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NAIL. BITER.

I don't know what it is exactly about Graeme Abraham's pencil-holder game controllers that horrifies me, but when I look at them, my first thought is, "gah!" They just seem unnatural, don't they? Like someone's stabbed their wee little eyes out. But they're also strangely hypnotic… and probably somewhat less terrifying when they're sitting on your desk. And they do have a USB port... hmm. Here's how they work: If you'd like one, you can order 'em from Abraham's Etsy store. But if they come to life and crawl all over your face while you're sleeping, don't say I didn't warn you. (Via Laughing Squid)

If Tony Hawk didn't land the 900, apparently the consequences would be so dire that the entire would become a psychedelic skating wonderland according to Perfect Stride. Also the laws of physics would break to the point where you can now skate on the ceiling. Seems legit. The developers call Perfect Stride a "first-person maximalist skater for PC & OSX," and they say it's based on "old school FPS movement exploits" like Quake jumping, Tribes skiing, and Counter-Strike surfing. And according to the (utterly fantastic) website, the controls are "hella hard" but that's intentional. The game is only available to people who funded the LA Game Space on Kickstarter, although there are plans to allow people to donate to that project (and thus receive a copy of Perfect Stride) in the near future according to Rock Paper, Shotgun.

YouTube gaming commentator Total Biscuit does not like used games. He's no suit defending The Man. He's a hardcore PC gamer and man of the people. Now, he's not right about everything (to wit: he thinks we're "terrible"... yeah, ok). But he makes some great points about used games being no-good. Got half an hour? Give his argument a listen. He's considering many points of view. Used games might be a convenient industry scapegoat, but that doesn't mean they're not problematic. The man makes a compelling case. Feel free to disagree. There are strong arguments for and against. The Devil's Halibut - Used Games [YouTube]

