VideoGamer.com Rumour mill

A round-up of the juiciest rumours being talked about across the internet.

Welcome to the Rumour mill, VideoGamer.com's run-down of the big rumours currently doing the rounds in the video game industry. Every week we'll hunt down the juiciest stories and give our opinion on how legit they are. So, whether you want the ridiculous or the plausible, read on.

Splinter Cell Conviction delayed until late 2009

The Rumour: Ubisoft's highly anticipated Splinter Cell Conviction has hit some development snags and will now see a release late in 2009, or even later, having undergone a significant change in design.

Verdict: The source for this one is magazine Xbox World 360, which claims to have heard that Sam Fisher's next will now be hitting sometime in the festive period of 2009 or even later in spring 2010. Ubisoft hasn't flat out denied the rumour, but it has issued a "no comment". What's lacking is hard evidence that the delay is real. Given that the game is officially slated for a release before the end of March 2009, we wouldn't be surprised to see it slip until later in the year, but 2010 seems too far off.

Plausibility rating: 2/5

PS3 game community sites coming

The Rumour Sony's key games for the PS3 will be getting Bungie.net style community websites that will allow users to track stats and more.

Verdict: This one originates from Joystiq, where the author claims to have written the words "community website" down in his notebook numerous times while at Sony's pre-E3 showcase event last week. Although no real details were revealed, it makes sense for Sony to offer gamers something similar to what Microsoft and Bungie did with Bungie.net

We reckon this is a dead certainty and that we'll see community sites for all of Sony's big releases this holiday.

Plausibility rating: 5/5

The VideoGamer Show nominated for Oscar

The Rumour: Breakthrough internet video game show 'The VideoGamer Show' has been spotted by international critics and will be nominated for an Oscar in next year's awards ceremony.

Verdict: Spies inside the hush-hush awards show governing body have been in contact to let us know that word amongst industry luminaries is very good. We've yet to confirm that a Mr S. Hunter is indeed who he says he is, but his credentials seem legit to us.

To see for yourself if The VideoGamer Show is worth of an Oscar nomination, head over to the VideoGamer.com video player to watch the show for yourself.

Plausibility rating: 5/5

Have you heard something we haven't? Let us know in the comments section below.