After not responding to our story earlier this week about a rumored new DS with a larger screen, early this morning Nintendo quietly updated their official Japanese site with new information on the upcoming DSi, dubbed Nintendo DSi LL.The system is set to release in Japan on November 21 for 20,000 yen ($220 and appproximately 2,000 yen more the current Japanese DSi price). With the larger, 4.2 inch screen, you'll also get a bump in battery life; according to Nintendo's site, under the system's lowest energy settings, you'll get 13 to 17 hours of power, compared to the DSi, which only lasts nine to 14 hours.

  Rise to Heaven: Five Years of Nintendo DS The Nintendo DS Shocked the World, First by Succeeding, Then By Changing the Way Popular Games Are Made By John ConstantineTime was, a console reached five years old, it was expected to start thinking about retirement. It'd get a price drop, maybe a nice slim remodeling, and a handful of unforgettable triple-A games. Its successor would be announced at an E3 or a Tokyo Game Show, and then it would slowly start trickling out of the world of popular game design, and into the bright corners of nostalgia all great machines go. That axiom's never quite applied to handhelds. At least, that is, handhelds made by Nintendo. The Game Boy (including its three makeovers, the Game Boy Pocket, Game Boy Light, and Game Boy Color) was on shelves for 12 years before its first real successor, the Game Boy Advance, launched. Nintendo sold 118 million Game Boys in those 12 years. Nintendo's second handheld empire turns five years old this November. In half a decade, Nintendo has sold just under 108 million Nintendo DSes. Not only is it not ready to retire, the DS is on track to be the most popular devoted gaming machine in human history. Its popularity isn't undeserved. The DS hardware, a platform that was seen as too underpowered and eccentric to succeed before it was released, has fundamentally changed the way popular games are made. It has been the proving ground for the new design ideas driving the post-PlayStation zeitgeist, it redefined the concept of casual games, and remains one of the last havens for experimenting with traditional genres like RPGs and sidescrollers. It isn't hyperbole: the DS changed everything.

  We know that Final Fantasy XIII will be launching in Japan this December, but North America's date continues to be a nebulous "Spring 2010." That may change soon though, as Siliconera is reporting that Square Enix has put out a casting call for a new North American Final Fantasy XIII advertisement.Los Angeles-based Liz Paulson Casting is looking for someone who can read a script for an "exclusive, never before seen look at Final Fantasy XIII." More importantly though, it appears that it will end with a dramatic reveal of the North American release date.Here's the full slide from the casting call.

  You've seen the first Epic Mickey screens, now try to imagine them in high-definition. According to an Official Nintendo Magazine interview, Epic Mickey was originally supposed to be for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC, only to be shifted to the Wii in 2008."It's burned in my brain - Graham Hopper [Disney Interactive boss] pulled me into my office one day and said 'What does it take to deliver on the goals we have for this product?" said designer Warren Spector."And I said, well, you need enough time and enough money to be competitive. And it'd be awfully nice if we could focus on one platform."

  Nothing's more annoying than when you pull out a new Wii party game, ready to enjoy some motion-controlled minigame shenanigans with your family or friends, only to have the plan fizzle because you haven't played enough of the game by yourself to unlock the events. That's an issue from Sega's first Mario and Sonic collaboration that's thankfully missing from the follow-up. This time, the two gaming icons and their retinue head off to the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. It's a beautiful, snowy setting, and the presence of the Winter Games' wonderfully adorable cartoon mascots completes the picture.Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games strikes a good balance between catering to your casual party game needs as well as providing incentive to play through the single-player Festival mode (the game's equivalent of a campaign mode). All of the regular Olympic events are available from the start, so you are free to hop into one of the nine sports categories (and any of their respective sub-events) with up to four players competitively (Versus, Team Versus) or co-operatively. Only a couple of Dream Events, however, are open from the beginning. You'll need to unlock the rest of these fantasy sports (inspired by the real events, but that take place in fantastical settings, like Mario Galaxy's world, and so on) by playing through the regular events as well as progressing through Festival Mode. These often chaotic sports are much more difficult than the regular ones, and serve as a good reward for those who choose to approach the game as more than just a family gathering pull-out.

