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The Nintendo booth at E3 has a curious station featuring a screen with its most iconic characters, Mario and Luigi. The booth let people go up to the characters and hold a conversation with em (which you can see above)—which is cute, but also kind of eerie for some reason. I'm curious as to how Nintendo pulls it off, because it was obvious that the characters could "see" what was going on around them—they'd call out to people in the audience or to those passing by. Maybe it's a trick, who knows! Funnily enough, Luigi—unlike Mario—had to kind of beg to get someone to come up to talk to him. Aww, Luigi....

With a limited release of the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Equestria Girls movie this coming Sunday, Gameloft has gone ahead and slipped a little something special into the official mobile game of the hit show. This is Sunset Shimmer. She has issues. So many issues that she steals a crown from the Crystal Empire and flees into the real world. Twilight Sparkle follows, and then EVERYBODY'S FAN FICTION COMES TRUE. All the fan fiction. All of it. Cupcakes. Ahem, anyway... Sunset Shimmer is now appearing exclusively in Gameloft's free My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic game for iOS, with an Android version update coming soon. Expect tons more Equestria Girls content coming to the game this fall. All the fan fiction.

We bring Cliff Bleszinski, Jonathan Blow, Vince Zampella and the Respawn team, John Drake and Eric Pope from Harmonix, and Double Fine's own Brad Muir in for questioning.

Also during Venus Patrol's indie E3 showcase, developer and Indie Fund partner Kellee Santiago took the stage to announce an agreement to finance two unannounced original games from Tim Schafer's Double Fine. Expect more on those in the coming months.

As I walked into Microsoft's Xbox booth at E3 yesterday, I spotted storied game designer Peter Molyneux waltzing in, looking for Fable Anniversary. He was hunting down the Xbox 360 re-make of a game he'd led the development of on the first Xbox. He approached a kiosk running the game and took the controller. I tapped him on the shoulder and asked him if he'd played it before. Nope. This was the first time he'd seen the remake, he told me. So we shot this Vine video. Make sure you have the audio turned on. Just having some fun...

Alexandere Sabourin is a senior artist on Outlast, an Amnesia-inspired horror game where a photojournalist decides investigating an insane asylum is a smart idea. What scares a developer of scary games? Find out.

Ask not for whom the bell tolls.

These are doodles dashed off by graphic artist extraordinare Olly Moss. You know, one of these days, some game-making entity will actually get Moss ‘s artistic stylings into something playable. Instead of, y’know, ripping them off. We can dream.

IndieCade took over a corner of the E3 show floor this year, complete with giant orange inflatable chairs and almost 40 games on various platforms. Out of all this beautiful madness, I spotted three games that went above and beyond the standard indie call - they were weird, they were different, and they were awesome.

First up is Dominique Pamplemousse in "It's All Over Once The Fat Lady Sings!", a musical point-and-click investigation game from Deirdra Kiai, who is the sole developer, voice actor, singer and composer. If that sounds like a lot of work, it's because it is - but Kiai pulls it off seamlessly.

Dominique Pamplemousse is available now for PC, Mac and iPad for $5, and there's a free demo on Kiai's site. It's a quirky romp through a musical, claymation landscape, and it's tons of fun.

I feature two more games at IndieCade's E3 exhibit, both with videos coming up later today.

Grab an ice cold SoulStorm Brew and join the magnificent hair of Lorne Lanning in this remake of a PlayStation classic.

The developers of upcoming voxel-based sandbox RPG Cube World, Picroma, are posting a series of updates to their website discussing the many weapon skills each class will use in the game, starting with the Warrior. I want a plushie of that green thing. I don't even know what it is but I want to give it a hug. Please? Ahem. Warriors, being the weapon masters of the bunch, are able to use shields, one-handed weapons, and two handed weapons. Simple attacks, which are evoked with a left click and can be comboed together, range from sword jabs:to dual-wielding slashes:while the more powerful charged attacks, controlled via right click, need more time to reach their full attack power, a la Zelda. The charged block attack, for example, lets you charge up a spinning attack while blocking all incoming strikes with your shield:There are many more squeal-inducingly cute examples on the website. I'd strongly advise you to give it a look; there's also an absolutely massive updated features list that should be a pretty good read. Cube World's alpha version is set to hit the PC "soon." To get a sense of how it looks in motion, you can check out the game's so-far released trailers below. Weapon Skills: Warrior [Picroma] Questions? Comments? Contact the author of this post at andras-AT-kotaku-DOT-com.

Apple is reportedly considering the launch of a 4.7-inch and 5.7-inch iPhone, in addition to a low-cost plastic model.

If an anime with Nintendo characters existed, the powerful opening theme of Attack on Titan series would be a perfect cover song for it. It sums up Nintendo's E3 direct rather well. The video, by demoncry54 is similar to one made for the Sony event. I have a strange feeling we won't see an Xbox One edit. Shingeki No Nintendo [YouTube] To contact the author of this post, write to gergovas@kotaku.com

Crafted by former members of A Bit Lucky and some folks from Trion Worlds, Solstice Arena is a free-to-play multiplayer online battle arena game that Zynga is calling the "world's first speed MOBA." What does that mean, exactly? Well, it means 3-on-3 matches last for 5-12 minutes, making it a very mobile-friendly. They've gotten rid of farming and minions — it's just you guys vs. them guys. And while the game is free-to-play, the dev team promises that there is no pay-to-win here. Customization and new characters are up for sale, but you'll have to earn your upgrades. You can read all about Solstice Arena over at the Zynga blog, download it free on iTunes, or just make a snarky comment about how you stopped reading after Zynga.

