Designed by third party maker Performance Designed Products (PDP), the Gametrak Freedom comes bundled with mini-game title Squeeballs: Island Party. Yours for $US69.99.

Instead of one sensor bar like the Wii uses, Gametrak Freedom uses two sensors that are placed on either side of your TV. Expect the PS3 to get a Gametrak controller sometime in 2010.

Squeeballs: Island Party with Controller [EBGames Thanks, jrey508!]

We had a partial list of confirmed bands when the game’s release date was announced Tuesday. NME’s web presence posted the list earlier today; they didn’t say how they’d gotten it. But if it’s accurate, then it’s quite a range (Iron Maiden to Elton John) and a hell of a long list. Let’s also note that this doesn’t specify whether all these bands are on the retail release, if some are available later through DLC, or if any are not part of GH5 but considered part of the game because the songs were part of earlier versions. It’s just a list of bands, in other words.

Band Of Horses
Bush
Darkest Hour
Blur
Kiss
Blink-182
Iron Maiden
Wild Cherry
Muse
The White Stripes
Jimmy Eat World
Bob Dylan
Gorillaz
Beastie Boys
The Raconteurs
Coldplay
Duran Duran
Tom Petty
Nirvana
Public Enemy Featuring Zakk Wylde
Queens Of The Stone Age
The Sword
AFI
Rush
Doors Down
Smashing Pumpkins
David Bowie
Mötley Crüe
Attack! Attack!
Dire Straits
Johnny Cash
The Derek Trucks Band
Sublime
Wolfmother
Rammstein
Beck
Garbage
Billy Squier
My Morning Jacket
Kaiser Chiefs
Brand New
Santana
Bon Jovi
Weezer
Billy Idol
Elliott Smith
A Perfect Circle
Sonic Youth
Kings Of Leon
The Bronx
Queen & David Bowie
Screaming Trees
The Killers
Vampire Weekend
TV On The Radio
John Mellencamp
Scars On Broadway
The Rolling Stones
Stevie Wonder
Face to Face
Peter Frampton
No Doubt
Iggy Pop
Spacehog
Thin Lizzy
The Police
Children of Bodom
Elton John
Arctic Monkeys
Thrice
Rose Hill Drive
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
Deep Purple
Darker My Love
Jeff Beck
Love and Rockets
The Duke Spirit
Sunny Day Real Estate
King Crimson
T. Rex
Gov’t Mule
Eagles Of Death Metal
Grand Funk Railroad
Megadeth

Arctic Monkeys, Nirvana, Blur for ‘Guitar Hero 5′ [NME.com, thanks Josh and Mark]

As you can see, for a brief time there was a forum for something called “Halo: Reach.” A 2001 novel called “Halo: The Fall of Reach” is official, canonical, and functions as the prequel to Halo: Combat Evolved. It was also the basis for a spec script Stuart Beattie wrote for a Halo movie. Also, back in September, Phil Spencer indicated four Halo “things” were in development, two being Halo Wars, the Halo: Chronicles project said to be linked to Peter Jackson. A third can be assumed to be Halo 3: ODST, announced about a month after that interview. So is Halo: Reach the fourth thing?

The anonymous guy who gave us the search menu image yesterday claimed Halo: Reach is slated for Spring 2010, and this forum plus an ODST forum will go live June 1. Take that with a truckload of salt, but I guess it could point to an E3 announce for this Reach thing.

The site Skoar! has posted links to cached forum posts, on Bungie.net, referencing the slip-up. I took a screen shot (below) in case the cache has been cleared out by the time you read this. There’s also discussion of it on Halo.Bungie.Org.

Cached Pages of Halo: Reach Discussion [Skoar!, thanks Heliophage and JihadJoe343]

PlayStation Lifestyle took a look at the Slim Box, compared to the PSP Go Box, and thinks the Slim box is standardised enough that it isn’t fake, which gives credence to the pics of the hardware itself. Saith PSL:

The box has a strikingly similar layout as the PSP Go box. The logo on the bottom left hand side, along with the PSN logo, and memory capacity on the bottom right hand side. Also the Sony, and PlayStation logos in each respective upper corners. Lastly the coloured XMB wave “stripe” across the middle of the box with the PS3/PSP layered over it is the same on each box, just using a different colour for each box.

