Source: A report on specialist mobile site InsideMobileApps.com, quoting "a source with knowledge of the company's decision."

What we heard: Since the inception of Xbox Live on the Xbox 360, Microsoft has relied on its custom Microsoft points currency system to be the primary choice for all its online transactions. However, the system hasn't been without its criticisms, with a lawsuit over Microsoft's unused digital currency surfacing just last year.

According to the report, the Microsoft points currency will be phased out over the next few months and completely gone by the end of 2012. In its place, the software and hardware giant will allegedly begin to use real-world currencies around the globe.

The report states the move won't just be restricted to Xbox Live Arcade, with both the Zune and Windows Phone Marketplaces also making the migration over to real-world dollars.

Is it almost time to say goodbye to Microsoft points?

According to the story, Microsoft has already started informing mobile developers of the impending changes to its currency system and warned them to take it into consideration for future products.

The official story: A Microsoft spokesperson told GameSpot AU: "Microsoft doesn't comment on rumors and speculation."

GameSpot AU also contacted a prolific game development studio with numerous games on Microsoft platforms--whose identity has been kept off the record--who reported that it has not heard any reports regarding a change to Microsoft's currency system.

Bogus or not bogus: With the push for companies to develop universal platforms, it would make sense for Microsoft to want to unify its currency system under one umbrella.

If true, the change could be designed to appease mobile users, putting the Windows Phone Marketplace on par with trading practices that both the Apple App Store and Android's Marketplace abide by. Currently, users of Microsoft's mobile platform can use both Microsoft points and real-world money to purchase music and videos but not applications.

Without a doubt, this change would make buying content on Microsoft marketplaces easier to compare and understand.

Source: See below.

What we heard: Disney Interactive Studios' Epic Mickey fell short with critics upon its release for the Wii in 2010. Still, the game went on to sell more than 1.3 million units within its first month, and where there are sales, there are sequels.

Mickey may scurry out of the standard-def hole this year.

First, the information. Epic Mickey 2 is reportedly in development for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii, with a targeted release date of fall 2012.

Straightforward enough, right? Unfortunately, it's not that easy, as the source of this information takes as many turns as a Main Street electrical parade. The information entered the news cycle via GameStop-owned Game Informer, which spotted an article that appeared on Disney enthusiast website StitchKingdom.com.

Though Stitch Kingdom's original report has since been pulled, a Google cache-captured version indicates that the information comes via D23, the official Disney Club fan site. However, if the pointed-to article on D23 did indeed have word on Epic Mickey 2, it has since been scrubbed clean. Conveniently, Stitch Kingdom did copy and paste the purported text of the D23 article.

Disney Epic Mickey 2 is the latest game in the critically acclaimed Disney Epic Mickey videogame series. In this all-new action-platforming game available for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii, Mickey embarks on an epic journey and is pulled back into a world filled with Disney’s forgotten characters. Players can choose to play single-player as Mickey or for the first time players can also choose 2-player split screen mode.

In the 2 player mode one person can play as Mickey wielding magic paint and paint thinner to dynamically change the world and the second player can play as Oswald the Lucky Rabbit – Walt Disney’s first cartoon star – with the power to fly like a helicopter and use electricity to fight or friend enemies and solve challenges. Team-up and choose your path to save this forgotten world because the choices you make will alter the story and change the end of the game!"

The text did not indicate whether Warren Spector's Junction Point Studios will again be crafting the warped world of Mickey's darker side. Spector is best known for his work bringing the acclaimed Deus Ex franchise to market.

The official story: Disney Interactive Studios had not returned a request for comment as of press time.

Bogus or not bogus: Looking not bogus. Epic Mickey introduced a fresh take on Disney's octogenarian icon, one that consumers showed an interest in. And though the original relied heavily on the Wii Remote for its defining brush mechanic, both Microsoft and Sony have since introduced their own motion control schemes that could cater to Mickey's magic.

Source: Enthusiast gaming site Battlefield 3 Blog.

What we heard: Battlefield 3 has done what Electronic Arts had hoped it would, with COO Peter Moore saying there's no doubt DICE's first-person shooter has taken market share from Call of Duty. EA must now press that advantage, and it appears as if it may do so by returning to its sci-fi spin-off, Battlefield 2142.