Perhaps keeping Fuse as a "Ratchet & Clank with humans" would have helped it stand out more. Too late for that now. Luckily, Fuse is still thought to be a more or less a fun shooter, even if it's not without flaws. The forgettable story and bland setting are oft-mentioned low points, along with the perceived repetitiveness of the gameplay—although some were bothered by that more than others. Here's a sampling of what the critics are saying. Destructoid Fuse has a story, I think. Something about a group of mercenaries (maybe) called Overstrike, on the trail of some terrorists, or maybe a rogue military company. The villains — all helmeted future soldier types — have access to some space age technology they're using for weaponry, maybe. The trouble with summarizing Fuse's plot is that it's very easy to start describing one of the thousands of similar near-future sci-fi stories from which this game is utterly indistinguishable. Giant Bomb You're free to play Fuse by yourself, during which you can quickly swap between characters to utilize their unique weapons and flank groups of enemies. For the first couple of missions, setting up warp chains or dropping a magshield to take cover behind is pretty interesting, but since each character is stuck with the same primary Xenotech weapon the entire game, the novelty wears off faster than it should. Each agent has a skill tree that you can put points into as you level up—and the way experience is doled out encourages you to use your weapons creatively, so you level faster—but the skill trees don't offer a meaningful level of customization. Instead, they really only offer you the choice between crit effects on your Xenotech weapons or increased damage on your regular ones, and aside from a few weapon-specific secondary abilities, each tree merely gives the same generic abilities to each agent. IGN At least the guns are cool, regardless of their confusing origins. Each has a tactical purpose tailored to different play styles, and when a coordinated co-op team uses them together, Fuse’s standard stop-and-pop cover shooting graduates to a boisterous bit of strategic action. Dalton’s protective Magshield is a great piece of mobile cover for his teammates, and also acts as a shotgun with a barrel the size of a barn door. (Tactical players should love looking out for their friends with him.) Cloaking as Naya lets her get the drop on enemies before using the Warp Rifle to transform men into explosive black holes. (She's a terrific mix of quiet and loud, and succeeds at both.) Izzy can crystalize enemies with her Fuse bullets, freezing them in place (the least climactic skill in Overstrike 9's arsenal). Jacob’s delightful crossbow creates remote mines out of magma bolts, allowing him to melt his enemies individually or in groups. (It is, hands down, my favorite gun of the lot, because it makes Jacob the most effective combatant of 'em all). GameSpot Fuse is a third-person, cover-based shooter, and you do spend a fair amount of time moving in and around cover. Fortunately, the controls respond adroitly and make you feel nimble when maneuvering around barriers, allowing you to remain shielded from enemy fire. Movement out in the open can be a bit sluggish, but on the whole, the core action feels crisp, if very conventional. That is, until you start flexing your character-specific skills. EGM The best way to describe Fuse’s action is that it’s like a third-person bullet hell. Every weaponized projectile you can think of is constantly flung at your characters, filling the screen at times and making teamwork and cover a must—especially against the bullet-sponge bosses. This frantic, panicked pace gives the action an addictive quality I haven’t experienced in quite a while. Game Informer At roughly seven hours long, it seems like a game that should be ripe for replayability. There are four different characters to level up, and plenty of collectibles to go back and find. Unfortunately, you can’t skip cutscenes, even if you’ve seen them plenty of times. I’d be much more inclined to jump into a quick mission with some friends if I knew I didn’t have to watch the same scenes over and over again. If you’ve beaten the game and want to level your characters without rewatching these cutscenes, the Horde-like Echelon mode is the perfect arena. With several maps that feature huge waves of enemies, it’s a great way to hop in and blast baddies without being saddled with the mediocre story. However, it doesn’t add any innovation to the basic Horde mode formula; its main use is just grinding levels. Kotaku So many of Fuse's elements—from the squad-based co-op play, to the role-playing elements—seem like the ingredients necessary to make a Good Shooter (according to the almighty focus group, anyway). And indeed, many shooters see adding these same features as a way of keeping up—resulting in very samey titles. Fuse's familiarity is not surprising, although in Fuse's case, the feeling is particularly potent. It's almost like you need more than a palatable feature list to have a worthwhile game. Top image courtesy of Gergő Vas. Questions? Comments? Contact the author of this post at andras-AT-kotaku-DOT-com.

Intuitive Game Studios comprised of former members of Team Bondi.

Microsoft reports 8.45 million viewers for the reveal of Xbox One, “rivaling one of the top-most concurrent streamed events of all time.”

Craigslist ain't simply your one-stop source for $27 flea-infested futons, or where you celebrate a third DUI by buying a moped. No, you can find some truly bizarre shit, like this rolling deathtrap in which you may play an Xbox 360 with your knees tucked to your chest. Why on God's green earth someone would build this, much less use it as described, is beyond me, but a craftsman in the vibrant artisan community of Youngstown, Ohio is offering it for 2.5 kilobucks. Listed on April 29, it's still up for sale on that locality's Craigslist. Amenities include an "HD LCD TV on adjustable Omnimount," "black fleece inner wall lining" a "100 watt powered subwoofer" and "solid construction." It supposedly seats two. There also is a "rubber lined spill-proof floor" in case you tip over a beer or put someone's body in there, plus a latch for a padlock if you want to trick a friend into playing some Call of Duty while you forklift his ass into Evans Lake. Serious inquiries only. X-Box 360 Personal Gaming Module SERIOUS GAMERS ONLY!!!! - $2500 (Youngstown, OH) [Craigslist, via Geekologie]

A new gameplay mechanic mixes up the word-puzzle genre, four fresh freebies are featured and Badland's updated in today's ASU.

