Chrono Trigger now available on Android, unavailable on nothing

Chrono Trigger is now available on Android, making it officially available on everything ever made ever. Okay, that's not true, but Square Enix's classic has already released for DS, Virtual Console, PSN, iOS, and mobile phones. Which means the only current gaming device not to have it yet is Xbox 360 - the key word being yet. Yup, it's just a matter of time...

It'll cost you $9.99 to experience the SNES RPG on Android, the same price as on iOS. The port includes the Dimension Vortex and Lost Sanctum bonus areas from the DS re-release.

0x10c may charge monthly subscription for ship ownership

In a recent interview, Mojang's Markus "Notch" Persson says he's thinking more and more that 0x10c, the Minecraft mogul's space-based PC title, may use a subscription-based monetization plan when it's ready to be sold. The idea's not cemented just yet, but Notch expects to have a multiplayer mode with the game called "the multiverse," and there will likely be cost associated with keeping all of the virtual ships running on a real server.

Each ship will require a "generator" to keep it running, so Notch's current idea is that "one subscription gives you one generator." Presumably, he says, multiple players could run around inside one ship, so you may pay a subscription and then invite your friends to join you on your vessel. But someone will have to pay to keep the game going.

Notch also talks a bit about how construction will work in the game: Players will likely build a ship's external features first, and then organize various components inside for different layouts or more options. And Notch says there will be "mining," in that players will have to find resources in the galaxy to use as parts, but he says it definitely won't be Minecraft-style. As Notch told us at PAX, work is definitely well underway, and we should see more very soon.

Ace Attorney 5 voice acting limited to 'those iconic key phrases'

The information from a Japanese interview, stating that Ace Attorney 5 would use full voice acting, was a mistranslation, or the message got garbled along the way somehow. Capcom community manager Brett Elston corrected the information in a tweet this week, shouting "Hold it!" before opening the Twitter post window (we imagine).

"Not the case," Elston. "Just those iconic key phrases!" The original interview, then, suggests that those clips will be re-recorded for the 3DS's improved audio capabilities.

[Thanks, Robert!]

Stealth Bastard Deluxe sneaks onto Steam today, outed by launch trailer

Description

Stealth games are awesome. Hiding from The Man, skulking in shadows, the thrill of unseen infiltration. But why do they have to be so... slow? That was the question that spawned Stealth Bastard, the fast-paced, nail-biting antidote to tippy-toed sneaking simulators that the world had so desperately been craving. Now, building on the ideas sketched out in this unholy marriage of Metal Gear Solid and Super Meat Boy, we’re proud to bring you the bigger, better, shinier Stealth Bastard Deluxe. Armed with only your wits and a pair of top of the range Stealthing Goggles, it’s your job to sneak your way through a deadly facility that’s determined to extinguish your fragile little life. With no weapons and no armour, being seen means instant death. Stay out of the light to avoid the attention of deadly security robots! Leap like a lusty salmon to avoid those zap-happy lasers! Think fast as the walls close in around you! Only the fastest and sneakiest will make it to the exit. Will you be among them? Unlock the secrets hidden throughout Stealth Bastard Deluxe’s 80 all-new levels to access fancy new stealth equipment, and then use it to knobble friends, family and strangers in the global leaderboards. And as if that wasn’t enough, you’ll have the opportunity to be the eponymous bastard yourself as you create your own levels with the Stealth Bastard Deluxe level editor. Pit your wits against other users’ levels or just torture others with your own devious creations. We’re not here to judge.

Next Madden 13 title update lands Thursday, adds Ultimate Team features

The fourth title update for Madden NFL 13 is scheduled to go live November 29, and includes a few new features for Madden Ultimate Team (MUT). The ability to set multiple lineups for your MUT squad highlights the list of changes. Players will now be able to save up to five different lineups.

Another change coming in this week's title update is described as "more nuanced roster management," and is also geared towards Ultimate Team. Instead of breaking down roster management by offense, defense and special teams in MUT, the update sorts teams by more specific positions, such as offensive line and defensive secondary. Each roster segment will show your team's starters as well as eligible players on your bench. The Madden team is also adding a boosts screen in this update, which will display every ratings boost equipped to your team.

Among the other features being added to MUT are quick collections and th e ability to play two minute quarters in the mode. Quick collections reward players that are among the first to finish a card collection in Madden Ultimate Team with special bonuses.

"What we're really striving for is aiming these title updates not just at bug fixes, but adding brand-new content so people feel like they're constantly getting a new game experience," an EA rep told Joystiq. Past title updates added server-side fantasy drafts and player editing in career mode. We've also been told that another announcement is due later this week. Click past the break to see the list of bug fixes included in the update.

These Madden 13 title update bug fixes are the same across Xbox 360 and PS3:

• Fixed bug where Connected Careers panel in main menu is blank
• Fixed exploit in Madden Ultimate Team Solo Challenges where players were using frozen kick meter to run out the clock
• Fixed issue in Panthers playbook where Shotgun formation was properly displaying
• Fixed squib kick exploit
• Fixed exploit that allowed MLB to get instant pressure when in a specific position with a specific coverage called
• Fixed bug when reviewing a friend's depth chart in Madden Ultimate Team
• Fixed erroneous screen telling Madden Ultimate Team players EA servers were unavailable when an opponent signed out before progressing to the loading screen
• Fixed issue where replaying completed Solo Challenges in Madden Ultimate Team consumed contracts
• Fixed issue where Connected Careers offline depth chart would reset after eac h game when player used imported My Madden roster
• Fixed issue where users could not save edits to existing NFL players whose names were flagged as profane.
• Fixed exploit where Madden Ultimate Team users who were kicked out a match for grieving were still granted 800 coins
• Fixed a menu display bug in Madden Ultimate Team matchmaking screen

PSA: Exercise your creative spite in 'F*ck This Jam' today

The "F*ck This Jam" event, a game jam about creating games in genres you hate, begins today, running through November 17. Participants can sign up through the "BMO" tool, an online system designed to track individual processes in game jams. Naturally, it was originally developed for the Adventure Time Game Making Frenzy.

Right now, 1,426 people are signed up to turn their distaste into a new game. Join them and turn something you hate into something you like. Or learn something about game design from a genre you typically shun. Or just make a game, or something.

Pinball FX 2 ricochets onto Windows 8

Windows and free pinball games go together like computer labs and bored high-school students, and Microsoft's shiny new Windows 8 platform will be no exception to that rule, as Zen Studios has launched Pinball FX 2 on the new OS' Microsoft Store app repository.

The free download includes one table ("Mars," specifically), with 18 other tables available for $2.99 each, including Marvel-branded jams such as "Thor," "The Infinity Gauntlet" and "Marvel's The Avengers." Zen plans to support the Windows 8 version with new DLC just as it has the XBLA version, though no amount of DLC will complete that essay on Uncle Tom's Cabin that you're supposed to be working on.

ngmoco co-founders Neil Young and Bob Stevenson leave, Clive Downie new CEO

Neil Young left Electronic Arts back in 2008, at the time for a new mystery project â€" it only took little over a week for Young to announce he had co-founded mobile outfit ngmoco. After a long stint as CEO, Young has stepped down and will be replaced by Clive Downie. The other ngmoco co-founder, Bob Stevenson, is also stepping down.

Young has spent 11 years at Electronic Arts before co-founding ngmoco and taking over as CEO. New CEO Clive Downie also spent time at Electronic Arts before joining ngmoco as VP of studios. ngmoco was acquired by Japanese publisher DeNA in 2010 for $400 million.

[Image credit]

Black Ops 2's live-action TV ad is by Guy Ritchie, stars Tony Stark

This live-action trailer for Black Ops 2 is nothing if not fun. First up, you have Robert Downey Jr bringing a jet to a gunfight, and when we say Downey Jr we of course mean Tony Stark, all conceited and glib and impossible-to-dislike.

And if you're going to do that, you may as well throw in a booming Zach Galfianakis (The Hangover), Kyle Myers AKA YouTube weapons dude FPSRussia, and among many other ridiculous things a horse. It supposedly ties in to the Nuketown 2025 multiplayer map which comes with pre-orders, but we reckon Ritchie just decided to have a laugh.

On a slightly less ostentatious note, we also have a behind-the-scenes vid of the game's score being recorded at none other than Abbey Road Studios.

Buy one, get one free on Origin features Darksiders 2, Battlefield 3, more

Origin has a buy one, get one free deal going on select PC downloads right now. The only catch is that that the select titles are different for the "buy one" and "get one" parts of the equation. The titles that must be bought include the likes of Darksiders 2, Battlefield 3, The Witcher 2 and Saints Row: The Third, among others.

Available free titles include the Dead Space games, Dragon Age games, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Mirror's Edge, a few Sims 3 expansions and more. The deal ends on November 5.