As first reported by Battlefield 3 Blog, DICE included a small graffiti tag (pictured) in Battlefield 3's recently released Back to Karkand map pack reading "2143." The tag can be found in the Wake Island map. However, whether or not this figure portends an imminent game announcement or simply a developer teasing its fans remains to be seen.

Easter Egg or soon-to-be-demolished residential abode?

BF3 Blog argues that DICE has a history of planting Easter Eggs in its add-on packs, most notably Battlefield 2 Armored Fury. In that game, the site notes, the number 2142 was a recurring figure, appearing on the license plate of a car and in a billboard ad.

The site claims these teases predated the announcement of Battlefield 2142. However, the timing on that isn't quite right, as EA officially confirmed Battlefield 2142 in March 2006, but didn't release Battlefield 2 Armored Fury until June 2006.

Still, the number 2143 is tantalizing. In 2009, EA released Battlefield 1943, a stand-alone download-only shooter set a year after the original installment in the franchise. The Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, and PC game featured a number of maps first seen in previous Battlefield games. The game proved to be a substantial success for EA, setting then-Xbox Live sales records and going on to sell more than 1.2 million units.

The official story: "We love our fans attention to detail and hunger for more Battlefield but there is no news on this front."--An EA representative.

Bogus or not bogus: Tentative not bogus. If EA is looking to differentiate itself in the current landscape of first-person shooters (as much as one can differentiate itself in the current landscape of first-person shooters), time warping back to the future seems like a smart move. Plus, it seems highly unlikely DICE would include such a loaded number as 2143 without some ulterior motive.

Source: Day two of Kotaku's "insider" leaks on EA's upcoming plans.

Army of Four may be overkill, but that's just how these guys roll.

What we heard: EA's Army of Two franchise says it all in the title: two guys doing the work of an entire army. However, for the next installment in the franchise, EA may be calling in reinforcements, if Kotaku's latest rumor from an "insider" proves true.

Following on from yesterday's alleged leaks concerning Dead Space and Dragon Age, Kotaku's source claims EA will be rebooting its co-op-centric third-person shooter franchise to include four principle characters. The so-called Army of Four is purportedly being developed at EA's Montreal studio, with help from a few members of DICE's Battlefield 3 team.

In addition to four-player co-op gameplay, Kotaku's source said that Army of Four will be powered by DICE's Frostbite 2 game engine. This engine, which has been seen in Battlefield 3 and Need for Speed: The Run, is also said to be powering BioWare's rumored multiplayer Dragon Age effort.

The official story: EA had not responded to GameSpot's request for comment as of press time.

Bogus or not bogus: Looking not bogus. In April, EA job listings indicated that a new Army of Two installment is in development at Visceral Games' Montreal studio, so it's no surprise that this "multimillion-unit-selling" franchise will live on. Whether or not that includes four-player co-op remains to be seen.

As for Army of Two's next installment using the Frostbite 2 engine, there's no real surprise there. EA is clearly looking to get as much use out of DICE's praised proprietary engine as it can, as evidenced by its initially perplexing, but ultimately successful, implementation in the latest Need for Speed.

Source: A Eurogamer article sporting the headline claim, "Kinect 2 so accurate it can lip read," and a GamesIndustry.biz story penned by the director of consultancy firm Digital Foundry.

What we heard: The reports contain a few interesting pieces of information attributed to development sources, starting with the notion that the next-gen version of the Kinect--dubbed Kinect 2 by Eurogamer--will come with Microsoft's Xbox 360 successor and be able to read lips. The camera will also be able to assess a player's emotional state and determine which direction he or she is facing, according to the report.

What can we expect from Kinect's next of kin?

The GamesIndustry.biz story also cites an unspecified source with word that the Kinect "is set for a significant upgrade and has a very strong likelihood of ending up bundled with the machine." The story goes on to say that "it's also believed" Microsoft will offer two versions of the hardware at launch: one stripped-down box for the casual market (with a likely emphasis on the Kinect and streaming services like Netflix) and another for core gamers with supposedly extraneous features like an optical disc drive, a hard drive, and backward compatibility.

