My favorite things about Far Cry 2 won't be in Far Cry 3.

I'm really looking forward to Far Cry 3.

How'd I get from there to there? First, pretend you're me. You're at a Ubisoft showcase. You've just played Far Cry 3, single-player and co-op. You sit down with the game's producer, Dan Hay. You first start asking about the stuff that you liked in Far Cry 2 and begin filling up your notebook with a bunch of disappointing answers.

Then, his answers stop being disappointing and start getting very interesting.

My notebook, recreated for you:

• The friend system isn't back. You're not reviving computer-controlled buddies.
• Fire propagation is back. Put some flame to grass and it spreads.
• They have a fast-travel system this time.
• People stay dead when you kill them this time. "When you own an area, you own the area," Hay said. "We have these places where you go in, wipe guys out and you own it." This, of course, is a good thing!
• Your guns won't rust anymore.
• No malaria-pill-taking required in this game. Hay: "One of the things that we got consistent feedback on from Far Cry 2 was—how do I say it—They would prefer we look for another avenue. You can control your health."

  

  
  
• Hold on! All this gun-rusting and malaria-sickness stuff made Far Cry 2 interesting, because it made you less than the invincible warrior you are in most first-person shooters. Nothing like that here? "We want the weapons to be empowering. We want you to be able to pick up stuff, and, when you pick up the weapon, you have the ability to use it. The question is whether or not you have the training. So [lead character] Jason is a regular a guy. This is not a guy who has military training. When he picks up a weapon, he fumbles it."

  "In the beginning of the game, you're having a great time, you're hanging out with your buddies. You meet Vaas. And he basically locks you up and you manage to escape. So the beginning of the game is very much about getting away from Voss. Just getting to the jungle. Just surviving. And when you make those first couple of kills, they're up close and personal. They're dirty. You're like oh-my-god. It's more action-adventure stuff.

  
  

  "Then you pick up a weapon for the first time and you're like, 'whoa, ok, ok' and then you hone in on the idea of, 'I've got a hold of this. I have an AK-47 in my hand, I've got all these guys in front of me and I can kill all of them.' But when you're doing it, all the realization is about surviving. At the moment you don't feel like you're somebody who is out to take over the world. You feel like someone who thinks, 'If I don't fire this weapon, I will cease to exist.' The feeling is something we focus on, the feeling of being a victim. And then we have the transition and the insanity, going from beginning to be able to kill, beginning to be efficient at it, and feeling like there's a good reason for it.

  
  

  "And then, all of a sudden you meet your friends from the beginning of the game, and they look at you and they're like, "Uh…dude, you're not the same guy you were. You've got a taste for this? What's the deal?' You're covered in tattoos, you've gone wild, you've gone tribal, you've met Citra, who is the embodiment of the island—she's beautiful, she's exotic, she's wild, she's tribal—she's everything that somebody from home isn't, and when you put her side-by-side with your girlfriend, it's not an easy choice. …. That's just a slice [of the game]."

  
  

  Hay says we'll be discovering whether Jason prefers to turn back to his pre-island life, become more of a killer like Voss or more of a one-with-the-island kind of character like Citra. And the player/Jason will be hallucinating all the while.

  
  
• The game is set across an archipelago. The single-player campaign is on one island; the four-player co-op campaign is on another; the player-vs-player battle between the forces of Citra and Vaas are on another.
• The in-game editor lets players build their own islands and maps.
• OK, here's a weird way to hype a game. This is Hay's extended metaphor of what this game's campaign is really about: "You know when you first leave the home and you look at your parents and you're like, 'They don't know anything,' and you look at your group of friends and you're like, 'These are my friends for life.' And then five years later, you look back and you're like, 'What the hell? My parents actually did know what they were talking about, to a degree, as much as I'm willing to admit it, and my friends, some of them were just losers.' We want to capture that… the essence of living that five or 10 years in two months, so that you have the full breadth of a lifetime in two months."

  

  
  
• Co-op, as Hay describes it: "The characters in co-op are already nuts. They are rejects. These four show up and they're already jaded, already rejected by society and they show up and bring their own brand of insanity. And they're pretty good at it." These people worked on a cruise ship. One was a chef, another's a medic, another an on-board security officer. Pirates try to raid the ship. The captain decides to sell his passengers to Vaas. Our four heroes won't settle for this, bail from the boat and try to raise hell. The goal in co-op is to find that captain who sold you out and collect the money he stole from you along the way.

I am sure that Far Cry 3 is not Far Cry 2. It seems that the gameplay stress of 2—the sickness, the mortality of computer-controlled buddies, the rusting of guns—is being replaced by narrative stress—of the scripted experience of maybe going crazy. One of Kotaku's resident Far Cry 2 fanatics is worried that this Heart of Darkness riff isn't going to hold up, given the 3's potentially mindless shoot-everything traditional first-person shooter gameplay. I'm going glass-half-full on this one. I'm looking forward to Far Cry 3 this December, even though it seems very different from the previous, fascinating game in the series.

This awesome scene from The Professional starring Jean Reno is pretty gripping. But it's even cooler when done to the theme of Team Fortress 2 using the Sniper and Spy characters. Take a look at the screengrab from the movie down below for comparison.

Professionals [deviantART via Blue Dog's eyes]

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Diablo III inhabits a sort of strange hybrid new position in games. Neither entirely single-player nor an MMO, it straddles the world between the two, using its constant internet connection both to connect players to each other in a social experience and to make some cash.

