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Conker and Jade Empire coming to Xbox Originals?

Gaming sites attempt to connect the dots after promotional materials for old games show up on Microsoft's press server.

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RUMOR CONTROL: Source: Over the weekend, writers for Destructoid, Gaming Today, Xbox 360 Fanboy, and a handful of others spotted newly added press assets for Conker: Live and Reloaded and Jade Empire on Microsoft's press Web site. Then they reported the update as a sign that these games will be headed for Microsoft's downloadable game program Xbox Originals. What we heard: While none of the aforementioned sites reported the appearance of press assets as absolute confirmation that Jade Empire and Conker were coming to the Xbox Live Marketplace, they didn't hesitate to connect the dots. After all, updated assets on a press site for games that are several years old could indeed be a precursor to a rerelease of some sort. And given Microsoft's recently launched Xbox Originals program, a rerelease of games the company previously published is well within the realm of possibility.

However, if the presence of assets for these games on the press site means they're coming to Xbox Originals, one would expect the site to host assets for November's debut wave of Xbox Originals. But of the initial lineup, only assets for Fable are hosted, and they were also added over the weekend, around the same time the Jade Empire and Conker assets went up. Looking through the list, the weekend also saw updates to Kameo and Perfect Dark Zero, Xbox 360 launch titles that likely aren't part of any rerelease plans.

Microsoft reps did indeed add assets for Jade Empire and Conker to its press site over the weekend, but they didn't do it to promote Xbox Originals releases for those games. They did it because a member of the press asked them to.

As associate content editor for the upcoming video game section of quiz site Kwanzoo, Tom Mc Shea preps quiz questions for games of all ages. That means he has a use for press assets related to older games like Jade Empire and Conker, and Microsoft would have a reason to dust those off and throw them back online.

"Conker and Jade Empire's assets were uploaded on Microsoft's server as a favor to us," Mc Shea told GameSpot. "We just needed screenshots and they were happy to accommodate us."

The official story: As of press time, Microsoft had not returned a request for comment.

Bogus or not bogus?: There's a good chance they'll show up eventually, but for now this is bogus.

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