Let's admit, the first Zeno Clash was fairly bonkers—but, by the looks of things, the sequel raises the bar on the insanity quite a bit. You get to suplex hairy dudes, punch bird people, and talk to some guy with a palette for a mouth. Just like in other first person beat-em-ups! But seriously, go watch the trailer, it's great.

Zeno Clash II is landing on the 360, the PS3, and the PC sometime in 2013.

Like Zeno Clash? With Zeno Clash II, the first-person melee brawler is getting a sequel that promises a bigger world, populated with crazier enemies and more punches.

The open world game features a new "lock-on" function during fights as well as role-playing elements to gain more strength or defense. Zeno Clash II will also feature drop-in/drop-out online cooperative multiplayer.

Zeno Clash II is headed to Xbox Live Arcade, the PSN, and PSN in early 2013. Read Kotaku's review of the first Zeno Clash.

Since we ran a feature on Duncan Harris, the groovy "video game photographer" behind the website DeadEndThrills, I've been sharing some of his work each week here.

This week Harris was really on fire—a whole grab-bag of games, with some spectacular shots from Zeno Clash, Fuel Total War: Shogun 2s. Let's dig in.

First up, up top we have:

"The Far Side"

Hot damn, that is an awesome shot of the desert in Fuel. Wow.

Tools and tricks: 2160p rendering (windowed), antialiasing (4xMSAA, 2x transparency supersampling, injected FXAA w/ texture presharpening), restored developer menus, vignette effect disabled, no-HUD, free camera.

"An Unexpected Journey"

Another great wide-angle shot from Fuel. This game really does deserve the benefit of a good cameraman.

Tools and tricks: 2160p rendering (windowed), antialiasing (4xMSAA, 2x transparency supersampling, injected FXAA w/ texture presharpening), restored developer menus, vignette effect disabled, no-HUD, free camera.

"It Follows"

Yeah, it follows that we'd get at least one more great Bioshock shot after last week. Don't look so glad to see me, Little Sister.

Tools and tricks: antialiasing (FXAA), Post Process Injection DLL w/ pre-sharpening for texture and post-sharpening for image, high-performance ambient occlusion, 2160p rendering, no-HUD, custom FOV, noclip, timestop.

"The Friendly Ghost"

A great shot from Zeno Clash, a game I know unfortunately little about.

Tools and tricks: no-HUD, viewmodel removed, Valve demo recorder, custom FOV, 2160p rendering, antialiasing (8x MSAA + 2x transparency supersampling).

"His Honour"

The first of several epic shots from Total War: Shogun 2.

Tools and tricks: unrestricted camera, 2160p rendering, antialiasing (injected ‘ultra-quality' SMAA), HUD removed in Photoshop.

"Beached"

Another shot from Zeno Clash that actually reminds me of a level I just played in Resident Evil: Revelations.

Tools and tricks: no-HUD, viewmodel removed, Valve demo recorder, custom FOV, 2160p rendering, antialiasing (8x MSAA + 2x transparency supersampling).

"Red Arrows"

Another kickass shot from Total War: Shogun 2. As Harris puts it, "RTS rendering has reached a point where zooming out to anything remotely playable feels like a retreat."

Tools and tricks: unrestricted camera, 2160p rendering, antialiasing (injected ‘ultra-quality' SMAA), HUD removed in Photoshop.

"Firefall"

Here come death, in Total War: Shogun 2.

Tools and tricks: unrestricted camera, 2160p rendering, antialiasing (injected ‘ultra-quality' SMAA), HUD removed in Photoshop.

"Lone Star"

A nice-looking one-off shot from Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit 2010.

Tools and tricks: 2160p rendering, antialiasing (4xMSAA + 4xSGSSAA), Racer_S camera and HUD hack, in-game Photo Mode.

The Nintendo Download ends the year on a high note with the release of Terry Cavanagh 's indie darling VVVVVV on the 3DS eShop, adding a 3D twist to the game's already twisted gravity platforming.

If the 3DS does nothing more than get a few indie PC greats into the hands of the masses, then I consider it a success. You may remember VVVVVV from its starring role in the Humble Indie Bundle #3, or from its charmingly primitive visuals mixed with a simple yet satisfying gravity control mechanic. Help Captain Viridian find his missing crew and save the day by flipping gravity on its stupid gravity ass. I should write the back of video game boxes.