Anyone who has played a First-Person Shooter online has encountered one of "those" players; the prepubescent brat who will kill them and then mock their corpse in some manner, the lone mute killing machine who will wordlessly charge through the map, efficiently slaughtering anything that gets in their way, the loudmouthed newbie whose sole reason for dying is "f**king bullshit" and never their own ineptitude, the hatespeech banshee who will season their every spoken sentence with derogatory terminology, even when they're being nice, or any combination of the above. Japanese FPS gamers have their own categories of feared, despised, and loved types of players, and have collected detailed descriptions on several of them on 2ch in an unofficial "FPS Gamer Dictionary." The original thread is far too long (and filled with pointless posts) so Japanese blogging sites have collected the relevant posts into streamlined articles. The major categories have been translated for your enjoyment below: Classification: The Infantile Rage Machine (buchigire chirudoren) Gamer skill: ★☆☆☆☆ Teamwork: ★☆☆☆☆ Growth Potential: ★★☆☆☆ Entertainment Value: ★★★★★ Pack Mentality: ★★★★☆ Manners/Social Aptitude: ☆☆☆☆☆ Description: Upon losing, unable to cope with the fact that reality does not reflect their youthful overconfidence, these creatures will often repeatedly spout what few derogatory terms they have in their limited vocabulary. It is a mistake to take their words to heart, as it is simply a defense mechanism to protect their baseless pride. They are the best players to use when trying to provoke mid-to-high level players and will generally be the most entertaining spectacle of any given match. Generally traveling in packs of classmates or other real life friends, they will sometimes trigger a massive rage resonance phenomenon among themselves, causing them to backstab each other. Every loss will result in a barrage of insults and excuses of how a certain tactic, weapon, or tool is cheap. Your options are to attempt to argue them into submission or continue using said tactics/weapons/tools until they are driven into a frothing madness. Their reactions make it entertaining either way. In Combat: Being young, their hand-eye coordination and adaptability should be high, but their pride and inability to calmly analyze and respond to superior opponents and high level players make them slow learners. Age-wise they are generally new to the FPS genre, and very few are actually good at playing. They are quick to hold a grudge, and will use this as an excuse when they are killed, despite their team's resulting overall performance. After losing for several rounds, they will often make some sort of real-life excuse and leave. (It's actually kind of cute) Classification: The Swanky (koumanchiki) Gamer skill: ★★☆☆☆ Teamwork: ★★★☆☆ Growth Potential: ★★☆☆☆ Entertainment Value: ★☆☆☆☆ Pack Mentality: ★★★☆☆ Manners/Social Aptitude: ★☆☆☆☆ Description: FPS gamers with a certain level of experience can often evolve into these creatures. Now that they are better at analyzing a battle than an Infantile Rage Machine, and are able to admit an opposing team's superiority, they will turn their pent up frustrations upon their own teammates. They will talk big, but do not actually possess the skills to turn the tide of combat to their favor. Losing firefights and perpetual dying is blamed on teammates. Coming from a young teenager, their words would almost be cute, but listening to the petulant finger-pointing of a grown man serves only to lower a team's morale. While being competitive is the nature of a gamer, their toxic tenacity can spill over beyond games into their daily lives, twisting their personality. Skilled Swankies can sometimes evolve into Trollstorms. In Combat: Despite their bravado, after the match is over, their score will generally be about average. However, they believe this is because they have been working to pave the way for a team victory rather than a personal victory, and that the players who scored better than them were off doing their own thing and not thinking about the team. Their incessant chatter can be annoying, but this can make their tactics and requests easy to understand and giving them proper support can sometimes even help turn the flow of the match in their team's favor. Classification: The Trollstorm (aori arashi) Gamer skill: ★★★★☆ Teamwork: ☆☆☆☆☆ Growth Potential: ☆☆☆☆☆ Entertainment Value: ☆☆☆☆☆ Pack Mentality: ★☆☆☆☆ Manners/Social Aptitude: ☆☆☆☆☆ Description: Not only will they troll you, but they're actually competent at the game, making them an even greater annoyance. One can only assume that either their personal life is extremely stressful, or they have a mental disability. Either way, they will reduce a match to sheer chaos with their trolling and combat skillz. What the Hell would make someone into such a creature… It's easy to imagine a stress-filled life, but their whirlwind of rudeness and online gaming prowess seem to work together to create a negative downward spiral. The most striking difference between these creatures and Infantile Rage Machines or Swankies is that they are actually good players. They will sometimes be accused of cheating, but they never cheat and their play-style is often surprisingly straight-forward, making their resulting high scores all the more infuriating. When faced by high-level players or well organized teams that can actually beat them, they will usually leave the server with a laugh and a compliment dripping with obvious sarcasm. Unless you're morbidly fascinated by them, it's usually better to just leave the server and seek greener pastures elsewhere. In Combat: They're good… They can often single-handedly determine the outcome of a match and their team will generally be the victors. However, it's a hollow victory as their mere existence saps the morale from even their own teammates. After they depart, the following matches are always more light-hearted – even for the losing team. Classification: Colonel Norris aka The Ace (norisu taisa) Gamer skill: ★★★★★ Teamwork: ★★★★☆ Growth Potential: ★☆☆☆☆ Entertainment Value: ★★★☆☆ Pack Mentality: ★★☆☆☆ Manners/Social Aptitude: ★★★★☆ Description: In real life, they are usually a long-playing gamer or an FPS addict, but their superior combat skills, honed by bitter experiences on countless battlefields is beyond description. Their appearance as an ally in a tight situation will quickly turn a losing game to a miraculous victory. As an enemy, many of their foes have testified to hearing strange music in their ears when an Ace steps upon the battlefield. They can often make quick work of whole hunting parties and ambushes set against them. Some will work together with long-standing allies. Others wander from server to server as they please. There are varying types, so it is wise to keep this fact in mind when allying with one. They tend to be good with manners and do not swear very much (as most FPS players should). Perhaps it's their strength that makes them speak little and have a general dislike of bossy players. Seeing them in action, a novice will have no idea what's going on, but their tactical understanding and execution borders on God-like so watch closely and learn what you can from them. In Combat: It is a Monster. It feeds on the blood of humans. It can be a powerful ally, but as an adversary, the voice chat will quickly devolve into cries of outrage and despair. Learn to depend on the psych-healing white magic spells, "Pinger" and "Lag-be-gone" while you observe and study the movements of this creature. You won't regret it. Ace's can execute any command far more adeptly than the average player, but their situational understanding ability is such that it's often better to simply let them do their own thing. Sometimes, if you are willing to take on the undesirable roles of healing, support, scouting, and decoy, they can evolve from a Monster to a God. Classification: Lieutenant Burning aka The Veteran (baning taii) Gamer skill: ★★★★☆ Teamwork: ★★★★★ Growth Potential: ★☆☆☆☆ Entertainment Value: ★★★★★ Pack Mentality: ★★☆☆☆ Manners/Social Aptitude: ★★★★★ Description: A rare find among long-playing FPS gamers. They will take novice players and newbies and, through voice chat, guide them like guardian angels. They will offer accurate advice without malice or contempt, as compassionate players, able to see through the eyes of the less-experienced, making them far more appealing than your average veteran player. In horde mode games, where timing and cooperation between