Several of our readers have pointed us in the direction of a new countdown taking place at Sony Computer Entertainment Japan's website. Our hatred of countdown clocks borders on the legendary, but at least this one has a little kick to it. It involves the sound of rain, horrific noises, people panicking, and red water droplets. My money is on a new Siren game. Both the first and second game were focused on blood-red water and both were scary as hell. Hit up the site and listen to the audio a bit and see if you don't at least get a few heebies, and possibly a jeebie or two. Well be back to you with Siren 3 news in 53 hours from now.

Spooky SCEJ Countdown [Sony Computer Entertainment Japan - Thanks Everyone!]

Not another timer! While I am sick to death of countdown timers, this one is from the creators of about 25% of my favorite games, so I am torn. Luckily they made it sort of easy to figure out what the timer is counting down to. It's definitely Persona 3 related, as sharp-eyed Kotakuite Jim points out that the countdown clock matches the clock seen at :54 in the original Persona 3 intro, seen here on YouTube. My guess? Personal 3 FES is finally going to be announced for North America. The expansion disk for Persona 3, released last April in Japan, included new quests and missions for the original game, a hard difficulty setting, new costumes, a new weapon synthesis system, twenty-three more Persona and a continuation of the story called Episode Aegis, starring Aegis as the main character. Two voice actors for the game have already leaked the info that it was on it's way, and now this, which could wind up being the least surprising countdown timer ever. We'll find out at 7AM Eastern time next Tuesday!

TIME [Atlus.com - Thanks Jim!]

rumor

Xbox Fall Update: Coming This December?

Buried with the news of the Xbox 360 Family Timer was an interesting date: early December. That's when Microsoft says the timer will be available on the Xbox 360. Here's a safe bet: The timer is part of the Fall Dashboard update, which means we won't be seeing the update until early December. It sure seems like Microsoft is getting dangerously close to making this a "winter update"! No news yet on the other features we will see in the update, but my sources tell me we will be hearing more about the update in the next week or so. But let's play a game, shall we? How many more PS3 firmware updates do you think we will see before the Xbox Fall Update actually arrives?

rumor

Xbox 360 Fall Update to Bring Parental Timer

Rumor has it that the bi-annual Xbox 360 firmware update set to hit this fall will bring with it a number of interesting updates, chief among them a new Parental Timer.

Sources tell me that the update will allow people to set a password protected usage timer on their Xbox 360s. In other words, parents or loved ones will be able to limit the amount of time someone can game on the system during a given time period.

Personally, I think this is a brilliant idea and I can't figure why no console has done this before (that I know of). I'm fairly on top of things when it comes to my 6-year-old and his gaming habits. In fact I set up his 360 on the television in my loft office, so typically I'm right next to him when he plays. But, it's easy for me to lose track of time and even easier for him to. We use a system that requires him to do math, reading or writing homework to earn television time and video game time. Now I can just add this little timer to the formula and allow it to track just how much time he has left.

Brilliant, simply brilliant.