There are things other than VVVVVV in this week's download as well, but typing out their names isn't quite as entertaining, so I only did it once. You can find those below.

WiiWare (Wii)

Carmen Sandiego Adventures in Math
Publisher: The Learning Company
Price: 600 Wii points

Bad news, detective! Those vicious villains of V.I.L.E are at it again. This time they've struck Big Ben in London, England! Just when we think we've put a stop to their trouble, they come up with a new scheme to vex us. The Chief wants ACME's best agent on this case, and that means you, detective. So grab your gear-you're headed to London!

Carmen Sandiego is back and only you can foil her V.I.L.E plans. Travel the globe, solve brain-twisting math puzzles, and catch the villain behind the Big Ben Burglary.

Crack the case of the Big Ben Burglary in single-player Story Mode. Perfect your math skills in single-player Practice Mode. Challenge your friends and family to solve math puzzles against the clock in Multiplayer Mode.

In Carmen Sandiego Adventures in Math, you practice your math skills and use them to fight crime. Ideal for grades 4–5, math topics include arithmetic, logic puzzles, fractions and much more!

DSiWare (DSi / 3DS)

Cake Ninja
Publisher: Cypronia
Price: $4.99 /500 DSi Points

Become a true Cake Ninja warrior. This casual game invites you to slide the stylus across the screen to slice cakes into small pieces like a true ninja warrior. It's very easy to play. The more cakes you slice, the longer you stay around. The longer you survive, the higher your score. How long can you last? You can also challenge your friends to a multiplayer game and find out who's the best player.

Slingo Supreme
Publisher: Magellan Interactive
Price: $7.99 / 800 DSi Points

Create more than 16,000 levels, discover unlimited Daily Challenges and beat the Devil in new mini-games. Slingo Supreme is the sequel to Slingo Deluxe, packed with even more Slingtastic fun. It features a new Supreme mode that lets you build more than 16,000 different Slingo games. It also offers an infinite supply of Daily Challenges, new Powerups (including Reel Nudge and Instant Slingos) and the long-awaited introduction of Devil Mini Games. Now you can finally take on that Devil and beat him at his own game.

eShop (3DS)

VVVVVV
Publisher: Nicalis
Price: $7.99

There's something terrible wrong in an alternate dimension! Help Captain Viridian flip to find five crew members, 20 hard-to-reach Trinkets and save a dimension on the brink of destruction. It's a space opera in the most unique scale with a style that only VVVVVV can bring to you. Instead of jumping, control the direction of gravity by inverting your gravity and allowing Captain Viridian to flip between the floors and ceilings of the environment.

For adventurers who save the dimension, there's still hours and hours of new gameplay with all-new Player Levels. Test your mettle and see if you have what it takes to beat a collection of levels created by other famous game developers.

Inspired by classic 8-bit days gone-by and now with experience-heightening 3D, VVVVVV will challenge even the most battle-hardened old-school gamers.

Bionic Commando
Publisher: Capcom
Price: $3.99

Take control of the powerful bionic arm and infiltrate the Empire's fortress. Rad Spencer is a member of FF Corps, an elite group of commandos who serve the Federation. The group is specially trained in the use of powerful wired grappling guns. When the Federation's greatest soldier, Super Joe, is captured while infiltrating the enemy Doraize Army and investigating the development of a powerful super-weapon, Rad Spencer is sent in to save his missing comrade. Take control of Rad and his powerful bionic arm as you infiltrate the Doriaze Army's heavily guarded fortress, navigate 19 levels, fight to save Super Joe and ultimately take down the enemy leader in this classic side-scrolling adventure.

Alright gang, here we go with another wild download code giveaway over Twitter, and this one is extra super special because the codes are for a game that is not even available yet.

But if you're lucky enough to snag one of six codes I'm giving out over Kotaku's official Twitter in the next two hours, you can get your hands on VVVVVV from the Nintendo eShop and start playing it before it comes out next week! It's a gift ... FROM THE FUTURE.

What the hell is VVVVVV? on the 3DS like? Well, you can read up about it here. But go follow Kotaku or, y'know, yours truly and then watch those feeds between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. EST. We'll be giving out six codes, first come, first served. Good luck!