teammates is key, they are an invaluable resource. While their individual playing skill is superb, they differ from The Ace in that they will actively support their teammates. "Excuse me… I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do…" "That's why I'm here." Is the kind of conversation you can expect to have with a Veteran. In Combat: In matches between small teams, they will usually bring about victory. If you should ever have the fortune to fight alongside a true Veteran, learn as much as you can. They will support their teammates even in losing battles, making them bright beacons among their less-polite FPS gamer brethren. After a match, never forget to thank them and wish them well. Classification: The Blame Addict (gachuu) Gamer skill: ★★☆☆☆ Teamwork: ★★☆☆☆ Growth Potential: ★☆☆☆☆ Entertainment Value: ★☆☆☆☆ Pack Mentality: ★★☆☆☆ Manners/Social Aptitude: ★★☆☆☆ Description: Most FPS players have encountered situations where an enemy has outsmarted them and where they may want to keep face by throwing out an excuse for their loss, but for a Blame Addict, this has become a way of life. "The XX is overpowered", "The XX is unbalanced" and likewise excuses may hold some water in games, but for a Blame Addict, the reason they can't win always lies in something else besides themselves. When hosting a server, they will often have a ridiculous amount of restrictions as a passive part of their excuse-making behavior. They may even kick or ban people who they can't beat under the very rules they set up. Sometimes after losing they will send messages along the line of "I'm not mad at all… The only reason you beat me was because you had XX!" Much like the Infantile Rage Machine, the Blame Addict has a pathological need to be a key member of any battle. In Combat: Most of these specimens are of low level quality. Due to their nature, they can never become truly good players. Anyone who is seeking to actually become decent gamers should avoid their infectious behavior like the plague. Blame Addicts who learn to use special weapons and actually maintain a high score can be good at utilizing secondary weapons, finding vantage points, and reading enemy movements and psychology. It can be difficult, but try imitating their tactics. Even if you are killed, you can use that as a stepping stone to develop further counter tactics. Classification: The Wolfpacker (urufupakka) Gamer skill: ★★★☆☆ Teamwork: ★★☆☆☆ Growth Potential: ★★★☆☆ Entertainment Value: ★★☆☆☆ Pack Mentality: ★★★★☆ Manners/Social Aptitude: ★★★☆☆ Description: Wolfpackers travel in groups and form hunting parties (wolf packs) that prey on noobs. They have an insatiable hunger for victory but are timid and easy to frighten. Unlike clans composed of veterans and high-level players that rack up scores through actual skill, Wolfpackers will hop from server to server seeking large groups of noobs and weaker teams to prey on and earn kill points from. Sometimes after switching teams, a competent player will join and take their place, resulting in the team the Wolfpacker switched to getting their asses handed to them. Having a Wolfpacker switch sides is perhaps the lowest form of insult, so if one should switch sides against you, the best thing to do is to annihilate the enemy team at any cost. Not because the Wolfpacker switched sides before you could/should have, but because revenge is a dish best served cold. In Combat: There's always one in every class. They will constantly ghost a game looking for fertile hunting grounds and to determine which team is stronger. FPS newbies may want to get their real friends or make friends online and create their own wolf packs. By sharing discoveries and experiences, one can gain skills and scores much more efficiently than playing alone. Classification: The Joker (jo-ka-) Gamer skill: ★★☆☆☆ Teamwork: ★★☆☆☆ Growth Potential: ★☆☆☆☆ Entertainment Value: ★★★★★ Pack Mentality: ★★★☆☆ Manners/Social Aptitude: ★★☆☆☆ Description: Every now and then you will encounter some foreign Joker who will turn your game into a humorous multi-cultural show. You will often find them on foreign servers. Most of them will be American. On American servers, people will often trade insults like business cards. A light-hearted "Ah, sh*t. LOL. F**ker, you're dead." is commonplace. It can be fun for all parties to respond to the Joker in the same manner, enjoying and learning slang and differences in cultural communication. To those who escalate, a trolling "Go screw your mother" or "I don't have time for a jack-off like you" response can be an adventure in international relations. (Note: Never be the one to initiate an insult match) In Combat: Jokers are wanna-be assassins, but their play-style is neither cool nor clever, making them easy to manipulate. They are also easy to read, tending to attack straight on or repeatedly attempting to go straight to places where they previously died. After spending a day on an American server, bathing in their rambunctious mentality and dynamic play-style, a Japanese server will probably feel tepid by comparison. Playing on a foreign (especially an American) server is something every FPS player should experience at least once. You will be able to experience the cultural differences through the game. Classification: The Stinky Potato (kusaimo) Gamer skill: ☆☆☆☆☆ Teamwork: ☆☆☆☆☆ Growth Potential: ☆☆☆☆☆ Entertainment Value: ☆☆☆☆☆ Pack Mentality: ★★★☆☆ Manners/Social Aptitude: ★★★☆☆ Description: These crops can be found waiting to be harvested at the ends of maps and clustered around vital strongholds. They are similar but should not be considered the same as other root-sprouting players like effective ambushers and snipers. They will lay down roots like grass, can be easily smoked out, are mostly harmless, are found in groups, and can easily be harvested. They are often very sensitive about their kill/death ratio. While they will steadily gain levels, they do not approach the front lines and thus, have not developed any sort of actual gaming skill. They usually show up on weekends and holidays and will gather in clusters, making them easy to dispose of. They are practically allergic to dying in game or being targeted by an enemy, and do not so much "camp at focal points" as "hang around in corners blindly shooting at stuff." To each their own game enjoyment, but in conquest missions or campaigns with multiple fronts or where the strength of the forward line is vital to the mission, they are hated by whatever team they are on. In Combat: Threat level is minimal. In conquest missions, they will often lead to defeat. While they do not violate any etiquette rules, most FPS gamers would prefer if they would at least participate in some way by taking positions, covering flank, healing and supplying and other support activities. Classification: The Ray Sefo (reisefo) Gamer skill: ★★☆☆☆ Teamwork: ☆☆☆☆☆ Growth Potential: ★☆☆☆☆ Entertainment Value: ☆☆☆☆☆ Pack Mentality: ★★★☆☆ Manners/Social Aptitude: ☆☆☆☆☆ Description: If a match starts going sour or they are killed too many times, these creatures will become increasingly annoying – saying it's all for fun and wandering around their home base randomly shooting or beginning to engage in destructive behavior. They're the type of gamer who would drive backwards in Mario Kart on purpose. They probably would like other players to believe that they're "not really trying to win" and "just having fun", but their actions are so primitive as to go beyond "sore loser" to "just a moron." As a form of troll, it would be better for both sides if they would let someone else more motivated take their place. Their childish actions serve no purpose but to make them act as a spy for the opposing side, plus they will rarely leave of their own accord, so it would be far more constructive for server administrators to kick such players. In Combat: They've given up before they've even begun and otherwise serve no purpose but to act as a detriment to their own team. Unlike its namesake, who would bear responsibility for his actions, this creature will only spread disaster among its teammates. So, which one are you? While I would like to believe that I'm an Ace or a Veteran, I'm fairly certain I'm just your basic Wolfpacker. 【画像】FPSゲーマー辞典つくったったｗｗｗｗｗｗｗｗｗ [キニ速] Kotaku East is your slice of Asian internet culture, bringing you the latest talking points from Japan, Korea, China and beyond. Tune in every morning from 4am to 8am. To contact the author of this post, write to cogitoergonihil@gmail.com or find him on Twitter @tnakamura8.

