EA giving Battlefield 1943 vouchers to PS3 Battlefield 3 owners

"There have been some misunderstandings around Battlefield 1943 and Battlefield 3." That's according to a rather diplomatic missive posted on EA's support website. If it was your understanding, shall we say, that PlayStation 3 copies of Battlefield 3 would include a free download of DICE's downloadable skirmish, you may have been disappointed to find that freebie ... slightly amiss.

After deflecting the deal with a lame DLC consolation -- and hearing about a class-action lawsuit -- EA has decided to dole out vouchers for the MIABattlefield 1943. The process requires you to log in to EA's redemption portal,1943redemption.battlefield.com, with your Origin ID and request a download code for your region. Codes will be available for European customers as of November 26th, and for Americans on December 10th.

With all that done, you'd better find some time to play it!

Sony doesn't want to drop PS4 too long after Wii U and next Xbox

Showing up late to a party is just the pits. All the good bits of the Chex Mix have been picked out, everybody already watched The Room and you're often the only one sober enough to go right back out and buy more alcohol. In much the same way, Sony says it learned its lesson after letting a year go by after the start of the current generation before launching the PS3.

Speaking to Eurogamer, SCEE chief Jim Ryan, said: "I think we would consider it undesirable to be significantly later than the competition [with the next PlayStation]."

With Wii U slated for next year and the next Xbox possibly in 2012 (that is, if you believe the rumors), it looks like we could be in for a very interesting 12 months. Well, a very interesting 12 months capped off on Dec. 21 with the return of Quetzalcoatl, and ensuing end of human civilization.

But you can't start thinking that way. Yet.

Rumor: Kinect 2 to read lips, make french fries, soak up nasty spills

If sources close to Eurogamer are to be believed, Microsoft has some pretty lofty plans for the next iteration of Kinect. According to said sources, the "Kinect 2" will not only offer improved motion tracking and voice recognition, but will also be capable of all kinds of technical wizardry. Apparently, the as yet unannounced device will be able to read lips, detect the direction a player is facing and recognize his or her emotional state. If your current emotional state is "a little freaked out," we're right there with you.

According to the source, the new device will not utilize USB and thus won't be hampered by its relatively antiquated data speeds – a limitation of the currentKinect model. This will allow for the "phenomenally high res data" needed for the previously mentioned features (and perhaps others, presumably). In other words, Dance Central 3 may be able to objectively determine whether players are, in fact, too legit to quit.

'Whore of the Orient' is next game by LA Noire studio head

Team Bondi founder Brendan McNamara's next game will be titled Whore of the Orient, according to Australia's Financial Review. Little to nothing is known beyond the title -- which has already sent FOX News segment producers into a Bengay-rubbing tingly fervor -- with McNamara previously stating it is "one of the great untold stories of the twentieth century."

The game will be produced by KMM Interactive, the studio that picked up the broken pieces of McNamara's Team Bondi after it imploded this summer despite the success of LA Noire.

Designer imagines the next Xbox

Designer Joseph Dumary dreamed up this interpretation of the next Xbox console, which he calls the "Xbox Prestige." It's slightly curvier than the Xbox 360 Slim, suggesting it's from the future. It also includes a built-in "KinectIn" sensor for menu navigation and to scan cards for purchased games -- buy the card, put it in front of the system, and either download it or play it streaming.

Inside the hypothetical console is a 2TB hard drive for storing those games, and a tuner for live TV. It is, in general, much nicer than the real system will be.

Ezio's costume coming to Final Fantasy XIII-2 as DLC

Not content to sequester himself to his own game and Soulcalibur V's stage of history, Ezio Auditore is making an appearance inFinal Fantasy XIII-2 ... or at least his outfit is.

Ezio's Assassin's Creed Revelations get-up will be offered as a DLC outfit for Noel --Noel Kreiss. "Release details for this downloadable content will be announced at a later date," the press release notes.

If you're concerned about Ezio's Italian finery looking too incongruous in the world of FFXIII-2 ... you haven't looked at the other characters in FFXIII-2 in a while. Congruity is a limited resource in Final Fantasy.

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