The fate of Prey 2 is still swimming in a murky grey area, and the uncertainty around the game has only fuelled intrigue. The latest development in the enigmatic game's tale comes by way of Kotaku, who have published some alleged internal emails from Arkane studios that suggest the Dishonored developer has indeed taken on some form of the troubled sci-fi sequel.

Based on their purported insider information, Kotaku has run with a questionably confident conclusion that Arkane Studio's Austin office is now working on a reboot of Prey 2, having deduced that it is the systems-driven shooter the developers have been describing as their unannounced future project. The official line from Bethesda however, has been to deny any Arkane and Prey 2 connection.

Based on the evidence available, and the secrecy of the parties involved, it seems more reasonable to conclude that there are probably outstanding legal matters between publisher Bethesda and original Prey 2 developer Human Head that have necessitated the silence. Our own punt on the matter -- all purely conjecture, mind -- is that Arkane's mystery project is a hedge by Bethesda on the uncertain outcome of a rights dispute with Human Head over the Prey 2 contract. In this completely speculative scenario, a new sci-fi first person action game that Arkane is developing could either be created as Prey 2, or rebranded to something else, depending on how the Human Head Studios situation is eventually resolved, and would explain their ambiguous non-confirmations.

After a long history of publishing titles created by third party studios, Bethesda has only recently refined their operation to where all of the games that they have currently announced -- The Elder Scrolls Online, Wolfenstein: The New Order, The Evil Within, and Doom 4, are all in development at in-house subsidiary studios. The publisher is said to be in a healthy position financially due to the wild success of Skyrim in particular, which has allowed it to get by without a single release in 2013, having delayed both Wolfenstein and The Elder Scrolls Online into 2014 in pursuit of a higher bar of quality.

Prey 2 had been looking mightily impressive the last time we saw it, so we would hope that all of the effort invested in it so far, by all involved, hasn't all been for nought.

With all the rumours circulating regarding the state of Prey 2, including the big one that Human Head are no longer behind the wheel, with the keys now being handed off to Arkane Studios, an ex-Human Head employee has broken his silence to mourn the passing of the game from his former studio, which has actually caused a mild stir in the media, prompting quite the conversational response from him.

"This Prey 2/Arkane rumor is giving new life to a lot of old lies,” Jason L. Blair, a former writer and narrative designer on Prey 2 Tweeted. “I’m been quiet about this whole business but can’t stay so anymore."

Blair is now at Volition, but states that he worked on Prey 2 for the final six months of its active development at Human Head before the game was thrust into limbo -- a situation that perplexed the industry and prompted much discussion, including this feature from us.

"I was narrative designer/writer on Prey 2 for the last six months of its development at Human Head. It was a lot more than a demo," he added. "Prey 2 was a full game. And a crazy fun one. The team was small but you wouldn't have known it.

"I was heartbroken when Prey 2 went into limbo. Human Head deserved to have that game released. Frankly, they needed it.

"As for Arkane, I've enjoyed what I played of Dishonored. They have the chops. If the rumor is true, they'll likely do well with Prey 2," Blair said.

Those Tweets were all posted on Friday, and have been picked up by the industry at broad, and since then have spread like wildfire, prompting an updated response from Blair clarifying that he's not at all attacking Arkane's alleged involvement in the game, rather that he's simply upset that Human Head are no longer involved.

"Articles have called me "bitter" and "livid" yet "fully on board" about the Arkane/Prey 2 rumor. Heh," Blair wrote just an hour ago. "For the record, I'm not "bitter" or "livid." And I attacked the lie, not a company or person. I don't know its source only that it spread."

Bethesda is yet to officially chime in on the rumours, but if they are true, and based on what we saw of Prey 2 in person, Dishonored in their pocket or not, Arkane do have some pretty big shoes to fill. Stay tuned for more as it emerges.

Rumours are once again floating around that Human Head's Prey 2 title, which was debuted at E3 2011, has once again been delayed. According to a source at Kotaku, the title was in limbo for a year while Human Head waited on word from Bethesda as to the development of the game.

