I spent a not-insignificant amount of time in middle school and early in high school playing Lemmings games with my friend who lived next door. It was, of course, satisfying to guide the mindless little morons through perils to safety. And it was more satisfying still to misplace a beam intentionally and watch them all plummet to their doom.

The Mordis is a lot like Lemmings. The eponymous fuzzballs are cute, fluffy, squeaky things that, for reasons, need to move from left to right in a great escape. But of course, escaping is never easy.

Isn't it amazing how often pits, ice, and lava show up in games? Also deadly spikes. And cliffs. And all manner of other obstacles that can be traversed with well-placed girders and planks. Which are, naturally, susceptible to the laws of physics, and will fall over, making your Mordis' predicament still worse, if not placed well.

Naturally, it's quite satisfying to figure out a solution—and solutions can vary, from the simple and obvious to the widely over-engineered. And even more naturally, it's more satisfying still to watch a little squeaky thing take falling damage and keel over.

Because games like this are all about disaster. And overcoming the disaster it is really only half of the fun.

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The Mordis [Free, Google Play]

The Mordis [$0.99, iTunes]

Yesterday, we launched an experiment called Kotaku Rough Draft. And today we're back. Well, I'm back, at least.

The idea here is that Rough Draft—or whatever we're going to finally call it—will be a place on the site where we drop in a lot of the material that Kotaku editors are sharing with each other throughout the day in our private chat-room: press releases (that we mock), story pitches (that we consider), crazy images or videos (that we don't often post), notable Tweets (that we gawk at), etc.

Why keep all that fun to ourselves?

The idea here is that we'll drop a lot of that into the discussions below, so that we're not keeping some of our more interesting exchanges to ourselves and so that we can give you even more material. The idea yesterday was that we'd all do it, but today we're going to try something different. Today, I'll be the only staffer droping stuff in. And then maybe on Monday we'll let another Kotaku editor run this thing. We'll rotate. Maybe?

So look through the discussions below for whatever stuff is catching my eye today. I'll add more stuff throughout the day as it comes in.

This will still be the place where we gather on a daily basis to discuss all things video game and existential. But the way TAY looks will be different.

Say good-bye to TAYpics, folks With the new commenting changes, there's also going to be changes to TAY. There won't be any fancy artwork to modify next month so let's usher out the remixing tradition by using a piece by TAYpic superhero Pan1da7. Truly, he is our Man of Steel, able to bend classic artworks with his bare hands.

Talk Amongst Yoursleves will still be showing up around the same time. And, just like yesterday, do the following. Go to the TAY forum at this link and do what you've always done: share your thoughts and opinions on the things you're passionate about.

The popular iOS game is getting a PC version with bonus Team Fortress 2-themed content included. Players of both versions will be able to compete cross-platform; owners of both versions will have unlocked content from one available on both.

On February 14, 1989, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwā against Salman Rushdie, calling for the assassination of the British Indian author of The Satanic Verses. Seeing as Rushdie is still alive, it didn't go so well. Now a state-sponsored Iranian student organization plans on correcting that oversight with The Stressful Life of Salman Rushdie and Implementation of his Verdict, a video game aimed at teaching new generations the importance of killing that one guy.

The Satanic Verses, first published in 1988, set the Islamic world aflame with its irreverant depiction of the prophet Muhammad. The book encompassed a disputed Muslim tradition that speaks of verses added to the Qur'an by Muhammad that allowed three pagan goddesses once worshipped in Mecca as divine entities. The tradition states that Muhammad later denounced the verses, claiming they were whispered to him by the devil, hence the title of the book.

The perceived blasphemy perpetrated by Rushdie and the ensuing fatwā sparked violence around the world. Book stores were bombed, people associated with the novel were attacked, and several attempts were made on the author's life. Fortunately for Rushdie, now Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie, declaring to the world that you plan on killing someone is an almost surefire way to ensure they stay alive.

The fatwā is still technically on, however, as the only person that could officially rescind it is the issuer, and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini died months after issuing the order.

It sounds like the plot to a spy novel. To the Islamic Association of Students, it's also the plot to a video game.

