The Rumour Mine: iSlate, Zune Phone, and Plants vs. Zombies

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars has dominated talk this week, but I'll give you one guess as to what will garner all the attention next week. That, my friends, leads our rumours for this second instalment.

Tabula rasa: Apple's big iSlate reveal

Barring some unexpected announcement of a new iPod shuffle at Apple's press event next week, all eyes and ears are at attention for one of the most anticipated reveals since the first generation iPhone. There's no downplaying this one, boys and girls.

Apple has been pretty good about keeping the hard details quiet, but its game development partners haven't. While we haven't heard much in the way of hardware specifications - apart from PocketGamer.biz's recent ARM scoop - we do know that game makers are on-board to supply the snazzy new device with (hopefully) killer titles.

EA will be supporting iSlate in a big way. Tetris is going to be there for sure, as well as other noted mainstream franchises. A big screen touch-enabled iteration of Command & Conquer would be ideal, as we recently noted. Don't expect, however, any original games from the titan publisher.

Gameloft is expected to show its enthusiasm for the device too. Social gaming experts SGN have plans for iSlate that were hinted at earlier. Even Ubisoft may take the plunge by bringing its touch-controlled real-time strategy game R.U.S.E. to the platform. And what about Freeverse's epic space game Warpgate. That would look good iSlate-sized.

Despite all of the buzz though, expect many established game developers and iPhone experts to sit back. Activision, which just joined the iPhone club, is unlikely to bite. Square Enix won't be there at the start. ngmoco will be sticking with iPhone and iPod touch for the time being.

We'll have full coverage of the event on Wednesday.

Welcome to the social Zune Phone

The idea of a Zune-branded mobile phone has been floating around for awhile, but it got a kick following the positive buzz surrounding Google's powerful Nexus One handset. Microsoft apparently wants to take from Google's playbook and design a device of its own with Zune at its backbone.

Like Google did with Nexus One, Microsoft would be in charge of designing the features while a hardware manufacturer would actually build the device. If this strategy sounds familiar, it was the same used in the development of Xbox 360. Hopefully, the company wouldn't rush hardware testing like it did with that console because things didn't fare so well in terms of quality.

Still, Microsoft believes in the potential of a Zune-enabled phone that could offer both telephony functionality with multimedia potential to rival Apple's iTunes.

Once you've stopped laughing, consider the evidence. According to reporting from Ars Technica the launch of Windows Mobile 7 later this year supposedly comes in different flavours for home use, business, and even media viewing. That last media configuration is the one that caught our attention - support for 720p video, Silverlight, Xbox Live, and other features are prime for gaming.

Microsoft is always keen on having new hardware to show off new versions of its Windows operating system, so why should it be any different with Windows Mobile? Some speculation puts a Zune Phone announcement at Mobile World Congress next month, but we're less bullish and see something later in the year or 2011.

Plants vs. Zombies needs more time to grow

Should you ever cultivate a garden, you're bound to learn that plants grow on their own time. You can encourage them with fertilisers and water, yet there's only so much you can do - they sprout on their clock. Apparently, zombies are the same way too because PopCap's strategy game is going to take a little longer than expected.

Plants vs. Zombies is just barely going to miss its pledged late January release, sources have divulged. Don't get discourage, though, because the game will be out soon enough: mid February is the new date and word has it that the release is firm.

That's just as well since we're still busy pedalling smack and escorts on Liberty City street corners.