The Missouri goober who last year was leading a senate race against the incumbent until he decided to mouth off about his personal concept of "legitimate rape" has been immortalized by a pinball machine. In France. And in keeping with Todd Akin's dumb*crag* worldview, it's ball out, every time. You may recall that Akin was ahead of Claire McCaskill in August 2012 when he went on a public affairs show in St. Louis and decided there was some constituency of undecided women voters in that state who could be persuaded to vote for him because of this particular concept: "First of all, from what I understand from doctors, that’s really rare. If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down." Yeah, no. As a policy aim, attempted redefinitions of rape don't poll very well, regardless of political affiliation, and Akin's own party told him to GTFO the race, though he didn't. McCaskill went from being one of the most vulnerable Democrats up for re-election to a winner with 54 percent of the vote. That inspired French artist (and I'm gonna let those words twist for a long moment) Marie Busson to create this, "La Femme Flipper ... en Réponse à Tod Akin." It's a pinball machine in which the plunger, placed between a pair of woman's legs, aims the ball at a set of flippers that block its entry into the womb. Hence the means of shutting that whole thing down. Todd Akin may not be in office, but he can spin his propeller beanie and play this pinball machine all day long and feel better about hisself. Todd Akin's "Legitimate Rape" Quote Has Inspired a Pinball Game In France (PHOTOS) [Riverfront Times] To contact the author of this post, write to owen@kotaku.com or find him on Twitter @owengood.

After telling the tale of the last of the Horadrim in the Book of Cain, Blizzard is launching another companion book for Diablo 3, the Book of Tyrael. Just as Book of Cain chronicled the thoughts of Diablo's talkative elder, the Book of Tyrael is "an in-depth look into the mind of the Archangel Tyrael," a prominent character in the series.

The book promises "never-before-known secrets" about the Diablo universe and will feature original artwork. It will also include writings written from the perspectives of both Deckard and Leah Cain and "a fully removable family tree."

The Book of Tyrael will be released on October 1 for $40. The only catch is you'll have to stop playing Diablo 3 to read it.