Jenga, this ain't. Hundreds of books carefully stacked, creating what's known as a "tower pile" (tawaa tsumi or タワー積み) in Japanese. Store employees spend thirty minutes—or more—to create these book sculptures that delight some and upset others. Traditionally, books in Japanese bookstores are stacked in small piles or placed on shelves—like anywhere else. The book tower trend isn't exactly new and puts a flourish on retail presentation, whether it's the straight up "tower pile" or the "spiral pile" variation. Back in 2009 to mark the launch day of Haruki Murakami's new book 1Q84, Tokyo book retailer Sanseido changed its shop sign to "Books Murakami Haruki" and unveiled a book tower that was then copied by other stores. Now, it seems there are even manga towers and spirals—but don't think every bookstore does this. "I live in Tokyo, and I've never seen books stacked like this at a book store," a commenter wrote on 2ch, earlier this spring. (Note: I live in Osaka and haven't seen any ridiculous book towers, either.) However, this is a thing—the question always becomes how widespread of a thing. On 2ch, Japan's largest online forum, some are saying retailers should not play with merchandise like this and are calling this sort of display a marketing stunt—which is exactly what it is. These retailers hope that the photos will circulate online and, well, get their shop's name out there. That's why some of these photos were actually tweeted out by retailers themselves. Guess it's working! These book towers and spirals might be good for publicity, but they're not good for the actual books. First, lying books flat on top of each other can apparently damage the spines—especially, the books at the bottom of the stacks. Stacking can put pressure on the books, warping the pages. See the below image, which depicts the results of simple stacking: Then, there's the fact that the tower and spirals put uneven pressure on the books, which compounds the problem. "I buy books through Amazon, so whatever," quipped one 2ch user. On Twitter, however, many people in Japan do seem to think the book towers are amazing. And, marketing stunt aside, they are. But you can see how the precariously tall towers and spirals might be damaging the books. Have a look for yourself: The sign tells customers not to play Jenga with the stack. 本屋の「タワー積み」とか「スパイラル積み」って本が痛むだろ　商品で遊ぶなよ [2ch] Photos: AkibaBlog, 2ch, naokiplanet, shigeruson, sanseido, yun1146, sanseido, riyaco11, eitaso, animategifu, animategifu, kknm0711, heibonshatoday, Orochi, sanseido Kotaku East is your slice of Asian internet culture, bringing you the latest talking points from Japan, Korea, China and beyond. Tune in every morning from 4am to 8am. To contact the author of this post, write to bashcraftATkotaku.com or find him on Twitter @Brian_Ashcraft.

