Yesterday, Nike's football division—that would be football football, not American football—cranked up "My Time is Now," which looks like the big campaign it'll have going during UEFA Euro 2012 in about three weeks. It shows a soccer pitch, the locker room, a team dinner all overrun by ordinary joes. OK, I get all that.

What's sort of bizarre are the "tunnels" Nike has embedded in the video—which you can only see on this page, not the video's standard YouTube page. If your cursor is mousing over Cristiano Ronaldo's tit, for example, it'll go into slow-mo for a nice product shot of whatever he's wearing. At least I think that's what triggered it.

Anyway, what's the games angle? Glad you asked. At 1:55, if you click on the Nike Vapor shoe ad in the background (on the stadium wall) it brings up Sonic X Vapor, a very rudimentary platformer featuring the Hedgehog-turned-pitchman. (Here is a screenshot showing you what and where to click, because there is no timestamp marker on the timeline on the Nike page.) You only have one control—spacebar for jump, though you can double jump. Sonic will also get a ball and blast it through all the Badniks on the screen.

Yes, it is a big, free ad for Nike but, hey, it's a time killer on a Saturday, too. You don't have to buy the shoes.

Nike Football [YouTube]

Nike Made a Sonic Game [Sega Forums, h/t Justin B.]

What's happened in the business of video games this past week ...

QUOTE | "Do consumers still care about Kinect?"—Veteran games journalist Johnny Minkley tackles the tough questions surrounding the Xbox business and whether Xbox 360 is even catering to the core at this point.

QUOTE | "Sony has bigger problems than a Vita price cut can solve."—Asif Khan, CEO of Panoptic Management Consultants, along with other analysts talking about how Sony can sell more PS Vitas.

QUOTE | "The best-case scenario for social gaming is for the term itself to disappear."—Soren Johnson, game designer who's worked on Civ 4 and Spore, talking about why he left EA for Zynga and the future of social games.

QUOTE | "I'm not saying it's excusable, but I think it's indicative of a larger problem in our industry."— Rachel Weber, GamesIndustry International writer, talking with other GI.biz writers about Diablo III and its early problems.

STAT | 13.4%—Amount Zynga's stock dropped after the Facebook IPO began, coming close to the lowest point ever in the stock's brief history.

QUOTE | "Recent iterations have not been as fun when compared to those of the past."—Yuji Naka, creator of Sonic the Hedgehog, talking about the latest versions of Sonic and other views on games and next-gen hardware.

QUOTE | "They're hoping that pandas and Pokemon clones will keep the franchise breathing until Titan arrives."—Steve Peterson, West Coast Editor for GamesIndustry International, talking about what Activision Blizzard is doing with World of Warcraft expansions to keep subscribers.

QUOTE | "Potentially we have a ... a new target for direct ports of existing 360/PS3 games."—Richard Leadbetter, tech specialist at Eurogamer, talking about the new mobile GPUs coming to smartphones and tablets later this year.

QUOTE | "Backwards compatibility, the ability to play pre-owned or shared games, and a physical drive."—The three key features GameStop says its survey of gamers revealed they want in next-generation consoles.

STAT | $239.9 million—Amount THQ lost during its fiscal year that ended in March, on total sales of $830.8 million for the year.

QUOTE | "We don't want to kill off bricks and mortar retail."—Mike Kennedy, CEO of EKG, the used game retailer that wants to give 10% of used game sales to publishers, talking about the difficulty of giving publishers money.

QUOTE | "This will allow big games to truly have the types of huge debuts that we see with Hollywood blockbusters."— David Perry, CEO of Gaikai, talking about the new Nvidia technology which will allow high-quality streaming games on TVs, tablets and even Facebook.

QUOTE | "Tablet users are gravitating towards gaming as the primary use for the device."—Taken from a survey of over 3500 people across the USA from Magid & Associates about gaming trends and attitudes.