Representatives from the student association talked about The Stressful Life of Salman Rushdie and Implementation of his Verdict earlier this week at a computer expo in Iran. Speaking to Iranian newswire Mehr, association rep Mohammed-Taqi Fakhrian said, "We felt we should find a way to introduce our third and fourth generation to the fatwa against Salman Rushdie and its importance."

They just want to keep looming death alive.

Details on the game were scarce, leaving us free to imagine a game in which the aging author dodges knives and gunfire Matrix-style as a means of explaining why previous attempts on his life had failed. Is that dubstep I hear?

The Stressful Life of Salman Rushdie and Implementation of his Verdict has been in development for three years, and the association plans on releasing it in the Iranian market soon.

Rushdie himself is on record as not being a big fan of video games. He is, however, a big fan of himself, so maybe he'll give this one a go.

Iranian Game Tries to Revive Rushdie Fatwa [Wall Street Journal]

I had very high expectations for Skyrim: Dawnguard.

How could I not? Creator Bethesda touted it as the type of DLC that would feel like an expansion pack, a nice chunk of crazy new content for RPG fans to dig their dragon-weary paws into. And of course, Skyrim was one of last year's best video games. I spent some 80 hours exploring and inhabiting its massive, secret-filled world.

So when I popped in Dawnguard, I expected it to wow me. I expected amazing new environments, crazy new plot lines, whole new cities to see and slaughter. I expected to be utterly blown away.

That didn't happen.

Here's what you should know about Dawnguard, which Bethesda released earlier this week for Xbox 360 (and will release later for PC and PlayStation 3): It adds two divergent faction lines to the game. One has you allying with a castle full of vampires; the other has you hunting down and killing those vampires. Both stories task you with acquiring a MacGuffin or three, which means you'll have to run around the world map through locations both new and old, mashing your trigger buttons and sniffing through caves on your quest to Save The World Again.

Dawnguard also fills Skyrim with a handful of other quests, tasks, and random scenarios. As a vampire, I found myself constantly accosted by the eponymous vamp-slaying Dawnguard, who would suddenly pop up in every city I visited, tracking me down like I had an iPhone. This protagonist-detecting ESP seems limited to the computer. While playing as a Dawnguard, you are instead just chased by psychic vampires (some of whom will apparently kill random NPCs everywhere you go).

Because of this DLC's nature, I should admit that I definitely haven't seen everything it has to offer. Although I finished the vampire side of Dawnguard's main story and saw a few of its new sidequests, I did not scour every location in the game in search of new content, and therefore it's very possible that I missed some awesome features. But what I did experience—and what your average new player will experience—was nothing short of underwhelming.

The new quests are underwhelming: other than a few cool new concepts—like murdering a civilian while wearing Dawnguard armor so everybody thinks the Dawnguard did it—you've seen everything here before. Go here; find this; kill him; get that. There's nothing here as unabashedly awesome as, say, a certain quest at the end of the original game's Dark Brotherhood plot line.

The new areas are underwhelming: one, Soul Cairn, is just a soul-stuffed clone of Skyrim's Blackreach. It's big, purple, and completely empty. To finish its quests, you'll have to spend a lot of time walking through vast stretches of sheer nothingness. You'll have to fight a mini-boss, walk ten minutes through nothingness, fight another mini-boss, walk another ten minutes through nothingness, and so forth. This is not particularly fun, interesting, or emotionally engaging. Neither is the part where somebody asks you to hunt down ten pieces of paper and you just groan, wondering if you've accidentally stumbled into an MMORPG.

The new vampire powers are underwhelming: you can't use potions or spells while in Vampire Mode, and worst of all, you're stuck in third-person perspective. Teleporting around as a swarm of bats and draining enemies' life is cool, but completely impractical for regular use. To use items, open chests, and get through some doors, you'll have to switch back to human form, which means you'll have to sit through a long, laggy animation sequence before you can do anything. This is very irritating.

Even the bugs are underwhelming: other than this ridiculous moment toward the beginning of the game, Dawnguard's many bugs and glitches couldn't even get me to crack a smile. Particularly unfunny was the part where my follower suddenly disappeared and I had to replay an hour of progress because I couldn't activate the next quest trigger.

