Fleeing from the NeverDead tyranny, the last Battlestar, Goodlactica, leads a rag-tag fugitive fleet on a lonely quest to a shining planet known as UFC Undisputed 3.

THQ's mixed martial arts simulation landed on my doorstep today. Much as I'd like to spend time with Gregethor, my do-over mage in Skyrim (currently level 12, enrolled at Winterhold) the sporting life calls. I'll be giving that quality time as I prepare to review it, hopefully in a medium other than Twitter.

And you, gentle readers? What are you playing this weekend? Say so in the comments.

An image circulating Twitter earlier today seemed to imply a Konami office building in Japan was burning. It most certainly was not, a spokesman told Kotaku. Reading into Japanese Twitter users' feeds, it appears this "strange smoke" might be only building steam. All is well.

Balls were kicked. Knights were wound. Towers were defended. Passwords were hacked, and the dead rose to detect among the living in another spectacular Week in Gaming Apps.

What a wild and wonderful five days it has been. We got to play a colorful little tower defense game with an unfortunate pay scheme. We learned that hyper-realism isn't necessary in creating a lovely football game. We jumped and ran our way through an epic adventure. We traveled back in time several decades for haxxorz.

And we fell in love with Ghost Trick, a DS game that found its true audience on the other side of an iPhone screen. Inspiring, isn't it?

If you have a suggestion for an app for the iPhone, iPad, Android or Windows Phone 7 that you'd like to see highlighted, let us know.

One of 2012's Best Sports Games Might be This Cute Football Sim

In late 2010, developer Kairosoft released one of its older mobile management games, long out in Japan on standard phones, in the West. That game was Game Dev Story. And it was brilliant. More »

Spice Invaders is a Delightful Little Defense Game Until You Crash Into the Pay Wall

Creating a successful 'freemium' game is an exercise in enticement and restraint. You need to slowly but surely gain the player's interest, building excitement to a fever pitch before introducing the idea of laying out a little cash to enhance their enjoyment. More »

This Stylish Supernatural iOS Adventure is So Damned Good It's Dangerous

A woman is in peril! Unbeknownst to her, a killer is leaning out from the shadows, murder weapon at the ready, and only one man can save the day. Just one problem-her potential savior is a ghost, invisible and intangible. Guess it's time to get creative. More »

I May Stink At Wind-Up Knight, But You Should Play It

I'd like to recommend a game I am bad at. I think you'd be better at it than I am. Plus it's pretty and, did I mention that on Android it's free? More »

Alternate-Reality Intrigue is the Key to The Hacker's Charm

Partly for nostalgia, but definitely on its own merits,The Hacker is my favorite mobile game, so far, of 2012. The first rejected password on that green monochrome screen took me back more than 25 years to Activision's Hacker on the Commodore 64, a game that had no real instruction manual, just that opening screen. LOGON. More »

Cops in a northeastern Pennsylvania community booked a man on attempted murder charges, saying he tried to strangle his wife with "a video game cord." Either he was playing with wired console controllers from a generation ago, or the guy went and grabbed the Xbox 360 brick to choke his spouse.

Either way, on Tuesday, Honesdale, Pa. authorities arrested Jesus Martinez-Escobar on charges of Attempted Homicide and Aggravated Assault. Not only did he attempt to strangle his wife with "a video game cable" say local cops, he also had to be hospitalized for "a self inflicted stab wound to the chest after the incident."

Wireless controllers. They save lives.

Honesdale man jailed for murder attempt [Wayne Independent]

Hey, why should indie game developers get to have all the bundling fun? Game composers should get to experience the joy of bundling too. I'm glad to see that they finally are.

The folks behind the recent first-ever Indie Game Music Bundle are back with… can you guess the name?… the Indie Game Music Bundle 2! This one has five truly great soundtracks, which you can download for any price you'd like to pay.

You'll get the music from Aquaria, To The Moon, Jamestown, the bloody fantastic music from Machinarium, and even Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP, which you'll recall was my favorite game soundtrack of all of last year. Jim Guthrie's work in that game is a big part of why I put it in as a contender for our Game of the Year award.