Not saying they’re fake, not saying they’re real, just letting you make up your mind with more information. And queue C&D from a Taiwanese attorney in 3 … 2 …

PSP Go/PS3 Slim Retail Box Comparison [PlayStation Lifestyle]

On top of that, someone managed to film the video and place it on YouTube. That’s below (bad audio)

In the video:

• Grand Turismo, LittleBigPlanet, Jak & Daxter and Metal Gear are all either confirmed or mentioned.
• The Go’s 16 gigs of flash memory and bluetooth support (”You can also tether it to your cell phone,”) are touted.
• PSP Go will not replace the PSP-3000; the 3000 will still be kept on the market.

So, there’s your garden-variety pre-E3 leak/rumour/big splash. Just the facts for now. Thanks to the dozens of tipsters who saw this and alerted us.

GCN Exclusive: Say Hello to the PSP Go [GamersConsoleNetwork]
Qore June edition [YouTube]

First details on the ICO and Shadow of the Colossus developers PlayStation 3 project may have just leaked online, just a few weeks before the game was expected to make an appearance at E3.

The alleged trailer for “Project TRICO,” by way of PlayStation Lifestyle, begins with a scene that might be familiar to followers of Team ICO’s work. The PlayStation developer teased the opening imagery in a job recruiting ad that ran last year. The rest will look completely new.

Project TRICO shows the interaction of a young boy who bears a striking resemblance to the lead character in ICO and a giant animal that looks part feline, part rodent, a giant feathery, furry thing that has clearly had its wings clipped. The trailer shows off possible gameplay mechanics that fit in with previous Team ICO games, namely cooperative platforming.

Project Trico – HD [YouTube]

If early data is correct, the movie provided a boast to PS3 sales in The Land of the Rising Sun. The week before FFVII: ACC was released in Japan, PS3 sales were 16,701 units. Apparently, the week FFVII: ACC launch, PS3 sales bounced up to 57,000 units — which could put the PS3 at the top of the charts.

Expect official confirmation when official numbers are released tomorrow.

DS「ポケモン不思議のダンジョン 空の探検隊」初週で約14万本を販売、他 [忍之閻魔帳]

According to sources with knowledge of the game’s development, Scratch: The Ultimate DJ has a brand new developer, with Bottlerocket Entertainment replacing former developers 7 Studios, who were recently sued by the game’s publisher.

With the LA Superior Court ruling this week that all intellectual property and source code be returned immediately to Scratch publisher Genius Products and an injunction against 7 Studios preventing them from discussing game code or trade secrets with Activision or any other third party, it appears that the publisher may be looking for a replacement altogether. Kotaku was told to expect a new release date shortly by a source.

Bottlerocket was most recently pulled off of Namco Bandai’s update to Splatterhouse, a project that was allegedly handed to the team responsible for Afro Samurai. That action resulted in alleged layoffs at Bottlerocket, as well as some public back and forth between Namco Bandai executives and the developer.

The ex-Splatterhouse developer was also apparently working on a game based on DC Comics’ The Flash with the defunct Brash Entertainment.

Representatives for Genius Products would not confirm the change in developers, only mentioning that we’ll hear more about Scratch: The Ultimate DJ in the coming weeks. E-mails and phone calls to Bottlerocket Entertainment went unanswered.

Looks like the “loose talk” surrounding vocal harmonising in The Beatles: Rock Band is spot on, according to retailer listings forwarded to Kotaku. According to retail game descriptions, the game supports three part harmonies.

That means support for three microphones at once, a new addition to the established Rock Band vocal gameplay style. Good thing the “limited edition” premium bundle comes standard with a mic stand. Now all you’ll need are two more, plus a beefy USB hub to support all those inputs.

The official description, as forwarded to us, defines The Beatles: Rock Band as…

The Beatles: Rock Band is the music game experience that allows players to follow the legendary career of The Beatles from Liverpool, to Shea Stadium to Abbey Road. Featuring the ability to play drums, lead guitar, bass guitar or sing three part harmony with up to three microphones, The Beatles: Rock Band will focus on authentically recreating the feeling of performing The Beatles music on stage and in the studio.

We’ve contacted representatives from MTV Games to confirm the news, but have not yet heard back on the matter.

According to the May issue of game mag Game Informer, rumour has it that The Beatles: Rock Band will support vocal harmonising. Makes sense! The Beatles music features vocal harmonising.

The publications gossip section rumourmongers that the game even makes it possible for multiple singers to belt out Beatles tunes, each with different mics. If true, this would obviously mean more armchair rock stars could sing at once, which could be a very good thing or a very, very bad thing.

When contacted about this, a Rock Band spokesperson replied, “We do not comment on rumours.”

Rumortoid: Beatles Rock Band to support vocal harmonising [Dtoid] [Pic]