The sheer lack of creativity here makes it almost hard to believe that the same team worked on both Skyrim and Dawnguard. Keen-eyed Bethesda fans might notice that some of the game's new features draw from the Skyrim game jam that Todd Howard discussed at DICE earlier this year, and indeed, interesting mechanics like water currents, dark dungeons, and skeletal mounts are all in there. But they're all minor moments. The game jam itself was far more interesting than any of Dawnguard's new content.

If I had to summarize Dawnguard in two words, it would be this: more Skyrim. For many people, that's enough—and if you're in that boat, you should most definitely get your hands on this DLC. But if you wanted something special, something unique, something that could give you that feeling of giddiness you got the first time you entered Bethesda's hulking role-playing game and started exploring its caves and cities, then you might want to look elsewhere. Or at least wait for Skyrim: Game of the Year Edition.

I bet the folks that do public relations and marketing for innovative and thoughtful games like From Dust and Journey spend days and days brainstorming inventive ways to communicate complex ideas in ways that appeal to the consumer. Meanwhile The Amazing Spider-Man UK marketing team nipped off early after putting in an order for footy pajamas.

While the marketing team is down the pub having some crisps, Spider-Man is up the street waving and having his picture taken, the man inside the suit no doubt counting his blessings for being the right size for the costume. He stopped by the Oxford Street GAME store and spent the morning puttering about.

Spidey was spotted taking in the busy tourist sites early this morning, including Big Ben and St Pauls, mingling with commuters on Westminster Bridge and making calls from a London phone box.

Spider-Man created cutting-edge web-shooters featuring a chemical compound unlike anything humanity has ever seen, yet he has no cell phone.

Tomorrow the Spider-Man model will be playing hide-and-seek, traveling from GAME location to GAME location, standing around being Spider-Man. UK fans will be able to follow his being driven from place-to-place on Facebook.

Somewhere in America a marketing specialist is passed out at her desk, blotter stained with tears of frustration having spent all night trying to figure out how to push a video game that explores the wonders of the human psyche through tower defense. Where is her Spider-Man?

This last weekend Berserk Golden Age Arc II: The Battle for Doldrey was released in theaters across Japan. It is the second film in a trilogy planned to adapt the first story arc of popular Japanese manga Berserk.

I previously reviewed the first film in the series Berserk Golden Age Arc I: The Egg of the King. Simply put, it wasn't very good. However, that does make it the perfect comparison piece for this film because for every problem present in The Egg of the King, The Battle for Doldrey shows at least some improvement.

Good — It's Still Berserk

As with The Egg of the King this film is a faithful adaptation of the Berserk manga. Unlike in the previous film, however, the abridgment helps the story instead of hindering it. Everything is just more focused and the characters, especially Casca, get a lot of much needed development. The supporting members of the Band of the Hawk manage to break free of being little more than named extras and have much more of an impact on the story as well.

Good — Something New

One of the biggest complaints I had with the first Berserk film was its lack of anything new. I wondered what reason there was for watching it instead of the 1997 anime—especially as the series told the story in far more depth. The Battle for Doldrey, on the other hand, embraced the lack of network censors in the theatrical environment and is built around one connecting—not to mention unsettling—theme: Rape. We have rape for lust, statutory rape, homosexual rape, sexual domination, and more than one attempted sexual assult; the theme of rape is explored more than anyone ever wanted. It is actually the thread that binds several of the characters—both heroes and villains—together. The fact that the film makers chose to focus on this theme from the manga is suprising to say the least—especially given it's taboo nature.

The theater environment also allowed for the final portion of the movie, namely Griffith's breakdown, to be shown in a far more disturbing way than either the manga or anime. Also the fact that we, the audience, know so little about the inner workings of Griffith in the movie makes this scene so much more unsettling. Also, somewhat surprisingly it involves sex that is, while hate-filled, not quite rape. Still, by the end of the film, it's enough to make you wonder if sex is ever a consensual, pleasurable experience in the world of Berserk.