The amazing thing here in this video by builder Kooberz isn't just that his LEGO PS4 looks just like the real thing, but that he got this done - and edited a video - so damn fast. The console was only shown off on Monday, and here he is good to go on Thursday! Lego PS4 E3M13 [Kooberz]

You know how people are comparing the new Mac Pro to a garbage can? Turns out one Japanese garbage can is already reaping the rewards. Below, you can see the Mac Pro. No, strike that. Below, you can see a garbage bin by Osaka-based design firm Ideaco. It really, really looks like the new Mac Pro! Dubbed the Ideaco New Tubelor, it looks so much like the Mac Pro that the bin, which was first launched in 2006, apparently just shot up the Amazon Japan rankings. Amazon Japan's official Twitter account even jokingly tweeted that the Ideaco garbage can "was not the new Mac Pro". The gag worked. That tweet was retweeted over thirteen thousand times and favorited nearly three thousand times. And currently, this garbage can is ranked number deux in the online retailer's interior furniture best sellers. It's also Amazon Japan's best selling garbage can. There are also the inevitable funny Amazon reviews, with people "warning" that this was in fact a garbage can and pointing out that it could not run Thunderbolt 2. There was even a wry worry about how the black cylinder could show dust. But as one Amazon Japan reviewer noted, "It does have the innovative ability to hide the plastic bag by a concealing cover." Shame it can't run Thunderbolt, though! ゴミ箱 ブラック [Amazon Japan via まとめまとめ] Kotaku East is your slice of Asian internet culture, bringing you the latest talking points from Japan, Korea, China and beyond. Tune in every morning from 4am to 8am. To contact the author of this post, write to bashcraftATkotaku.com or find him on Twitter @Brian_Ashcraft.

Japan has an array of arcades. Many of them have their own personalities, but only one of them looks like this. Located in Kawasaki and called "Anata no Warehouse" ("Your Warehouse"), this arcade is apparently based on Hong Kong's Kowloon Walled City. Back in 2009, Kotaku reader Landon checked it out, saying, "It's 18 years-old-and-up, extremely dark and dirty, and basically looks like what an arcade would if it were in Silent Hill." But don't let looks f00l you! "They also cater to gamers sooooo well for an eight story arcade," Landon told Kotaku at the time. The upper floors are supposedly filled with game cabinets. And more recently, Japanese site Another Tokyo snapped a bunch of photos. Here's a tour of a most unusual arcade. ウェアハウス川崎店の再現度は常軌を逸してる [Another Tokyo] Kotaku East is your slice of Asian internet culture, bringing you the latest talking points from Japan, Korea, China and beyond. Tune in every morning from 4am to 8am. To contact the author of this post, write to bashcraftATkotaku.com or find him on Twitter @Brian_Ashcraft.

