It's not even top-billing on Sega's Aliens tie-in release schedule! Sega's Mike Hayes has told G4 that the timing of CM's release is all up to how well the upcoming Aliens vs Predator reboot does at retail.

I think the detail of that [release date] is probably still too early. What I would say is it's unlikely that we'd launch anything within six months [after Aliens vs. Predator], but probably nine months, eight to 12 months possibly. Though we literally are looking at that at the moment and a lot of is going to depend, as well, on how successful AvP is at the box [retail].

Sounds...messy. See, Sega, this is what happens when you sign a deal to publish two games that are too damn similar to each other.

Aliens: Colonial Marines Release Date Depends On Aliens Vs. Predator's Success [G4]

Colonial Marines was first announced in 2006, then slated for a 2008 ship date. Later that was pushed back by retailer listings to mid-2009. But Pitchford said the game won't be coming this year.

He did say that along with working on Borderlands and Aliens: Colonial Marines, Gearbox is also working on two other yet-to-be-announced titles.

And the rumored DS version of Aliens: Colonial Marines? It's real but not being worked on by Gearbox, Pitchford says. It sounds like WayForward Technologies are indeed working on what they have called their spiritual follow-up to Contra 4.

A very official looking trailer for Aliens: Colonial Marines DS, one that requires a great deal of squinting, was uploaded to YouTube recently, giving us our first look at the unannounced game. Attached are developers Gearbox and WayForward Technologies, the latter responsible for Shantae, LIT and Contra 4.

Music aside, the trailer looks spectacular, a very capable 2D side-scrolling shooter that's packed full of what you'd want from an Aliens game: chest-bursters ripping through sternums and waves of aliens being turned into acid salsa.

While we'd normally be suspicious about a randomly uploaded trailer for a game we'd not heard a peep about, the trailer appears legit. WayForward employees write on their personal web sites about an unannounced "action game on DS" that's "based on one of the best licenses imagineable [sic]," calling it "WayForward's spiritual follow-up to Contra 4."

We're checking in with Sega and WayForward to see what's up and hope that the "shelved due to money issues at Sega" description is inaccurate.

Last November, rumors swirled that Gearbox had dropped Aliens: Colonial Marines — which Gearbox president Randy Pitchford dismissed.

In the late April issue of UK game magazine Powerstation, there's a teaser for the game. Make of it what you will.

Aliens: Colonial Marines guide may hit game mag next month [Sega Nerds]

Forget the sadly under-developed film franchise - a video game is where the two legendary movie monsters first face-off, and a video game is where the battle will continue with the announcement of a brand new Alien vs. Predator video game coming our way in early 2010. While publisher Sega plans on revealing further details at a later date, they have revealed that the developer behind the new title is independent developer Rebellion, the creators of the original Aliens vs. Predator first-person shooter that scared the living crap out of us back in 1999.

While this is very good news, it comes with a small dose of bad. The new Aliens vs. Predator will be the first title released as part of Sega's Aliens franchise, meaning that the eagerly anticipated Aliens: Colonial Marines isn't going to make its original 2009 release window.

"The innovative new AvP game presents an exciting opportunity for us," says CEO of SEGA West, Naoya Tsurumi. "It represents a fantastic addition to our growing Aliens franchise and the reinvention of one of gaming's most cherished iconic titles. By adjusting the release of our other Aliens titles to accommodate it, SEGA will ensure that every title lives up to the high expectations of Aliens and AvP fans."

Well I suppose if you are going to delay one game, announcing the delay along with the announcement of an even better game is one way to ease the pain.

Starting in June, Costa Cruise lines in Northern Europe and the Mediterranean will have an area called "PlayStation World" for passengers to play PS3s. There will also be PlayStations in the cabins, on the lido deck with a big screen hookup and in kids' and teens' clubs so often featured on family cruises.

According to an article on AsiaTravelTips.com, PS3s will be in the cabins with games on demand while the kids' clubs and stuff get stuck with PS2s feature Buzz! and other torture devices social games.

The cruise line also has a deal to sell Sony PlayStation products aboard the ship. Supposedly, they'll be getting "the very latest releases of the best known PlayStation video games."

