Producer Kensuke Tanabe already stated that Retro Studios' "Metroid Prime" series may not be over, but now that their trilogy on the Wii is complete they could be focusing on a return to the Nintendo DS. Such a project would be well timed for the DS XL's arrival in North America.

"We are always planning to make new games in the 'Metroid Prime' series," Tanabe told Official Nintendo Magazine. "Depending on the timing and the situation, we cannot deny the possibility of realising it on DS or DSi."

The DS XL is scheduled for a Q1 2010 release in the U.S., and that new 4.2-inch screen would be nicely suited for a first-person "Metroid Prime" game. Nintendo will obviously want some graphically impressive titles ready to role out next year to show off the system's capabilities, and such an established in-house franchise would be a logical fit.

Tanabe didn't commit to anything in his statement, though, so the next "Prime" title could just as easily come out for the Wii. In the meantime, don't hold your breath for an answer. Retro's secret project for next year hasn't been announced yet, and if it turns out to be something other than a "Prime" game, it could be a year or two before all of this speculation gets an official response.

Would rather see the next "Metroid Prime" game come to the Wii or DS? Should Nintendo ready a "Prime" game for the DS XL? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Nintendo's new double-sized screen DSi screen, confirmed earlier this week in Japan on the the DSi LL, has now officially been slated for U.S. and European releases as well. On the east side of the Pacific Ocean, however, the new handheld will be called the DSi XL.

"A new iteration of the Nintendo DSi system will be introduced in Japan on November 21, 2009," Nintendo said in a statement to GameSpot. "To be known as Nintendo DSi LL in Japan, and as Nintendo DSi XL in North America and Europe, it will offer a screen 93% larger than the current Nintendo DS Lite with a better view angle, an additional longer touch screen stylus, and pre-installed Nintendo DSiWare software. The new version will arrive in North America and Europe in the first quarter of calendar year 2010."

The fourth evolutionary stage of the DS, following its original incarnation, the DS Lite and DSi, the new unit will come with a 4.2-inch screen, almost doubling the stretch of its predecessor, and have DS game and SD card slots.

This new upgrade obviously has some appeal, even without an announced price, but it has to be targeted primarily as DS and DS Lite users, since right now it appears that games purchases online at the DSi store won't be transferable to new systems.

Will you be game for the DSi XL? What do you think Nintendo should charge for it in the U.S.? Share your reactions in the comment section below.

A few days back, rumors spread that Nintendo was working on a new version of the DSi with a larger screen. Seems that these rumors are 100% accurate, as Nintendo officially announced their latest hardware iteration at a press conference in Japan.

The DSi LL features a 4.2 inch screen, which is nearly double the size of the current DSi. The resolution will be the same, just a bit more stretched out. It'll also come packed with two styluses, a standard-sized one and a larger, more pen-shaped one (pictured above). Nintendo is releasing the DSi LL on November 21st in Japan, and it'll come in three different colors: Brown, White and Red. The device will be pre-loaded with 3 DSiWare games.

The planned retail price of the DSi LL is ¥20,000 (which works out to about $220). The current retail price of a standard-sized DSi is ¥18,900 (or about $207).

There was no mention of plans to release the DSi LL outside of Japan.

David Bowie and Iggy Pop have already made their "Lego Rock Band" debuts on the Internet, as has "Lego Rock Band" gameplay, but the full track list is now out in the open and Blink-182, The Police and Vampire Weekend all have official presences in the game as well. Check out the whole 46-song rundown after the jump.

Plus signs indicate a track's use on the Nintendo DS in addition to the PS3, Wii and Xbox 360, according to the list at USA Today.

+ All American Rejects, "Swing, Swing"
+ The Automatic, "Monster"
· Blink-182, "Aliens Exist"
+ Blur, "Song 2"
· Bon Jovi, "You Give Love a Bad Name"
· Boys Like Girls, "Thunder"
· Bryan Adams, "Summer of 69"
+ Carl Douglas, "Kung Fu Fighting"
· The Coral, "Dreaming of You"
+ Counting Crows, "Accidentally in Love"
+David Bowie, "Let's Dance"
· Elton John, "Crocodile Rock"
+ Europe, "The Final Countdown"
· Everlife, "Real Wild Child"
· Foo Fighters, "Breakout"
+ Good Charlotte, "Girls & Boys"
· The Hives, "Tick Tick Boom!"
+ Iggy Pop, "The Passenger"
· Incubus, "Dig"
+ Jackson 5, "I Want You Back"
· Jimi Hendrix, "Fire"
+ Kaiser Chiefs, "Ruby"
+ Katrina & The Waves, "Walking on Sunshine"
· The Kooks, "Naïve"
· KoRn, "Word Up!"
+ KT Tunstall, "Suddenly I See"
· Lostprophets, "Rooftops"
+ P!NK, "So What"
· The Police, "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic"
+ The Primitives, "Crash"
+ Queen, "We Are The Champions"
+ Queen, "We Will Rock You"
+ Rascal Flatts, "Life is a Highway"
+ Ray Parker Jr., "Ghostbusters"
· Razorlight, "Stumble and Fall"
+ Spin Doctors, "Two Princes"
· Spinal Tap, "Short & Sweet"
· Steve Harly, "Make Me Smile"
+ Sum 41, "In Too Deep"
+ Supergrass, "Grace"
+ Tom Petty, "Free Fallin"
· T-Rex, "Ride a White Swan"
+ Vampire Weekend, "A-Punk"
+ We the Kings, "Check Yes Juliet"
· The Zutons, "Valerie"

The list reads about as broadly as any downtown karaoke night catalog, with everything from emo-ish teen-punk to oldies and '80s tracks. None of that should be surprising, since it is a family-oriented title. It also got me to thinking how amazing a Lego Freddy Mercury figure would have to look.