Secret of Mana illustrator Hiro Isono recently passed away due to heart failure. May he rest in peace.

E3 is, for many attendees, nothing but one giant party. Most of the time, those parties are in dark venues with catered food. This guy, however, managed to find his party in what looks like the...Ouya parking lot. You go, man. Dance the E3 away. Video [Frag Burn]

The Giant Bomb video team provides an EXHAUSTIVE behind-the-scenes look at E3's day of press conferences.

Most professional press attending E3 avoid "swag". It's unprofessional (plus it's usually tacky anyways!). For many fansites and retail reps, though, E3 is as much about the race to collect free t-shirts as it is to play some new games. For some of those, it's then also a race to get the crap up on eBay to try and make a buck. As eBay searches will already how you, scalpers are already trying to offload all kinds of promo gear they grabbed from the showroom floor, whether it be t-shirts, figures or cheap promo facemasks. Game Sniped has a good rundown of some of the "highlights" currently up for bidding. I won't link to the auctions individually here, but let's just say that if you're paying $200 for a Nintendo coin, you're getting ripped off. E3 Material [Game Sniped]

In case you hadn't realised there's a difference between the guys who design the inside of a console and the guys who design the outside, take a look at this tweet (via PlayStation) from PS4 lead architect and game development legend Mark Cerny. Cerny: I hadn't actually seen the console until Monday's event. I wanted to wait and see it when the rest of the world did. It's beautiful — PlayStation Europe (@PlayStationEU) June 12, 2013 Sony took a lot of heat, much of it justified, when it unveiled a console back in February without actually unveiling a console. Sony said back then that designs were still being worked on; if Cerny somehow avoided seeing one until June, I guess they left it late to lock one down!

Whether they love them or hate them, video game industry watchers are well aware of booth babes, the women paid to wear revealing or form-fitting clothes and draw attention to various companies' wares. They've been the subject of scorn and missed connections. Now, people have different hotbodies to ogle. Male ones. Booth bros. This year, IndieCade stocked their E3 territory with booth bros, singlet-wrapped specimens of beefcake that strutted amongst indie titles like 7 Grand Steps by Mousechief, Robot Loves Kitty's Legend of Dungeon, and Asteroid Base's Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime. This pic comes courtesy of journalist/developer Brandon Sheffield. No word if anyone's fallen in love with these guys yet but honestly, it's just a matter of time, right? E3 can be cold. And lonely. [Via Twitter]

It felt like a criminal act to edit any of this footage, so here is the interview in its purest form.

And here's a look at the multiplayer.

Starbreeze is coming to Summer of Arcade 2013.

