GamesRelay

The Nintendo Wii has had quite a beating from so-called core gamers... Not least from me. But actually, is the system a poor buy for the hardcore?

On the surface you can see why its been getting a kicking – compared to the HD formats, it's pretty feature-lite, it sinks deeper into a mire of shovelware by the day and publishers have struggled to sell gamer-focused games in meaningful numbers.

BioShock 2 is an interesting game, it starts out very promising and then gets better and better, only really hitting its stride about two thirds of the way through.

At the start the game offers the same intoxicatingly kitsch mix of 1920's architecture, 1950's culture and pulp-style fiction as the first. It also has a similar plot – one which talks of a bigger issue of the human condition, but never really delivers anything other than sound bites to support its lofty ideals.

Dead Space 2 was announced a while back and confirmed by EA for release in 2011 earlier today, but Dead Space fans might not have to wait that long before they get their hands on more space fairing survival horror action.

According to a survey which was supposedly sent to Kotaku, Dead Space: Extraction seems to be in the planning phases for a "full HD" port over from the Nintendo Wii to both Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Network.

Let's get this straight. Mass Effect 2 is undoubtedly one of the best games you'll play this generation. It's a masterpiece.

I'd like to note before we go on that this isn't a review – I've not finished the game yet – so this is just a collection of impressions having played about 15 hours of the game, but you can certainly expect a review from the team soon.

Sometimes you learn something about a game that just blows your mind.

Take Uncharted 2 for instance – for many it was game of the year in 2010 and it took the cinematic presentation of the first game and expanded on it in every conceivable way.

I've always thought that the hype around the Wii's success has been overstated. Sure the Wii sells and sells… 3.8 million units sold last month in the USA alone. To put that into perspective, that's more than the PS3 and 360 combined.

So how can this be overstated?

Well, I concede that this is impressive. No doubt about it. But lets look at things from a different perspective.

It's been an interesting week for Natal – firstly the system has been quietly downgraded from having an internal co-processor and memory to relying on the main 360 chipset, and secondly, developers have gone on record saying that the limitations of the device concern them.

I'm excited by Natal, but also increasingly concerned that the E3-winning concept shown last year is slightly ambitious compared to what is actually likely to be possible.

Ok… So today Nintendo announced a Hi-Def iteration of the DS. I'm not sure I understand this. Hi Def is currently either 720p or 1080p… Why would you ever need that sort of resolution on a handheld device with a screen that's a few inches across? And more importantly what will that do to the battery demands of the graphics chip?

One of my new years resolutions is to only buy one full game every month. Generous enough you might say. Normally I'd agree... but looking across the gaming landscape from January to March there's so many good games that I foresee a number of awful choices ahead.

In February there's BioShock 2, Heavy Rain, Dead Rising 2, ModNation Racers and White Knight Chronicles. Anyone would think lots of companies wanted to get their delayed games out of the door before the end of the fiscal year. But anyway, I digress. February, it seems, will test my resolution.

Are these the first details of the upcoming Fallout: New Vegas? They are according to this poster. The details don't seem to over the top to be proved illegitimate but Bethesda themselves have given the usual "no comment" response to the proposed leak.

Fallout: New Vegas will be the sequel to Fallout 3 but as yet any details regarding the title have yet to be confirmed or denied by Bethesda, you can however bet your beans that it'll be big news when they do.