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Fantasy RPG Game of Thrones and fantasy MMO TERA Online already are seeing modest discounts. The upcoming RPG from Capcom, Dragon's Dogma likewise is getting about $10 off from one retailer. These and another 50 discounts, credits and savings can be found in this week's Moneysaver below!

Software

• Game of Thrones (360, PS3) is $39.99, free shipping from Toys 'R' Us. Next best is $55. [Dealzon]

• TERA Online (PC) is $44.85, free shipping from Amazon. Next best is $50. [Dealzon]

• May 22 release Dragon's Dogma (360, PS3) is $49.96 plus $2.99 shipping from Fry's. Next best deal is $60 from Amazon with a $10 bonus credit. [Dealzon]

• May 29 release Dirt Showdown (PS3, 360) is $44.99, free shipping from Toys 'R' Us. Next best is $59. [Dealzon]

• June 26 release Record of Agarest War 2 is $39.99, free shipping from NewEgg through Sunday. Next best is $47. [Dealzon]

• Sep. 18 release Borderlands 2 (PC) is $47.99, free shipping from Buy.com. Next best is $60. [Dealzon]

• Street Fighter X Tekken: Special Edition (360) is $60, free shipping from Amazon. Next best is $70. [Dealzon]

• Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One (PS3) is $22.44 from Amazon. Next best is $37. [Dealzon]

• Rise of Nightmares (360 Kinect) is $15.99, free shipping from NewEgg. Next best is $25. [Dealzon]

• Puss in Boots (360) is $15.99, free shipping from NewEgg. Next best is $27. [Dealzon]

• Kung Fu Panda 2 (360 Kinect) is $15.99, free shipping from NewEgg. Next best is $20. [Dealzon]

• F1 2011 (360) is $15.99, free shipping from NewEgg. Next best is $32. [Dealzon]

• EA Sports MMA (360, PS3) is $4.96 plus $3.99 shipping from Amazon. Next best is $16. Keep in mind this game no longer has online support. [Dealzon]

• Final Fantasy XIV (PC download) is $7.99 from Amazon. Next best is $20. [Dealzon]

• Final Fantasy XI: Ultimate Collection Abyssea Edition (PC download) is $7.99 from Amazon. Next best is $20. [Dealzon]

• Amazon has a 5-game Square Enix Ultimate Collection Bundle (PC Download) for $7.49. Includes Just Cause 2, Kane and Lynch 2, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, Supreme Commander 2 and Tomb Raider: Underworld. Separately $73. [Dealzon]

• Bioshock and The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion Bundle (PC) is $6.86 from Amazon. Next best is $19. [Dealzon]

• Sid Meiers Civilization 4: Complete Edition (PC download) is $7.49 from Amazon. Next best is $30. [Dealzon]

• Bioshock Dual Pack (PC download, non-steam version) is $7.49 from Amazon. Next best is $30. [Dealzon]

• Hitman Triple Threat Pack (PC download) is $6.99 from Amazon. List price is $30. [Dealzon]

• Medal of Honor (PC download) is $4.99 from Amazon. Next best is $20. [Dealzon]

Hardware

• Logitech G9X Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 Laser Mouse (dented box but new) is $48.99 after coupon, free shipping from Logitech. Next best is $67. [Dealzon]

• Turtle Beach Ear Force Z1M Gaming Headset (Refurbished) is $14.99, free shipping from NewEgg. Next best is $24. [Dealzon]

• Dell dropped the price on their 17.3-inch Dell XPS 17 laptop with Quad Core i7-2670QM, 1080p, 8GB RAM, GeForce GT 550M 1GB to $949.99, free shipping. That's $150 cheaper than it's been in the last 3 months. Ends today. [Dealzon]

• Logitech Speed Force Wireless Wheel for Wii is $11.99, free shipping from Meritline. Next best is $48. [Dealzon]

