Source: News from the oddly familiar-looking Rumor Reporter, which subsequently blew up on several other game sites.

　　The official story: See below.

　　What we heard: Yesterday, RumorReporter.com posted an article titled "High Profile PS3 Title in Trouble." The site claimed an inside source working on a PlayStation 3 game said that development had "stalled completely." The company then brought in a new director to help salvage the project, but Sony Computer Entertainment America wants to cash out and "stop the bleeding," according to the insider. The source says that "infighting" and a "lack of clear direction" were the reasons for the game's crash, and that several employees have jumped ship and headed to other development studios.

　　The article went on to say that the game may be released as a download on the PlayStation Store, as there are only four complete missions and "online multiplayer isn't even guaranteed." "This is pretty shocking when you consider that the game was once set to be a major release," says the article's author.

　　So how does Warhawk get tied in to this mess? Pure speculation, apparently. Rumor Reporter never mentions the game's name, but when news of the article was thrown to the dogs at the Gaming-Age message boards, the common consensus was that the game was almost certainly the PlayStation 3 version of Warhawk. A Joystiq report says that Rumor Reporter confirmed that the game in question was Warhawk, but any mention of Warhawk as the game in trouble on Rumor Reporter has since been removed.

　　Looking at Warhawk's past, the game does fit the mold of the mystery title in question. During a montage at Sony's E3 2005 press conference, Warhawk was among the many Sony-published games shown off by the games giant, pegging it as a game that has likely been fairly along in development. Sure enough, the game became one of the system's high-profile titles, making an appearance at the Game Developers Conference in 2006, showing off the then-new tilt-sensitivity of the Sixaxis controller at E3 2006, and even playable by the attendees at E3 on the show floor.

　　However, when it came time to roll out the list of PS3 launch titles, Warhawk was nowhere to be found. The game's release date has been a mystery since its announcement, and currently bears a fat "TBA."

　　Messy enough yet? Well, it gets messier.

　　David Jaffe, who helped create the Twisted Metal series with Incognito, chimed in on the Gaming-Age forums discussion. Jaffe says that "Warhawk being in trouble...[is] not correct at all," and that 90 percent of games "go thru [sic] growing pains... It's called the creative process."

　　Jaffe sums up his thoughts with: "So just because some disgruntled ex-worker--who thought the game should have been made HIS way--is now getting his 15 minutes by spouting off to some news source, does not mean he is bringing any meat to the table in terms of valid information."

　　While digging through online reports and reading anything Jaffe says is always a blast, GameSpot went straight to the source and got the following comment from Sony: "The rumors are false. We're still in development with the same team at Incognito and we're excited to show the progress of the game to media within the next month or so. At the same time, we'll be able to confirm an updated release date, too."

　　Bogus or not bogus?: Bogus that Warhawk has been canned or sent to the PlayStation Store. Not bogus that the air combat game has experienced the same sort of development turbulence that many games do.