So if you really want to play Aliens: Colonial Marines right when it comes out this June (or at least play it in style), it might be time to take a vacation.

Costa Cruises signs PlayStation Deal with Sony

A presser sent out by Sega Europe today has the game tentatively slated for a "Q1 2009" release. That's obviously not a calendar Q1, since then it'd be out before March, and is more likely to mean April-June, the first quarter of Sega Japan's financial year.

Not too long, then! Six months, at the most (KNOCKONWOOD).

SEGA confirms Aliens: Colonial Marines still alive [videogamer]

Originally appearing in PlayStation World UK, this preview - now up on Games Radar - reveals that the game is split into six chapters, and that in each chapter you'll be taking command of a different member of your six-man squad. Each mission, then, you'll be getting flashbacks and back-story on that particular marine, which should flesh out the story and give you plenty of chances to scream NNNOOOOOO when they inevitably start falling to the xenomorph's advances.

The preview also says that you'll be able to use adaptive cover in the game, ordering squadmates and other personnel to do things like weld entrances and move furniture to seal off (or just slow down) the aliens. And when they do get through? It's time for combat. Combat that isn't always a straight-up fight, and instead occasionally becomes a scripted, QTE bug hunt.

Full piece below.

Aliens: Colonial Marines [Games Radar]

We've heard from multiple sources that Gearbox Software has laid off a number of its employees today, with lower than expected sales of Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway being blamed for the cutbacks. Estimates for those affected range from as little as 15 to as many as 26 staffers, on top of the 15 to 20 let go earlier in the month. Another factor said to be contributing to staff reductions by one source was the alleged cancellation of Gearbox's Aliens project for Sega.

Aliens: Colonial Marines was announced in 2006 as one of two games using the Aliens license that would be published by Sega. The project has been relatively quiet since then, with Sega dropping details on the first-person shooter in February of 2008 and a teaser trailer sneaking out in the early Fall. The title was planned to ship at the end of 2008 for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC, but retailers are currently listing it for a mid-2009 release.

The second Aliens project, a role-playing game, is in development at Obsidian Entertainment.

According to an anonymous source, Sega has cut funding on the Colonial Marines project amid concerns that the project couldn't be delivered on time and on budget. Gearbox is said to have shifted its development focus to Borderlands, the open world sci-fi shooter it is working on for 2K Games.

We haven't confirmed any of this with Sega or Gearbox yet, but are actively attempting to do so. While it sounds suspicious that Sega would nix the game this late in development, it wouldn't be unheard of. Consider the updates on Aliens as well as Gearbox's staffing situation as rumor for now. We'll update when we hear more.

Update: Gearbox president Randy Pitchford provided the following statement:

In 2005, after having a lot of success with games from Half-Life: Opposing Force to Halo on the PC to our original Brothers in Arms Road to Hill 30, we embarked upon a strategy where opportunity in the industry and the ambition of key talent here was driving a lot of growth for us. The strategy has been amazingly transformative for us. We’ve been growing *very* fast – more than doubling in size between 2007 and 2008 and outpacing general industry growth in staff and revenue by an order of magnitude. This growth has catapulted us to become one of the most powerful independent studios in the world.

Our mission has always driven us to always want to strive to do better and better. Our experience has never been greater and we love applying our experience to the benefit of our games. Over the last six weeks, we’ve been adjusting our internal strategy to move from being about Opportunity, Ambition and Growth to a strategy that is oriented towards Quality, Focus and Performance. A number of recent tactical decisions here are a reflection of this new commitment and strategy. The timing of these tactical decisions relates more to natural maneuvering that all studios should only consider after they finish a big effort than anything else. I know there is a tendency in the press to get the maximum value out of a story, but unless we have a *lot* more fans that are *much* more rabid about what we are doing than I thought we did, I don’t imagine there to be much of an exciting story here after all.

But, since we do seem to be getting some attention this evening and I am flattered by that and I may as well use the attention. While our commitment to focus and quality may slow the speed of our growth in numbers, we are, in fact, currently hiring. We have exciting, exciting things going on that offer tremendous opportunity for us and our interest is for the best talent in the world to join us and be a part of it. Borderlands is shaping up to be astonishingly fresh and I am very excited to reveal more about that soon, Aliens: Colonial Marines is very exciting and I look forward to the right moment we can more fully unveil our efforts there and we have other incredible unannounced projects in development and a lot of opportunity for the future – a future I am increasingly excited about.