From the outset, Fuse feels like a familiar game—it mixes some of the best ideas from a bevy of other titles into a futuristic third-person shooter. Think Borderlands meets Bulletstorm with a dash of Uncharted. That sounds sweet on paper, but Fuse proves that it takes more than a list of good ideas to make a game worth feeling excited about. Fuse tells the story of an elite team tasked with retrieving a highly dangerous energy source (Fuse). Fuse was meant to be a renewable energy source. Instead, nefarious folk found a way to weaponize the power. What a surprise! Also not surprising: things don't exactly go as planned on the your initial mission, and that's the reason you're pulled through a number of locales as you chase after comically one-note villains who threaten to destroy the world with the all-powerful Fuse. You, too, have access to that same power. Fuse is a class-based shooter, and in practice this means that each squad-mate gets a unique Fuse-powered weapon in addition to unique powers—both of which can be bolstered via a skill tree. These weapons are probably the most distinguishing characteristic for the otherwise forgettable characters, a fact that's disappointing after playing games like Borderlands—which is also a class-based cooperative shooter with awesome weapons and RPG elements. The leader if the group, Dalton Brooks, has portable cover—a "Magshield"—which can absorb, and then repel any projectiles it traps. Isabelle Sinclair, a redhead that looks suspiciously like the siren in Borderlands, is a character with access to a "Shattergun"—a weapon which can crystallize enemies. Izzy can also deploy a med beacon which can heal and revive team members. Naya Deveraux wields a "Warp Rifle," a weapon which can create singularities, in addition to being able to go invisible. Finally, my personal favorite is Jacob Kimble, a former LAPD detective which uses an "Arcshot," a crossbow which can liquify enemies. These weapons, for the most part, are unique and powerful—and unsurprisingly, limited in use. The game would be hilariously broken if we were allowed to use Fuse weapons all the time. So I found myself using the other weapons more often than any of the special Fuse weapons, which normally wouldn't be a problem…except that the normal weapons feel almost indistinguishable from one another in everything except for fire rate. It's a drag. Under ideal circumstances, players are expected to use a character's unique abilities for team work and coordination. You might, for example, have Izzy crystalize an enemy, and then have another character shatter that enemy with a normal weapon. Such tactics could be coordinated with teammates if you're playing co-op, or hypothetically, could be used by the players themselves. Fuse allows players to switch between characters at the touch of a button, which is a neat ability that I admittedly didn't use very often. Not unless my character of choice was nearly out of ammo, anyway. Fuse awards points for every kill, and these points increase if you coordinate attacks with your teammates. A kill is worth more, for example, if you attain it while behind the Magshield. The genius of Bulletstorm's scoring system, however, is that there are a number of entertaining and unique ways to kill enemies, and players can't simply repeat the same type of kill over and over again for the same number of points. Fuse, on the other hand, will always award you the same number of points on a kill no matter how many times you do it, and seems to only have a limited number of tactical power combinations. Granted, there didn't seem to be too many tactical combinations to explore with buddies, playing co-op is still a smoother experience than playing alone. Human beings aren't clueless AI, after all, and you'll likely be able to go through levels at a quicker pace if you play co-op. The game seems built with the idea that you'll play with someone else. Regardless, I also eventually stopped paying attention to the scoring system and unique combinations altogether at one point, and instead focused on the most effective method of killing enemies. Which is to say, I felt like I turned my brain off while playing Fuse. The fact that it felt like I kept experiencing the same things over and over, only with a different decor (ice level! space level!) didn't help. Every level has three basic elements: arenas, sneaking areas, as well as Uncharted-style climbing sections. Aside from the difference in location—which is only a surface-level difference—many levels felt constructed the same way. You'll encounter most of the enemies the game has to offer early on and as you continue the biggest difference you can look forward to might just be that that enemy now has a shield over it or something. These generic bullet sponges didn't feel particularly smart, although they will rain down on you in mindless droves. When the characters make quips about endless enemies, I couldn't help but nod with fatigue. This was another reason I felt like I turned my brain off as I held the "shoot" button down while playing Fuse. The pacing with enemy encounters also felt off. Boss battles, for example. These often entail time-consuming battles against mechs, only to have the game throw another grueling wave of enemies at you right after those boss encounters. Sometimes that wave would even be followed up by yet another mech. And finally, just when I thought you'd get some time to breathe, a bunch of enemies will spawn on the elevator/room you need to exit in. This made enemy encounters feel like jankily-paced tedium. Between these segments, Fuse will sometimes ask you to sneak and climb your way through it. The sneaking sections aren't well realized—think more Metal Gear Rising than Metal Gear Solid. Put another way, levels seem designed more for head-on encounters than furtive playthroughs. The climbing sections, meanwhile, are entirely forgettable and don't add anything to the mix. Fuse also features an "Echelon" mode, otherwise known as 'this game's version of horde mode.' In many ways, it feels like campaign mode except without the (completely disposable and cliched) story, and with objectives that tended to keep things interesting. I didn't get very far with my attempts to play the mode on my own—its difficulty seems tuned for more than one player—but I can't help but wonder if players wouldn't be better off skipping the campaign and sticking to Echelon. So many of Fuse's elements—from the squad-based co-op play, to the role-playing elements—seem like the ingredients necessary to make a Good Shooter (according to the almighty focus group, anyway). And indeed, many shooters see adding these same features as a way of keeping up—resulting in very samey titles. Fuse's familiarity is not surprising, although although in Fuse's case, the feeling is particularly potent. It's almost like you need more than a palatable feature list to have a worthwhile game.

The lack of a colon before the Lost World part of the title gives me strange and uncomfortable feelings.

Here's what's going on at Talk Amongst Yourselves, Kotaku's reader-written blog: Heigham offers regrets for disposing of old console games, while keeping the consoles. And The Geek Empress compares the evolution of games' visual sophistication with that of classical art's. And you can always go join the voices talking about video games and life in TAY Classic and in the TAY: Open Forum.

Fuse didn't light up Dave's life. He gave Insomniac's latest just two stars out of five in our review, deeming the game "satisfactory at best and frustrating at worst, and a bare-bones shooter without any personality or flair."