In keeping with the bundle tradition, if you drop $10 on those five soundtracks, you'll get even more soundtracks, with a lot of albums that I actually haven't hear, as well as some as-yet-unrevealed bonuses that will be unlocked if they sell enough copies.

Hmm. Unlocked as they sell more copies? That smells like gamification to me. It would seem that the musicians have indeed learned a thing or two from their game-developer brethren.

Well played, video game composers. Well played.

Indie Game Music Bundle 2 [Official Page]

EA has put a "Mass Effect 3 Mission Command" app on Facebook, through which fans can unlock some Avatar items and possibly get chosen for early access to the game's upcoming beta. There's also a big sweepstakes opportunity to win one of two custom Xbox 360s, painted in the game's Paragon and Renegade themes. EA sent us these pictures earlier today.

[UPDATE] Big props to commenter LeetEmu for noticing that "Renegade" is in fact misspelled on the image supplied (drive slot). Wow. Hope they fix that, pronto.

[UPDATE] We've received word that Microsoft has definitely noticed the misspelling, which appears to be on promotional material only, not a physical console itself, and it will not award any misspelled consoles to any contest winner.

The Mission Command app isn't really a game per se; you're given a short paragraph, asked to respond to it in either paragon or renegade character, and then type up a reply corresponding to that. No dialogue wheels here! That's why I think my response to the "mission" of flirting with Liara was most appropriate. Head on over and check it out if that seems like something fun to you.

Many of us here at Kotaku like Mass Effect. And as people who like Mass Effect are wont to do, we really like to talk about its protagonist, Commander Shepard. Specifically, we like to talk about our Commander Shepard.

You see, despite the guy on the box, the main character in the actual game can look like... well, like just about anyone. Man, woman, black, white; the hero of the Mass Effect saga can never be thought of as one person. That fact may well be the game's single coolest feature.

Just today, BioWare and EA released the first-ever trailer featuring the "official" female version of Commander Shepard, chosen by fans in a kinda sorta controversial Facebook poll last fall.

We got to chatting about the trailer today—we all liked it, and Evan Narcisse even said (I'm paraphrasing here) "That trailer made me rethink how I want to play Mass Effect 3." Why did it feel so cool to see BioWare showing an ad with a different version of their iconic main character? It seemed worth talking about.

So, Evan, Kate and I had a chat about what we liked about the trailer, and why we each love our own Commander Shepard like we do. That conversation is transcribed below for your mellow Friday-evening reading pleasure.

Kirk: Okay! So today, we got the very first Official Epic Action-Packed Mass Effect 3 trailer starring none other than the lady version of Commander Shepard. Which I guess means we should figure out what we're going to call her. I get the feeling people are getting sick of FemShep. So what term do we use? SheShep?

Evan: Ms.Shep?

Kirk: I used Lady-Shep today and kind of liked that...

Kate: Personally, I just call her Commander Shepard. ;)

Kirk: So that gets right to it - 'FemShep" is actually just what a lot of people think of when they think of "Commander Shepard." Which is kind of one of the coolest things about this franchise.

Kate: Yeah. Because my Shepard has always been female and sounded like Jennifer Hale. Who is awesome.

Kirk: But someone else's Shepard may look like an old skinny bald dude who sounds like Mark Meer. And he can also be awesome.

Evan: Hale's performance adds more layers to the character than Mar Meer's voicework does. That FemShep trailer made me re-think everything about the way I play Mass Effect.

Kirk: That is a bold statement, Evan.

Evan: I always roll a dude who looks as close to me as possible in games where I can create a character, because I still feel like like a member of the Great Unrepresented. So, Evan Shepard was a guy.

Kirk: A black guy, yeah?

Evan: Yup. But the tremors and nuance that Hale gets out of her voice feels more like me in real life—someone who tries to be compassionate and determined, whereas Meer just gives you standard hero stoicism.

Kate: I think that's really cool, separating visual from aural performance. It says a lot about how much the voice acting actually matters in this game. Because I, too, tend to create characters like myself in games when I get the chance — Kate Shepard was a blue-eyed redhead because that's how I look — but I did lock into how Hale sounded much more than into how Shep looked.