Skyrim Premium Edition planned for certain European territories

Skyrim Premium Edition was revealed earlier today on Amazon Germany, with Bethesda telling Joystiq the special bundle is not coming to the States. First noticed by Examiner, the bundle includes a world map, T-shirt, postcards, physical novel and a bonus disk with special features.

Bethesda tells us the premium edition is "only available in certain territories in Europe," going on to specifically list Germany, UK and Benelux.

The pack does not appear to contain any of Skyrim's previously released downloadable content. Skyrim's previous DLC included Dawnguard and Hearthfire, it's currently speculated the next piece of DLC will be called Dragonborn.

Black Ops 2 patched on 360 and PC

Treyarch updated Call of Duty Black Ops 2 on PC and Xbox 360 this week, and now the patch notes for both updates are out in the wild.

According to the patch notes, the Xbox 360 title update brings improvements to live and playback video streaming, as well as addressing a number of exploits and minor errors. The PC update increases the maximum field-of-view setting to 90 degrees, improves dedicated server matchmaking, and bundles in a few other fixes too.

The PS3 version received a patch ac ross the weekend targeting freezing and console shutdown issues. Activision is still receiving post-patch reports of in-game freezes.

Today's Amazon Lightning Deals include Halo 4 with $20 Amazon gift card

Amazon has a handful of fresh Lightning Deals scheduled for today, including a deal that nets you Halo 4 along with a $20 Amazon gift card and $10 in Amazon Instant Watch credit. The earlier set of sales also features Prototype 2 and the Xbox 360 4 GB holiday bundle.

Check out today's sales schedule after the break, as compiled by Thrifty Nerd.

9:10 AM PST or 12:10 PM EST
Cars 2:The Video Game [DS] for $11.99
Toy Story 3 the Video Game [PS3, DS]
Prototype 2 [X360, PS3]
TRON: Evolution [X360]
Halo 4 with Free $20 Amazon.com Gift Card and $10 Instant Video Credit
Xbox 360 4GB with Kinect Holiday Bundle

1:10 PM PST or 4:10 PM EST
Men In black [X360]
Damage Inc.: Pacific Squadron WWII [X360]
Nascar Unleashed [X360, PS3]
Dungeon Siege 3
Wappy Dog [DS]

Vita discounts hit PSN next week

The PlayStation Store is being swamped with Vita discounts next week, as revealed on this week's PlayStation Blogcast. A total of ten handheld games see their prices tumble as of November 27's PSN update.

First up, Hot Shot Golf: World Invitational, Little Deviants, MLB 12: The Show, ModNation Racers, Reality Fighters, and Wipeout 2048 are all being reduced to $17.99. Slightly dearer are Resistance: Burning Skies, Smart As, and Unit 13, all coming in at $26.99. Finally, as of next week Uncharted: Golden Abyss sets you back $35.99. Just to note, Golden Abyss and Wipeout 2048 are currently part of the PlayStation Plus Instant Game Collection, along with four other Vita games.

Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed makes a splash with launch trailer

Description

Following on from the huge success of Sonic & SEGA All-Star’s Racing, the characters now have their own unique transforming vehicles designed to take advantage of the varying terrain. The line up on the Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed grid sees SEGA favourites â€" including Sonic the Hedgehog, Dr Eggman and AiAi â€" return to battle against newcomers that include Gilius Thunderhead of Golden Axe and Vyse of Skies of Arcadia. The brand new dynamic environments and tracks in Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed are once again inspired by SEGA’s illustrious gaming history. When the road falls away beneath you on Super Monkey Ball’s Temple Trouble track your car transforms into a boat and speeds down the rivers and rapids, whilst the Panzer Dragoon inspired track, Dragon Canyon, takes you into the sky in complete control of your plane, barrel rolling to out-manoeuvre rivals and obstacles before transforming back in to a car and racing to the fin ish line.

FIFA 13 Wii U walks onto the pitch with an instructional video

FIFA 13 Wii U uses the WiiPad for touch-based passing, kicking and tackling, plus real-time manager options like substituting players and changing positions. Also if you take off your shirt and run around screaming after you score a goal, EA sends you a nice email â€" okay, we made that last one up.

FIFA 13 Wii U (11/15/12)

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Amazon Lightning Deals thunder through Thanksgiving Day

Remember when we said Amazon would have a bunch of awesome lightning deals on Black Friday? Turns out that starts now, making this an action-packed Turkey Day in the states.

Some highlights throughout the day include Sims 3 Plus Supernatural at 9:10 a.m. PST, Darksiders 2 at 1:10 p.m. PST, Borderlands 2 and Madden 13 at 5:10 p.m. EST, Lego Batman and Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes at 9:10 p.m. PST and Xbox 360 4GB with Kinect and 250GB holiday bundles at 9:15 p.m. PST.

Check out the complete schedule below, as compiled by Thrifty Nerd, and start planning how you're going to sneak away from the family (and the pumpkin pie).

5:09 AM PST - 8:09 AM EST

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Zumba Fitness

5:10 AM PST - 8:10 AM EST
PS3 DualShock 3 (Black)
PS3 DualShock 3 (Blue)
MLB 12 The Show
Dungeon Seige 3- PC
Plantronics Gamecom P90
Dumbbell Set for Wii
Wii SureShot Rifle
Wii Push Up Bar
Xbox 360 Wireless Controller â€" Glossy
Star Wars Wii Clone Trooper Blaster

9:09 AM PST or 12:09 PM EST

LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4

9:10 AM PST â€" 12:10 PM EST

DSi -18-In-1 Starter Kit
Fable 3
We Ski Wii
Saints Row 2
Final Fantasy XIII-2
The Sims 3 Plus Supernatural
AmazonBasics Carrying Case for Nintendo 3DS, DS Lite, DSi and DSi XL
Chimaera 5.1 Wireless Gaming Headset
AmazonBasics Wheel for Nintendo Wii
The Sly Collection

1:09 PM PST â€" 4:09 PM EST

LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7
Zumba Fitness 2
Dis honored

1:10 PM PST â€" 4:10 PM EST

Xbox 360 Ear Force XP500 Programmable Wireless Headset
Madden NFL 12 at the hottest price ever!
Drawsome Tablet
Xbox 360 Live Subscription Gold Card â€" 3 Months
Darksiders II
Fable: The Journey
Star Wars: The Old Republic for $5.99

5:10 PM PST â€" 8:10 PM EST

NBA 2K13 for $25
Madden Football 13 for $25
Kinect Sensor with Adventures â€" Refurbished
Skylanders Giants
PS3 Gran Turismo 5 XL Edition
Street Fighter 25th Anniversary Collector's Set
Battlefield 3 (360/PS3) for $25
Just Dance 4 for $25
NCAA Football 13 for $25
FIFA Soccer 13 for $25
The Amazing Spiderman
Need for Speed Most Wanted (360/PS3)
Turtle Beach Ear Force XP400 Dolby Surround Sound Gaming Headset
Disney Epic Mickey 2 (Wii)
Dance Central 3
Black OPS LTO

9:10 PM PST â€" 12:10 AM EST

Plantronics Gamecom X95< br/>Forza Horizon
Transformers Fall of Cybertron
LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes
LEGO Batman for only $10!
Ratchet & Clank Collection
Batman Arkham Asylum: GOTY Greatest Hits
Medal of Honor Warfighter (360/PS3)
Modern Warfare 3
Mass Effect 2 (PS3) for $7.99

9:15 PM PST â€" 12:15 AM EST

Xbox 360 4GB with Kinect Holiday Value Bundle
Xbox 360 250GB Holiday Value Bundle

US kids want an iPad more than a Wii U for the holidays, Nielsen finds

It's worthwhile to note that this Nielsen graph showing the most-wanted tech gadgets for kids age 6 - 12 in the US is titled "Interest in Buying in the Next 6 Months." That's probably an incorrect assertion, since we haven't seen any 8-year-olds working the late shift at McDonald's recently. It should be titled, "Interest in Having Someone Buy This For Me in the Next 6 Months."

Kids' holiday wishlists are dominated by the iPad, snagging the top spot from 48 percent of respondents age 6 - 12. Right behind that is the Wii U, with 39 percent. More iDevices complete the top five, though Kinect has 31 percent, and 3DS/3DS XL and other DS models grab 29 and 28 percent, respectively. PS3 comes in with 26 percent, followed by the Xbox 360 with 25 percent. Strangely enough, 18 percent of kids want a PSP, while just 14 percent would take the Vita.

In a separate study of people 13 and older, the iPad remains king with 21 percent, making the split more even across all devices. Wii U is fourth in this group with 17 percent, while the PS3 gets 8 percent and the Xbox 360 7 percent. The Vita surpasses the PSP, 4 percent compared with 3 percent.

Check out the complete graphs below.