• MSI GeForce GTX 560 Ti Overclocked 1GB GDDR5 PCIe Video Card is $249.99 after rebate, free shipping from NewEgg. Next best is $300. [Dealzon]

• Samsung 23-inch S23A350H 2ms LED Monitor (Refurbished) is $139.97, free shipping from TigerDirect. Next best is $150. [Dealzon]

• Asus G53SX-AH71 15.6-inch laptop with Quad Core i7-2670QM, 1080p resolution, 2GB GeForce GTX 560M, 8GB RAM is $1,099.99, free shipping from Amazon. That's cheapest ever by $50. [Dealzon]

• Lenovo IdeaPad Y570 15.6-inch laptop with Quad Core i7-2670QM, GeForce GT 555M, 8GB RAM is $749, free shipping from Lenovo. That's cheapest ever by $20. [Dealzon]

• HP 33% off coupon that died Friday is back for Saturday. Drops 17.3" dv7t Quad Edition with Ivy Bridge Core i7-3610QM (3rd Gen), GeForce GT 650M, 8GB RAM, Blu-ray to $904.99 with free shipping from HP. That's cheapest ever by $95. [Dealzon]

• Also new low on HP dv6t Quad Edition 15.6-inch laptop with new Ivy Bridge Core i7-3610QM 3rd Gen, GeForce GT 650M, 8GB RAM, Blu-ray at $803.99 after coupon. Rare 33% coupon will discount additional upgrades (e.g. 1080p display $100, instead of usual $150). [Dealzon]

Digital Distribution

The following listing of digital download bargains are grouped by distributor. For more, see Deals4Downloads' roundup.

Adventure Shop
• Black Mirror III is $8.00, save 60 percent.
• Art of Murder Collection is $14.99, save 40 percent.

Amazon
• A Game of Thrones - Genesis is $4.99, save 88 percent.
• Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga is $5.99, save 85 percent.
• The Sims 3 Deluxe is $16.99, save 66 percent.
• The Sims Medieval is $10.19, save 66 percent.
• Syndicate is $29.99, save 50 percent.

Desura
• The Network is $0.99, save 80 percent.
• Lunar Flight is $2.49, save 75 percent.

DotEmu
• Lords of Magic: Special Edition is $2.99, save 50 percent.
• Evil Genius is $4.99, save 50 percent.

GamersGate
• Saints Row 2 is $4.49, save 70 percent.
• Tropico 4 is $15.98, save 60 percent.
• Dungeons – Game of the Year Edition is $11.98, save 60 percent.
• Patricians & Merchants Box is $3.98, save 60 percent.
• Syberia Bundle–Pack is $14.99, save 50 percent.

Gametap
• Dungeon Siege III is $9.95, save 50 percent.
• Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine is $14.97, save 50 percent.

Get Games
• Call of Juarez: The Cartel is $7.49, save 75 percent.
• The Darkness II is $19.99, save 60 percent.

GOG
• Dungeon Keeper 2 is $2.99, save 50 percent.
• Populous is $2.99, save 50 percent.
• Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri is $2.99, save 50 percent.

Impulse
• Tropico 4: Modern Times is $6.99, save 65 percent.
• ArcaniA: Fall of Setarrif is $7.49, save 50 percent.

iTunes Store
• Order and Chaos© Online (iPhone) is $0.99, save 86 percent.
• Companions (iPad) is $0.99, save 80 percent.

Mac App Store
• Order and Chaos© Online (Mac) is $0.99, save 86 percent.
• The Baconing (Mac) is $2.99, save 70 percent.

Microsoft Xbox Live
• Resident Evil 5 is $9.99, save 50 percent.

Steam
• Serious Sam HD: Double Pack is $7.50, save 75 percent.
• Assassin's Creed Brotherhood is $7.49, save 75 percent.
• Assassin's Creed 2 is $4.99, save 75 percent.
• Assassin's Creed Revelations is $19.99, save 50 percent.

Kotaku thanks our coupon partners for providing these and other great deals. Be sure to bookmark and search their Kotaku hashtags (#dealzon, #deals4downloads and #dealtaku) for updates throughout the week. Further, to our friends across the pond and north of the border, check the #ukdeals, #europedeals and #canadadeals hashtags and be sure to flag any deals you might have with that.

As always, smart gamers can find values any day of the week, so if you've run across a deal, share it with us in the comments.

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Welcome to the Best of Kotaku, as seen this week. First up is the image above, which is an awesome rendition of Max Payne himself, mid shoot-leaping. I swear, he's gonna shoot his foot off one of those Bullet Times. Image is by deviantART user PatrickBrown.

Moving on to our Best Of content this week, we kick things off as usual with a comment from the community.

As of this week we will be using a new Comment of the Week nomination system, where you use a hashtag ("#cotw") for your nominations.

Want to suggest an article, comment, tweet, or any other content on Kotaku to be featured for a weekly Best Of nomination? Drop me a line at tina@kotaku.com with the subject line of "Best Of Nomination." Or any other subject line that will help me sort through and search for them. I'm not too picky.

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The Best Comment From The Community

This week's best comment is a response to the idea that straight, white, males play life on easy mode. It's a long one, so here's a clip from reader DocSeuss Needs A Good Day:

I fight for everything I get. I watch others just coast by, getting jobs or financial aid or promotions or not being yelled at or getting lucky breaks whatever just because... well, they're not white. Somehow, their life is harder.

I'm the white guy, so life's good! No obstacles here! It's all smooth sailing.

Yeah, right. Where's my lucky break? Where's all this money I'm supposed to have for being a white guy? When do people act nicer to me just because of the color of my skin? How am I going to be able to afford a house, much less a decent school? When do things go right for me?

They fucking don't. I can't even remember the last good day I had.

You stupid fucks. Learn to see people based on who they are and the unique situations surrounding them. As soon as you start generalizing people based on the color of the skin, who they want to fuck, or just what is between their legs, you become a racist, sexist, and whateverelse cunt. Learn to be a good human. Treat the people you come across as individuals, not as members of some homogenized group with expectations. Humanity is beautiful, and it will surprise you.

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The Best Home Console From China

Eric Jou checks out China's first home console for review. More »

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The Best Triumph of a Gay Video Game Character

Denis Farr lets his Mass Effect character out of the closet. More »

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The Best Review of a Drunk and Pilled-Up Video Game

Evan Narcisse lives through the grim life of Max Payne's latest ventures. More »

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The Best Ways To Avoid Diablo III Scammers

Greg Lopez warns you away from Diablo scammers. More »

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The Best (Worst) Results of a Game Store Going Bankrupt

Jason Schreier reports on bankrupt GAME store, who can't give you your pre-order money back. More »

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The Best Final Fantasy VII HD Remaster

Richard Eisenbeis tells you how you can play an HD remaster of Final Fantasy VII More »

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The Best Night of Speed-Dating With Video Games

Stephen Totilo plays quick rounds of Kingdom Hearts, Theatrhythm and Heroes of Ruin. More »

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The Best (Worst) Problem With ‘Always-Online' Games

Kirk Hamilton explains what's wrong with games that require constant Internet access. More »

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The Best Comparison of Game of Thrones the Video Game, And Show

Kirk compares Game of Thrones the video game with the show. More »

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The Best Animated Diablo III Strip

Zac Gorman's latest graphic for Kotaku is Diablo III based. More »

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The Best Tips to Playing Diablo III

Mike Fahey shares tips on playing Diablo III like a champ. More »

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The Best Progress in Playing Diablo III

Fahey lets us in on how he's playing Diablo III. More »

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The Best Review of a Game That Might Make You Throw Up

Besides the motion sickness, Kate Cox enjoys the destruction and multiplayer in Starhawk. More »

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The Best Look at The Last of Us

Stephen Totilo is impressed with what he's seen of The Last of Us. More »

