We've all seen the adorably customizable lookalikes that we'll be generating with the Avatar system, due out with the Xbox 360 Fall update -- but we've yet to see the actual system that will let you let you create your virtual representation. However, a "super secret source" recently sent our green and white sister site, 360 Fanboy, a couple of images containing the icons used in the Avatar creator. Assuming they're legit, they give a great indication of what aspects of your avatar you'll be able to manipulate. Based on the images in the gallery below, it looks like our dream of walking through Xbox Live's virtual halls as a morbidly obese man in a rabbit costume might just come true.

[Thanks, DCB and SS1029.]

New images are circulating around the 'net about Microsoft's supposed answer to PlayStation Home. Dubbed My GamerPad, the two images (which are said to have originated from the very dubious 4chan forums) show a crayola-esque logo and an Avatar waving to nobody in a pavilion.

While we're pretty confident with the information about Avatars, My GamerPad looks like bad Photoshopping from a questionable source. We've put in a request to Microsoft for a statement. Update: Official statement: "Microsoft does not comment on rumors or speculation."

[Via X3F]

Any time one video game company attempts to capitalize on another company's good idea, there's always a bit of backlash from the fans of the company copied. We can only imagine the kind of retribution Microsoft will soon face from fans of the Wii's Miis and the PS3's Home -- if our sources are accurate, their upcoming "Avatar" service bears a striking resemblance to Sony and Nintendo's pre-existing lookalike creators.

"Avatars", mentioned in an independent survey for Microsoft (as taken by an X3F tipster), will supposedly be used in place of gamer pictures, and will give Xbox Live subscribers an animated, customizable online persona. The meager amount of information provided for the service claims it will be available "this holiday for all Xbox Live connected members", and "this Spring for all new console owners."

This information lines up nicely with details recently relayed to Joystiq by a trusted source, who tells us that a robust "avatar" (source's term) creation service which blends the customization options of Home with the in-game functionality of Miis would comprise a substantial chunk of the 360's fall update. With the breath of E3 hot upon our nape, we're sure to hear something more concrete about this service in the coming month.

Playing the game based on Terminator and Titanic director James Cameron's next big thing, Avatar, in full 3D sure sounded like a neat idea. After all, the movie itself is being shot to take advantage of the growing number of digital 3D cinemas popping up across the globe. Leave it to Ubisoft prez Yves Guillemot to get us all un-jazzed by revealing to GamesIndustry.biz that the game will only be playable in 3D on certain HDTVs.

According to Guillemot, the technology used to 3D-ify Ubi's Avatar game has been designed only for "a specific TV" and glasses that work with it. He goes on to say that the display is already available in the US. Could these TVs and these glasses be what he's referring to?

So ... no new TV, no Avatar 3D. Bummer. Though Guillemot has confirmed that the game will be playable in one less "D" on that nice, big old style HDTV you just spent your economic stimulus check on.

Speaking during the Ubidays 2008 conference in Paris today, Yves Guillemot confirmed that the "wonderful" game adaptation of James Cameron's Avatar (not The Last Airbender) would use a new, true 3-D technology developed by Ubisoft, which will presumably be used in other unannounced projects as well. Guillemot did not comment on Cameron's so-called revelation that Avatar will require standard, polarized some form of 3-D glasses to enjoy the screen-popping action (though we continue to assume it will). He did note, however, that the game is expected to ship in the middle of next year, likely coinciding with the fim's release (also 3-D) in summer 2009.

Someone should tell James Cameron that games have been "3D" since, well ... a really long time ago. Oh, he means that other 3D. Like, the kind where things (yo-yos, swords, clowns ... shudder ... the clowns!) spring off of the movie screen at you.

Speaking at Microsoft's Advance 08 advertising conference (where his audience was surely a lively bunch, probably total gaming geeks) the Titanic director let slip that the video game based on his upcoming sci-fi epic Avatar (not The Last Airbender -- M. Night Shyamalan's got that) will be in 3D, just like the movie. CNet reports Cameron -- who's been talking up stereoscopic films, TV, books -- for the past few years told the crowd that publisher/developer Ubisoft already has a version of its Avatar game up-and-running on Xbox 360 using standard 3D glasses (the polarized sort that look like sunglasses).

Avatar (the movie) is set to hit theaters summer 2009. Avatar (the game) is tipped to precede the film's debut, although it will likely not be an MMO as originally planned.