Little Inferno heats up PC and Wii U this Sunday

Little Inferno, the toy conflagration game from the Henry Hatsworth/World of Goo vets at Tomorrow Corporation, sparks to life on Wii U and PC November 18. Yes, that's three days from now. That's the Wii U's North American launch day, in fact.

It's a good time to see some footage of the game! If you're interested in buying toys and then chucking them directly into a fire for warmth, you can pre-purchase the PC version through Steam for 10% off ($13.49), and get access to a beta build until release. Or you can wait until Sunday and discover how the Wii U eShop works!

Need for Speed: Most Wanted coming to Wii U in 2013

Criterion Studio's fuel-injected, open-world playground in Need for Speed: Most Wanted has joined the likes of Batman: Arkham City and Tekken Tag Tournament 2 as yet another current-gen title that will also make its way to the Wii U.

"In 2013, Nintendo fans will be able to experience what it means to be Most Wanted amongst their friends on the Wii U," EA told Polygon. The announcement came after the game was spotted in a list of pending European Wii U titles, tucked inside Nintendo's recent financial statement. No further information regarding potential Wii U-exclusive features was available, nor was a more specific release window. Think someone will make a WiiPad steering wheel?

ZombiU launch trailer doesn't double tap

Description

It has been foretold that the world as you know it will end in 2012… London is falling! Are YOU prepared? For the second time in history, a great plague has descended upon London, infecting the human race with a deadly disease. Big Ben tolls as hundreds upon thousands of the unprepared die or are infected by a sickness worse than death... You are still breathing, for now. But how long will you survive in the labyrinth of London streets and underground as the infected close in around you? The horrifying remains of humanity ravaged by the foul disease shuffle through the streets, waiting to prey on your living flesh at every turn! ZombiUâ„¢ is designed to take advantage of the Wii U and its revolutionary new controller and will test your will to survive in a zombie Survival-Horror First Person Shooter. So grab hold of the height of survival kits â€" your new controller â€" and stock up your Bug-Out Bag with supplies! Make every second count; you only get one chance. STAY HUMAN, WE ARE A DYING BREED.

Stiq Figures, November 5 - 11: Paperboy edition

Welcome to Stiq Figures, where the sales data is after the break and the posts don't matter. Every week, we take a look at, uh, something â€" meanwhile, the previous week's Japanese hardware sales figures are posted after the jump, and a discussion of said figures takes place in our comments. It may not be conventional, but it's a time-honored Joystiq tradition.

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This week, we look up briefly from our new Wii U systems to watch this commercial for the 1988 Mindscape-published NES version of Paperboy. With rolling tires, erratic lawnmowers and carefree skateboarders on the loose, Paperboy is seen doing what he does best in this ad: avoiding obstacles and breaking the windows of any house in the neighborhood that he can.

These live-action class ic gaming commercials never get old to us, especially when they end with a faux-disclaimer that encourages players to "try this at home."

3DS LL: 134,652 [UP] 70,659 (110.42%)
3DS: 52,425 [UP] 22,429 (74.77%)
PS3: 18,043 [DOWN] 3,267 (15.33%)
PSP: 12,076 [DOWN] 1,792 (12.92%)
Vita: 4,021 [DOWN] 821 (16.96%)
Wii: 2,921 [DOWN] 885 (23.25%)
Xbox 360: 2,908 [UP] 1,569 (117.18%)
PS2: 1,187 [DOWN] 164 (12.14%)
DSi LL: 244 [DOWN] 97 (28.45%)
DSi: 180 [DOWN] 47 (20.70%)

Real-life Elite Four coming to Pokemon Black and White 2 November 19

Starting tomorrow, players can take on the top four finalists of all three divisions from the 2012 Pokemon World Championships in Pokemon Black and White 2. While the Junior and Senior Division challenges have been available for some time in the game, Monday's inclusion of the top four from the Masters Division Challenge will round out the special challenge event.

Players can battle the 12 total championship teams by progressing to the Pokemon World Tournament located in Driftveil City in the game. The full list of the teams and their Pokemon lineups can be seen after the break.

2012 MASTERS DIVISION CHALLENGE
World Champ Ray - Tyranitar, Garchomp, Cresselia, Hydreigon, Rotom, Metagross
World Runner-Up Wolfe - Hitmontop, Cresselia, Thundurus, Terrakion, Heatran, Exeggutor
World Finalist Abel - Thundurus, Hitmontop, Latios, Cresselia, Metagross, Tyranitar
World Finalist Joe - Excadrill, Tyranitar, Gastrodon, Salamence, Rotom, Cresselia

2012 SENIORS DIVISION CHALLENGE
World Champ Toler - Garchomp, Ludicolo, Cresselia, Hydreigon, Rotom, Metgross
World Runner-Up Jaime - Thundurus, Tyranitar, Metagross, Hitmontop, Latios, Swampert
World Finalist Nitesh - Heatran, Cresselia, Amoonguss, Metagross, Gyarados, Gastrodon
World Finalist Henry - Tyranitar, Excadrill, Thundurus, Volcarona, Latios, Hitmontop

2012 JUNIORS DIVISION CHALLENGE
World Champ Abram - Cloyster, Thundurus, Volcarona, Landorus, Tyranitar, Hitmontop
World Runner-Up Brian - Sableye, Tyranitar, Hydreigon, Metagross, Hitmontop, RotomWorld Finalist Brendan - Metagross, Tyranitar, Hitmontop, Cresselia, Zapdos, Gastrodon
World Finalist Kippei - Garchomp, Tyranitar, Scizor, Thundurus, Hitmontop, Cresselia

Scribblenauts Unlimited review: Limitless tomfoolery

5th Cell's Scribblenauts Unlimited brought out the worst in me.

Available for 3DS, PC, and Wii U -- I played the Wii U version for this review -- the game begins with series star Maxwell pranking a hungry beggar, as he feeds the fellow a rotten apple conjured by his magic notebook. It's a useful pad that can summon any manner of objects players type into the Wii U's GamePad, or alter the properties of whatever it targets. Maxwell could have just as easily transformed him into a "satiated beggar" or pulled a "delicious steak" out of thin air, but we're dealing with a "cruel protagonist" here.

So that beggar returns Maxwell's favor by casting a curse on his sister (we're introduced to Lily and the many members of Maxwell's family in this game) that slowly turns her into stone. Our jerk of a hero is sent off to collect Starites that will save Lily from permanent petrification, but Maxwell can only gather them by helping others with his notebook.

Though it's meant to be a redemption quest, one that forces Maxwell to examine the way he's mistreated others and abused his notebook's powers, I was having none of that. It's a game filled with characters dropping their wishes at Maxwell's feet, and I wanted to be the venomous djinn, the nefarious wishmaster that only granted them with a terrible twist. I became the devil on Maxwell's shoulder, goading him into silencing my counterpart with his notebook by writing out "absent conscience."

I roamed the game's world, wreaking havoc in every life I touched â€" instead of providing levels filled with different challenges to solve as in previous entries, Scribblenauts Unlimited features an overworld filled with different environments. These range from a places like a haunted house to an underwater kingdom and a fire house under siege by zombies, each populated with characters seeking your help.

In the subway station, a jobless man told me he would be able to find decent work if only he had an education. I summoned a "clueless teacher," who appeared wearing a dunce cap. The man received his degree, the challenge popped up on my screen as completed, and the graduate now wore his professor's dunce cap. Who knows if he ever convinced anyone to hire him. I pass by the station every now and then, and still see him hanging around there.

There are also multi-challenge missions, like the one where I helped a worried guy prepare for his date by giving him a "polka dot suit" for his outfit, a "slimy skateboard" to pick her up with, a "deadly bouquet" to offer the lady, and a "violent violinist" to provide music while they ate dinner. Uncontent to leave my treachery at that, when the couple later asked me to invite the necessary people to their wedding, I brought in the "disapproving mother-in-law." My second choice would have been an "unlicensed priest."

That was around the point when my wife, who was playing along in the Sidekick Mode (others with Wii Remotes can take control of whatever the GamePad holder conjures) commented that I'd become quite wicked with the notebook. Scribblenauts Unlimited is one of those wonderful Wii U titles that lets you play on the GamePad without the TV â€" albeit with only a sin gle player â€" so I soon switched to that mode to hide my heartlessness from her view. You miss out on the game's HD graphics, which are a first for the traditionally handheld series, but if you're anything like me, you'll ignore the TV and play the entire thing by looking at the GamePad's smaller display the entire time anyway.

And this way my wife never saw the other date I intruded on, in which the couple sat around waiting for some entertainment. I brought out a "funny mistress," which turned the "bored girlfriend" into an "amused brokenhearted crying girlfriend" that ran toward the door. "Fake jewelry" brought her back to the cheating beau's arms.