We attempted to clarify with Pitchford the status of the Aliens: Colonial Marines project. He told us that, yes, the game is still in production but couldn't provide an update on its ship date.

"But I will say that I am as eager as anyone for us to reach the point where we should reveal it with more detail," Pitchford added.

Gearbox Software, developer of the award-winning Brothers in Arms series, is looking for many focus testers to give us their feedback on an exciting upcoming Gearbox title. Gearbox has currently announced Borderlands, a co-op sci-fi shooter, and Aliens: Colonial Marines, based on the influential Aliens movies. We’re looking for people able to visit our offices in Plano, Texas for a few hours to help us hone our games’ appeal.

I am assuming that by mentioning those two specific titles, that those are the games you'll be honing, though a visit to a game studio is a visit to a game studio, so if you're over 18 and able to make it to Plano, Texas between the hours of 10am to 6pm, head on over to www.gearboxsoftware.com/focus to learn more. If you aren't in either case, move along - nothing to see here.

The teaser trailer looks to be the same one shown off in the months leading up to E3. Now when is that "special" Aliens event happening?

Despite the theme, the games shown after the short presentation were distinctly, movie-themed free featuring, two both the upcoming RPG and traditional Sonic titles, Samba De Amigo, Golden Axe: Beast Rider, Valkyria Chronicles and Empire Total War.

While they didn't show it, Sega of America unveiled a brand new IP, a "spy-action" role-playing game for next-generation consoles called Alpha Protocol. The game, a modern day RPG is being developed by Obsidian for Feb. 2009.

The show wrapped up with a quick teaser video showing off what appeared to be a very slick, high-resolution glimpse of Aliens: Colonial Marines.

In the incredibly short video a camera pans away from a clutch of Alien eggs as a voice, obviously the voice of a Marine talks in the background.

One of the eggs breaks open unleashing a young Alien and you can hear the marine say:

"Wait a minute there's movement, looks to be some kind of bug or something..."

Sega promised to have the game at their booth during this year's E3.

SEGA Reveals Details Of Upcoming Aliens: Colonial MarinesTM Video Game

First-Person Shooter Based on Popular Motion Picture Franchise Coming to Xbox 360®, PLAYSTATION®3, and PC in Late 2008

LONDON AND SAN FRANCISCO (February 21st, 2008) - SEGA Europe Ltd. and SEGA of America, Inc. today revealed details of the highly anticipated squad-based first-person shooter video game, Aliens: Colonial Marines™. Licensed through an exclusive agreement with Twentieth Century Fox Licensing and Merchandising and developed by Gearbox Software, the game will be available on the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system and Windows-based PC in late 2008.

In Aliens: Colonial Marines, players are part of a United States Colonial Marine squad and must prepare to face an alien assault more intense and horrific than ever before. Driven by a compelling and original story penned by renowned writers Bradley Thompson and David Weddle Aliens: Colonial Marines will retain the atmospheric look and feel of the original films while leveraging next-generation technology to create an entirely new interactive Aliens experience.

Packing classic Aliens weaponry ranging from pulse rifles to flamethrowers as well as brand-new equipment and skills all within a squad-based combat system, players will become an elite United States Colonial Marine. Featuring claustrophobic environments, a brooding soundtrack, and a multitude of surprises and shocks, players will battle against menacing alien hordes in strikingly detailed levels that include the stark interiors of the abandoned Sulaco and unique environments created specifically for the game.

Aliens: Colonial Marines will feature a story driven single-player mode and an all-new four player co-op mode allowing players to share the chilling experience with three friends. In co-op mode, each player will assume the persona of a Colonial Marine and have a distinct role to play in the completion of every mission. Additionally, more multiplayer modes will be revealed later in the year that will complete the Aliens video game experience.

Since its 1979 debut, Alien and its three sequels have grossed more than $557 million worldwide, garnering numerous awards, including two Academy Awards®.