Of course, we're not the only outlet you can wire into. Here's a brief meta-view of the mixed review-verse discussion sparked by Fuse.

• Escapist (80/100): "Some of Fuse's flaws, like the grindy boss fights and a storyline that takes itself a little too seriously at times, can harm the experience, but it's a well built third-person shooter that's fun to play solo or on a team."
• GameSpot (70/100): "Fuse is calibrated for people to play together, designed in such a way as to be merely serviceable for solo players, but solid fun for groups of gung-ho mercs."
• Polygon (65/100): " The core of a great third-person shooter is present in Fuse. The team-based insanity offers a unique take on the genre, and Insomniac's reputation for inventive weapons and creative combat helps too. But Fuse only comes together with three or four players, and even then, the late game combat design and boring-to-fight enemies stand in its way."
• Giant Bomb (60/100): "Fuse's bland art design and overall lack of personality are disappointing in the context of that initial reveal trailer, but under the hood it's still a generally well made third-person shooter with a clear emphasis on co-op and the imaginative weapons Insomniac is so good at dreaming up. But there are too few of those weapons, and a few too many irksome issues, to lift Fuse significantly above the many, many other cover-based shooters it's competing with."
• Destructoid (40/100): "Whether it's true or not, Fuse does feel every bit like another victim of the heavily focus-tested, leader following, perpetually terrified mainstream game industry. It's every cloying and desperate element of the retail console market, brought together -- fused, if you will -- to create a factory standard example of a game that tries to be everything the hypothetical mainstream consumer drools over, and ends up as nothing remarkable...That's Fuse in a nutshell."

A white version of Google's flagship Android smartphone is now available in Hong Kong, with a global rollout planned for the coming weeks.

Scotland's Bryan Henderson may be the god of all gods in Godus, but for all his godliness his godly status isn't eternal. As revealed by 22 Cans' Peter Molyneux to Rock Paper Shotgun, Henderson, who won the Godus prize by discovering what was inside the Curosity cube, will dictate the god game's rules for something "approaching a year" after its release, as well as earn a portion of its income.

After that time, developer 22 Cans will reveal how he can be usurped, and someone will indeed usurp him. Also, the length of Henderson's reign may depend on Kickstarter backers' impressions of the god game and how all this madness comes together throughout alpha and beta testing.

"It didn't seem right to me that Bryan would be god of gods for all time," Molyneux told Rock Paper Shotgun. "It seems right to me that he has a period of time to be god of gods, and that can't just be a few days. It needs to be substantial. And in that time, many things could happen. And of course, the amount of physical money he gets depends on how successful the game is."

Racing might be fun, but Ryan and Jeff demonstrate that there's still room for safe and courteous driving.

I always get excited for Nintendo Direct—not just because of the possible announcements, but because Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata always makes some adorable or funny thing that's totally unexpected from a company president. Even if it's a video game company. Here's a look back at some of these memorable appearances, which show Iwata has a good eye for games, memes, and GIFs. Now that E3 is around the corner, we can only wonder what funny moments are in store for the June 11 Nintendo Direct. It might take the GIFs a few seconds to load. The giggles will soon follow. Iwata's Brain Training With Game Center CX's Arino Iwata and his hair Year of Luigi interrupted Iwata's J-pop group Iwata and a banana With Sega boss Toshihiro Nagoshi Iwata and a few Luigis Iwata & the Tomodachi Collection sources: hitmeupman, herronintendo3ds, Radio Sega To contact the author of this post, write to gergovas@kotaku.com

Diablo-like super hero MMO Marvel Heroes is having launch troubles. Namely, the game not being ready to launch yet. Early access players found that they were unable to log in, even though it was seven days before launch day—the advertised date Ultimate Pack buyers would have been able to start playing. On their blog, the developers confirmed that a few serious bugs had to be fixed before anyone could play. Later, they posted on their Facebook page saying that they're making progress, and recently tweeted that they are still working, and are "committed to going live tonight." We're keeping an eye on the game, and will update this post should there be any further progress.

Iron Man? More like Medicine Man. Or in this Chinese TV spot, Kang Zhi Ba Man. In China, Kang Zhi Ba is a brand of pharmaceuticals, and this commercial is for Norfloxacin capsules, which are used to treat urinary tract infections as well as typhoid fever, intestinal infections and gonorrhea. As recently noted by MIC (first by ChinaSmack), the commercial debuted earlier this spring, around the time Iron Man 3 was released. In it, the Iron Man inspired character fights bacteria that are plaguing a family. Hope the old folks don't have gonorrhea! The spot is clearly inspired by the Marvel superhero. The suit's colors aren't just similar, but the commercial also references numerous iconic Iron Man scenes. Since first airing, the commercial has racked up nearly 800,000 views on Youku, China's version of YouTube. While Iron Man is popular in China, Iron Man 3 made some Chinese moviegoers totally unhappy. This super hero will hopefully make them healthy. 白云山制药总厂——抗之霸15秒 [Youku via ChinaSmack via MIC] To contact the author of this post, write to bashcraftATkotaku.com or find him on Twitter @Brian_Ashcraft. 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.

Big hair. No, like, really big hair. Tanned skin. And incredibly long nails. Meet the young women of Black Diamond. They're keen to go worldwide. In Japanese, this style of fashion is dubbed "gal" (ギャル or gyaru). The look flies in the face of traditional Japanese notions of feminine beauty: pale skin and black hair. The subculture has its roots in 1990s Japanese youth fashion, when teens began dying their hair brown and hitting the tanning saloons. Often, Westerners think this look is trying to copy foreigners; however, a better way to understand it is how teens in the West will dye their hair green to rebel. That's what is happening here. Also, be aware that this fashion is not necessarily designed to appeal to Japanese men. Many men in Japan find the trend incredibly embarrassing (save for those fellas who dressed in the dude version of this fashion). Instead, this has largely been a subculture of women appealing to other women—something that is evident in the more extreme iterations, like "ganguro" (ガングロ), which was short for "intensely black", and "yamanba" (ヤマンバ), which referred to mountain witches! But in around 2001, there was a "pale skin boom" in Japan, and the tanned gals seemed even more marginalized. The female subculture that Black Diamond is spearheading seems to be both a revival of the ganguro movement and a reaction to the decade long pale skin trend. Black Diamond, though, doesn't consider itself ganguro, considering the word somewhat old-fashioned. Instead, the 100 member plus group calls itself a "kuro hada unit", with "kuro hada" (黒肌) meaning "black skin" or "dark skin". Interestingly, Black Diamond doesn't really use the term "gal circle", which is what these gal groups or clubs were called during the last decade. During the 2000s, the biggest gal circle was a Tokyo gal group called "Angeleek", which actually made members apply and interview via telephone to join. Angeleek held events at dance clubs where members would perform drill-team style dance routines. Angeleek seems to have fizzled away, and Black Diamond is the spiritual successor, with members across Japan, meet-ups in Tokyo, and regular trips to Shibuya shopping spots and arcades for sticker picture fun. Elements of their fashion, like say the giant flowers in their hair, are reworkings of 1990s gal trends. Black Diamond, however, doesn't seem content with just appearing in gal fashion magazines like Egg or simply appearing at Tokyo dance clubs. Via its Facebook page, the group sells gal fashion to those outside of Japan and actively tries to recruit non-Japanese members. This week, Black Diamond announced it was planning to make "an original song and music video" to broadcast all over the globe. The unit is even trying to crowdfund the production costs. Currently, on Black Diamond's YouTube and Facebook pages, the unit is holding "elections" for people to vote for their favorite singers in Black Diamond. Will this be the group that truly takes gal fashion global? Is the world ready? Are you? GalUnitBlackDiamond [Facebook] Photos: Black Diamond To contact the author of this post, write to bashcraftATkotaku.com or find him on Twitter @Brian_Ashcraft. 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.