Just about the only lives you can't ruin in this game are those of Mario and friends â€" 5th Cell teamed up with Nintendo to offer items and characters from the Super Mario Bros. and Legend of Zelda franchises as Wii U-exclusive content. You can drop Luigi and Ganon into the game, but you can't actually modify them wit h adjectives or the Object Editor.

That Object Editor, by the way, is a great new addition to the series, giving you powerful tools to edit or create nearly any object. You can change how objects/characters move, sound, behave, look (e.g. colors, patterns, mustaches), and more. It's a nice way to get around the game's restrictions that prevent you from summoning most proper nouns, vulgar items, or objects that would be inappropriate for its E10+ rating.

For example, you can't conjure a glass of "whiskey," but you can edit a "beverage" so that when someone drinks it, they become "violent" and "incoherent." Drop in a "thirsty dad," and he'll soon send his "confused son" sulking around. And thanks to the game's Punctuation Plaza shop, I can share my creation with others and download similarly deviant user-made items for my shenanigans.As fun as it was to test the limits of cruelty the game would allow me to inflict on its characters, serving as a wishmaster for hundred s of poor souls eventually became tedious. While 5th Cell managed to add hilarious details to some of its puzzles ("There's a poor sap drowning underwater with a safe tied to his leg, and if you open the safe you'll find... an 'aquatic badger'?"), many of the challenges are too simple and don't test players' creativity enough.

I can see people who need more prodding to be imaginative, or people less wicked than I, speeding through Scribblenauts Unlimited without realizing that you get out of the game whatever you put into it. When you're tasked with building a new store to liven up a boring town, you'll find little joy constructing a "supermarket" or "deli." You will, however, get a kick when you introduce a "cursed magic shop" à la Are You Afraid of the Dark, knowing that establishment will be terrorizing the kids in that town long after you've left.

Much of the fun from Scribblenauts happens be tween players' ears â€" and, in my experience at least, it's amplified if you've a bit of a fiendish side to you â€" and I wish the game played to that more. Even so, there are few better places for creative players and unchecked villainy to prosper than in Scribblenauts Unlimited.

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This review is based on a retail copy of Scribblenauts Unlimited for the Wii U, provided by Warner Bros. Scribblenauts Unlimited is also available on the 3DS.

Eric Caoili is a co-editor at the inimitable 3DS-focused site Tiny Cartridge, as well as a news editor at game industry trade publication Gamasutra. You can follow him on Twitter at @tinycartridge.

Joystiq's review scores are based on a scale of whether the game in question is worth your time -- a five-star being a definitive "yes," and a one-star being a definitive "no." Read here for more information on our ratings guidelines.

Weekly Webcomic Wrapup is gonna wreck it

Disney's Wreck-It Ralph is a must-watch movie. One thing that really stood out when viewing it recently wasn't just the cute video game references, it was the arcade in the movie.

Arcade culture has been somewhat lost over the years. Sure, arcades in various forms still exist, but the days of setting our quarters down to call the next game of Double Dragon or NBA Jam are long gone. Seeing kids in Wreck-It Ralph bouncing around the arcade to check out each machine with a sort of glossy-eyed wonder does well to make you yearn for those days in the local arcade, trying to get your name on the local leaderboards.

Even the term "arcade" has taken on new meaning in video games, being used now to describe bite-sized downloadable games as opposed to coin-operated dedicated game machines. It's a fair, albeit somewhat depressing use of the term. While nostalgia-tripping with us, check out last week's webcomics and vote for your favorite after the b reak!

Chibi-Robo (Magical Game Time)
Fantasy attire (Corpse Run)
Succomb (Fanboys)
Nintendo Land (Brawl in the Family)
Sundance On Your Grave (Penny Arcade)
Twiddle Earth (Extra Life)
Bad Dog (Nerf Now!!)
Sliding Scale (Awkward Zombie)

GTA Vice City PC 'temporarily' pulled from digital distributors over music licensing issue

Rockstar has decided to pull the PC version of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City from digital distributors for an undisclosed period while it deals with some licensing-related complications.

"Due to some music licensing issues, we've had to temporarily remove Vice City PC from digital stores. We'll make it available again as soon as possible," a statement to Game Informer reads. Rockstar hasn't specifically called out which song(s) are at the heart of this dispute, but tells Game Informer this current licensing issue won't affect the upcoming mobile port.

Cinema Blend suggests it's Michael Jackson's "Wanna Be Startin' Something" that's the problem, which Sony Music Entertainment owns. If you've already purchased Vice City through Steam or your other favorite digital distributor, you should run into no problems installing and playing the game â€" unless you do, in which case you'll want to call your cousin Carl. He's real good with them computers.

Special Vita, PS3 bundles drop to $200 for Black Friday

Exclusive PlayStation®3 and PlayStation®Vita Deals Hit Store Shelves for Black Friday

November 16, 2012 â€" Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC (SCEA) today announced exclusive Black Friday deals for the PlayStation®Vita (PS Vita) and PlayStation®3 (PS3â„¢) systems. These bundles include some of the biggest games available this holiday season and will be offered with special reduced pricing for the biggest shopping day of the year.

PS Vita

All three PS Vita bundles will be available for only $199.99 (MSRP) on November 23rd and 24th:

PS Vita Assassin's Creed® III Liberation Bundle includes:

Crystal White PS Vita Wi-Fi System
Assassin's Creed® III Liberation game
4GB Memory Card
PS Vita Call of Duty®: Black Ops: Declassified Bundle includes:

Crystal Black PS Vita Wi-Fi System
Call of Duty®: Black Ops: Declassified game
4GB Memory Card
Lego® Batman™ 2 Limited Edition PlayStation®Vita Bundle includes:

Crystal Black PS Vita Wi-Fi System
Lego® Batman™ 2: DC Super Heroes game
PS3â„¢

The new 250GB PS3â„¢ system will be bundled with two of the most popular gaming franchises, UNCHARTEDâ„¢, winner of more than 200 Game of the Year Awards, and the fan favorite inFAMOUSâ„¢.

PS3â„¢ Black Friday deals can be found below:

The Ultimate PlayStation®3 Value Bundle, selling at $199.99, includes:

PS3â„¢ 250GB system
UNCHARTEDâ„¢ Dual Pack
Includes Drake's Fortune® and UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves™
inFAMOUSâ„¢ Collection
Includes inFAMOUSâ„¢, inFAMOUSâ„¢ 2, and inFAMOUSâ„¢ Festival of Blood
30 day PlayStation®Plus Trial Membership
These deals offer exceptional value for consumers looking for the perfect gaming solution this holiday season and will only be available at participating retailers, while supplies last.

Aero Porter delivered to 3DS eShop Nov. 29

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
LEVEL-5 INTERNATIONAL AMERICA TO RELEASE AERO PORTER NOVEMBER 29 IN NORTH AMERICA AND EUROPE

Second of Three Downloadable Titles from Some of Japan's Greatest Game Designers Set to Release Later This Month via eShop for Nintendo 3DS

SANTA MONICA, CA (November 16, 2012) â€" Renowned Japanese video game company LEVEL-5, best known for their critically acclaimed Professor Layton video game series, today announced that airport-simulator and puzzle game, AERO PORTER, will release November 29 via the Nintendo eShop on Nintendo 3DSâ„¢ in both North America and Europe at $4.99 USD and €4.99 / ₤4.49 respectively (please check the Nintendo eShop for pricing in other available countries).

AERO PORTER was created by legendary game designer Yoot Saito, the creator of some of Japan's most innovative titles including Seaman, The Tower, and Odama, and was originally released only in Japan as part of GUILD01, a multi-game pack featuring works by s ome of the industry's most respected game creators.

As the second game from GUILD01 to release in Europe and North America, AERO PORTER stands as a testament to the creative and visionary design legacy of Yoot Saito, offering an approachable and addictive addition to the Nintendo eShop that gamers of all ages and skill levels can enjoy.

ABOUT AERO PORTER
In AERO PORTER, the player is charged with managing the busy day-to-day operations of a bustling airport through gameplay that includes both clever puzzle elements and simulation challenges. While running their flight hub, players sort color-coded luggage onto conveyor belts while avoiding mishaps and delays, all while ensuring the on-time departures of airplanes. As the game progresses, players earn money and increase their passengers in order to expand their airport, unlock new gameplay elements, and raise the level of challenge. Players are also able to design and share their own planes with a wide range o f colors and patterns via StreetPassâ„¢.

For more information about LEVEL-5 and each of its upcoming titles, please visit http://level5ia.com/blackbox/.

All titles available in English only.