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The Best Log of Playing MMO Tera

Fahey logs his experiences of playing a Berserker in Tera. More »

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The Best News About Analysis at E3 By Peter Molyneux

Stephen reveals Peter Molyneux will be on Spike during E3, with Kotaku staff members, too. More »

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The Best Case Made For A Game of The Avengers

Jason shares his thoughts on needing a good The Avengers game to match the Joss Whedon's movie. More »

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The Best Difficulty Level to Play the Game of Life At

John Scalzi explains life as a game based on difficulty levels. More »

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The Best Smash Bros. Game From Sony

Stephen's apprehension of Sony's Smash Bros subsides after he sees it in action. More »

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The Best Weird Game About Your Girlfriend As President

Richard reviews a game about your girlfriend becoming the President. More »

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The Best Games Turned into Dating Sims

Patricia Hernandez wants you to consider how some of your favorite games can totally work as dating sims. More »

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The Best Review of Disappointment That Calls Itself Game Of Thrones

Kirk is let down by the Game of Thrones video game. More »

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The Best RPG Dialogue

Jason discusses dialogue in RPGs. More »

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The Best Postcards From Max Payne 3

Chris Person created some really sweet-looking GIFs that look like postcards. More »

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The Professor Layton games have long demanded a soundtrack a bit more sophisticated than the one they have—the plinky, "ooh boy, we have a mystery!" music is fine at first, but eventually I've found that it begins to grate. This is especially true of the first game that I played in the series, 2008's Professor Layton and the Curios Village.

Thanks then, to the folks at Gamological Society, who have reimagined that game with an entirely different soundtrack—the French composer Yann Tierson.

Gotta admit—this sounds utterly lovely. Hopefully with the 3DS's larger storage space, the folks at Level-5 can afford to hire some real musicians to bring their next game to life.

Professor Layton And The Curious Village & Yann Tiersen's Le Phare [Gameological Society]

Psychic/possessed children are creepy. They do creeeepy things, like stare blankly at you and speak in a monotone and maybe set your hair on fire with their minds.

But sometimes, they do something even creepier. They play video games… without using the controllers.

This scene, from the apparently terrible 1981 horror film Kiss Daddy Goodbye, is… not particularly scary. It's certainly no little Poltergeist girl touching the TV or anything. But hey, it is pretty funny. And that counts for something.

"What'll we do now?"

"There's a movie on channel six!"

"I'm tired of TV. It's creepy here without daddy."

It certainly is, creepy little girl. It certainly... is.

We've all done it. Anyone who's played an open-world game, from Grand Theft Auto III to Fallout 3 to Red Dead Redemption, has gone on a murderous rampage.

Those civilians. They're all just… sitting there. You know what else is sitting there? Your dark, murderous id. Time to go to town.

The number of video game "massacre" is simultaniously troubling, fascinating and entertaining. Seriously. Just go to YouTube, type in the game's name along with the word "Massacre."

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Red Dead Redemption: "Dastardly Massacre"

This first one comes from a gamer who decided to go all out in pursuit of the "Dastardly" achievement, which is given for tying a woman up and letting a train run her down (presumably while twirling your mustache and acting like a silent-film villain.)

But it's one thing to let a woman get killed by a train (yes, I have "earned" this achievement, and yes, I felt really weird about it afterwards), but it's another entirely to go as far as this guy goes—watch the video, you'll see what I mean.

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GTA 4: "Hospital Shootout"

This one falls under the category of the weirdly artful video, as it's been artfully cut together with music to depict the weird hospital slaughter more… creatively? These types of videos are both more interesting and more messed-up than the standard videos.

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Fallout 3: "Massacre at Tenpenny's"

Now, the massacre at Tenpenny's was part of the story, depending on the choices you made. But all the same, I don't think... it really went down quite like this. For a guy in a furry hat wearing sexy sleepwear, this guy sure has a good plan of attack.