Remember The Neverhood? The all-clay adventure game from 1996? Doug TenNapel, its creator, is joining forces with Pencil Test Studios to bring you Armikrog, a spiritual sequel starring a crash-landed alien and his talking dog. They're raising $900,000 through Kickstarter. Good luck to them!

More than half of Xbox users watching Netflix this past Sunday were streaming the new season of Arrested Development, according to a report from bandwidth management firm Procera published by Mashable.

The return of the long-awaited fan favorite not only claimed up to 36 percent of Netflix's traffic on some networks, but created increases in Netflix watching in general by as much as 10 percent, with the Xbox 360 and the PS3 leading the charge on devices used to stream Netflix video.

Video game consoles have been major Netflix viewing devices, and Arrested Development's premiere made that tie even clearer. Just over 40 percent of all PS3 users watching Netflix on Sunday were watching the Bluths; just over 20 percent of iPad users were in that crowd as well.

Additionally, about ten to fifteen percent of all Netflix viewers, says Procera, went on a binge, finishing off all 15 episodes by Monday morning. Watching all of those intricately laid jokes all mushed together in one late-night run? Sounds like a huge mistake.

You are looking at a replica 92FS built entirely of LEGO. Impressive, right? Well, you too can put together your own. Here's how. This how to is from Jeff Boen's The BrickGun Book, which is a building guide for life-sized LEGO handguns, including the 1911, the BG22 with Magazine, the Desert Eagle, the MAC-11, and the 92FS. Boen runs popular website BrickGun.com and is well-known among LEGO builders for his incredibly accurate brick replica guns. For Boen, this is his favorite BrickGun creation, noting how it even looks like the real handgun when the slide is back. "When I built the first BrickGun model it was just to see if I could come with something that looked vaguely like the classic 92 pistol," Boen writes on BrickGun.com. "Once I decided to add moving mechanical functions I never dreamed where it would lead. I had no idea that it would become the thing that I'll probably be most known for." Above, you can how the 92FS, a gun that has appeared in numerous video games, compares to its brick counterpart. Here's how to build yours: Note that the brick handgun replica does not fire projectiles—nor is it designed to do so. LEGO or not, this subject matter might not appeal to all tastes. But, if you are interested in replica guns and like LEGO, you can find out more on the book's official site. The BrickGun Book [Official Site] To contact the author of this post, write to bashcraftATkotaku.com or find him on Twitter @Brian_Ashcraft.

Artist RJ Palmer has taken his "realistic" series of Pokemon illustrations and put them all on the one image, which is available as a poster. I am so in love with the "human silhouette for scale" bit it's not funny. You knew you were onto a good thing as a kid when a dinosaur book had them in it. You knew you were onto a better thing when there was also the silhouette of a bus. Pokemon [RJ Palmer]