What do you think of the track list for "Lego Rock Band"? Do you have any favorites that made the cut? Any songs you look forward to getting past and never hearing again? Share your reactions in the comment section below.

"FIFA 10" outperformed last year's "FIFA 09" and dethroned "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" in its first week on the UK sales charts. The EA Sports release, which enjoys a far bigger following on the east side of the Atlantic than its sister franchise "Madden NFL," knocked of "San Andreas" as the number two first-week performer of all time in the UK, placing second only to "GTA IV."

The latest incarnation of EA's perennial soccer series beat its 2009 predecessor by 48 percent in sales, according to GamesIndustry.biz. That was good enough to earn a number one ranking for the week, with "Professor Layton and Pandora's Box" and "Halo 3: ODST" following at two and three, respectively.

"Madden NFL 10," by contrast, appeared at the number eight slot during its August debut week in the UK. Though "Madden" reportedly sold 1.9 million units in its first month, that number was considerably less than what the series sold in 2009.

That means EA should be fairly pleased with the new UK bar set by "FIFA 10," particularly in a down year for the economy at large. North American soccer fans -- and the U.S. sales charts -- will have to wait until October 20 to see how well it performs on this side of the pond.

Do you have high expectations for "FIFA 10"? Have you picked up a copy in Europe yet and have an opinion on how well is compares to "FIFA 09"? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

In an extra special, sassy episode of Game Plan, I give a spot-on impersonation of Mickey Mouse and Tim actually agrees with me for once. Also I, occasionally, have the voice of the devil.

Sidenote: Tim really liked the fact that you can use the alt fire on "Dead Space Extraction" by turning the remote sideways. It got cut in the final edit, but he wanted you all to know that. There, my conscience is clear.

(via GoNintendo)

Remember the old days when those clunky Game Boy cartridges could be ejected and re-inserted into your new portable system purchase? DSiWare's downloadable games reportedly don't have the same functionality, so take good care of that DSi you put them on. A new report indicates that once they're purchased, the only way to move your games to another DSi is by presenting Nintendo with both systems when your first DSi is mortally wounded.

Nintendo of Australia confirmed the nontransferable nature of DSiWare purchases, according to Nintendo Life.

That gives Sony one leg up on user-friendly game-swapping since the PSP makes such software migrations quick and painless between units with a simple USB cable.

Nintendo will, in fact, only facilitate game swapping if the original unit is in unplayable condition. Obviously I would never recommend that you intentionally try to damage a DSi. In fact, you should treat them with all the love and care you would show any handheld system. But if you ever upgrade down the line or decide you want to invest in a new color, it does sound like your choices for keeping your games are extremely limited.

What do you think of Nintendo's policy on making DSiWare games nontransferable? Agree? Disagree? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

"Assassin's Creed" fans have some good news and bad news to chew on this week, as Ubisoft announced a new "Assassin's Creed 2" spin-off for the Nintendo DS, but also revealed that the "AC2" release date for PC has been postponed. The DSi camera-ready "Assassin's Creed 2: Discovery" has already made its rounds informally around the Internet as an upcoming iPhone release, but yesterday the title was made official, and a few details have been clarified.

"Discovery" received a November 17 ship date with its formal announcement, according to Joystiq. The side-scroller will use the DSi's camera to take photos. Players can then place those photos onto wanted posters that appear in the game.

The un-subtitled "Assassin's Creed 2," meanwhile, will have to wait to make its way to the PC until after New Year's, as Ubisoft wants to spent a little bit more time with it in the development labs.

"'Assassin’s Creed 2' PC has moved to the first quarter of 2010," Ubisoft announced via their Twitter account. "A bit more time for the dev team to deliver the best quality game to you."

Though neither of these announcements comes as a huge surprise, it is nice to know that the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of "AC2" have not been officially delayed yet.

Which "AC" release are you most anticipating? Are you going to put your own picture on the wanted posters in "Discovery" or someone else's? Sound off with your reactions in the comment section below.

Nintendo tied up its "Metroid Prime" franchise nicely with their recent "Trilogy" boxed set, and the company currently has its sights set on "Metroid: Other M," a 2D-ish return to classic "Metroid" gameplay. That project left the "Prime" games' developers at Retro behind to partner with Tecmo. Certain word choices by developers in a recent interview, however, seem to to indicate that future "Prime" games may still be possible down the pipe.

"As all I take part in is the 'Prime' series, I am not capable of commenting on the whole 'Metroid' series," Retro Studios producer Kensuke Tanabe told Kotaku. "But we will keep considering multiplayer for the 'Prime' series. For instance, I think I can come up with some unique ideas using the Morph Ball, which is a specific skill of Samus'."

That's a lot of thought for a game series currently without an announced sequel. It could be that all of Retro's excitement is just entropy after creating some truly innovative gameplay for the Wii and DS. But Retro has a secret project in development and according to their interview, details won't be available until next year at the earliest.

Classic "Metroid" fans will probably be content just to get their hands on a game going back to the series' roots in "Other M," but as Nintendo continues evolving the Wii, such as with this year's Wii MotionPlus, Retro should have some great toys to play with if they're plotting a new "Prime."

Do you prefer classic "Metroid" over "Prime"-style gameplay, or are you all ears about any potential new sequels? Share your reactions in the comment section below.