Debuted at E3 2011, the game was apparently "shifted" to Fallout: New Vegas developer Obsidian "for at least a few months." Bethesda supposedly tried to get Rebellion developer onto the game's development as well but the project was eventually turned down.

According to the source, the project has now been moved over to Dishonored developer Arkane Studios, which has apparently caused some of the members to not be happy with working on the title. The source has also said that the development team has been told "to forget that it's called Prey 2 and just treat it like a new System Shock." The game is now being apparently re-tooled and is expected for a release in 2016, according to the tipster.

Hopefully we'll hear more information at this years E3, but until then treat this all as a rumour until something official has been announced.

In 2011, Bethesda and Human Head Studios revealed Prey 2, a first-person sci-fi action-adventure dripping with potential. Then it suddenly vanished, however, its importance in the expanded world of first-person games beyond the likes of Call of Duty, Battlefield or Medal of Honor should not be forgotten, as we explore in this feature/plea for the game's triumphant return.

2013 is shaping up to be a mysterious gaming year with rumours of new consoles from Microsoft and Sony, and with Nintendo's Wii U establishing itself. We also have BioShock Infinite, Metro: Last Light, Crysis 3 and Aliens: Colonial Marines, but the year needs more games like Prey 2, to offset the usual barrage of military multiplayer shooters.

Click here for our reasons why.

Good news for anyone who was keen on Human Head's Prey 2, as rumours of a cancellation have been quashed today thanks to a note from Bethesda.

Development of Prey 2 has not been cancelled but the game will not be released in 2012 as planned. The delay is due to the fact that game development has not progressed satisfactorily this past year, and the game does not currently meet our quality standards. Prey 2 has shown great promise and we regret disappointing our fans. We have made a substantial investment in game development to deliver the experience fans want. We are determined only to release the AAA game that fans rightfully expect, and are unwilling to compromise our quality standards to meet a release schedule.

The likely scenario moving forward is that we'll start seeing a roll out of new information in the early parts of 2013, though in a report over at Eurogamer, there's also a strong chance development will be picked up by someone other than Human Head as much of the game's delay has been due to a dispute between the developer and Bethesda parent company, Zenimax.

It's a shame it won't be this year, but we were so damn impressed with the showings AusGamers was privy to all of last year, we're just happy the game is still in development. Here's hoping everything is settled between the two companies and development continues on Human Head's part at their own hands.

Rumours are flying wild today that publisher Bethesda has cancelled their upcoming FPS title Prey 2, which follows on from the original source developed by Human Head Studios. Zenimax Media, who controls Bethesda Softworks, took control of the IP in late 2009, and since then it seemed a sequel was being worked on by Human Head Studios and all was well. However according to PS Focus, the title has been canned and announcement will be coming next week.

Nothing has been confirmed yet, however Eurogamer is reporting that a Prey 2 presentation was supposed to be at the recent San Francisco GDC earlier this month, but was subsequently pulled out a few weeks before. This could be due to many things, and not just the rumoured cancellation, however it doesn't really help.

You can check out the game page which has all the latest news, screenshots and trailers. Keep an eye out for more as it comes to us, and hopefully it is just a rumour gone wild, as Prey 2 was shaping up to be a nice looking sequel.

We might all be anxiously awaiting the November release of Bethesda's big holiday drop, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, but the publisher also has two incredibly strong titles in its stable with Prey 2 from Human head Studios and the recently announced Dishonored from Arkane Studios.

The former is why we're here today, sharing an in-depth video interview with Human Head co-founder, Chris Rhinehart, who goes into detail about the game's mission structure, AI, our new protagonist, Killian, as well as revealing a little more about Tommy from the first game who also plays a major role here, and much, much more.

Once again we've served up the interview in both video and transcribed form, which you can check out collectively here.

