So we got our NDSi XL in the office yesterday and quickly tested it out, and once you have it in your hands, it's quite a bit bigger & clunkier than the old model. Even the stylus is bigger...

Our work ran a little later than expected in the evening so we did not get as much couch time as we had hoped, but managed to squeeze in an episode of the Amazing Race and Human Target.

Yesterday an interesting document dropped in my lap, a future update to CrimeCraft will add gang operated "night clubs" to the game, and while that may not seem all the special, it;s what the developers plan to let gangs do in those "vip" clubs what made me read it twice. Without giving away details, let's just say it involves half naked women, poles, and "special services" provided. Interesting ...

Sony Computer Entertainment America announced that the annual PlayStation Network Spring Fever Sale kicks off on PlayStation Store this week, offering PS3 and PSP owners the opportunity to purchase a variety of popular and classic digital games at discounts of up to 50% throughout the season.

Besides feeding the animals, Wildlife Camp also offers all sorts of fun activities like elephant rides. A variety of exciting tasks and adventures await animal lovers in the camp, in the surrounding villages and the vast African savanna that can be reached in a range of vehicles such as Jeeps, helicopters and air boats.

Mass Effect is a sci-fi adventure set in a vast universe filled with dangerous alien life forms and mysterious uncharted planets. In ME2, Saren's evil army of Geth soldiers has just been defeated, and humans, who are still struggling to make their mark on the galactic stage, are now faced with an even greater peril.

Featuring an innovative new action drawing feature and enhanced drawing tools, Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter will give players new creative tools and immerse them into new worlds they create and explore.

In F1 2010 gamers will take on the full, expanded grid in a variety of game modes including GRAND PRIX, Championship, Time Trial and an extensive, innovative Career mode. F1 2010 will also feature a highly advanced damage model, fully dynamic weather system and extensive competitive multiplayer options.

Tomorrow, Ubisoft will release the Splinter Cell demo. I bet a lot of people are excited about that; it's been long in the making. Not sure whether this demo will also be on the PC, but if not, then I guess I'll have to check out the X360 version.

I'm not terribly much of a racing game fan. I like the genre though I'm not good at the actual racing, but I'm kind of intrigued by the NFS Online game, so I'm going to try and mooch a closed beta code off EA and see what it's all about.

Last but not least, I really hope the Red Dead Redemption coming to PC rumor is true and not just a typo because that game is looking very exciting!

Yup, lots of interesting games coming up!

Set in the distant past, Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep is a single-player focused tale of a new trio of heroes, told across three scenarios. New features will be introduced on top of the traditional controls, game system, and visual style of its predecessors.

A departure from the traditional online settings of high fantasy, outer space, or military, Global Agenda is a fast-paced action MMO using Unreal Engine 3 set in Earth's near future, a spy-fi world of advanced technology and player-driven conflict.

ZeniMax Online Studios announced their Fork Particle SDK particle effects middleware license to power the development of an upcoming MMO title.

Besides feeding the animals, Wildlife Camp also offers all sorts of fun activities like elephant rides. A variety of exciting tasks and adventures await animal lovers in the camp, in the surrounding villages and the vast African savanna that can be reached in a range of vehicles such as Jeeps, helicopters and air boats.

Colony Defense is a 3D planetary defense action/strategy game that combines hair-raising, fast paced battles with simple to learn, yet hard to master strategy.

Rare's favorite gung-ho future field operative finally gets the chance to relive That Thing With The Skedar on Xbox Live Arcade. Whether it's your first, second or tenth time facing off against the sly dataDyne Corporation and their allies, just be sure to keep a steady grip on your Falcon 2 as you prepare for infiltration.

Mass Effect is a sci-fi adventure set in a vast universe filled with dangerous alien life forms and mysterious uncharted planets. In ME2, Saren's evil army of Geth soldiers has just been defeated, and humans, who are still struggling to make their mark on the galactic stage, are now faced with an even greater peril.

Storm over the Pacific is a grand strategy game depicting the Pacific War in a wide historical context, providing  a good variety of scenarios with several hours of gameplay. You can join any side of the conflict, leading Americans, the Japanese or a combination of any nations, as you enter into the heart of the Pacific War.

Crackdown 2 will take multiplayer gaming to unprecedented levels for the ultimate cooperative and competitive multiplayer experience, providing you and your friends with the complete freedom to explore, destroy and play as you return to restore justice and peace to Pacific City — by any means necessary. Exec. producer James Connelly revealed that the video replay feature did not make it in the actual game, but since it was harder than expected, it will be included in a future DLC.

Sony Computer Entertainment America announced that it is further enhancing the user experience of PlayStation Home with a variety of new features that make exploring and connecting with friends quicker and easier in the PS3 social gaming community.

With an extensive range of features Runes of Magic prepares to redefine the standard of free-to-play MMO games. Even at the beginning Runes of Magic conveys its absorbing story in over 2,300 quests embedded in an atmospheric world.

Reel Deal Live offers you that chance to take a character from a mere tourist to one of the most powerful gamblers around. A massive 3D casino awaits you, full of characters ready to meet you, test your skills and offer you incredible casino quests and rewards!

A new study forecasts that Sony’s PS3 console will sell more units than its rivals over the lifetime of the current generation. Although global sales to date of the Wii have exceeded those of the PS3 and the X360, the “Taming the Waves: Games Console Life Cycles and Platform Competition” report predicts that the PS3 will still be a commercial platform five years after the Wii has been replaced.

Our Oscar favorite, The Hurt Locker, cleaned up at the awards. We love war movies, so when I saw a clip for the movie, we HAD to see it and found that it was playing at a local theater weeks before its general release. I purchased the DVD a few months later and have been telling everyone who would listen about how good it is. I guess the Academy was of the same opinion for once. If you dig war movies, it's a must-see, but even if you don't, you should check it out because it's not a visceral movie like Saving Private Ryan, but it's more about the psychological aspect, the camaraderie and intense pressure of an often overlooked aspect of a war, defusing bombs.

Oh my, that nap sure was longer than we anticipated. We were (trying to) watch Running Out Of Time, and not 10 minutes later, it was lights out. Bet that was a snore-fest right there ....

We don't have much else planned this weekend — the usual errands, including picking up a new iPod so we don't have to listen to the radio in the car, especially morning radio, which hardly plays any music at all. No movies are opening that we want to go see, either. We're waiting for Green Zone next week, so we'll just have to hunker down and watch Netflix and the DVR. Life is tough. :)

Vanquish is a new futuristic action game under development at Platinum Games, known for Bayonetta and MadWorld. Currently, there are few details known but it looks like New York is under attack by a laser beam from space, and you play a mech soldier sent in to pick up the pieces.