While humanity falls apart after a deadly virus sweeps the planet, one gruff individual in the Pacific Northwest of America tries his best to survive.

Shank 2 will leap onto, shoot, stab, stab, shoot, slice, throw a grenade at, and shoot digital platforms starting February 7, when it arrives on PSN and PC in North America. The worldwide XBLA release, along with the European PSN version, will follow on February 8. The price is set for $10, € 9.99, or 800 Microsoft Points, depending on your choice of platform and continent.

Shank 2's marquee feature is a new co-op survival mode that pits two players against a never-ending supply of enemies, so start looking for a friend with the same violent predilections you have.

... Actually, when we put it that way, that sounds like a bad idea.

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BioShock Infinite is gonna hurt you like it's 1999. Developer Irrational Games announced the "1999 Mode" for the upcoming RPG slash FPS this morning, and it appears to go beyond just messing with health stats for a more challenging game experience.

"I'm an old school gamer. We wanted to make sure we were taking into account the play styles of gamers like me," said Irrational's creative director Ken Levine. "So we went straight to the horse's mouth by asking them, on our website, a series of questions about how they play our games."

Levine continued, "94.6 percent of respondents indicated that upgrade choices enhanced their BioShock gameplay experience; however, 56.8 percent indicated that being required to make permanent decisions about their character would have made the game even better."

The 1999 Mode will include unnamed tweaks and features that won't exist in the standard BioSchock Infinite experience. It will also "feature demanding weapon, power, and health management," along with a "Game Over" screen if the player lacks the resources for a respawn. The company is unlikely to cover incidental damages to property caused by playing 1999 Mode.

For a look at a roughed up version of Elizabeth from the newly revealed mode, head past the jump.

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A game called Wreckateer has been spotted in the Australian ratings classification system, listed as being developed by Iron Galaxy and published by Microsoft.

Iron Galaxy Studios is a company that's done a lot of technical consulting for other game developers -- it recently helped Capcom bring Street Fighter 3: Third Strike Online to digital platforms, not to mention work on You Don't Know Jack.

According to its webpage, Iron Galaxy is also working on some yet-to-be-announced projects with Microsoft and Twisted Pixel, and it appears as though Wreckateer is at least one of those projects. That's all we know about the game thus far, other than that it's an original title, and it's been rated General for all audiences. Wreckateer, whatever it is, was just classified this week, so presumably we'll be hearing more about it soon.

The latest trailer from Ubisoft's upcoming survival title, I Am Alive, focuses on the interesting combat system. With the game's emphasis on realism, fights are often tense and brutal, with the threat of a gun often the only thing between a peaceful situation and a gruesome machete attack.

As you can see, I Am Alive's fights are more often about using your sparse resources wisely under pressure than simply lining up the right shot, or having a bigger weapon than your opponents. We think it's a good hook, and you'll be able to play it for yourself when the game comes out during Microsoft's XBLA House Party, starting February 15.

Sculptor Kerry Dyer seems to be a purveyor of adorable sculptures and 3D art, and her latest conquest is the turian race from Mass Effect. Kerry created a few super-cute, sassy turian figurines like a pro, with a full rundown of the process on her blog.

Earlier today it was reported that VideoGamesPlus.ca had been hacked and 21,000 customers' account details were posted for all to see. Eurogamer obtained an email from the company to customers saying the site is "currently investigating a security issue" and is recommending folks to change their passwords.

The problems started when a hacker claimed he had the account details and posted them (since removed) on a file-sharing site. The details included customer names, dates of birth, email addresses, phone numbers and encrypted passwords.

Short version: If you're a VGP customer, change the password for any accounts that shared the same password.

Seriously, girl has some issues (and some nasty combos).

We're pretty dubious of any time-travel methods that don't involve police boxes from the 1960s, but Final Fantasy XIII-2's horcrux Historia Crux and time gates look like a fairly stable, albeit significantly less British, way to traverse the annals of history.

SoulCalibur 5's character roster has, historically, been chock-full of leaks. Clandestine screenshots were responsible for revealing Ezio and Raphael, and now it looks as though three new fighters may have been uncovered in an extremely similar fashion.

Two images, culled from NeoGAF's depths, show the most hated man in the world fan-favorite Kilik (sporting a shiny new bird hat), as well as newcomer Elysium, an angelic female of some kind who sports very little of anything. Speculation suggests that both characters will be "mimic characters" who are able to emulate the fighting styles of any other character, but at this point that appears to be unfounded.

Considering SC5's track record with character selection screenshots, however, we're cautiously optimistic regarding the validity of these photos. Check out the gallery below for high-resolution versions.