Over night, Bethesda and Human Head Studios released the first in-game image of Prey 1's protagonist, Tommy, as he will appear in Prey 2 and we're seriously at a loss as to how he's managed to maintain those jeans of his on an alien planet for six years without even so much as a tear (perhaps he started a denim industry there?!)

IGN also has new details regarding Tommy's role in Prey 2, with Human Head co-founder, Chris Rhinehart, telling them Tommy's abilities from the first game - Spirit Walk and Death Walk - would be "integral to his role and how he actually fits into the story."

Click the image to the right, or right here for a better look at the new screenshot.

AusGamers is home from the Con that is Quake... err Con, and alongside some awesome interviews in the works, a handful of in-depth hands-on previews and a head full of techno-babble from John Carmack, we also have some new media for both Prey 2 and Dishnored, in the way of new screens and few pieces of art.

The Prey 2 demo on-hand was exactly the same one we saw at Bethesda's BFG event, so the only new info to come out of QuakeCon for it is within the following screens, and our forthcoming chat with Human Head co-founder, Chris Rhinehart.

As for Dishonored, we saw a nice chunk of a gameplay demo, sat in on an in-depth Q&A with both Harvey Smith and Raphael Colantonio, then stole them for a one-on-two interview to talk about the game and first-person action development in general. For now though, feast your eyes on the respective screens by clicking either line of thumbnails below.

This just in. Prey 2 cinematic trailer. Props to Joab at GameArena for hooking this one up for us; there's still not a lot of information out about it - in fact, this trailer seems to have popped before they had time to release their usual information sheets - but we can no doubt expect a flurry of data very shortly during the E3 feeding frenzy, so stay tuned.

Prey holds a special place in the hearts of many gamers as one of those vapourware titles that was never going to come out, and then it finally, actually did - so with DNF on the cusp of release, a Prey 2 trailer deserves special recognition.

You can download it now locally for AusGamers and it will shortly be available for streaming!

Happy Easter from the AusGamers team! To help you celebrate such a whacky public break, we thought we'd buck the chocolate egg, no red meat, closed bottle-ship trend for the day, to take your mind off this confused planet and to an equally dangerous place called Exodus - the alien planet that is the setting for Prey 2 from Human Head Studios.

We actually sat through an in-depth unveiling of the game out at Bethesda's BFG 2011 event and also spoke with Human Head co-founder and Chief Creative Officer, Jim Sumwalt, giving us the chance to serve up a heady preview for you, as well as a revealing interview answering as much as we can with what little we've been given so far. We also have a handful of new images you can check out by clicking the thumbnails below.

Click here for our full preview and click here for our in-depth interview.

Bethesda have revealed a first look at Prey 2 via a single screenshot and a piece of pretty cool concept art - you can check them both out now on our Prey 2 game page. No other info just yet, but stay tuned! The Bethesda blog has a tiny snippet mentioning that you can expect to see some more previews coming soon:

In the process, we’ve seen some comments focusing on what’s not in Prey 2. Between now and the game’s release next year, we’ll be sharing plenty of details on what’s in the game. For starters, we encourage you to read previews in OXM, PlayStation The Official Magazine, and other publications worldwide. And in the coming weeks, you can expect more previews, interviews, etc. online. Once that’s all out there, you’ll know more about what (and who) is in the game, and how it all relates to the original game.

Bethesda have released the first trailer for the freshly announced Prey 2, the sequel to the acclaimed 2006 shooter from Human Head Studios that featured alien abductions, Native-American mysticism and portals. However, those hoping to get a glimpse of gameplay today will be disappointed, but at least it's a bit more than the usual debut teaser trailer. Not to spoil anything, today's clip is a live action short of of a new alien attack.

We still don't know anything else about the game at this point. Bethesda promises that the first details will appear in the May issue of PSM3, which I can only assume is one of those ancient tomes that our ancestors used to communicate with.

Prey 2 is scheduled for a 2012 release on PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Check out the trailer below or click here for the HD streaming option.