ABOUT LEVEL-5
LEVEL-5 Inc. plans, creates, and markets videogame software in Japan. The company's flagship PROFESSOR LAYTON series has shipped over 13.5 million units worldwide, while the mega-hit INAZUMA ELEVEN series has shipped over 5.1 million units worldwide. The Little Battlers eXperience animated series, based on the hugely successful games of the same name, will soon make its western debut in Europe and the Americas. The company is also currently localizing Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch for North America and Europe, featuring animations by the Academy Award-winning Studio Ghibli, and music by Joe Hisaishi. In September 2010, LEVEL-5 Inc. opened an office in Santa Monica, California. While maintaining its base as a game company, LEVEL-5 Inc. continues to actively explore collaborations with other media, as it strives to become a world-class entertainment brand. More information on LEVEL-5 Inc. can be found at http://www.level5ia.com and http://www.level5.co.jp/.

©2012 LEVEL-5 Inc. ©2012 VIVARIUM Inc. Nintendo trademarks used under license. Nintendo 3DS is a trademark of Nintendo. ©2012 Nintendo. All other trademarks are properties of their respective owners.

Lone Survivor migrating to PS3 and Vita

Lone Survivor, the side-scrolling survival-horror game from developer Superflat Games, is coming to the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita, creator Jasper Byrne has revealed. After months of being stranded on the PC and Mac, Curve Studios will rebuild the entire code base from scratch to bring Lone Survivor to Sony's gaming platforms.

Curve Studios is the London-based house responsible for Fluidity and Explodemon, the latter of which is a quaint retro-inspired game that shows the studio has chops when it comes to pumping out the pixels. No release date on the PlayStation versions has been revealed, but Byrne says he'll offer updates through his Twitter account as progress is made.
3;

Deadly Premonition: The Director's Cut foretold for March

With Halloween upon us, Rising Star Games today released a new teaser trailer for its upcoming horror action game, Deadly Premonition: The Director's Cut.

Set to release in March 2013 exclusively for the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, Deadly Premonition: The Director's Cut lets fans play as Francis York Morgan as he must solve the mystery of the Red Seed Murders and stay alive in a place where supernatural creatures and a killer seek to end his investigation. The award-winning suspense-horror, action-adventure game gives players an open-world experience featuring detailed interactions with Greenvale locals as well as numerous side quests and mini games to help solve the murders and uncover hidden town secrets.

Deadly Premonition: The Director's Cut features enhancements to the original game, including a new scenario from the game's director SWERY (Hidetaka Suehiro), HD graphics, a reworked control system for combat and DLC to expand the mystery beyond the original plot.

Neverwinter's magic spells are pretty wizard

Cryptic Studios and Atari have shared both the video above and the gallery below, both designed to show you what the upcoming Neverwinter's Control Wizard class is capable of. As you can see in the video especially, the spells are heavily inspired by pen-and-paper Dungeons and Dragons, and the game will have you casting old favorites like Magic Missile, Ray of Frost, and the destructive Ice Storm.

You can also see a few other 4th Edition D&D mainstays, including Tiefling heroes (they're the ones with the horns) and some NPC zombies and skeletons. The free-to-play MMO is set to be released early next year.

Beyonce tries to escape Gate Five lawsuit again, fails again

Singer Beyonce has failed, once again, to get herself extricated from the impending lawsuit against her by developer Gate Five Studios. Gate Five claims Beyonce agreed to help make a video game called Superstar: Beyonce late last year, but then backed out of the deal, causing severe financial damage to the studio. Beyonce's lawyers attempted to get a summary judgment in April, claiming Gate Five hadn't pulled in the financing needed to make the game, but that attempt was denied.

Now the appeal of that judgment has failed. This doesn't mean Beyonce's lost the case, but it does mean that it'll likely go to trial, where a jury will have to determine if Beyonce was within her contract to leave the project, or if she somehow broke the agreement. The main issue seems to be that Beyonce required a certain amount of financing to stay on board, which she says the studio didn't get. Gate Five has suggested that there was an agreement to get the money Beyonce's contract required very soon, and that she knew that deal was all set to take place.

Beyonce, we're really happy for you, and we're going to let this finish and all, but Axel Rose had one of the best video game lawsuits of all time. One of the best video game lawsuits of all time!

Valve had a space pirate game called 'Stars of Blood'

Valve at one point had an internal project called "Stars of Blood," and it was all about buckaneering on the galactic sea, co-founder Gabe Newell said. Newell was speaking to a group from 4chan.org's /v/ board, who paid him a visit on his birthday to drop off a Mann Co. crate and pick his brains about rumors and, apparently, Source Engine 2.

"We had an internal project [incomprehensible] called 'Stars of Blood.' It was a space pirates game. That never saw the light of day," Newell said, with the inquiry starting at 47:45 in the above video.

The question was spurred by previous rumors of a Valve space game called "Stars of Barathrum," but Newell appeared just as confused by that name as we were. Though now that we think about it, "Barathrum" definitely has a pirate-y ring to it. Rum, anyone?

Arcade survival racer Distance closing in on Kickstarter finish line

Seattle-based Refract Studios updated the Kickstarter page with new gameplay footage for its racing game project Distance, a spiritual successor to the team's student project while attending DigiPen, Nitronic Rush. With DigiPen owning the rights to Nitronic Rush, Refract Studios (a fraction of the Nitronic Rush team) took to Kickstarter to fund its ambitions with a similar "survival racing" game in Distance.

According to the project's description, "You control a unique car that allows you to boost, jump, rotate, and even fly through a chaotic and twisted city." The game's world is said to have a "mysterious history," placing a heavy focus on exploration in the city's bizarre environment in addition to its level edit or and multiplayer modes.

Distance is in development for PC, Mac and Linux, with the only videos available labeled as pre-alpha footage. The Kickstarter project is currently sitting at almost $85,000 in funding with five days left before the team hopes to reach its $125,000 goal.

Gunstringer's 'Wavy Tube Man Chronicles' coming to Windows 8

PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
*

The Future of Interactive Entertainment Coming to Windows Store
Twisted Pixel Waits with Anticipation for Calls from Cannes and Sundance

November 12th, 2012 - Austin, TX - Twisted Pixel Games proudly presents the future of interactive entertainment: The Wavy Tube Man Chronicles. Starring Wiley Wiggins (Dazed and Confused, Waking Life) as Future Buddy and Lloyd Kaufman (The Toxic Avenger, Tromeo and Juliet) as Doc Lloyd, this new experience defies simple 20th century categorizations of "game" or "film." Video games don't have real horses or real big fires. Films don't allow viewers to choose who lives or dies. The Wavy Tube Man Chronicles has all those things, and a lot more.

The carefully crafted story of intrigue takes players on an adventure to find the nefarious Wavy Tube Man Jr., who has stolen a time machine to go to the past and prevent his father's death. Take control of destiny using mouse or touch-base d targeting, shooting, and more against quick-drawing cowboys and heavily armed future warriors, chasing the villain through time as the fate of the world hangs in the balance.

And there's more: Harness the new chapter select feature to go directly to your favorite scenes with no waiting. Explore the behind the scenes special features to discover the secrets of how epic Hollywood productions are made. Immerse yourself in the most lifelike visuals available on any platform, made possible by Twisted Pixel's advanced proprietary "graphiz" technology. No longer hindered by the limitations of polygons or math, the characters and worlds of wonder come to life before your very eyes.

Coming soon to the Windows Store for Windows 8 PCs and RT tablets at the stunningly low price of $1.49, The Wavy Tube Man Chronicles is less than 1/30th the price of old media like Halo 4 or the Twilight saga. Come to the future of interactive entertainment.

About Twisted Pixel Games

Twisted Pixel is the studio behind the 2009 IGF finalist and 2008 PAX 10 Audience Choice Award winning game The Maw, followed by the award winning Splosion Man, Comic Jumper, Ms. Splosion Man, the Kinect exclusive The Gunstringer and the recently announced LocoCycle. Twisted Pixel continues their focus on creating character-driven original games, now with the support of Microsoft Studios following the team's acquisition in 2011. Learn more at www.TwistedPixelGames.com and Twitter @twisted_pixel.

Karateka review: Lacks punch

At first glance, Karateka doesn't look like a remake so much as a new game with the same name. Its cartoon visuals, 3D setting, and rhythm-based combat seem oceans apart from the 2D martial arts cinema of the Apple II beat-em-up. Yet look a little deeper and the classic's spirit reveals itself, albeit glazed with superficial icing. Those who revere the original may find this appetizing; it's the game they love, yet different and new. Judged on its own merits, however, Kareteka being true to its source is exactly why it doesn't satiate.

As before, combat is the core of your journey, and movement is nearly insignificant. The original's side-scrolling converts to a one-way path, with you pushing the control stick upwards to roam the false 3D world. You reach a combatant, defeat him, run up the path, reach another combatant, defeat him, and so on. Apart from occasional cutscenes, this is how the whole game goes from start to end.

