EA mustering Army of Four?

Source: Day two of Kotaku's "insider" leaks on EA's upcoming plans.

What we heard: EA's Army of Two franchise says it all in the title: two guys doing the work of an entire army. However, for the next installment in the franchise, EA may be calling in reinforcements, if Kotaku's latest rumor from an "insider" proves true.

Following on from yesterday's alleged leaks concerning Dead Space and Dragon Age, Kotaku's source claims EA will be rebooting its co-op-centric third-person shooter franchise to include four principle characters. The so-called Army of Four is purportedly being developed at EA's Montreal studio, with help from a few members of DICE's Battlefield 3 team.

In addition to four-player co-op gameplay, Kotaku's source said that Army of Four will be powered by DICE's Frostbite 2 game engine. This engine, which has been seen in Battlefield 3 and Need for Speed: The Run, is also said to be powering BioWare's rumored multiplayer Dragon Age effort.

The official story: EA had not responded to GameSpot's request for comment as of press time.

Bogus or not bogus: Looking not bogus. In April, EA job listings indicated that a new Army of Two installment is in development at Visceral Games' Montreal studio, so it's no surprise that this "multimillion-unit-selling" franchise will live on. Whether or not that includes four-player co-op remains to be seen.

As for Army of Two's next installment using the Frostbite 2 engine, there's no real surprise there. EA is clearly looking to get as much use out of DICE's praised proprietary engine as it can, as evidenced by its initially perplexing, but ultimately successful, implementation in the latest Need for Speed.