coming on October 4? is a post from: The Inquisitr

Square Enix hasn’t even gotten Final Fantasy XIII-2 out the door, and yet it appears they’re still planning for the future of Final Fantasy XIII, which has somehow managed to become its own franchise, apparently.

The publisher registered a domain name for yet another sequel, Final Fantasy XIII-3, late yesterday evening. The company registered the domain finalfantasyxiii-3.com by way of Corporation Service Company (CSC), a registrar that provides trademark services to various corporations, such as Square Enix, around the world.

While the domain registration by no means confirms that Final Fantasy XIII is getting another sequel, it does at least suggest there’s a possibility. It should also be noted that Square Enix did the same thing – through the same registrar, no less – with Final Fantasy XIII-2, which obviously panned out.

Assuming that they are gearing up for another sequel, I have to question just what in the world Square Enix is doing here. They’ve got Final Fantasy XIII-2 and Final Fantasy Type-0 (possibly) coming out next year. Meanwhile, fans have been waiting for Final Fantasy Versus XIII for what feels like forever, and there is no sign of that wait getting any shorter anytime soon. They have a lot on their plate, and I can’t imagine why they’d want to add any more onto it.

Let’s just hope that they commit to finishing up Final Fantasy Versus XIII before they move onto another sequel.

Source: Whois (via Joystiq)

Final Fantasy XIII-3 domain registered by Square Enix is a post from: The Inquisitr

The internet is absolutely ablaze today with rumors that Steve Jobs, former CEO of Apple, died today of unknown causes.

The rumors kicked off after a tweet from CBS’ “What’s Trending” Twitter feed, which read: “Reports say that Steve Jobs has passed away. Stay tuned for more updates.” Since then, the tweet was removed entirely from the What’s Trending Twitter feed, with a tweet that followed stating that the information was unconfirmed.

You would think that update would put an end to all of the fuss, but it didn’t. Since then, no one has come out and made a statement to confirm the validity of the claims one way or another, which has prompted some to believe the rumor could still be true.

Some are even pointing at CBS’ language in their update, using the word “unconfirmed” over “false”, to suggest there could be some credibility to the rumors – all of this sounds like grasping at straws to me, and that’s putting it lightly.

Granted, nothing is confirmed one way or another at this point, but there is no reason to believe, at least as of right now, that Steve Jobs has actually passed away – so for now, you can rest easy. Should this rumor turn out to be true, however unlikely that may be, we’ll be sure to let you know.

Updated Edit (Oct 5. 2011): Steve Jobs has passed away CLICK HERE for the full story.

Edited for clarity

via Gizmodo

Steve Jobs death rumors take the internet by storm is a post from: The Inquisitr

Considering that it’s been several years since we’ve last seen anything out of the Syphon Filter series, we were starting to wonder if there were any plans to bring the franchise back at any point. If the latest rumor is to be believed, there are.

According to the latest issue of the Italian version of Official PlayStation Magazine, a new title – Syphon Filter 4 is in the works for the PlayStation 3, and could come as soon as winter 2012.

This isn’t the first time we’ve heard something about Syphon Filter 4 recently. According to reports, Sony mistakenly published a page that more or less announced the title on their site back around E3, which they then promptly removed. Since then, Sony hasn’t made any mention of it.

The franchise has seen modest success over the past several years, particularly on the PSP, but it isn’t quite what it used to be back in the era of the original PlayStation. Sounds like a good enough reason for a good old fashioned reboot to me.

Assuming that the OPM Italy was correct in their report, we shouldn’t have to wait too long to hear some official confirmation from Sony.

via Sillegamer

[Rumor] Syphon Filter 4 coming to PS3 next year is a post from: The Inquisitr

Crytek is hard at work on Ryse, a Kinect-exclusive first person hack-’n'-slash for the Xbox 360 using the studio’s signature CryEngine, but it looks like they may have something else up their sleeve.

Internet sleuth extraordinaire Superannuation managed to spot something interesting in Crytek developer David Ramos’ resumé from LinkedIn. Ramos had apparently done work on an all-new first-person shooter IP that Crytek is working on behind the scenes.

Beyond that, little else is known. Ramos had the title as “TBA” for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC, but that’s about as far as the information goes.

You can slap a big rumor tag on this one for now, but it may be worth keeping in mind that Superannuation’s expert sleuthing skills haven’t turned up very much bogus information in the past. That, and the idea of Crytek making another first-person shooter isn’t exactly the most far-fetched thing in the world.

[Rumor] Crytek working on brand new first-person shooter IP? is a post from: The Inquisitr

If the above Blockbuster flyer picked up by IGN is to be believed, Sony’s PlayStation Vita could be released as soon as this October in the UK – and, we, assume, the rest of the world at around the same time.

The flyer was sent in to IGN by, of course, an anonymous reader from the UK. IGN haven’t been able to verify the ad’s authenticity and so far neither Blockbuster nor Sony has sent out a comment, so take this one with a couple grains of salt.

Whether or not the ad turns out to be real or not, however, a release around that time isn’t exactly unlikely. When the PlayStation Vita was formally announced at E3 last month, Sony had it pegged down for a release later this year or early 2012.