Reducing a game to a manually-traversed rail punctuated only by fights and cutscenes isn't inherently wrong, but it does put pressure on combat and narrative to deliver. This is where Karateka comes unstuck. While the original distracted with cinematic innovations and challenging karate combat, its remake doesn't distinguish itself from its peers.

Let's start with the narrative. The 1984 Karateka stood out because creator Jordan Mechner threw his history-of-cinema classes into the game. It wasn't just in the animation, but in the direction â€" switching from fighter to fighter, tracking them as they ran. It had drama.

The 2012 Karateka embraces that ethos through more modern touches. As your hero takes a health-sapping hook, the camera angle changes to focus on his pain. Individual fights have their own scores of music, helping each one feel like a chapter in your overall story.

These little touches are clever and decent, but they are far from standout. The same goes for the cutscenes. They are well produced given the obviously limited budget, but are no more than pleasant, pretty distractions. The 80s hallmark plot of saving a princess nowadays has its charm, but little else, and a spot of cinematic flourish doesn't change that. In the end, the story, the drama, and the action of Karateka all feel ordinary. It's never quite dull, but it doesn't exactly get the juices going either.

The combat does fare better. It keeps the original's emphasis on karate by focusing on blocks and counters, an important part of the martial art. Yet the new rhythm-based model changes things up. Each fight goes back and forth: your opponent launches a sequence of attacks, you (hopefully) time your blocks correctly, and then you land your own sequence of attacks before the whole thing repeats. But it's smarter than that.

Before each opponent attacks, you'll hear a short sequence of music which acts as a clue. If you hear one note, for example, your opponent tries to hit you just once. A chime of two notes indicates two hits, while a flurry means you should prepare to block several hits. Also, each fighter has his own rhythm of attacking. The early fighters stick to predictable beat-by-beat attacks, while later ones have complicated patterns that step out of rhythm.

It's a clever, modern way of keeping the combat true. The fighting looks great, even with the artificial back and forth. The problem is that your actual moves are reduced almost completely to two face buttons, one for punches and one for kicks. The only other factor is a meter you build up with successful hits and blocks. Once it's filled you can stun your opp onents â€" this gets its own face button â€" and then build up a quick flurry to smash through his health. In reality, though, combat is just successfully blocking attacks and then tapping punch and kick buttons until it all repeats. There's little point to mixing up the two buttons beyond visual variety.

While this keeps things simple. making the game accessible, in the grander scheme of things it's an issue â€" the major reason being Karateka is short. In fact, you'll probably beat it in around 30 minutes (on the timer) the first time you play it.

The original was similarly short, as many games were in the 80s. Again, there's nothing inherently wrong with a short game now, as long as it packs a lot into that time. Othe rwise a short game translates into a forgettable, expensive-feeling experience. There isn't enough depth in Karateka, including its combat, to prevent that feeling from creeping in. While the 30 or so minutes the game lasts are fine, they are well below memorable.

To its credit, Karateka tries to distract from its short length with an interesting attempt at replay value. Instead of losing a life when you die, your initial hero is replaced with a stronger hero. There are three heroes in total, each with his own ending. Beating the game with the first hero gets you the 'best' ending and a chunky achievement, but it's a tough ask because of his low maximum health.

While it's a very clever way to tier the game's difficulty naturally while simultaneously adding replay value, there are issues here too. The difficulty in beating Karateka with the first hero lies in the final few bosses, who drain plenty of health with each blow landed. The probl em? It takes a good 20 minutes to get to these bosses, and on a retry these 20 minutes are dull and lack any real challenge. Having to go through them with each successive attempt is not enticing at all. Even motivations like leaderboards and other achievements fail to make it attractive.

The people who'll enjoy Karateka the most, and maybe a lot, are those who revere the 1984 classic. There are plenty of references to savor, from victory chimes to the very way the game begins. As a remake, it's hard to fault the creative choices made to keep the game true while still modernizing it. Maybe the issue here is whether or not a remake was a good idea, because the new Karateka has too many issues and too little substance to compete against current peers.

---

This review is based on a XB LA download of Karateka, provided by Liquid Entertainment and available for 800 MSP ($10) on Xbox Live Marketplace.

Joystiq's review scores are based on a scale of whether the game in question is worth your time -- a five-star being a definitive "yes," and a one-star being a definitive "no." Read here for more information on our ratings guidelines.

Stiq Figures, October 29 - November 4: Spider The Video Game edition

Welcome to Stiq Figures, where the sales data is after the break and the posts don't matter. Every week, we take a look at, uh, something â€" meanwhile, the previous week's Japanese hardware sales figures are posted after the jump, and a discussion of said figures takes place in our comments. It may not be conventional, but it's a time-honored Joystiq tradition.

---

When your video game has a spider holding a gun and a knife on the cover, you know it should be a sure-fire masterpiece. That turned out to be half-true for Boss Game Studios' 1997 PlayStation game, Spider: The Video Game.

The game's description, at least according to the above intro video, is certainly part of the masterpiece side of the game: "The mind of a geni us. The body of a spider. A mortally wounded scientist accidentally implants his consciousness in a nano-tech marvel â€" a cybernetic spider. Now shrunk to the size of a bug you must fight to stay alive."

While its platforming and general gameplay elements certainly didn't get prettier with age, Spider: The Video Game should at least remind us that firing missiles as as creepy critter should happen much more than it does in gaming.

3DS LL: 63,993 [UP] 25,904 (68.01%)
3DS: 29,996 [UP] 6,543 (27.90%)
PS3: 21,310 [UP] 946 (4.65%)
PSP: 13,868 [DOWN] 673 (4.63%)
Vita: 4,842 [DOWN] 964 (16.60%)
Wii: 3,806 [UP] 62 (1.66%)
PS2: 1,351 [UP] 345 (34.29%)
Xbox 360: 1,339 [DOWN] 592 (30.66%)
DSi LL: 341 [UP] 127 (59.35%)
DSi: 227 [NO CHANGE] 0 (0.00%)

Target's Black Friday deals include 360, PS3, Wii, Vita and 3DS bundles, various discounted miscellany

Look, we're not your parents. We're not going to sit here, high upon our internet throne and tell you what you can and can't do. Even if we did discourage you from putting yourself in a potentially trample-prone environment, you'd still do it for dat savings.

Take Target's Black Friday deals, for example. These scanned pages reveal PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 bundles with two games each for $200, as well as a free copy of Just Dance Kids 2 with the purchase of a $120 Wii bundle. Vita and 3DS bundles (with one game each) are available for $200 and $150 respectively, while PS3, 360 and Wii controllers cost $40 and a bonus $20 giftcard is included in the purchase of Halo 4, Assassin's Creed 3 or Forza Horizon. You can even get Adele's irrelevant first album for $5, or one of those cool magnadoodle thingies for half a sawbuck.

Whatever you do on Black Friday, ju st, you know, be safe. You're our precious little darling babies and we don't want anything to happen to you.

Weekly Webcomic Wrapup is boring

When you're short on time and have an enormous, stinky backlog of games to catch up on (hello, Fallout 3), do you find yourself going back to the same games over and over again? I do, and while I love Minecraft to death, I have no reason to play it as much as I have been lately. Ultimately, I'm boring.

It takes a special kind of motivating force to keep me away from my go-to games and actually put a new disc in my consoles. Even as a kid, I found myself staring at my game boxes for hours (yes, actual hours), trying to determine which game I should play. A confession: I rarely play the games I claim I'll play in our weekly WRUP features. That's because I'm boring, and I'm betting you're boring too.

That's why we need to collectively agree on declaring an official "Beat Four Games Month," readers. If folks can decide to grow a mustache together in one month, we can agree to make a dent in our backlogs in one month as well. While you help decide which month we should shoot for, take a gander at last week's webcomics and vote for your favorite after the break!

Assassin 'N' Seek (Legacy Control)
Mario's Nightmare (Dorkly)
Lost in Translation (Fanboys)
The Queue (Penny Arcade)
Historically Correct (Virtual Shackles)
Sticker Shortage (Brawl in the Family)

Zynga's online gambling initiative to launch in the UK next year

Zynga CEO Mark Pincus is making good on his promise to expand the social/mobile developer's grasp into the world of online gambling in the first half of 2013, according to Gamasutra. As expected, the roll-out will take place in Not America -- the United Kingdom, specifically.

Facilitating this expansion is bwin.party Digital Entertainment, an existing online gambling operator that has partnered with Zynga to aid in its transition from fake addictions to the real deal. Zynga's first title in this new space will be a slots simulator based on the Farmville franchise, which may explain why the Zynga Slots team was the only one to survive this week's layoffs at Zynga Austin.

Game of Life and Monopoly are EA's first games on Samsung Smart TVs

Thanks to EA and Samsung, its now possible to play board games with your family while simultaneously negating the purpose of board games â€" which is to spend meaningful time with the people that you care about away from the noise and radiation of the all-engulfing boob tube.