DayZ. It's a wonderfully complicated, extremely hardcore game. Soon the online zombie survival sensation, which started as a mod, is getting a standalone version. Many questions remain about how the standalone game will work, and how it will differ from the original. Today at E3, I had a chance to ask a lot of those questions. There are few games that have fans as hardcore as DayZ. These are people who have played this game endlessly, mastered every tiny system and rule, learned all the tricks there are to learn. I, despite my affection for the game, am not one of those people. A couple of weeks ago, a friendly fellow named Chad reached out to us on behalf of the DayZ subreddit. He asked if, seeing as how we were going to have a chance to talk to DayZ creator Dean "Rocket" Hall at E3, would we consider asking some of the questions they had put together? He attached a list of detailed, interesting questions. (Above: Hall, who recently summited Mount Everest.) I decided to go ahead and ask Hall all of the questions Chad sent along. Hall was totally into it, and happy to have a chance to answer organized questions from fans. So, here they are: DayZ fans' questions, answered by the game's creator. Kotaku: How rare will loot and gear be? Dean Hall: Very rare. So for example, the new apartment buildings, we're re-doing them from scratch with every room interval, and all of those rooms have possible loot spawns. So the amount of locations for loot to spawn will be very high, but the spawn-rate will be incredibly low. Is suicide an option? Yes. It's probably going to be via an action menu, so you go into the inventory screen, right-click on a weapon, if the weapon's loaded it'll say, "Commit Suicide." Click that. "Are you sure…" What's being done with the humanity system? The humanity system is on pause until we do the alpha. So the game is fundamentally changed in so many ways, going right back to basics, that we want to see how the players play it before we fool around with a lot of this stuff. Like, there's a lot of new stuff like now you can play gestures using the function keys and in fact the F7… F8 to F12 is reserved for facial gestures, so we want to see what this entails and how player behavior changes. So we'll be gathering a lot of data while people are playing, in the database, and then use that and then look at it. I think humanity needs to be a lot more subtle than it is now. And hopefully also with the introduction of this new antagonist—which is the environment, effectively, and your health—I think there's going to be a lot more reasons for people to interact. Not necessarily positively interact! But certainly neutrally. Can we expect "random events" upon initial release of the Standalone? (Downed helicopters, Abandoned campsites, etc.)? We're really reluctant to do that kind of stuff, what I far prefer is to create the tools for players to do their own thing. I think those kind of events are much more compelling than anything that we can come up with. So if we do that, I kind of feel like we've lost a bit. If we can't build the tools for the players to create their own events, then I guess we'd have to step in. But I'd say we'd kind of failed. Is anything being done to increase disorientation? Yeah! An example being, there's no UI. The only UI that's there is the quickbar. So, players receive their messages adventure-game style. At the moment it's text on the left, like you know, "You are recieve," "Your foot is sore," "You're bleeding," that kind of stuff. And there are some sound queues that go with it as well. The [goal] is to increase the sense of immersion and disorientation that goes with it. It's something that is kind of an aim that we'll keep going towards, it's not just something you do overnight. Will zombies be enough of a threat that you will definitely have to team up with random people? I think so, well, I think that zombies combined with this new antagonist, the environment, and your own body.. I think those things mean that there are important reasons to group together. So if you get sick, you're really going to need someone's health. There's so many items, already there's hundreds, that by the time we had have alpha there'll be thousands, and some of these items will be very important, so trading becomes very relevant because you're just never going to find all the stuff yourself. [There are advantages to working in a group] but they're not forced advantages. "Why so many people are bandits: I think it's because they're bored, and there's nothing to do." Will there be anything to balance out the clear advantage bandits have in the game? Very good question. This is one of our big issues. So this is what we found, why so many people are bandits: I think it's because they're bored, and there's nothing to do. So I think that the game, this new antagonist, we're hopeful that that will have an impact on players' playstyle because they'll be forced to interact. Now, notice I didn't say forced to cooperate. Because I think that's a key difference. They'll be forced to interact, maybe on a neutral footing, so there'll be sort of these very high-tension trades occurring between groups of people. Will colonization be possible, i.e. Eradicating zombies from a certain area and living there? At the moment, yes. The way the zombie spawns work now is that they're all spawned at the start of a mission on a server. And then they respawn in a zone so long as there's no players in it. So if the player clears out, say, a village and and they stay where, then no zombies will spawn there. But—and this is a big caveat—zombies can rove around. So, particularly if you've fired a lot of ammunition or exploded something, zombies from a long way away may hear you and may come there in a big pack. Will there be any form of barricade system to hold out inside buildings? Just today, unfortunately we can't demo it because it's not configured, a system has been implemented that allows you to interact with the world. So picking up basically any object in game, and being able to move it around, and all that stuff. But it's not persistent past the server restart. We need to judge what we can store long-term. Are we likely to see barricades on doors and windows to slow zombies and allow for temporary bases? We want to do it, but there's an art impact to that. This is stuff we want to look at in the alpha; right now I would say vehicle customization is far more important than barricades. How many items (weapons, different type of food) will there be in the standalone game at release? It depends on alpha. Alpha's not going to be held back to achieve a number, so the number I say here is more, what is the aim for what we have? And I would say thousands. What options will be available for base building? It's still TBA. What I want to do, in the game this is just designed, we haven't really done a lot of technical analysis here, is underground bases, instance-style. Like, you know how in Skyrim you go up to a grate and you hit "enter dungeon" and you go into a separate instance? So, do that, but have it Red Faction-style destructing the terrain to dig it out. That might be too much for multiplayer; if it is, we might go for more of a…have you played the game Evil Genius? No, actually. It's a little base-building game where you're an evil dude and you build a base. That style, isometric, create the base and then run around it in first-person. Will there be any bullet penetration mechanics? Yes. There already are, and it becomes a factor with kevlar vests, kevlar helmets, that kind of stuff. How about walls and doors? Yeah, it already does, but it requires configuring, so it's not configured… we gotta watch with firing through walls, because people generally expect that you can't, in a video game. But yeah, the engine supports it. What are your plans for making the north more attractive? Well, you can see out there [in the demo] we're actually redeveloping the north. So there's a whole bunch of new stuff in the north based on real-world