A new Kinect for the next Xbox should be all but assumed at this point. Microsoft has been placing an emphasis on the peripheral and the casual market it taps into since its launch last year. The software giant is also clearly working on improving the technology behind the Kinect, as evidenced by the upcoming PC version of the hardware, which will be able to keep track of objects just a few feet from the camera.

As for whether or not this new camera would be "so accurate it can lip read," that's a significantly larger leap. Much like voice recognition, the problem of identifying something as subtle and analog as mouth movements and converting them into actual words isn't simply a matter of throwing more hardware power or a higher-resolution camera at the problem. It will also require a number of software hurdles to be cleared. The new Kinect camera may well have a resolution high enough to identify lip movements, but whether it will result in any actual incorporation of lip reading into the console experience is a different matter entirely.

The notion of a two-tiered setup for the next Xbox hardware is likewise uncontroversial, as it's fast becoming an industry standard. The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 have been offered in multiple SKUs for their entire life spans, and the PS Vita will hit stores in multiple configurations as well. There's considerably more obfuscation as to how those tiers would be set up, and whether or not Microsoft would be willing to completely hobble its casual offering to hit a mass market price point right out of the gate.

The official word: As of press time, Microsoft had not responded to GameSpot's request for comment.

Bogus or not bogus: Not bogus that there will be a Kinect hardware upgrade and multiple SKUs for the next Xbox, but the claims of lip reading and specifics of the SKUs are a bit shakier.

Source: A Twitter post of an attendee at a college campus talk given by Electronic Arts president Frank Gibeau reports the executive confirmed Battlefield 4.

What we heard: Battlefield 3 is barely two weeks old, but Electronic Arts is already thinking about the sequel.

EA is planning a return to the Battlefield.

The University of Southern California held a campus event last night that featured a talk from EA president Frank Gibeau. If the Twitter account is accurate, Gibeau addressed the future of the Battlefield franchise, saying, "There is going to be a Battlefield 4."

The notion of another Battlefield game on the way is hardly surprising. Battlefield 3 was EA's biggest launch ever, shipping 10 million copies worldwide for day one. The game was well received by critics and sold through more than 5 million copies in the first week.

While more Battlefield is a foregone conclusion, the bigger question is when EA would release it. Activision gave its own confirmation of the next Call of Duty game yesterday, but unlike EA, the Modern Warfare 3 publisher said that its next military shooter would arrive in 2012.

In August, DICE executive producer Patrick Bach said in an interview that annualizing the Battlefield franchise would "dilute the vision" and "eventually kill the franchise." Battlefield is not quite a yearly franchise for EA, which saw two years pass between the release of 2008's Bad Company and that of last year's Bad Company 2. Battlefield 3 marks the first numbered game in the series since the release of the PC-only Battlefield 2 in 2005.

The official story: EA had not responded to GameSpot's request for comment as of press time.

Bogus or not bogus: Not bogus that Battlefield 4 is coming eventually, but when and how it launches remain to be seen.

Source: Ars Technica, reporting on anecdotal evidence of an uptick in hacked Xbox Live accounts.

What we heard: Between Sony's massive data breach in April and the summer-long shenanigans of LulzSec, cyberattacks have been the story of the year in the gaming industry. Now, there's a question as to whether that story is gaining another chapter, as what appears to be an increasing number of Xbox Live users report hacked accounts.

According to Ars Technica's report, EA's FIFA 11 and FIFA 12 soccer sims are two games frequently cited in the hacking incidents that it has been told about. The typical report involves gamers being notified via email that charges have been made to their on-file credit card.

Even hackers like soccer.

Upon investigating these charges, the hacking victims find that the perpetrator has downloaded a FIFA game, as well as large number of Microsoft points. These points are then spent on Gold Premium Packs and downloadable content for the game.

To further evidence its claim, Ars Technica points to a variety of forum posts and Reddit threads of individuals reporting compromised accounts.

The official story: "We do not have any evidence the Xbox LIVE service has been compromised," a Microsoft representative told GameSpot. "We take the security of our service seriously and work on an ongoing basis to improve it against evolving threats."

