LeBron James just announced that he will leave Cleveland to join Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and the NBA's Miami Heat, ending the greatest free agency courtship U.S. sports have seen. Here he is in his new threads, via NBA 2K10.

Japan's getting Shinji MIkami's sci-fi third-person shooter Vanquish on October 21? So what! In North America we're getting it a couple of days earlier, with a trio of deadly new weapons available to those who preorder from the right store.

October 19 is the date that Vanquish hits the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, and the store in question is, of course, GameStop. Folks who put down their five dollars at the video game retailer will gain access to an exclusive Tri-Weapon DLC pack.

How does a Boost Machine Gun sound to you guys? Boring? How about an Anti-Armor Pistol? Lame? Okay, then you might enjoy the miniaturized space warship laser that is the Laser Cannon, the most powerful weapon available to infantry?

Everybody loves laser cannons. My mother loves laser cannons, and she doesn't even know what they are.

Behold, the 100th Golden Wrench has been collected in the revelry that is this week's Team Fortress 2Engineer mania, revealing a new weapon - the Gunslinger, which places new Mini-Sentries - and the Thunder Mountain map.

From the Team Fortress 2 update page, the Gunslinger looks like Doctor Detroit's glove, bestow's +25 health to its wearer, and delivers an automatic critical strike with the third punch in a series of hits. Oh, and it lets you toss-out Mini-Sentries.

Why are they so special? Well, they only cost 100 metal to place and build four times faster than a normal Sentry gun. The drawbacks: They can't be repaired or upgraded, and the biggie, they deal half the damage of a full-size Sentry.

The map, "Thunder Mountain," another payload map, promises "massive amounts of explosives," a really long track for you to creatively implement, and a lap pool. Enjoy!

Engineer Update is Here! [Team Fortress 2 Blog]

Duh, you say. Well, the usefulness of the report suggests that playing video games ain't entirely sedentary, and aren't a threat to actual exercise. Ah, now do you see? Sports games are our friends.

The UK industry group TIGA touted the research, done a by a French business school's sports marketing department. The study found 38 percent of boys (well, males under 21) who played sports games practiced their favorite video game sport in real life. Additionally, the study said 75 percent of all gamers also took part in some kind of real sport.

Granted, that's not adult gamers, where the get-off-your-ass stigma has a different tone, but as most alarmist reports on gaming's impact have a what-about-the-children motivation, this certainly helps there.

"Video games are frequently demonized," said a representative of the French business school. "We now know that these fears are unfounded.There is a strong correlation between playing video games and participating in real sports. Watching television is a threat to physical activity. Video games are not, however."

The entire news release from TIGA is here.

Kids Who Play Sports Games Likely to Play Sports in Real Life [Game Politics]

If anyone's wondering what that image is all about, it's from this feature last year.

Activision's compiled a nifty clip showing off some previous revealed music from the upcoming Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, so let's let the bodies hit the floor, get our money for nothing, and pour some sugar on this rock montage.

It's official: I am no longer excited by videos for the band games. It used to be I would hear about new music coming to Guitar Hero or Rock Band and I would get a bit giddy, ready to download or purchase whatever it was that would put me in control of said music using plastic instruments.

Now clips like these just make me want to add old songs to my MP3 player.

Is the magic gone completely?

To: Crecente
From: Bashcraft

We launched our Kotaku Reader Editorial Board today and I think it went over swingingly.

The idea was to provide a place for Kotaku regulars to discuss Kotaku without having them clog up the comments in unrelated stories. It's also a great place for readers to ask the writers questions they have about the site.

I spent about two and a half hours in the forum answering questions and responding to suggestions. I think I hit most of them, though of course they're still rolling in. When I left I had responded to about 300, I think.

The biggest topic seemed to be the mechanics of how our commenting system works, something that is very much a work in progress and I would also love to see improved. But we also heard a good number of strong story and idea suggestions, all stuff I plan to look into.

It was a great, invigorating experience and almost entirely troll free. You do me proud Kotaku.

I also happened to spend today sitting shotgun in our van as we drove back from El Paso to Denver. Trish was at the wheel with Tristan and the dogs in the back. Just outside of Colorado we pulled into this great truck stop. It's weird, walking through the doors I almost felt like I was walking into the beginning of a cheap horror flick, something that leaves everyone but the strange cast of characters in the gas station dead.

Not that I want the world to end in an uprising of zombies or flash of a comet, but wouldn't that be cool. I'd even have three dogs to help out with the fight-to-the death showdown...

What you missed:
Red Dead Redemption Adding Zombies, Multiplayer, Poker, More?
Layoffs Hit Civilization V Creators
Kotaku Reader Editorial Board
Tournament of Legends Review: Maximus Flailing
Death In Guild Wars 2 Borrows A Page From Modern Warfare
Dragon Age II Pulls A Commander Shepard
Risk: Factions Review: Cats Vs. Zombies
Dragon Age II Seems Like It Will Be Very Different [UPDATE]
Def Jam Rapstar Confirms A Tribe Called Quest and Ludacris

En Fuego the Flaming Basketball, widely considered the greatest performer in the history of combustible sporting goods, was revealed today as the cover pitchman for EA Sports' upcoming NBA Jam for the Wii. An in-game appearance is also confirmed.

"En Fuego is proud to be associated with the mystique of NBA Jam going back nearly two decades," said his agent, Arson McBriefcase. "We believe this partnership benefits both En Fuego and EA Sports, the worldwide leader in incinerating gym equipment."