Samsung Smart TV owners have access to virtual versions of both Monopoly and The Game of LIFE via their television's Samsung Apps marketplace. Each game costs $10 and features exactly what you'd expect from each: Buying/selling/trading property in Monopoly, becoming a teen widower in LIFE, etc. Players that also own Samsung smartphones (specifically the S1, S2 and S3) can download a free companion app that turns their phone into a motion controller for throwing dice and spinning wheels.

We'd also like to take this opportunity to announce that "Playing The Game of LIFE while staring at a giant, expensive television" wins Joystiq's Unintentio nal Irony of the Year Award.

Play Halo 4 multiplayer a whole lot, get free Microsoft Points

Xbox Live Rewards is offering free Microsoft Points to players who plunge their lives into Halo 4 multiplayer. There's a maximum 800 MSP up for grabs, 600 of it for playing 140-plus hours of Halo 4 multiplayer, and 200 for spending at least 3000 MSP on Halo Marketplace content. The catch? You've got until November 30 to put in the time.

If you like freebies but don't like the idea of a whole month playing one game's multiplayer, the good news is you get 300 MSP for playing 70 hours, and 100 MSP for 35 hours. And if you only have 1500 MSP spare for Halo stuff this month, you still get 100 MSP back. You should note Microsoft says there's a maximum total of 10 million MSP on offer across all players, and they'll be doled out on a "first-come, first-serve basis."

FYI, clocking in 140 hours of Halo 4 mulitplayer by the end of the month equates to just under six hours each day. That's roughly a third of your waking life in November. To put that in persp... what's that? Oh, right. See you in December, then.

NintendoWare Weekly: Paper Mario Sticker Star

The latest Paper Mario role-playing game will hit 3DS this Sunday, and it'll be downloadable on the eShop from day one. Until then, you'll have to fill your time with the Epic Mickey demo, a few other new eShop games, and Pokedex 3D Pro, the expanded, less free version of the Pokedex 3D app.

Wii

• Sengoku 2 (Neo Geo, 1-2 players, 900 Wii Points): Travel through time to fight as a ninja, tengu, and yes, a ninja dog.

3DS eShop

• Paper Mario: Sticker Star - November 11 (Nintendo, 1 player, $39.99): Armed with only an album full of stickers, Mario attempts to defeat Bowser and rescue Peach once again.
• Pokedex 3D Pro (Nintendo, 1 player, $14.99): Compare, view, and read up on 640+ imaginary critters.
• Demo: Disney Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion (Disney Interactive, 1 player, free): Illusions, Mickey!
• Dress to Play: Cute Witches! (EnjoyUp, 1 player, $3.99): Dress your character, then go flying on a broom, dodging... all kinds of cute stuff.
• Johnny Hotshot (UFO Interactive, 1 player, $5.99): Shoot and lasso in an old west shooting gallery.

DSiWare

• Come On! Dragons (Circle Entertainment, 1 player, $1.99/200 DSi Points): Fight off approaching dragons with traps and your bow.
• Smart Girl's Playhouse Mini (UFO Interactive Games, 1 player, $4.99/500 DSi Points): Minigames "specifically made for girls." ....

Pid review: Ups and downs

I hate this butler.

I don't know any real butlers. I'm talking about Pid's first boss, a giant flying neat freak that swoops down to clean up any mess I make. I've spent an hour or twocoasting through the blandly whimsical world of Pid, a side-scrolling platformer set in a storybook-ish alien planet overtaken by mean robots. I can jump and kill the bad guys with my very limited stash of bombs, but the action consists largely of using antigravity beams to float above and across obstacles. Suddenly I find myself on a giant table in a banquet hall larger than the UNSC Infinity. It's a dead end, and the only thing I can do is smash some glasses. Mazel tov!

The broken glass brings forth the butler. He's a robot domestic in the French style, with a haughty air and pencil-thin mustache, and not a stuffy old British Jeeves. I'd probably eye him warily even if he wasn't trying to kill me (and regularly succeeding). I have to use my magical star beam to levitate up through his arms as he's sweeping up broken glass, and once I'm in position I have to pump those beams into the weird intake valves that rest underneath his head. I have to do that twice, constantly dodging smaller enemies that bounce towards me, knowing that a single hit means instant death. And after I do that twice, the butler doubles down on his attacks, with swarming missiles plunging an otherwise complicated bout of jumping and levitation into an ersatz bullet hell. I have to scamper to the top of the robot's shoulders at that point, but weird angles make it extremely hard to get in the right position. A dozen times I assail this butler with no luck. It takes a ha lf-dozen more before the game apparently feels sorry for me and lets me beat him.

That's what one can expect from Pid's first boss fight: single hit kills, a boss with multiple forms and no mid-battle autosaves, and level geometry that actively works against the platformer's mechanics. Games should challenge us, but this boss battle is less challenging than frustrating. The lack of a save after a boss changes form isn't inherently wrong, but it's untenable when combined with single-hit kills, especially in 2012 (note: unusually powerful white tank tops can grant up to two more hit points, but they're good for only one use apiece and can't really be stockpiled and thus no player is guaranteed to have any in her inventory at the start of boss battles).

And this frustration isn't a one-off affair: Pid's difficulty spikes to a ridiculous degree during its boss confrontations, turning a game that's otherwise fairly thoughtful and serene into an inordinat ely stressful endurance test. This makes Pid one of the most annoying games I've played this year. It shows either a lack of respect for the player's time or too much respect in the player's ability. (Or at least too much respect in my ability.)

Of course incredibly tough boss battles are a hallmark of the platformers of the 80s and 90s. And Might and Delight, Pid's designers, have a great track record of difficult, retro-minded side-scrollers, as they worked on GRIN's excellent Bionic Commando Rearmed remake a few years ago. Pid is another homage to those bygone days of gaming, one that demands precision as resolutely as any Mega Man game. Despite the lack of mid-boss autosaves, Pid makes one absolutely necessary concession to the present day, in that it regularly autosaves throughout levels and after every loading screen. That doesn't damage the game's nostalgic reveri e, and neither would autosaves during boss battles.

The rest of Pid is pleasant, and yes, that is a backhanded compliment. It's inoffensive and occasionally clever but mostly boring and unmemorable. There are light puzzle elements from the beginning, as I'm limited to only two beams at a time, and have to juggle their placement to move around the levels, angling them to float past spikes or missiles. For the first few hours those beams are generally just a very slow way to drift towards platforms I otherwise can't reach.

Pid comes to life when it expands on its straight-forward platforming with a smattering of puzzles. Eventually I sleuth through a series of challenges that require clever combinations of the game's various abilities and mechanics. I have to use beams to move platforms to block lasers or lift enemies up to pressure-sensitive plates on the ceiling that unlock gates. Elsewhere I pull levers that open doors for a brief spell and then use t he beams to distract instant death security cameras and sneak past other robots. These puzzles often appear in small, closed environments, which makes them recall the great challenge rooms from Bionic Commando Rearmed. This rhythm only kicks in after a few hours of play, though, and a second boss fight as laborious as the first. Pid asks a lot from us while giving back relatively little.

Pid makes a few crucial mistakes that similar recent games avoided. Super Meat Boy is more brutally difficult than Pid, but Team Meat's modern classic is broken down into chunks of play so bite-sized that no challenge overstays its welcome. Spelunky is more unforgiving, with no saves of any kind, but it's structured in a way that neuters repetition from a level design perspective and refines it into the most basic and sublime of player go als. The only goal in Pid is to make it to the end of the story, and for even the best of players that will probably require replaying some sections to the point of exasperation. Also that story mostly lacks character. We learn little about our hero, the weird world he's found himself in and the ineffectual robots that populate it until it's too late to make an impact.

That butler is what I most clearly remember about Pid. In time (maybe just in a matter of weeks) it's probably all I'll remember about Pid. I'll see him flying around, crushing my spirit time and again, and cleaning up those broken pieces of glass. Too bad he can't pick up the pieces of this once promising game.

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This review is based on an XBLA download of the of Pid, provided by D3Publisher. Pid is also available on PSN and PC.

Despite his best efforts, Garrett Martin does not own a robot butler. He edits Paste Magaz ine's videogame section and reviews games for the Boston Herald and other outlets. You can hear his blather at Twitter (@GRMartin) or at a variety of Atlanta-area bars.

Joystiq's review scores are based on a scale of whether the game in question is worth your time -- a five-star being a definitive "yes," and a one-star being a definitive "no." Read here for more information on our ratings guidelines.

Wii U 'Nintendo Network ID' and 'Wii U Chat' explained

Nintendo detailed several previously unknown aspects of the Wii U online experience in a Nintendo Direct presentation this morning. You can see the American version of the video above. Notably, Nintendo's online "Friend Codes" have been replaced by a Nintendo Network ID.