"However, a limited number of members have contacted us regarding unauthorized access to their accounts by outside individuals," the statement continued. "We are working with our impacted members directly to resolve any unauthorized changes to their accounts. As always, we highly recommend our members follow the Xbox LIVE Account Security guidance provided at www.xbox.com/security to protect your account.”

EA had not responded to a request for comment as of press time.

Bogus or not bogus: Not bogus that Xbox Live users have experienced hacked accounts. However, it remains to be seen whether this activity is part of an epidemic or merely a spate of anecdotes receiving more play than they warrant. What is clear is that Xbox Live users shouldn't take their online security for granted.

Source: Kotaku is reporting that Capcom has confirmed the existence of Resident Evil 6 during the Tokyo Game Show via a trailer shown at the publisher's booth on the show floor.

What we heard: In September last year, Capcom managing director Keiji Inafune told Spanish gaming site 3D Juegos that the publisher wanted to release Resident Evil 6 as soon as possible to capitalize on Resident Evil 5's sales success.

It now appears that Capcom may indeed be readying the latest installment in its lucrative Resident Evil series. Kotaku is reporting that a bystander at this year's Tokyo Game Show has captured on film what appears to be a trailer for the new game.

The trailer, which was uploaded to YouTube but has since been taken down (but can be viewed in the Kotaku report), shows a few brief lines of text followed by a title that reads: "Biohazard 6." The Resident Evil series is known as Biohazard in Japan.

The official story: GameSpot has spoken to several Capcom representatives, who have denied any knowledge of the existence of Resident Evil 6. Speaking to GameSpot, a Capcom representative said: "Capcom's official line on this is that we have nothing official to announce about Resident Evil 6."

However, one Capcom representative at the Tokyo Game Show booth told GameSpot that he was under the impression that a logo for Resident Evil 6 had already been shown at the Electronic Entertainment Expo this year (thus unofficially confirming the existence of the game).

At this stage, no one from GameSpot has seen the actual trailer and Capcom representatives are denying that it exists.

Bogus or Not Bogus?: [UPDATE]: Bogus for the moment. GameSpot sat through the entire presentation at the Tokyo Game Show and there was no mention of Biohazard 6. There is, however, a special Biohazard 15th Anniversary presentation being held at the Capcom stage tomorrow at 3:10 p.m. local time, where a "secret guest" has been listed as appearing…

Source: An age-gated teaser website operating under the URL CitizenSkywatch.com, spotted by gaming blog Fusible.

What we heard: Over the weekend, Fusible caught first sight of Citizen Skywatch, a bare-bones teaser site recently launched by Take-Two Interactive. A quick WhoIs search revealed that the site was registered to a physical address shared by Rockstar Games, sparking speculation among gaming blogs such as Joystiq that Citizen Skywatch could be the name of a new property from the Take-Two subsidiary behind Grand Theft Auto and L.A. Noire.

However, as Take-Two has pushed more content onto the Citizen Skywatch teaser site, it has become apparent that the teaser is in fact for 2K Marin's upcoming first-person shooter XCOM. That fact is clearly evident in message forum links that have appeared on the site that take users to 2K Games' XCOM message boards.

Citizen One wants you…to buy XCOM.

As for the teaser campaign itself, it carries a decidedly conspiratorial flare, offering the general impression of a 1984-esque police state with perhaps a hint of The Prisoner thrown in.

"The invasion has begun," reads the first post on the website. "Our skies are filled with the shadows of an unknown enemy: its origin impenetrable, its purpose inscrutable, its methods--incredible. The truth cannot be denied… yet our defenders deny it. The menace is beyond belief… yet we must believe it. Only those bold enough to face the truth possess the courage to to [sic] stand and fight. Register today so that we may remain in contact as new intel develops. You are the first line in the hidden war. Maintain vigilance and stand by for further orders."

The message is signed by "Citizen One," who is presumably the leader of the alternate reality-style game's populist movement.

The official story: Take-Two had not responded to a request for comment as of press time.

Bogus or not bogus? Bogus that Citizen Skywatch has anything to do with Rockstar Games. Not bogus that 2K Games is promoting XCOM with a hype-building ARG.