Gamerpoint addiction is a serious problem, people. Did you know that 1.2 million Americans buy awful games every day, just to harvest the sweet gamerpoint nectar that lies within? That's close to 60 million dollars a day that could be donated to charity, or, at the very least, spent on good games. We've got good news and bad news for these people. The bad news? You're going to be buying another bad game soon. The good news? You'll only need to play it for two minutes.

Apparently, the creators of Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Burning Earth (Avatar: The Legend of Aang - The Burning Earth for our European readers) thought it would be much, much harder to rack up a 50 hit combo than it actually was. We wonder when someone will start up a Gamerpoint Regulation Council that will make the distribution of points between games like Avatar and games like Guitar Hero III a tad more uniform.

[Thanks, jstroh]

Filmmaker James Cameron has chosen Ubisoft to handle the video game portion of his next project Avatar (formerly Project 880) that will be released alongside the feature film, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The project will be based around the movie's story about a former Marine, played by Sam Worthington, "who persists in an alien world as an avatar, a human mind in an alien body." Peter Jackson's WETA digital is helping with the film's visuals, which will reportedly also serve to aid in development of the game. We'd love to see how the game's visuals compare to the film.

Avatar is being planned for a May 2009 release, giving Ubisoft just under two years to transform the MMO-like story into a game (which likely won't be a proper MMO).

[Update: Clarified the MMO aspect of the film.]

The last time that you were playing your favorite MMO, did you stop for a moment and think "Sure, killing dragons and raising my baking skill is great, but what I'd rather be playing is Deal or No Deal"? Well, EA is hoping that their new TV/video game hybrid technology will make you do just that, implausible as it may sound.

In one of those mysterious, forward-looking announcements that seems just tailor-made to help investors sleep at night, the company has announced that they'll be working with European TV company Endemol to create Virtual Me, which combines, according to the press release, "cutting edge avatar creation technology from EA with popular TV formats." There's no word on if it will be relegated to Europe or on more basic issues like, you know, how it will work, so it will probably be a while before you get match wits with Howie Mandel for non-existent money. If you just can't wait though, we guess it's pretty lucky that there's Pat Sajak's Lucky Letters to help you fill the empty hours.

Crytek's latest engine, CryENGINE2, will be licensed to upstart developer Avatar Reality, Inc. for use in a massively multiplayer virtual world, according to a press release from today.

The game, currently untitled, is best described as a Second Life on Mars. From the PR: "Set in Terraformed Mars, Avatar Reality's MMVW will allow players to live their fantasy lives by creating personalized characters, or avatars, in a beautiful environment." According to a brief chat we had with Crytek's

Avatar Reality, Inc., whose advisory panel it notes features Father of Tetris Alexey Pajitnov and former Nintendo of America President Minoru Arakawa, was formed by "Mastermind" Henk Rogers, chairman of Tetris Online, Inc. It is based out of the oh-so desolate city of Honolulu and will be managed by industry vets Kazuyuki Hashimoto and Li-han Chen. More information can be found at their website.

The first public presentation of CryENGINE 2 is expected today at GDC.

Wired News mentions that a new company, Fabjectory, will turn a Second Life avatar into a seven-inch, real-world figure. Once your desk is littered with figures, we can only imagine that you'd perform a puppet show, doing voices for each character. Yes, that's what we imagine.

Prices are about $100 for most figures to $200 for complicated jobs with lots of appendages or other extra work. Fabjectory creates an computer model of the avatar, then uses a 3D prototyping machine to produce the real-world figure.

While unconfirmed, Spore may offer a way to order plastic versions of your creatures directly through the game. (As part of its marketing, EA has sent real-world versions of creatures reporters created.)

We welcome these third- and first-party figures. We just know our World of Warcraft, Second Life, Spore, and Everquest characters will be friends.

See also: Our one of a kind Spore figurine
See also: Spore figurines at E3

GameVideos is hosting a "debut" video of gameplay footage of the upcoming Wii game Avatar from THQ. While it's certainly no high-quality video, it does give you a good look at what we can expect from the Wii and this particular title. The bad part, though, is that there is no sound with it.

It's also a shame we can't see how the game is being performed with the Wiimote. Are the various sword slashes done with actual movement or just a press of a button? We're sure all of us would have liked to see that. Nevertheless, here's one of the few rare glimpses at a Wii game currently in development.