stuff. Towns, roads, more stuff! We've got a full-time map-designer and that's his job. Are you planning anything to prevent loot farming? Yes. So, this isn't… it might be, but it probably isn't going to be in for alpha, or for the start of alpha, but we have a central server that we run that holds all your character information, we're also going to be adding another cluster of central servers that manage loot-spawns, and manage the economy. So they tell the servers what loot they can spawn, so we might say there can only be one can of Coke. Out of all the servers in the whole world. So we use that to manage the economy. Is that how you could keep someone from farming loot and cheating, because you keep an eye on their character on your server? Oh, like, server-hopping and that sort of stuff? That's one that we're going to deal with when we go to the alpha. Because again we need to see what the player behavior is. Like, we can do what we did in the mod which is track the players who log in and log out. If they keep logging in and out of other servers a lot, we give them a warning, saying, you appear to be server-hopping. If you change servers now, you'll be locked out for five minutes. That's probably what we're going to do. We need to get some data from alpha so we might have something very rudimentary or something that just warns you before we actually stop people getting out. Because the alpha is about testing. Will the melee combat work great, good, ok, or just bad like it does in the mod? I'm very critical of melee, so I would say okay or bad. But it's gonna be way better than the mod. We want to make melee really good, but there's a lot of limitations. Look, I may be wrong, but I think to manage expectations… I'm hopeful it's okay. In what ways is it better than melee in the mod? Well, it's purely custom designed. We're looking at options. We studied like, Chivalry, talked with the Chivalry guys and that kind of stuff. But there's a lot of animation stuff we need to deal with, too. Because it's an MMO, you have to make a lot of concessions. It's going to be reasonably rudimentary. Will shooting at and hitting another persons gun break their weapon/scope/magazine? Yes. Weapons are entities now, they're just like a vehicle, so they have their own damage and everything. Will it be possible to damage other items by shooting them? Maybe. Because to save performance, the server forgets about items that are on the ground. Because there's a hundred thousand items that spawn throughout the world. So, at the moment, it's a no, but it's something we might do. Like what we can do, for example, is, when someone fires a weapon, we can activate anything the bullet gets year. So there's an ability for us to do it, but whether we actually bother doing it for the alpha is a maybe. Will there be high-tech army loot like night vision and sniper rifles? Yes. But that's where this global economy comes in. There might only be like four thermal-scoped weapons… in fact, at the moment it's possibly unlikely there'll be any thermal weapons, just because we're not doing the thermal textures for a lot of stuff, just because it takes a lot of time. But high-scope, military weapons will be in there, but they'll be very rare spawns. And they'll be global loot spawns, so there'll only be a certain amount of them in the whole world. Will the amount of gear you're carrying affect stamina and speed? This is something we're going to do after we release the alpha. So for the moment the only restriction is gonna be how many slots do you have. But we're looking at playing with the idea of weight, and how it affects your character movement and all that. But we need to get player feedback on how the system currently works before we go and introduce another mechanic to it, because then it just becomes too confusing. "You could add poison to a canteen bottle, and then give someone the canteen bottle, they don't know it's poisoned, and they could poison themselves." How complex can crafting become? Very complex. Crafting is going to be, I think, one of the cornerstones of the game. So, you can cook food, so you take your gas cooker, you put a gas canister on it, you get a mister and you put some baked beans in the mister and then you cook the baked beans. In the [first game], you placed a fire, then you just looked at it and [cooked food]. So there's a lot of, you could add poison to a canteen bottle, and then give someone the canteen bottle, they don't know it's poisoned, and they could poison themselves. How will the degradation system work on backpacks and clothing? It's still very much a work in progress with that. At the moment, it's purely going to be on the basis of, if you receive damage through that item, then it gets damaged. Like if someone shoots you and you're wearing a shirt, then that shirt is going to get damaged. Shoes are the first one we're doing, where the more you run around, the more damaged the shoes get, and you'll need to find new shoes. If that functionality works well, and we get good feedback, we'll probably extend that to other items. Can you give us a ballpark on pricing? No—the reason I say no is that I get really confused between all the currencies. So if I say twenty dollars, I can't remember whether that's twenty euro, twenty dollars, very confusing. But it's gonna be cheaper than Arma II. And it's going to start out very cheap with alpha, then ramp up. (Ed note: DayZ is going to be priced similarly to Minecraft, where players can pay less than the final retail price to opt into the alpha, then get the beta and full game when they're eventually released.) Will user-created maps (Sahrani, Namalsk, Taviana) be ported in the future? It's up to the map-makers as well, we're not the only ones who decide that. What I want to do is, have a combined approach where maybe Bohemia (Interactive) makes some maps, because I know there's guys at Bohemia who really want to, these guys love making maps. So they'd love to make a new one. But maybe we go to some of the community guys, give them resources and some training, and make some official boards or official maps. So I would say, yes, that's something we want to do. But we need to put structure around it, and we need to finish the very risky development side of it first. There's a lot of stuff that needs to be added and changed in the maps at the moment, that need to be done. So they could re-import the maps that exist into the new one. They'd have to re-do it? If you wanted to take a DayZ mod map and put it in DayZ standalone, you'd need to do a bunch of stuff different for it to work with the new engine. It'd be better to wait until we finish developing that. Because otherwise you'd port them and then you'd have to port them again. "So what I'd say to people is, if you don't like what you're seeing, don't buy the alpha. Wait until later in the alpha or the beta." Last question: Anything general you'd like say to all the hardcore fans out there about the alpha, the standalone, etc.? I think the biggest thing is, we're making, particularly for the alpha, it is for a hardcore group of people who really want to play it. So I'm sure you're familiar with Prison Architect. Same deal. Lot of people looked at the alpha, maybe they bought it, and were a little disappointed. It wasn't made for everybody. It was made for a group of people… like I played it, I thought this is great, this is gonna be really good, but I didn't play a lot in the first alpha. So I think that's the track we're taking. So what I'd say to people is, if you don't like what you're seeing, don't buy the alpha. Wait until later in the alpha or the beta. Because let's face it, that helps us with the release by not having so many players, and [laughs] we get more money if they buy it in the beta or the retail! Everybody wins! Thanks to Dean for taking the time to chat with me, and to Chad and everyone at the DayZ subreddit for the great questions!

We present our highlights from the opening day as we venture deep into the wild blue yonder of E3 2013.