You love your PC. It's a place you can work at, but more importantly, it's a place you can game at. The thing is, if you're using a traditional desk-and-chair setup, the more you game on the PC, the bigger the problem you're creating for yourself. I don't want to sound like your mother here, but sitting - or, as many of you probably do, slouching - in a chair at a desk for a massive session of DOTA 2, or Skyrim, or whatever, isn't exactly the healthiest thing for you. Especially if you're doing it for hours at a time. That's why workplaces give you breaks. It's why airlines recommend you move around every few hours. Indeed, in terms of everything from blood circulation to food digestion to calorie-burning, sitting down for extended periods of time is one of the worst things you can be doing to your body short of putting poison in it or having something hit you very hard. But it's OK. I'm here to help. You don't need to stop your ten-hour gaming sessions to save your body. You just need to change the way you're sitting. Or, well, stop sitting altogether. Sure, you could just get a really good chair and remember to take breaks, but good chairs are expensive, and taking breaks is for cowards (or, more seriously, something even those with the best intentions can easily forget if they're immersed in a game). So last year, I went a little further and jumped on the standing office bandwagon, partly because I was about to lose my office to a newborn child, but mostly because I was finding it detrimental to my health. Because I work 9-10 hour days, then spend most of my gaming time at the same PC afterwards, I'd get a sore back, a sore neck and pain in my hips. I wasn't overweight, per se, but let's say that despite being fairly active outside of work hours, I wasn't exactly fighting fit. Worst of all, sitting down all day just made me feel horrible. Like I was ending my day in a thick fog, having been in the same position, in the same room, for most of my waking hours. Having looked at various internet guides, I found most to be either too crummy for my needs (more suited to the occasional user) or prohibitively expensive. Ignore those guides. If you feel like getting a little more active and trying this out, you can go to IKEA and get a kickass desk for under $200 (around $170), meaning most of you, regardless of where you live, can easily do the same. Below you'll find the various components for the desk I put together a few months back which you can see above. It's a Frankenstein's Monster approach, I know, but it still looks pretty good! DESK Vika Kaj adjustable legs ($15 ea.) The only way you can get a standing desk this cheap is to improvise, and the only way to do that at IKEA is to get these legs, which extend enough to accommodate all but the tallest of you. Linmon Table ($25) Because you're just putting a piece of wood on some legs, you can opt for any tabletop, really, but I liked the Linmon because despite the gloosy white finish, it was super cheap. STORAGE Ekby Alex ($55) Pricey for what it is, since it's really just a little box with some shelves inside, but you need somewhere to put a monitor and speakers, so you may as well put them somewhere you can also store miscellaneous crap inside as well. Signum ($10) This standing setup doesn't have the luxury of letting you dump 17 cables and power adapters in the corner, so you need something tidier. This does the trick. Just bolt it underneath the tabletop. Summera ($20) Basically a cradle for your PC, it lets you sling your computer under the table and keep it off the ground. Not a necessity, but it sure makes cleaning the area - and accessing your PC - a lot easier than most traditional setups. One more thing you can't get from IKEA, but which you'll definitely need, is a mat. They'll be called different things depending on where you live, but you know those thick rubber mats security guards stand on? Yeah, you'll want one of those. —- An important thing to note is that this isn't for everyone. Maybe you've got a bad ankle. Maybe you've got nowhere else to put that fancy office chair but under a desk. That's OK! Nobody is forcing you to do this. I'm just saying it's something you could totally just try. Another thing is that if you do try this out, as my colleague Kirk Hamilton's butt will attest, there is a little adjustment period. Usually around two weeks, while your legs and back get used to all the standing. Once that's done, though, as insane as this sounds, your body really won't mind. You should be able to stand for hours at a time and be totally fine, because you will have guns, only not on your arms. On your legs. And your body will thank you for it. Got questions? Concerns? Drop 'em below. Howtu is Kotaku's guide on how to get the most out of your gaming.

This is AIO's DRN-STN. It is bonkers. Pitched as an all-in-one solution for a gaming PC, it's essentially a desktop case (one that fits all standard components) with a 24" monitor crammed in one side and an exterior designed like something you'd find in a multiplayer round of Battlefield. So, yeah, it's PC gaming's ugly answer to the iMac. More info and pics, price excluded, below. DRN-STN [AIO]

One of the newest playsets in LEGO's Lord of the Rings line is the Council of Elrond. A key moment in the events of the trilogy, it's notable not just because it brings the Fellowship of the Ring together, but because the internet has transformed one line into perhaps the series' most memorable. It's crazy, then, that LEGO's set immortalising the Council doesn't include a Boromir figure. I mean, on the bright side, it does include a mechanism where Gimli can be thrown backwards after trying to whack the Ring with his axe, but that's small consolation for the lack of a contemplative Boromir. Those happy to have Arwen and Elrond in his stead, the set is going for $30. The Lord of the Rings 79006: The Council of Elrond [Review] [Brothers Brick]