If you waited seven years to buy and original Xbox and were hoping to begin your online multiplayer career with it, you have officially waited too long. An era of online video gaming will come to an end in April as Microsoft reorganizes its Xbox Live services and discontinues support for the first-generation Xbox and its games. The reallocation of resources comes as as the company looks ahead to its Xbox 360-compatible services and makes changes that it claims are necessary for the future.

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New State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced last week that his office would be investigating 22 retailers for practices he believes may constitute fraud, and a name familiar to gamers all over the U.S. appeared that list of merchants. Gamestop/EB Games joined Ticketmaster.com and Barnes & Noble on a mailing list of subpoenas sent out by Cuomo's office in response to allegations of deceptive practices regarding enrollment programs and info sharing that many customers may not realize they've agreed to participate in.

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"Alpha Protocol," the action/RPG from Obsidian Entertainment and Sega, has seen a few big delays, but the last one was especially odd. Planned for release in October 2009, the game was never officially delayed until that release date came and went, leaving many to wonder just when it was going to see the light of day. Sega eventually stated that the game was pushed to Spring 2010 and the title went underground, unseen by press until earlier this week at a press event in New York.

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The most DIY-looking doll to come out of video gaming this week actually has nothing to with "LittleBigPlanet" for a change. NECA will be unloading replica Big Daddy dolls from "BioShock 2," which you may recognize from the game's early teasers. The toys come timed for the game's launch next Tuesday and will be accompanied by another NECA release -- replica EVE Hypo syringes.

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The first DLC pack for "Dragon Age: Origins" (not counting the ones that were packed with the game) is called "Return to Ostagar," which totally kills the surprise. You'll be heading back to the worn fortifications of once-heralded Ostagar, the site where Grey Warden Commander Duncan and King Calain fell against the Blight. The goal is to recover important documents tucked in a chest where Calain's tent once stood, as well as recover his fancy golden armor.

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According to the "2010 Guiness Book of World Records: Gaming Edition," Lil Poison is the world's youngest professional gamer. That's quite an accomplishment, especially when you consider that he's held the title since he six.

Well, he's 11 now and he's a beast when it comes to "Halo 3," but what about "Big Buck Safari"? Lil Poison, whose real name is Victor De Leon III, came into the MTV Newsroom to take on the Big Buck Challenge, and he did pretty damn well, especially when you consider that he had never played the game before and had to aim up to actually hit the screen. You can see his performance up top.

For a game whose launch date has been tumbling back on the calendar since 2007, it may take more than a blunt metaphor to instill confidence that "Splinter Cell: Conviction" will ship on April 13th, 2010, but Ubisoft put the word out yesterday. Now, that's the date they're going to try to hit.

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Konami launched a new casual rhythm game on the iPhone's App Store today. Titled "RhymePlayer," it basically tasks players to tap the lyrics of songs in time with the music. Not exactly super involved, but it does feature a handful of well-known artists. Here's the full track list:

Lady Gaga - "Just Dance"
Lifehouse - "First Time"
Jackson 5 - "ABC"
Bel Biv DeVoe - "Poison" (Woo!)
The Cover Girls - "Show Me"

Konami passed along 3 codes for giveaway to promote the game, so head on over to the MTV Multiplayer twitter feed for a chance to nab one.

Sony followed Nintendo's Wii strategy instead of Microsoft's path with Xbox Live when they decided to make the PlayStation Network a free service for online play. That model may not be set in stone, however, and a couple of Sony's biggest decision-makers have now indicated that price tags could be showing up on their PSN services sometime in the near future.

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If you're looking to delve deeper into the world of Iron Man, there are few better guides than Matt Fraction, one of the main Iron Man writers at Marvel. He brought his considerable experience with Tony Stark to Sega and helped to develop "Iron Man 2: The Video Game," providing insight on the character as well as taking on a chunk of the writing.

Fraction will be the first to admit that while he's a gamer, he didn't know the first thing about game development. I asked him if he had any requests for features in "Iron Man 2: The Video Game."

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