Subscription-based streaming TV allegedly on they way.

According to a new report from Bloomberg today, Microsoft is planning to partner with Comcast and Verizon to offer subscription-based streaming television service on the Xbox 360.

Citing sources "with knowledge of the situation," Bloomberg says that the company is in talks with two dozen networks and media service providers in both the United States and Europe, including HBO, Crackle, Bravo, SyFy, and LoveFilm in the UK.

The report falls in line with other recent rumors, as well as Microsoft's presentation at this year's E3, where they demoed Kinect-enabled television control.

Most importantly, sources suggest the announcement of the new services could arrive as soon as next week.

Even when we’re talking about totally different games, we still find posters bringing up questions about Guild Wars 2 – usually regarding Beta and release dates – and we’re not even ArenaNet. That has to say something about how much fans are wanting to get their hands on the upcoming title. While a release date is still unknown, it does sound like some will get a chance to play in a closed beta before the end of the year.

Currently, Guild Wars 2 is in a closed alpha test. However, the beta phase may be coming up as early as November according to a French site-translated Korean report, which was mentioned on MMOCrunch (which makes this almost like information from “a friend of a friend a friend”). However, Colin Johanson, the lead content designer, told Eurogamer that the closed beta would begin “by the end of the year for sure.”

While that might be good news, it unfortunately doesn’t provide any answers to when the upcoming MMO will actually launch. Apparently, ArenaNet isn’t certain when that will be either. The release date will, apparently, be dependent on how actual testing goes. Given that the game is taking some major departures from traditional MMOs, it makes sense that they would want to be careful to see how players react to the game, and discover if they need to tweak the game before launch. Extensive tweaking, of course, would mean a later release date.

This suggests that, much like Blizzard, they’re taking a “when its done” stance on release. Still, a closed beta this year is a “for sure” thing. We’ll take that. In the meantime, you can check out the Eurogamer article which has some more statements from Colin Johanson.

Co-founders confirm interest in the idea.

Dr. Ray Muzyka and Dr. Greg Zeschuk have confirmed that they're interested in a Mass Effect MMO.

Speaking to IndustryGamers, the BioWare co-founders explained that they're open to the idea of expanding the game's world.

"You never know," Zeschuk said. "I think once The Old Republic is done, we'll take a fresh look at the market. And we'll have learned a lot. While making it, you learn an enormous amount."

The game wouldn't come until after BioWare's other releases, including some projects that haven't been revealed.

"We're focused very much on The Old Republic, Mass Effect 3 and Wrath of Heroes, and all the other things we've announced, and haven't announced," Muzyka said, "but we also have the opportunity to look at our franchises in a way we haven't ever before. There are lots of new platforms and lots of new business models."

"It's one of the nice things about having these properties in our back pocket. If we want to use something we own as a source for a game, it's easy to do," Zeschuk added. "So yeah, you never know. We've got this giant product to launch, but once that's done we'll consider next steps."

Mass Effect 3 will release on March 6th for PS3, 360 and PC.

Valve co-founder confirms that he's "tried out" EA's digital distribution.

Valve co-founder Gabe Newell has spoken out about EA's digital distribution service, Origin.

In an interview with PC Gamer magazine, Newell confirms that he's "tried out" the service, and that he came away feeling neutral.

"I think it does some things well. I think there are still some areas where, as a customer, I'd like to see it improve," Newell said. "It's not that different from any other system like this. There are positive things and negative things."

Newell added that he understands that Steam can't stay on top forever, and that the company has to work hard to remain number one.

"I and everyone at Valve know that you're only as successful as what you've done lately," he said. "So the idea that Steam is somehow the answer to digital distribution ignores the fact that every two or three years, something is going to change dramatically."

Earlier this year, EA and Valve had a brief conflict over digital distribution, with EA commenting that Steam has rules "which are not imposed by other online game services."

Thanks, PC Gamer (via CVG).

Rocksteady addresses concerns.

Following last week's PC delay, Batman: Arkham City director Sefton Hill has spoken out to address the concerns of PC gamers.

Speaking at the Eurogamer Expo this weekend, Hill told Eurogamer that Rocksteady is careful to pay attention to the individual needs of each platform.

"We're really aware of all the different SKUs," he said. "What's great for us is we have gamers who are real console gamers and gamers who are PC gamers. I guess, generally, I would consider myself more of a console gamer. I do play more of my games on console. But then we have people in the office who are really hardcore PC players, and they will always pull me up and say, we need to sort this out, we need to sort that out."

Hill assured PC gamers that the game will look great when it is eventually released.

"All of the source textures and assets are done at a very very high res and we make them work on all the different SKUs," he said. "People will really love the PC version when it comes out."

As for the delay, Hill added that PC gamers will ultimately be satisfied.

"The wait will definitely be worth it. The PC version has just been pushed back, but it's only by a couple of weeks, so hopefully no-one will be too upset about it. We're working as hard as we can to get it out as soon as we can," he said.

The PC version of Batman: Arkham City is set to release in November. The console versions will hit stores on October 18.