Kirk: I like that you guys both use your own names for your Shepards. My Shepard is named "Blade," and my lady-shepard has some hilarious name with a bunch of apostrophes.

Anyway, it'd be really typical to look at this as like, "We've got a lady here who plays a lady, and a black guy who plays a black guy," but what you're saying, Evan, is that your reaction to the trailer is about the performance more than it's about seeing yourself in the game.

Evan:I swore that I was going to roll a FemShep when I got Mass Effect 2 on PS3 last year but I never did, mostly because of time issues. But also I balk a bit a playing through Mass Effect 2 again because that's Evan Shepard's life, done in a single take.

Kirk: I have that a bit too.

Kate: I was the EXACT same way... and then I played it again last week anyway.

Kirk: Ha! Blade Shepard is this brawny renegade dude with red hair. And he's the only character I've taken through both of the first two games. I didn't play SheShep until the second game, but I fell in love with Hale's performance, and that character feels definitive to me now. So I'm in a bit of a quandary when it comes to who to play first in Mass Effect 3. But then again, seeing that trailer, I was really like, "Man. I gotta play as my lady character." Kate, have you played ME2 as both a Bro- and FemShep?

Kate: No, not personally. I started playing the ME games in the first place because the other gamer in our household talked me into it after he played them. I saw / heard him at it for a month (it's not that big an apartment) but as soon as the controls were mine to handle I went straight to a female Commander. To do otherwise felt... generic. Hearing a strong female voice actor made it different.

Kirk: The differences between the two performances really struck me, upon subsequent playthroughs of Mass Effect 2. There's that scene, right? When you go to the colony and run into Ashley or Kaiden. And at the end of the scene, Shepard says "I've had enough of this planet." (Or something like that.) And the performances are remarkably different. I remember feeling like I really knew my lady-Shepard in that moment, it was really human. I think that BioWare has been struggling with how to make Shepard feel more human in this, the grand finale. It's hard to make him/her sound exhausted without also sounding whiny. (That's sourcing an interview btw) Evan, I'm surprised you got that same impression just from watching a trailer.

Evan: Yeah, the weariness is there but there's more fire underneath it, with Hale, I mean. Hale's turn as FemShep hits on a really significant chord of science-fiction.

Kirk: When Tom Bissell wrote about listening to her do her thing in the studio, he talked about how her voice would "turn to cement." I loved that description, and love that about Hale's work—when she plays a tough character, like Naomi from Metal Gear or as Avatar Kyoshi from Avatar: The Last Airbender, how she puts this core of rock through the center. It lets her play the middle of the road, to be tough while also showing human feeling on top.

Evan: I feel like compassion and empathy are parts of a formula that separates good speculative fiction from great speculative fiction. Like in old original series Star Trek episodes when Kirk would get all wistful or angsty. It's a big universe and the ability to understand races is vital, and Mark Meer doesn't sound like that guy.

Kirk: And, honestly, I've usually found Shepard to be more convincing as a badass than as a paragon.

Kate: The "empathy and compassion" are interesting to latch onto, because the more renegade options... may not always show those, heh.

Evan: Hale does.

Kate: Plus, I don't want to pile onto Mark Meer, because his Shepard is a pretty solid 21st century sci-fi stalwart.

Kirk: Yeah, despite being a hardass in most situations, even the most renegade SheShep has plenty of moments of softness. And Hale really sells them. Meer is fine too, but less convincing, particularly when he has to play soft or compassionate. Something that's interesting here that I'd like to talk about, is how difficult it is or isn't to sell a game where one of the coolest things is that you can make your own experience. Some of the response to this trailer goes back to that big vote they had about what FemShep should look like.

Kate: That's something I've not envied the BioWare marketing team, heading into the third Mass Effect game. Because they -are- building on two games' worth of decisions and character moments. The combinations aren't infinite by any stretch, but they are numerous. Players remember what they did and how it felt, and Shepard does too — and that connection is what makes the arc its most interesting. So to sell the whole franchise with exactly one iteration of Shepard has always, in my opinions, sold it a little short.

Kirk: I was talking with Luke about this the other day, this commercial idea similar to one I floated a while ago: Wouldn't it be cool if they did an ad series called "This is my Commander Shepard?" Show people saying that, and flash through different shepards doing different things. It'd be a good way to highlight the series' coolest feature and it wouldn't be confusing to newcomers.