To get to the Redeem Code screen in the eShop on your 3DS: 1. Launch the eShop. 2. Select "Settings/Other" (it is the furthest left in the eShop, or select the Menu tab at upper left, and navigate to "Settings/Other". "Redeem Download Code" is your first option. Select it and enter the code.

The new Humble Indie Bundle is terrific. For a price of your own choosing, you can get indie gems Super Meat Boy, Bit. Trip Runner, Jamestown, Shank and Nightsky, as well as Cave Story + and Gratuitous Space Battles for paying more than the average selling price.

Today, the folks behind the bundle announced that they've added a new batch of games for anyone who pays more than the average price, which is currently at a mere $5.16. So in addition to those seven games, you'll get Crayon Physics Deluxe, Cogs, VVVVVV, Hammerfight, and And Yet It Moves. So, a bunch of games from the last Humble Bundle tacked on to an already killer lineup.

Need more incentive to pick this up? (Seriously? You do? Wow. You are demanding.) Okay then, you'll also get the soundtracks for every game thrown in for free.

I'm not sure what could make this deal more appealing. Maybe if they like… deliver you a pie, to your door. And give you a back massage while you eat it. Before dusting and re-threading the cables behind your TV.

Humble Indie Bundle #4 [Humblebundle.com]

We've seen our share of Humble Indie Bundles over the past year or two—independent developers who gather under the "Humble" brand and release a bunch of their games priced at whatever people want to pay.

The latest one, Humble Bundle #4, might be the best one yet—for any price you want, you can get Super Meat Boy, Bit. Trip Runner, Jamestown, Shank and Nightsky. Pay more than the average price (currently tracking at $4.61 on the Humble Bundle site), you get Cave Story + and Gratuitous Space Battles as well.

There's no shortage of gaming to be done this December, but these are all great games, for a great price. And not only will you be supporting indie devs, you'll have the option to give money to either the American Red Cross or Child's Play.

Check out their (endearingly cheesy and reference-laden) trailer above. It's funny, I was quoting that bit from The Rock all last weekend for some reason.

Humble Indie Bundle #4 [Humblebundle.com]

Following in the footsteps of the Humble Indie Bundle, today only you can buy the Game Music Bundle for as much as you'd like to pay, from $1 to $10,000. (Yes, there is actually an option to pay ten grand.)

The soundtracks include most of the best indie game tracks from the past couple of years, including Danny B's killer Super Meat Boy OST, SoulEye's VVVVVV soundtrack, and C418's Minecraft: Volume Alpha. If you play $10 or more, you'll get seven bonus soundtracks, including the soundtracks from The Binding of Isaac and Extreme Road Trip.

Any way you slice it, that's a hell of a lot of music for very little dough. Even if you're participating in Buy Nothing Day, well… surely $1 towards independent game music composers wouldn't be the worst way to break your fast?

Indie Game Music Bundle [gamemusicbundle.com]

The superbad ultrahard old-school platformer VVVVV, which debuted to raves when it released nearly two years ago, is making its way to the Nintendo 3DS and, yes, the game will be presented in 3D.

Nicalis will publish the game to the Nintendo 3DS eShop but did not specify a release date. However, anyone headed to Indiecade in Culver City, Calif. can play "a near-complete preview VVVVVVersion for the first time on 3DS!" while there. "Just find [developers] Terry Cavanagh or Tyrone Rodriguez and ask them to play!" Nicalis said in a news release.

The statement promised VVVVVV would deliver "full 3D awesomeness integrated into the retro-looking art style," as well as "dual screen functionality with a real-time map." New levels and future content updates also are promised.

They grew corn and tobacco in colonial Jamestown on Mars back in the 1600s. Sir Walter Raleigh took up arms, via a spaceship, to fight the Spanish-Martian alliance.

I don't think any of this is true, but this was history as described to me by Tim Ambrogi, one of the developers of the four-player shoot-em-up called Jamestown that chronicles these events.

If you want to check the authenticity of the game, to see if it matches with history as you know it, check out the $10 game, which is out now on Steam. It actually came out during E3 in June, which is how I missed our own item about it finally launching. Maybe I should read more of the stories we run on Kotaku from our own Luke Plunkett who has heretofore monopolized coverage of this game around here. Not any more, Luke!

Jamestown was one of the PAX 10, a batch of stellar indie games showcased at this past weekend's Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle.