Source: The Australian edition of the official Xbox Web site.

　　What we heard: For the past several months, Xbox 360-owning role-playing game fans have been barely surviving on a slow drip of Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion content updates. That's because, besides Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures and Fable 2,  they have a major title to look forward to in 2007: Mass Effect, the forthcoming all-original sci-fi RPG from acclaimed developer BioWare, Inc.

　　Problem is, no one is exactly sure when Mass Effect is coming out. On its American Xbox.com page, the game simply has a bland "TBD" release date, and BioWare has been adamant about keeping mum. "Once again, we don't have release dates for ANYWHERE yet," said BioWare community manager Chris Priestly in a post to the official Mass Effect FAQ last Tuesday. "Anything you see, until you see it here on our boards, is likely just guesswork by a store or Web site."

　　That changed this week, when the Australian Xbox.com page (pictured) for Mass Effect listed it as coming on "18/05/07"--May 18, 2007. Though the date was hurriedly rejiggered to read "TBD," the date struck many as perfectly logical. BioWare has rung up some major Xbox successes in the past by side-stepping the crowded holiday season. Its wildly popular Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic was released in July 2003, and Jade Empire sold well after it arrived in April 2005. (Both games were later ported to the PC.)

　　The official story: After some conferring among its PR department, Microsoft released the following statement: "An incorrect release date for Mass Effect was inadvertently posted on Xbox.com Australia and has since been removed. We will keep you posted on the ongoing development of Mass Effect, however, we have no announcements regarding the game's release date at this time." However, Microsoft reconfirmed the game would arrive sometime this year.

　　Bogus or not bogus?: Officially, it's bogus. Unofficially...that data had to come from somewhere. And until the final date is announced, RPG fans will debate if it was an actual leak or just dummy placeholder data accidentally surfacing.