This ad, where they flashed through all the different hair-colors, kind of hinted at a similar thing.

Evan: Yeah, this kinda gets a problem with the marketing messaging—Mass Effect gets sold as a single-use experience, with BroShep as default.

Kirk: When really, one of the best parts is replaying and doing things differently!

Evan: Yeah. When they could be telling people to play it multiple times with each gender.

Kate: They actually do in one of the ME2 loading screen tips!

Kirk: Ha, that's right!

Kate: "Play again with a different class or gender for a different experience."

Evan: It's not just one story.

Kate: I wish that came across more outside of the game.

Kirk: The question people raised when I floated that idea is: Does that sell? Or is it a better call just to make the game look like a rad space action game? I've mentioned this before, the idea that the things we love about Mass Effect aren't particularly sexy.

So what are we asking for, really? Are we just coming up with ways to help EA sell the game? Or was seeing that ad more about seeing a hint of the version of Mass Effect that we wish people we knew could see?

Kate: One of the game's biggest points has always been that players can make decisions in character, in tone (to a point, with paragon, renegade, and neutral options) and often in outcome. I feel like that's what sets an awesome game apart from, say, an awesome movie. But I don't actually know if that's what makes it sell.

Evan: We're talking about the FemShep trailer as a piece of marketing.

Kirk: But it's more than that, right?

Evan: Yeah, it'll be interesting to see if this gets airtime outside of game-centric outlets. My mind would be blown if the FemShep ad aired during, say, the Grammys or the NBA Finals.

Kirk: It would be cool just to have so many people see that side of the game.

Evan: Exactly.

Kate: It's also a case of a developer very clearly responding to fan feedback. The entire thing was triggered last May or June when players clamored for it, basically.

Kirk: There is a cool feeling of fan-ownership around all things Shepard, particularly when it comes to FemShep. They do this great series over at The Border House called " My Commander Shepard" that's kind of a celebration of that.

I remember someone making the point that because we've each spent two games with our own personal LadyShep with no one telling us she wasn't "Official," players who play a lady have a more personal connection to the character. Because she's "ours." Even if we're just using one of the default builds! I feel that way, anyway.

Kate: She's still kind of a rare character, too. That real Sigourney-Weaver-in-Alien(s) compassionate asskicker. So it's easy to form an attachment there, especially as you get to customize things along the way.

Kirk: And seeing a trailer that really does feel like it was made for the fans, and it makes me feel good types of hope about the game in general. There are still weird decisions, like the whole Chobot casting-decision...

But you know that there were people at BioWare really pushing to make this trailer, to dedicate the time and money to it, and that's cool. The ad doesn't feel like the result of a boardroom meeting, even though it doubtless was, to some extent. I'm still partly worried and simultaneously hopeful about the game, but I'm happy to see that they're listening to the fans.

Kate: I'm just glad to see it, and it's rekindled my (admittedly never very dim) interest in the game. I haven't loved every element of it or everything that led up to it, but the fans asked and BioWare/EA really did deliver.

And I think it's great to see the hints, in advertising, that Shepard's story may be mostly handed out to you but that how you the player choose to handle it has a lot of room for personal ownership.

Kirk: There are so many variables coming in to the third game based on past choices that some amount of streamlining is going to be inevitable. But every time I see a trailer or video from the game that leaves me a little cold or worried, I just imagine my own Commander Shepard in the scene, and I like it a good deal more. This trailer felt like BioWare and EA showing me that on their own for the first time.

Evan: While this is all well and good, I still want two things moving forward:

1. Hype around games starring female protagonists that hits this kind of beat more regularly.

2. For Jennifer Hale—who, again, I've barely experienced—to have a Nolan North or Troy Baker kind of career.

Kate: Yes and yes.

Kirk: It's that funny thing—voice actors seem to be coming to the forefront more and more, and if we're going to see a lot more of anyone, it's going to be Hale. But their job requires them to blend in, to an extent, even though hardcore fans still know and love the great ones.