For his part, the seven-time world champion and all-time leader in both burned hands and singed nets dedicated the honor to his mother, who recently deflated.

"You know, I just want to thank my mom and all she did," En Fuego said at a news conference. "It wasn't easy for her, as a single, working volleyball trying to raise a golf club and a bat and me."

NBA Jam for the Wii is out Oct. 5

Curt Schillings' 38 Studios outs Project Mercury at the San Diego Comic-Con this month, giving con-goers the first look at the mysterious role-playing game that features the talents of R.A. Salvatore, Todd McFarlane, and Ken Rolston.

All we know about Project Mercury so far is that it's got amazing talent working on it, and a publishing deal with EA Partners. Aside from that we're in the dark, but the big names alone are enough to get us excited.

And soon we'll know what we're excited about.

The Thursday schedule for the San Diego Comic-Con has been posted, and along with panels on Dead Rising 2, World of Warcraft, and the Transformers, Schilling will be on hand at 1:15PM to show off his new game to the public, and he's bringing friends.

Be among the first in the world to see the video game debut from Curt Schilling's 38 Studios. Hear from the visionaries who have teamed up to create this highly anticipated RPG and the rich world it is set in, including 38 Studios' executive art director Todd McFarlane (Spawn, Spider-Man), executive creator of worlds R. A. Salvatore (Forgotten Realms), lead designer Ken Rolston (Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion), and founder and chairman Curt Schilling. Learn all about this ambitious new project as 38 Studios unveils the name of the game along with the world premiere of the game's first trailer directed by McFarlane. Attendees will also receive a limited-edition poster.

Hopefully we'll have a man in the stands for this one. I'm not going this year, as last year's visit to Comic-Con blew my convention budget for the next decade.

Comic-Con 2010 Schedule [Comic-Con via Joystiq]

The people who make Professor Layton games and the sharp-looking Studio Ghibli game Ni no Kuni have another hit on their hands, the latest sports-themed RPG, Inazuma Eleven 3: Sekai e no Chousen!!, Japan's bestselling game.

Both versions of Inazuma Eleven 3: Sekai e no Chousen!! for the Nintendo DS toppled last week's champ, the Xbox 360 game Monster Hunter Frontier. That previously bestselling Capcom game slips way down to 14th place on this week's chart, illustrating the staying power of Xbox 360 games. Japan would appear to prefer games like the latest taiko drumming game Taiko no Tatsujin DS: Dororon! Youkai Daikessen!! and fighting game Blazblue: Continuum Shift, two chart topping new debuts.

A smattering of other new debuts appear throughout this week's Media Create sales chart. Do your eyes and brain a favor and see what they are.

01. Inazuma Eleven 3: Sekai e no Chousen!! Bomber / Spark (DS) - 505,000 / NEW
02. Taiko no Tatsujin DS: Dororon! Youkai Daikessen!! (DS) - 70,000 / NEW
03. Blazblue: Continuum Shift (PS3) - 50,000 / NEW
04. Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii) - 35,000 / 648,000
05. Digimon Story: Lost Evolution (DS) - 34,000 / NEW
06. Love Plus+ (DS) - 22,000 / 106,000
07. Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side 3rd Story (DS) - 20,000 / 72,000
08. World Soccer Winning Eleven 2010: Aoki Samurai no Chousen (PS3) - 19,000 / 160,000
09. Egokoro Kyoushitsu DS (DS) - 19,000 / 60,000
10. World Soccer Winning Eleven 2010: Aoki Samurai no Chousen (PSP) - 16,000 / 101,000

11. Blazblue Continuum Shift (Xbox 360)
12. Totori no Atelier: Arland no Renkinjutsushi 2 (PS3)
13. Tomodachi Collection (DS)
14. Monster Hunter Frontier (Xbox 360)
15. Boku no Natsuyasumi Portable 2: Nazo Nazo Shimai to Chinbotsusen no Himitsu (PSP)
16. Hatsune Miku: Project Diva (Ohaidoku-han) (PSP)
17. World Soccer Winning Eleven 2010: Aoki Samurai no Chousen (PS2)
18. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii)
19. Wii Fit Plus (Wii)
20. Dragon Quest Monsters Joker 2 (DS)
21. Ghost Trick (DS)
22. Xenoblade (Wii)
23. Mario Kart Wii (Wii)
24. Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City (PS3)
25. Tamagotchi no Pichi Pichi Omisecchi (DS)
26. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (the Best) (PSP)
27. Kaidan Restaurant: Ura Menu 100-Sen (DS)
28. Daito Giken Koushiki Pachi-Slot Simulator: Ossu! Misao + Maguro Densetsu Portable (PSP)
29. Scared Rider Xechs (PS2)
30. Fairy Tail: Portable Guild (PSP)

The Halo Fall of Reach novel set up the fiction for this September's Halo Reach game. The writer of the new Halo Reach comic teased some new insights into the making of a Master Chief.

Here is Halo Fall of Reach: Boot Camp writer Brian Reed talking to Newsarama about the first issue of the Marvel Comics series:

In the first issue I was really looking forward to showing the abduction of the kids who are conscripted into the SPARTAN program. In the novel that happens "off screen" and we're only exposed to the after-effects of it.

Reed is tightlipped abut how his comic will tie into the Bungie-developed game, but bigger Halo fans should give the interview a look. You might spot something I missed.

Master Chief Goes Back to Boot Camp in Halo: Fall of Reach [Newsarama]