The latest news from the U.S. patent office suggests that Ubisoft has already named the next Splinter Cell installment. According to a trademark submission by Ubisoft on May 3, the title Splinter Cell Chaos Theory, in relation to game software, will soon belong to the publisher.
News originating from patent offices has a few peculiarities, everyone has to go through the patent process and those submissions have to be made public but interpretation of the facts is very risky. Publishers will often apply for a variety of trademarks, including various red herrings just to keep things exciting. The Chaos Theory in the title for example could be a Ubisoft inside joke on what the submission will create in the press.
The missing number 3 from the title for example could be interpreted as Ubisoft's desire to scrap the numbering system and to use full titles for each SC game, while it could also suggest that this name could apply to some expansion pack, or even a handheld version of the game for a platform which is still not available. Another possibility is that the title is still being discussed and the trademark submission is just an attempt to secure one of the candidates.
Patent offices can cause great confusion, as you will see if you read the Nintendo Eyetoy article below, but it is all just too much fun since speculation can generate humorous and sometimes even darn-right ludicrous assumptions, after all whatever Ubisoft decide to name the game, coming this fall, most will still refer to it as SC 3.