  Once you make your way through The Ballad of Gay Tony, the story of Grand Theft Auto 4 will essentially be complete. You can still go back and visit, sure, but you shouldn't expect to see any new content pop up in this particular version of Liberty City. Chinatown Wars is already out on PSP and is making its way to iPhones. So what city is next for Grand Theft Auto? As with each previous GTA game, it's time for the guessing game to begin -- and we have our first clue.Inside the manual that comes with Episodes from Liberty City, the disc-based compilation of the two DLC releases for GTA4, is a page that refers to the "next stop." The entire page can be seen over at VGChartz.com, but the significant clue can be seen in the bottom right corner of the image above.I don't see much of anything, myself. It may as well be a Rorschach test, because it's going to look like radically different things depending upon whom you ask. Also worth noting is the fact that, at the bottom of the manual page, it says "Opens March Everywhere." It's unlikely there's a new GTA game that's releasing this March, but perhaps that's when we can expect to hear the first details on GTA5, or whatever game this is alluding to. It's also possible that this means nothing, and Rockstar is just screwing with us. What do you see in the image above?

  After winning a ranked match in Tekken 6, Namco Bandai's 3D fighter, I immediately received a personal message from the loser. "Online is f****** unplayable," he said. He was right. In our match, the tempo was slower than normal, the timing was off, and the screen occasionally jerked and stuttered. And even though our connection quality bounced between great and above-average, our match was still marred by lag. My aforementioned experience wasn't a fluke; Tekken 6's netcode will disappoint online players. Online matches persistently run below optimal conditions, even if your opponent lives close to your area. The netcode isn't as bad as, say, The King of Fighters 12, but it's not even close to other recently released fighters (Blazblue and Street Fighter 4).

  Should you have been thinking about lacing up the boots of a U.S. Navy SEAL in the newest SOCOM game on PSP this year, you'll be disappointed to hear that Fireteam Bravo has been pushed back into 2010. More specifically, it's been delayed until January 12, 2010, so it's not too long of a wait, but it's a wait nonetheless.A post on PlayStation.Blog explains that certain assets (think screenshots and videos from the game) have only just gotten into the hands of Sony's global marketing team. And as such, they want to give them some time to, you know, market the game. Fortunately, there are plans to show off the game in the coming weeks, so expect to hear about all of the excruciating details as they're outlined on PlayStation Blog and elsewhere.

  As you're coming from work, school, or wherever else to turn your Xbox 360 on, you'll find you're prompted to download an update -- but don't get too excited. No, the new dashboard update (the one with Last.FM, Twitter, and Facebook integration) is not available, and no, you didn't suddenly get into the preview of said update. Think less exciting.Instead, this is just a minor update for those out there who are using the Xbox 360 wireless network adapter. It adds support for the WPA2 protocol, allowing you to connect your 360 to a network running a several year old method of securing your router. While we've seen hints that the United Kingdom will get the update you were probably hoping for on November 17, there's still no official worldwide release date. Until then, you'll have to stick to Tweeting and Facebooking from other devices -- unless you're enjoying the update preview, of course.

  Left 4 Dead 2 may follow the Splosion Man route of offering wearable Avatar items for in-game accomplishments, according to a post on the Steam Forums (via MTV Multiplayer). A user with the handle "Fade Guy" found some items listed in the .txt file of the recently released demo. Among the awards are a med kit and frying pan, along with several t-shirts. The items are split into two categories: "in game" and "xlast," the latter of which is widely assumed to be the Xbox 360 Avatar items. We're not sure what the "in game" category describes (which includes the frying pan), but it's still under the header of Avatar.This is all unofficial for now, of course, but it wouldn't be surprising to see these rewards unlock when the game launches next month. Check the (rumored) list of "xlast" items below along with the requirements for each:Med Kit - "earned by beating all five campaigns"Bull Shifters Shirt - "earned by winning 10 games of Versus"Left 4 Dead 2 Shirt - "earned by winning 10 games of Scavenge"Zombie Hand shirt - "earned by killing 10,000 Infected"Depeche Mode Shirt - "earned by rescuing Gnome Chompski from the Dark Carnival"