Gamescom is coming up in August, so it’s possible we might hear a little something about a release date once that kicks off. If not Gamescom, there’s also Tokyo Game Show right in behind, so chances are we’ll be hearing at least something soon.

via Joystiq

[Rumor] PlayStation Vita releasing this October? is a post from: The Inquisitr

UPDATE: According to a report by MIC Gadget, the Mac OS X Lion release date is tomorrow, July 15. Their sources state that Apple stores in China are prepping for “overnight setup” – which, for the uninitiated, means that the launch of something is imminent. We’ll continue to update this post if any new information comes in.

According to a report from 9to5 Mac, Apple will be releasing new MacBook Airs and MacBook Minis with Apple’s latest OS, Mac OS X Lion, sometime this month.

The report originally pinned the launch of the new MacBook Airs, as well as the launch of the latest OS, on July 14. Considering that July 14 today and Apple hasn’t made an announcement, it seems that part of the report turned out to not be true.

9to5 insists their source is accurate, however, and that the launch could have been pushed back for some unknown reason. To further back the story up – or add confusion – SpeakApple also managed to intercept information from a source close to Apple that suggested Mac OS X Lion would be launching at 12 AM today in the UK.

The launch of the new OS was reportedly to take place after the scheduled downtime, but that obviously didn’t happen, either. All SpeakApple could say is that “Apple seems to have delayed the launch this time.”

The launch date of these new products is still up in the air, but the amount of chatter seems to suggest new product lines featuring Mac OS X Lion are imminent. We’ll let you know when we hear anything more.

[UPDATE] New MacBook Airs, Mac OSX Lion coming soon? is a post from: The Inquisitr

Over the past month, Operation Rainfall – a movement by Nintendo fans to get Xenoblade Chronicles, The Last Story and Pandora’s Tower localized in North America – has been picking up Steam, but Nintendo spoiled the party when they said the company has ‘no plans’ to localize the titles in North America. That may not be entirely true, however.

According to new information provided to Operation Rainfall by an anonymous source close to Nintendo of America, North American localization for Xenoblade is already complete, and The Last Story is next in line for a localization. Xenoblade localization finished up one month ago, and The Last Story “could begin in a month.”

Nintendo likely won’t be confirming this anytime soon, so we’ll just have to wait and see if this turns out to be true. I sure hope it does, though – as it stands, the Wii’s lineup this year is looking pretty grim.

via VG247

[Rumor] Xenoblade NA localization finished, The Last Story up next is a post from: The Inquisitr

According to a report from The Daily, Microsoft is planning on restructuring the Zune Marketplace as a subscription-based streaming service similar to Netflix and Hulu.

According to their sources at Microsoft, the restructured Zune Marketplace is set to go up sometime later this year.

Early last month, a rumor was making the rounds that Microsoft was planning on introducing a new ‘Diamond’ service to Xbox Live. Nothing was ever announced at E3 – although content streaming was a big topic at their press conference – but this would seem to back up Microsoft’s new focus on the media experience of the Xbox 360.

So long as the selection is good (and by that I mean better than Netflix’s instant watch selection), this could end up being a better alternative to the Zune Marketplace’s download-and-watch format. If this even turns out to be true, that is.

via Joystiq

[Rumor] Zune Marketplace being restructured as subscription-based streaming service is a post from: The Inquisitr

It looks like Activision has something more planned for GoldenEye. Internet sleuth extraordinaire, @supererogatory, managed to fish out a couple of recently-registered GoldenEye-related domains.

Activision registered four domains: GoldeneEyeReloadedGame.com, GoldenEye007GameReloaded.com, GoldenEyeReloaded007.com and GoldenEye007Reloaded.com.

The most likely scenario here is that Activision intends to port over GoldenEye from the Wii. As @supererogatory points out in a later tweet, the 007 logo can be found during Sony’s Move presentation at this year’s E3. Putting two and two together, my money’s on a GoldenEye Wii port utilizing the PlayStation Move.

The less likely but way more exciting alternative is that Rare, with their new owner Microsoft, managed to jump through the myriad of legal loopholes to get the rights to port the original N64 version of GoldenEye. This is extremely unlikely, but I suppose it’s not out of the realm of possibility.

This is all speculation, mind you. The only thing we know for sure is that Activision registered GoldenEye-related domains for who knows what reason. We won’t know just what Activision is up to until they come out and gives it an official announcement.

via VG247

Activision Registers ‘GoldenEye 007 Reloaded’ Domains is a post from: The Inquisitr

You don’t exactly have to be a video game industry analyst like Michael Pachter to know that Grand Theft Auto V is coming at some point. After all, Grand Theft Auto IV managed to sell a very impressive 6 million copies worldwide in its first week alone. And now, rumors are starting to surface that Rockstar Games is, in fact, working on Grand Theft Auto V. Come on, at least act surprised.

According to GameSpot’s sources, development on the title is already “well under way”, and a 2012 release is “pretty likely.”

Back in March of this year, a casting call popped up on the Actors Pages website for a character known as James Pedeaston, which you may or may not remember as the host of the Wild Traveler Show on the WCTR radio station in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

As per usual, take this rumor as.. well, a rumor. A rumor that is very likely to be true, but a rumor nonetheless.

[Rumor] Development On Grand Theft Auto V is “Well Under Way” is a post from: The Inquisitr