The ID will be usable on other Nintendo systems â€" strangely, 3DS was not specified â€" as well as smartphones and PCs. The Nintendo Network ID is also the account associated with eShop purchases, though other users on the same Wii U can play downloaded software. Up to twelve distinct users can sign up on a single console.

Users can exchange this numeric identifier to add friends, just like the Friend Code, but it will also be possible to register friends you meet in the "M iiverse" community and the "WaraWara Plaza" lobby that appears when you turn the system on.

"Miiverse is a service integrated into the game console itself," president Satoru Iwata explained in an Iwata Asks interview with Miiverse co-developer Hatena, "so if players can check each other's play histories, they can interact on that basis." In this way, players can talk about shared game experiences and become friends.

Registered friends will also be able to talk to each other over Wii U Chat, transmitting video from the Wii U GamePad's camera. Users will be able to draw images on the chat window while they talk, opening up a world of possibilities. Okay, one possibility that we won't name. You can see Iwata demonstrating the Wii U Chat software with NOA president Reggie Fils-Aime above. "We can all feel better about my job security after hearing Reggie's Japanese," Nintendo director of product marketing (and Miyamoto's interpreter) Bill Trinen noted in the video.

Users can place calls to one another through Wii U Chat, with a light on the GamePad blinking to indicate an incoming call.

Amazon Gold Box Deals include FIFA, Skyrim, Theatrhythm

Lionel Messi looks absolutely delighted to be Amazon's video game deal of the day. His game, FIFA Soccer 13, is $39.99 on PS3 and Xbox 360 today, leading off a series of limited-time Gold Box deals.

Still upcoming today are discounts on Skyrim, Sleeping Dogs, Dead Island, and Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy. No, we don't think there's any unifying theme.&# 13;

Medal of Honor Warfighter's Zero Dark Thirty maps get a flyover trailer

The latest footage from Medal of Honor: Warfighter released by EA takes a closer look at the upcoming "Zero Dark Thirty" map pack, which will recreate some of the locations featured in the based-on-a-true story movie about the hunting and capturing of Osama Bin Laden. The Chitral Compound and the Darra Gun Market are featured here again, and both maps will host the game's frantic multiplayer gameplay.

The Zero Dark Thirty pack is free if you picked up the Limited or Deluxe versions of Warfighter, and it'll be available on December 17, just a few days before the movie arrives in theaters. You can see more screenshots of the content in the gallery below.

Sixty Second Shooter Deluxe fired off on PS Mobile today

PlayStation Mobile gets an infusion of procedurally generated explosions today, with Sixty Second Shooter Deluxe by Happion Laboratories. It's an upgraded version of Sixty Second Shooter, a game that's terribly easy to explain because we can just tell you to go play it for free in Chrome.

Essentially, it's a faster-paced Asteroids style game with a strict time limit. You blow up large cubes into tiny cubes, attempting to keep a combo going, pick up power-ups, and build your score as much as possible in one minute. The $2.79 PlayStation Mobile version adds additional enemies and items , and removes one permissive aspect of the original: death now means game over, not a respawn.

Halo 4 comes to iOS ... as a Mountain Dew/Doritos/7-Eleven promo app

The good news: There's an official Halo 4 game on iOS. The better news: it's free! The moment you become furious with us for those first two sentences: the full name of the app is "Halo 4: King of the Hill Fuled by Dew." Yes, "fuled."

The exclusive soft-drink soaked experience brings in 7-Eleven and Doritos for the most authentic Halo experience, allowing you to compete to become "king of the hill." And by "hill" we mean "7-Eleven," by "king" we mean "person who is always in a 7-Eleven," and by "compete" we mean "scan Mountain Dew and Doritos products in that 7-Eleven you're constantly loitering in."

You'll unlock double XP and an "Exclusive Custom Locus Helmet" for the non-Dew-fueled Xbox 360 Halo 4 by playing, and you'll forever associate "alien warzones" with 7-Eleven. Just like they want you to, apparently.

Dead or Alive 5 ships 580,000 copies worldwide in first month

Tecmo Koei shipped out 580,000 copies of Dead or Alive 5 in the game's first month of release. The company revealed the figure yesterday in its second quarter financial report. While it reads a little unclear through Google Translate, given the timing and the nature of the report these are likely shipment rather than sales figures.

While shipment figures aren't always great indicators of sales, 580,000 in one month compares reasonably to the 700,000 copies Dead or Alive 4 shipped worldwide in its first two months.

Tecmo also revealed a year-on-year improvement of 26.0% for operating income in the first half of its fiscal year, up to ¥897 million ($11.3 million). The company's revenue improved by 0.7% up to ¥13,724 million ($172.7 million).

Me anwhile, the game's third wave of downloadable outfits hits Japan today. Tecmo hasn't yet revealed when they'll be available here - revealed being very much the operating word.

PSN Tuesday: Assassin's Creed 3, Okami HD

You can buy all the Assassin's Creed you can handle on PSN today. Both AC3 and Liberation are available for download, separately or in a $120 bundle that also includes the AC3 Season Pass. Need for Speed: Most Wanted is also available digitally, as is Sports Champions 2. And Okami HD is ready to dazzle you with new graphics.

On Vita, along with Assassin's Creed 3 Liberation and Need for Speed, you can download Lego Lord of the Rings, Ragnarok Odyssey, and Smart As. Find the full listings of new releases, DLC, and sales on the PlayStation Blog. There's kind of a ton.

n-Space co-founder: Heroes of Ruin sales disappoint

Developer n-Space was hoping to bring a dungeon-crawling audience to the 3DS with its ambitious Heroes of Ruin, released earlier this year on June 26. But that audience never showed up, according to co-founder Dan O'Leary. "We're not satisfied with the sales," he says in a recent interview. "The 3DS attach rate is... challenging at best and it seems that, for all its promise, Heroes of Ruin did not appeal to enough of the installed base."

O'Leary says the team is proud of its work and wouldn't mind returning to the genre, but also that sales likely won't justify a sequel anytime soon. Meanwhile n-Space is still hard at work, putting together the mobile version of Skylanders Giants for Activision, as well as the 3DS version of RollerCoaster Tycoon 3D. And O'Leary says the company has had Wii U development kits for a while, so there may be something brewing along that front in the future.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas rated by ESRB For PS3

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas now has an ESRB rating for PlayStation 3, following in the footsteps of PS2 siblings GTA 3 and Vice City. Curiously, the ESRB also re-rated Vice City for PS3, maybe feel ing the need for a nostalgic revisit in light of its 10th anniversary and arrival on iOS and Android.

With GTA 3 recently releasing on PSN as a PS2 Classic, it's not a great leap to suggest we'll see Vice City and San Andreas do the same in the future.

Weekly Webcomic Wrapup is in costume

It shouldn't come as a surprise that everything seems to be Halloween-themed these days. With the spooky holiday upon us, let's reflect on some of our favorite scary games and hilarious gaming-related Halloween costumes.

... Ahh. It's fun to think back fondly on the memories, isn't it? Feel free to share your favorite spook-tacular games and (safe for work) costumes in the comments below while we continue to reflect quietly. Be sure to check out last week's webcomics, then vote for your favorite after the break while you compile your list!

Faster than Pie (Life in Aggro)
Elections (Manly Guys Doing Manly Things)
Dark Versions (Brawl in the Family)
Omega 13 (Virtual Shackles)
Spyrim (Angimoto)
History Lesson (Dave the Direman)
Videogame-o-Lanterns (Dorkly)
Gambling Problem (Awkward Zombie)

Report: Checkpoint sues Marvelous AQL, claiming 'hostile takeover' plan

Game studio Checkpoint has filed suit against Marvelous AQL, claiming that the Japanese publisher attempted to take over Checkpoint in an effort to avoid a $2.5 million payout. The suit names Marvelous, XSEED, a former Checkpoint employee, and others on breach of contract, theft of trade secrets, and more.

According to Gamasutra's summary of the case, Marvelous made a deal in 2011 through which it would pay $2.5 m illion in exchange for 35 percent of Checkpoint and two shipped games. Following the release of those two games, AviNation and Party Politics, the two companies planned a similar $2.5 million arrangement for two more games.

However, Checkpoint CEO Brian Wiklem alleged in the suit that chief technical officer Christopher Masterton, owner of 24 percent of Checkpoint, met with Marvelous to sell his own shares and give Marvelous control of the company without Wiklem's consent. Marvelous then hired Masterton and 14 other Checkpoint staffers to work at XSEED. Masterton is now technical lead.

Furthermore, the suit claims, the former Checkpoint staff are now using Checkpoint tech at XSEED, and Masterton refuses to hand over the logins for Checkpoint's Facebook page and other a ccounts. We've asked MAQL for comment.