Nintendo has been cagey about what their hardware plans call for when the Wii and DS eras subside, and the DSi XL has yet to begin its lifecycle in the U.S. Shigeru Miyamoto made no secret about the fact that Nintendo is working on new equipment during a talk at the Japan Media Arts Festival on Saturday, however. He also indicated that he's involved in a new Wii game using MotionPlus -- and that's in addition to the next Wii Zelda title.

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It's not every day that one of my top 5 games of 2009 makes its way to another platform, so it's important to gasp those moments when the happen. "Plants vs. Zombies" is coming to the iPhone (and iPod Touch). This is not news. What is news is that it's coming next week, on February 15th.

The game has seen several delays since it was first announced, but it looks like PopCap is ready to roll with this new date. Considering that they did an awesome job with the "Peggle" iPhone port, and have continued to support the "Bejewled 2" app with Facebook connection excellence, I have pretty high expectations for "PvZ" iPhone. Expect some hands-on impressions once I'm able to give the title a spin.

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EA may be taking its "Medal of Honor" series directly into modern-day combat in 2010 in its quest to reclaim the FPS crown. "Battlefield: Bad Company 2," meanwhile, will be keeping World War II alive for at least a few scenes before transition into the present day. Such details, along with accounts of power-drill attacks, appeared in the ESRB's M-rating justification.

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Microsoft's decision to end Xbox Live support for first-gen Xbox titles did not go unnoticed behind the walls at Bungie. "Halo 2" will be among those games losing online multiplayer support, and if you count yourself among those wanting to send the game away from the XBL network properly, you won't be alone.

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Now that the only respectable portions of "Star Wars" have been mined clean, TT Games has no choice but to return to the prequel timeline for their next game: "Lego Star Wars: The Clone Wars." It's an interesting move, given that The Clone Wars were already covered by the first "Lego Star Wars" game, but it seems this installment will focus on the Cartoon Network series of the same name, with all its different characters and lack of constant Lucas meddling.

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The original "BioShock" reached hall-of-fame status in the gaming world, so the appearance of a sequel isn't exactly a surprise. It does, however, create some pretty lofty goals for "BioShock 2" to reach, especially when you consider that a different developer (2K Marin instead of the original's Irrational Games) has taken on the project. So does "BioShock 2" live up to franchise expectations, or should it be written off as a blatant cash-in by 2K?

The Basics

"BioShock 2" takes place 10 years after the events of the first game. You'll be controlling a prototype Big Daddy (a half-man, half-machine giant who fans will almost certainly recall from first game). You're a bit beefier than a standard human, and come packing a hefty drill, but otherwise the character plays identically to the first.

Big Daddies are mentally tied to Little Sisters in the underwater world of Rapture. It's the job of the Little Sisters to collect Adam (a form of genetic currency) which can then be used to upgrade someone's genome to superhuman levels. Your Little Sister, it turns out, is actually the daughter of the current ruler of Rapture (Andrew Ryan's philosophical opposite, one Sophia Lamb), and the monarch isn't likely to give up her kin to you. It's up to you to save your Little Sister and escape from Rapture.

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Back in early 2008, "No More Heroes" created quite a stir in the Wii community because it was one of the first M rated titles for the system, and was it was commonly looked to as a game for hardcore gamers. In addition to that, it was also famed developer Goichi Suda's (A.K.A. Suda 51) first creation for Nintendo's latest console. Even though most of his previous games were critically acclaimed, they were highly stylized, and didn't reach the broader gaming audience.

"No More Heroes" could be credited as Suda 51's breakout hit, based simply on the fact that it was his first title to receive a sequel in the west. "No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle" follows suit, toeing the line of ultra violence while mixing in sophomoric humor that will appeal to the teenager and/or wannabe assassin in all of us.

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If you waited seven years to buy and original Xbox and were hoping to begin your online multiplayer career with it, you have officially waited too long. An era of online video gaming will come to an end in April as Microsoft reorganizes its Xbox Live services and discontinues support for the first-generation Xbox and its games. The reallocation of resources comes as as the company looks ahead to its Xbox 360-compatible services and makes changes that it claims are necessary for the future.

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New State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced last week that his office would be investigating 22 retailers for practices he believes may constitute fraud, and a name familiar to gamers all over the U.S. appeared that list of merchants. Gamestop/EB Games joined Ticketmaster.com and Barnes & Noble on a mailing list of subpoenas sent out by Cuomo's office in response to allegations of deceptive practices regarding enrollment programs and info sharing that many customers may not realize they've agreed to participate in.

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"Alpha Protocol," the action/RPG from Obsidian Entertainment and Sega, has seen a few big delays, but the last one was especially odd. Planned for release in October 2009, the game was never officially delayed until that release date came and went, leaving many to wonder just when it was going to see the light of day. Sega eventually stated that the game was pushed to Spring 2010 and the title went underground, unseen by press until earlier this week at a press event in New York.

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