Good — A Competently Built Movie

Unlike the last film, Battle for Doldrey embraces atypical three-act structure—making it a far better piece of cinema than The Egg of the King. In fact, the three acts are so distinct, they could almost be broken into episodes at each thirty-minute mark. The general pacing is much better as well, and everything is very tightly written for maximum effect. The only issue I really have with how the movie is built is the ending. While it doesn't end suddenly like the last film, it does drag on a bit, passing the obvious cliffhanger and several other logical conclusion points until finally choosing one. But this is an admittedly minor gripe when set next to the marked improvement of the rest of the film.

Good — Cameos and Backwards Nostalgia

As a fan of the manga, I was pleased at the cameos strung throughout the movie. Of course, these are all cameos of people that Guts has not met yet, reminding savvy audience members of what the future has in store for our hero. Yet while in most series, this would be a wink to the audience saying "the best is yet to come," in Berserk we're pretty much at the highpoint of Guts' life; it's all downhill from here. It's a kind of twisted nostalgia to remember just how bad it's going to get and how much better these people's lives were before meeting Guts.

Mixed — The 3D Models Still Look Terrible, But Are Far Better Utilized

Let me stress this right away: the 3D models used intermittently throughout the movie still look terrible. However, I finally figured out just what exactly makes the 3D models so atrocious: the faces. They barely emote and lips and wrinkles are just the stretching and pinching of the overlaying texture. It seems that the creators understand this weakness in the animation as well and took active steps to combat it. In this second film, 3D models are used almost exclusively on people whose faces are covered—or when the action is at such a high speed, no one would notice anyway. And when 3D models are necessary for an action scene where a main character is helmet-less, the face is usually done in 2D animation that has been placed over the 3D animation. Moreover, the motion capture for the 3D animation has been greatly improved as well, making most of it watchable—if not enjoyable.
But most importantly, the scene in which Guts went berserk for the first time proved the necessity for the 3D animation. I honestly don't see how such a scene could have been animated without the 3D models or a far bigger budget. So while it still pulled me out of the movie whenever the 3D models appeared, compared to how they were used in the last movie, this was a staggering improvement.

Final Thoughts

Berserk Golden Age Arc II: The Battle for Doldrey was a great improvement over The Egg of the King in every conceivable way. And while I hesitate to call it a good movie, I certainly don't feel like I wasted time or money in seeing it. It still covers identical territory to the 1997 anime, but the way the last third of the movie is done is far more graphic, disturbing, and downright powerful. So now with my hopes mostly restored, I can honestly say I'm looking forward to the third movie, Berserk Golden Age Arc III: Decent, which is scheduled to come to theaters this fall.

Berserk Golden Age Arc II: The Battle for Doldrey was released in Japanese theaters on June 23, 2012. There is currently no word on an international release (though the first movie has been licensed for an international release later this year).

Earlier this week, workers rioted in China's Shaxi, a manufacturing town in Guangdong province. Before that, there were reports of riots at a Foxconn plant in Chengdu. Make no mistake, China doesn't appear to be near a tipping point; however, there seems to be something in the air. While certainly not widespread, some people do seem uneasy.

With that in the back of your mind, this weapon is freakin' scary. You are looking at 7.62 mm Gatling machine gun, which can fire from 2,500 to 6,000 rounds per minute. It's not for the military. And it's not for hunting Predator.

As China Digital Times pointed out, it's supposedly for the cops and appeared at this year's China Police Expo at the Beijing International Convention Center.

"This is a fucking policeman's machine gun," wrote one Chinese blogger. "Who are the police going to mow down with this gun?" asked one Chinese social networking site user. "The American imperialists or the Japanese devils? Who are they selling this thing to?" The cops, it seems, the cops.

Machine Guns: Not Just for Soldiers Anymore [China Digital Times]

With the Xbox Live version of Minecraft, anime fans thought now would be as good a time as any for this.

What's this? This is anime Haiyore! Nyaruko-san mashed with Minecraft. The original light novel and anime stars a Cthulhu deity named Nyaruko and the title refers to "crawling" or "creeping".

Fittingly, the mash-up is titled Haiyore! Creeper-san.

Compare with the anime's opening.

【Minecraft】匠曰く爆ぜよハウス(HD) [YouTube]