On a related note, as I see more and more games that center around customization, I hope we get to see the public face of those games embrace that, and in doing so, embrace the diversity of the potential protagonists and heck, the diversity of the people who play the games!

In the meantime: It was fun to see FemShep lock in a round and blow that Reaper away.

Kate: I look forward to doing the same in March.

Evan: And, maybe, maybe I'll get around to playing through ME2 and/or ME3 as a female Commander Shepard. I contain multitudes, after all.

But that's just us. What is your Commander Shepard like? Do you have multiple Shepards, and if so, which one will you be playing in ME3 first? Do you ever wish you could play the game as Tali, or Garrus, or another non-Shepard character? Let us know.

One of the only things better than beating a friend at a fighting game is childishly gloating about it, and no gloating is complete without an amazingly victory dance.

That's why I'm a giant fan of Kuma's victory dance in Street Fighter X Tekken. It's snarky, clownish and exudes a sense of "Neener-neener-neener" that's hard to put into words. Seriously, it's a dancing bear.

Watch the video above and make your own conclusions.

Concentrate All Firepower on that LEGO Star Destroyer | The assembly of an enormous Executor-class Star Destroyer, in LEGO. It's 50 inches long, 3,152 pieces. (via Geeks are Sexy)

Your Guide to the New Kotaku Network

Starting on the evening of February 12, Kotaku will begin to offer scheduled programming. Your listings are at left. What does this mean? More »

This Taco Bell PlayStation Vita Contest Seems A Little Weird

Kotaku has been contacted by several customers who say Taco Bell informed them that they won a PS Vita on January 30, but never followed through. They were told to expect a follow-up by e-mail or snail-mail within 2-3 days to verify that they had won. The follow-up didn't come. More »

The Makers of Rock Band Just Rickroll'd Us All

Today, Harmonix announced that Rick Astley's 1987 pop hit will be coming to Rock Band via next week's Valentine's Day DLC pack. It was the most-requested song in a poll asking gamers which song they'd most like to see in the game More »

Valve: It's 'Probable' That Hackers Obtained Old Steam Transaction Data

Valve CEO Gabe Newell said today in a statement to Steam users that as a result of a hack last November, it is "probable" that hackers have obtained a backup file with information on Steam transactions performed between 2004 and 2008. More »

New Unofficial Call of Duty Elite Slogan is Just an Activision Joke

Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg jokingly announced a new slogan for Call of Duty: Elite today: Call of Duty Elite: It's not a douche move. More »

Concept Artist Behind Fallout 3, Skyrim Has Died

The concept artist who created nearly all of the designs in Fallout 3, Adam Adamowicz, passed away earlier this week. A fellow concept artist has outlined Adamowicz's skill and legacy in a touching obituary. More »

Why Won't My Parents Play Video Games With Me?

As I continue to carve out a path for myself as a games writer, looking to turn my lifelong hobby into a self-sustaining career, I am reminded with every new achievement of my childhood, when gaming wasn't only my most passionate endeavor, but the activity that formed a stalwart bond between my father and me. More »

This Konami Building Seems To Be On Fire

Multiple Japanese Twitter users have posted pictures of what appears to be a fire in a Konami office. Twitter user @wataru_hrt has put up this picture of what appears to be smoke coming out of a Konami building in the Roppongi district, where Metal Gear Solid studio Kojima Productions is based. More »

Get Your First Look at Mass Effect's New Female Shepard in Action

In this new trailer for the fast-approaching Mass Effect 3, we get to see a lot of old scenes played out by a very new face. This is your first in-game look at the new default female Commander Shepard, fresh off the public auction block and replacing the old standard model. More »

We reported last month on EA's upcoming Warp, a top-down puzzler featuring Zero, a cute and cuddly little orange alien who makes humans (and anything else) explode violently into bloody goo.

Today, we get to see Warp's gameplay in action! Really, there's something deep-down comically satisfying in seeing a burbling little colorful G-rated guy pop into things and cause decidedly M-rated mayhem.

The game will become available on XBox 360 next Wednesday, at 800 Microsoft Points, to kick off Microsoft's Xbox LIVE Arcade House Party promotion. PC and PS3 versions are scheduled to launch on March 13.