Ubisoft announced today that Splinter Cell: Conviction is getting pushed back to an April release. No big deal - when you consider how many times that game has been delayed, fans can probably wait one more month for the thing.

Want to know what else they have planned for 2010-11? Here are a few games, including some new mentions.

A new game in the Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon series
Prince of Persia The Forgotten Sands
Driver
Raving Rabbids 4
A new episode of Assassin’s Creed, which will be the first in the series to have an online multiplayer mode

Some of these inspire nothing more than a yawn - do we really need another Driver or a fourth Raving Rabbids? We’re also scratching our heads about the Assassin’s Creed announcement. Gamasutra confirmed that it is, in fact, a new game and not just DLC for Assassin’s Creed 2. It could still just be a spin-off, like the PSP and DS games. Both main-line Creed games have been great, but we’re a little worried about any sequel pushed out in less than a year.

I’ve been playing a ton of Valkyria Chronicles lately. It’s a phenomenal game in its own right, arguably the most important innovation in the Japanese strategy game in years, but what it really did was remind me just how much I loved Skies of Arcadia.

You know the whole “picture is a thousand words” thing? Skies of Arcadia is a game about hope, about exploring a limitless world, and this picture sums up why I love this game better than any rambling editorial (that’s not to say that I won’t bore you with an article some day).

View the full picture

It’s the beginning of a new year, which means that it is time for that sacred ritual that we celebrate every January. Gaming bloggers the world over crawl out of their caves, shake off the crust in their eyes, and make boastful proclamations about which games were the best of the previous year. They declare which games will live on, and which will sink into the Gamestop bargain bins.

Well, why should Brian “The Oracle of the Rocky Mountain” Crecente have all of the glory? We have opinions too! Over the next few days, we’re going to call out all of our favorite games of 2009, divided by platform.

So, click through the link, read about our favorite Wii games, and tell us yours’ in the comments!

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When I’m not busy creating audio-visual awesome with Vinnk, I still like to wax nostalgic (and occasionally poetic) about games.

Since everyone has Decade Fever, I started thinking back about all the great games I’ve played. A couple from the beginning of the last console generation really stuck out, and I set about figuring out why they stood apart from the pack. Then I wondered if any games of the current generation could stack up.

With games like Mass Effect 2 and Prince of Persia: Forgotten Sands on the horizon, it stands to reason that we should take a look back at the seeds of these franchises, ensconced in an earlier arbitrary sequence of ten Earth orbits around the sun.

Here are the five games you should have played from 2000-2009:

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Who doesn’t love Ninjas? Well, ok, I suppose that pirates hate them, but other than that..

Square Enix and Eidos love those little ninjas, and they are pretty sure that you love them too. That’s why they have offered up a couple of copies of their new game, Mini Ninjas, to give away to you readers.

What do you have to do to win? Just leave a comment on this post at any point until 12:00 AM on Friday, January 15th. In your comment, tells us exactly why ninjas always beat pirates in a fight. I’ll select two winners (somewhat) at random, biased by how creative your response is. When leaving your comment, please make sure that you use your valid email address (that’s how I get in touch with you).

(This contest is limited to the US and Canada, sorry international readers.)

Official Website

Not too long ago I was racking my brain to remember this comic/game because a recent gaming character reminded me of this. Now I can’t remember what current game I was referencing, but I finally remembered this old comic book character, Chakan: The Forever Man.

I never played this game, primarily as it was a Genesis game and I didn’t own that as a kid, but I was always intrigued. The comic series sounds interesting and there was a lot of buzz for it at the time, both for the game and comic.

Did any of you rebels ever play the game? What did you think? Let us know in the comments!

Chakan: The Forever Man Wikipedia Entry
Brief gameplay overview

Earlier this week, Nintendo pres (and bad enough dude to save our President) Satoru Iwata gave an interview with Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun. For the most part, it was the kind of PR fluff that we’ve grown numb to, but Iwata did happen to let a few interesting morsels slip out.

While not particularly relevant to international audiences, Nintendo has some interesting plans for DS WiFi spots across Japan. Customers that go to a McDonalds can download original content to their handhelds - things like Pokemon minigames, manga, and quizzes. This year, they are trying to expand these hotspots to a variety of other businesses. Very cool stuff, but it doesn’t seem like they have any plans for similar programs in other countries.

Speaking of the DS, Iwata mused about some of the potential capabilities of the next-gen follow-up. He noted, “[It will have] highly detailed graphics, and it will be necessary to have a sensor with the ability to read the movements of people playing.” While there have been motion-sensing peripherals on the DS, they’ve been pretty limited in their capabilities. One has to wonder if Iwata is implying something along the lines of the Wii or Microsoft’s Natal. The DSi’s Wario Ware: Snapped could be a sign of things to come (though a iPhone-style accelerometer is more likely). When asked if the successor to the DS would be able to connect to high-speed cellular networks, Iwata dismissed the idea. Nintendo has no interest, at this point, in charging any sort of monthly fee for playing games or accessing the internet.