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"Let The Bodies Hit The Floor"

Man, creepiest beginning to a massacre video ever? Maybe.

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GTA San Andreas: "Minigun Massacre"

The title says it all, really. One of the most memorable games in which to go on a rampage, especially with the hilariously overpowered minigun. Gimp suit is optional, but recommended.

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Saints Row The Third: Chainsaw Massacre"

Considering the fact that Saints Row: The Third is basically just one huge massacre all the time, it's fitting that there are a ton of massacre videos from the game. This one seems most worth sharing, mostly because of all the games that allow chainsaws, the Saints Row one looks coolest.

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There are so many more—that's but a sampling. I'm not quite sure what it is that compels people to make massacre videos and upload them—no more than I am sure what it is that inspires us to go on virtual killing sprees in general. It was certainly much easier in older GTA games than it was in later games, mostly because the cops in GTA IV or Red Dead Redemption were much more lethal to your character. It's very, very easy in Bethesda games, mostly because you can get so ridiculously overpowered.

For my part, one of my favorite things to do in Grand Theft Auto IV is do my whole no minimap thing, attract the attention of the cops, and then… just run. I run as long as I can, and try to stay alive (and moving) as long as possible.

Usually it involves alleyways—the alleys in GTA IV almost never dead-end, so as long as you can get into one, you'll never be truly cornered. You'd be surprised how long you can stay alive, even with the highest wanted level.

Think of it as sort of a reverse-massacre… it's a whole lot of fun, in a strange way. Though I doubt it'd make for a particularly entertaining YouTube video.

What a long, wild week it's been. Hello, Kotaku and welcome to your Friday night open thread.

How are you? How was your week? Did you get some good video gaming in? I know I did, and I plan to do a bunch more this weekend. So many good games are out or about to come out, it feels like the fall rush already!

Here, from the internet, are some things that may be worth discussing.

• San Franciscio's MUNI has been fudging their on-time reports - This one only matters if you live here, but if you live here it is MADDENING.
• This body-art carnivale is incredible - I can't imagine wearing some of this stuff, but it sure is fun to look at.
• Rest in Peace, Donna Summer - Ah, man.
• Wes Anderson has never heard of the Battleship movie - and good for him, really.
• Jackie Chan is quitting action films? - We'll always have Supercop. The cop who can't be stopped.

• I hope you all have a lovely weekend, and will see ya on Monday.

  
  

So I complained about moving cords through the back of my entertainment center in this post. Then I talked about playing a terrible seven-year-old game on the Xbox in this post. Now tying all of that together is this post, where we all turn out our pockets and tell everyone what we're playing this weekend.

Now that I've got my old Xbox back on a high-definition setup I'm tempted to go back into some golden oldies there, like Hitman, MVP Baseball 2005 and the like. But, of course, I cleaned out my GameStop credit to pick up Diablo III and Max Payne 3 on Tuesday, and it's stupid to keep those two laying around while I fool with TimeSplitters 3.

See what I mean? I'd have so much time to play video games if I didn't play video games for a living.

Anyway, I will probably get back into Tristram—incidentally the first name of this guy—sometime this weekend. Max Payne may have to wait a bit, I need to be in the right frame of mind for something like that. The usual sled of sports titles also need maintenance.

That's what I'm playing. What are you playing?

It's a tricky thing, choosing an online handle. You've gotta stick with it forever, so the dumb inside joke or ironically stupid insult you choose will be your name forevermore.

As a general rule, Blizzard gives users a one-time-only chance to change their mind on their "BattleTag." But, given that a good number of people who played the beta of Diablo III may have used that chance already, they've extended the privilige to all their users a second time. So, if you're still not happy with your battletag, you can hop on into your account settings page and change it again.

Man, I wonder how many people have tried to change their Battletag to "Error" in the hopes of landing Error#3737.

Battletag: Free Name Change Update [Blizzard forums]