Rumours are hotting up around the Xbox 360 sequel to the coin-op and Super NES beat-’em-up Killer Instinct. We’re starting to believe them now.

It started with a bunch of poor-quality scans from a company pamphlet, but now ‘insiders’ are claiming to have actually seen the game running. We’re betting that “Killer Instinct 3D: Death, Destruction, and Doom” is a bonafide project at Rare – Microsoft’s flagship game studio also responsible for Viva Piñata and Kameo.

Since we’ve tussled with Rare before over official statements this way or that, we’re experienced enough to know by now that asking the direct questions gets a direct ‘no comment’ in return. So you’ll excuse us for not even bothering. However the weekend kicked up the most credible source of information – the long-serving ‘Quarterman’ column based in the US (ex-EGM now 1UP.com).

The Q-man is saying his ‘UK spies’ have seen the game and it’s looking good.

Oh, you don’t know what Killer Instinct is? Pardon us. Well, it was a fighting game very much like Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat with ridiculous combination moves. It had amazing graphics for the mid-1990s but is in fact jerkily animated plastic nonsense upon looking back. There was an N64 version, Killer Instinct Gold, but that wasn’t very good or popular (because sometimes one doesn’t mean the other). The original coin-op and Super NES conversion were huge though - good and popular.

Anyway, let’s see.