Of course, this discussion is a little premature. The current DS is still going strong, and the DSi LL has just hit Japanese shelves. Iwata assured the newspaper that Nintendo has no plans to release a new handheld in 2010. What is coming this year? The new Legend of Zelda! This mysterious new Wii chapter in the long-running series will be released before the end of the year. The interview doesn’t note whether this will be in Japan or world-wide, but we did get Spirit Tracks first.

The rest of the interview was light on details, but it is definitely nice to get any information at all out of the big N. With a release date likely to fall in November, we should be hearing more about the new Zelda soon.

ＤＳ接続サービス拡大へ　任天堂社長「Ｗｉ ｉは再加速」

Image: Kotaku

Oh, hey, give me a second. I’m still shaking off the holiday coma. Mmm, that felt good.

Where was I? Right! I thought that it just might be time to reacquaint all of you with the greatest game-related trailer ever released. It’s the mysterious Duke Nukem Trilogy for the DS! Go on, just click that “more” link and prepare for a life-changing four minutes.

Happy new year, rebels! Expect more regular content to start up again soon!

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Happy new year Rebels! Ubisoft seems to think that we would all have a few pounds to lose after this holiday season, so they’re releasing My Fitness Coach 2: Workout & Nutrition on the Wii. Bayonetta and Darksiders are probably the titles you want to keep an eye out for this week, both are available on the 360 and PS3.

Check out the full list of releases after the break.

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It’s almost here - 2010. A new decade, new games, even new consoles at some point. It’s with great excitement and anticipation I look forward to the next ten years of gaming, but before we get to that maybe we should take one more look at what great, varied games we saw over this previous ten years. I asked the rest of the staff to write a little bit about what they felt was the most important/unique/special game of the past ten years and you can read what they had to say below. It’s really quite amazing to realize what variety of games all released within ten years of each other.

After reading this you should take a moment to tell us what you felt was the best(according to whatever definition you choose) game of the decade and what made it stand out.

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Before I get into this, let me drill one thing into your head. Twenty-ten. Twenty-ten. 20-10, if you feel more comfortable with digits. We didn’t call 1990 “one thousand nine hundred ninety.” No, we called it nineteen-ninety or “hammer time.”

There, now that one annoying media trend is out of the way, let’s get into the chime-in portion of the post! This one is simple - what games are you most interested in getting your hands on this coming year?

Me, I’m all over Last Window, Mass Effect 2, Bioshock 2, Super Mario Galaxy 2 (if it makes it out), Trauma Team, Crackdown 2, Starcraft 2, and Fallout: New Vegas.

Hey there Rebels, long time no talk!

While I hope the holidays were good to you and all that jazz, I’m here to congratulate our three Scribblenauts Contest winners, Geoff, Andrew, and Eden. Thanks again for entering, your swag-lish-ess posters will soon be in the mail.

Any curious Rebels can check out the three winning submissions after the break.

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Don’t take down those lights yet! Arthur Lee (Mr. Podunkian) just released Merry Gear Solid 2 as a late Christmas present to the world. Mr. Lee, whose previous works include the first Merry Gear Solid and the WIP Underside, put a much greater effort on this title than it’s prequel and it shows in every facet.

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I hope that you’re enjoying that Christmas Eve thingmajig. It looks like the rest of the 4cr staff has taken the week off, and I’m about to turn out the lights myself.

We hope that your holidays are going well, and if you haven’t yet, tell us about your holiday gaming memories in the chime-in post!

I don’t know about you guys, but I love the holiday season. Love it! Hanukah, Christmas, Festivus, whatever, I love this time of the year. It isn’t for any special religious significance, or even the holidays themselves. No, I love this month because it’s the time where we can finally relax, take a couple of days off of work or school (in my case, both), and get some gaming on.

Believe me, I’ve been taking advantage of that time off. I’ve been playing a ton of games over the past few weeks - inFAMOUS (it’s no Crackdown, but I dig it), Valkyria Chronicles (a game I want to touch more on later - beautiful, charming, immersive, and the most important innovation in the jRPG in years), Mad World (artistically brilliant, but the gameplay is deeply flawed - I had my fill after an hour), Assassin’s Creed 2 (the plot is a bit rubbish, but the gameplay, art, and historical setting hit the right notes), and Left 4 Dead 2 (if you have friends, you need this game).

What about you, fellow rebels? What games have you been enjoying during the holidays? Are you going to bring the Wii to your parent’s house? Are the folks giving you any new games? Do you have any great stories of holidays past? Chime in!