As such, Diablo III finds itself in an unusual position for a game that isn't technically an MMORPG, which is this: players are clamoring for more and better end-game content. Community manager Bashiok acknowledged on the Diablo III official forums that the lack of end-game content is an issue. "We recognize that the item hunt is just not enough for a long-term sustainable end-game," the post admits from the top, and then continues:

Killing enemies and finding items is a lot of fun, and we think we have a lot of the systems surrounding that right, or at least on the right path with a few corrections and tweaks. But honestly Diablo III is not World of Warcraft. We aren't going to be able to pump out tons of new systems and content every couple months. There needs to be something else that keeps people engaged, and we know it's not there right now.

Even though the team is aware of issues around the end-game, though, any significant changes are likely to be quite a way off. The next patch due for the game is 1.0.4, which will contain "as many fixes and changes we can to help you guys out." But PvP arenas aren't due until later patch 1.1, and any larger changes would come even later:

I think both those patches will do a lot to give people things to do, and get them excited about playing, but they're not going to be a real end-game solution, at least not what we would expect out of a proper end-game. We have some ideas for progression systems, but honestly it's a huge feature if we want to try to do it right, and not something we could envision being possible until well after 1.1 which it itself still a ways out.

End game solutions? [Diablo III Forums]

Are you telling me there's an iOS game called Rainbow Tissue Cat and you think I wouldn't choose it as my Gaming App of the Day?

In Rainbow Tissue Cat, you bounce around on platforms and off the tops of birds' heads as Mr. Tibbles who sits atop a roll of bouncy toilet paper. Meowji Castle is under attack by the fiendish birds, and only you, Nyan Cat-looking furball, can swat them away while avoiding missiles, blades, and other traps.

Mr. Tibbles even comes complete with a trailing rainbow everywhere he bounces to, and he bounces along to upbeat, electronicy music that's another nudge towards the famous Nyan Cat.

You can rack up more points by hitting birds in a row, getting a critical hit by zipping across the screen to attack a bird, or just collect stars to spend toward new cat avatar designs. Some birds even drop bonus items, like an hourglass to slow things down or 2x points.

Occasionally I want an in-depth, story and art-driven game to spend ample time with on my iPad. But more often than not, I want to waste a few minutes playing something cutsey, where getting a higher score is all that pushes me forward. That, and cute cat customizations like a lion-cat or an astronaut-cat. Rainbow Tissue Cat is definitely of the latter nature, and it suits my taste just fine.

Plus, cat bouncing around on a roll of toilet paper. That basically poops rainbows. What more could you ask for?!

Rainbow Tissue Cat [$0.99, iTunes]

I still remember the lone Star Wars figure I owned a long time ago in a childhood far, far away. Getting that Imperial Guard was a rare treat for me as my two siblings and I were raised by a single mom. Money was always tight and I always had to plead with my mom to get the action figures that sprang from the movies, comics and cartoons that enthralled me my young, nerdy brain. That Imperial Guard was almost certainly purchased on discount and given how non-descript—and frankly kind of boring—the figure was, I could see when the asking price was marked down.

Decades later now, there are once again Star Wars characters gracing my home. But there's nothing non-descript or boring about the Commander Fox and Modal Nodes figures from Sideshow Collectibles' Sixth Scale line.

Both the Bith musician two-pack and the Clone Wars tie-in are Comic-Con exclusives, debuting at this year's edition of the world's biggest nerdfest. (Note: The Modal Nodes two-pack seen here is the Tedn D'Hai and Nalan Cheel set. There's another Comic-Con exclusive offering with their bandmates Tech Mo'r and Doikk Na'ts that's not featured here.)

I could understand why the genetically replicated soldier also known as CC-1010 gets his own insanely detailed toy. He's a member of the Coruscant Guard and the man who lead a squad on a rescue mission to save Padme Amidala from a Hutt crimelord. Without him, there'd arguably be no Luke Skywalker to bring back balance to the Force. He's a war hero!

But the eggheaded musicians from the Mos Eisley cantina? Those guys earned credits laying out music to murder by for the worst criminals in the galaxy. Are we sure we want to immortalize them? Nevertheless, that bouncy ragtime musical riff from Episode IV started running through my head as I unboxed the Modal Nodes figures. They come dressed up cloth shirts and pants, with a fanfar instrument for Tedn and a bandfill for Nalan. These figures aren't as detailed as the Commander Fox one, but the sculpts for their heads and hands will still knock your socks off.

The tiny pimples on their massive domes bring to life the tawdry diets that must plague the lives of intergalactic jazzmen and you won't find any joie de vivre in those giant, beady eyes. They've seen too much playing in the Star Wars universe's wretched hive of scum and villainy; all they want is to collect their checks and blow it on x-rated holos from Hoth. The things sentients do to stay warm on that planet are much, much worse than cutting open a Tauntaun and crawling inside.

The thing that impressed most about the Modal Nodes? The creepy level of detail on those claw-like hands. I can honestly say that I shuddered a little when I looked at the spiny structures of the fingers. Nalan Cheel may play a mean bandfill but I'd never give a high five to an alien with paws like that.

As funny as it is that members of the cantina band get their own figures, it's Commander Fox who stands out as a classic Star Wars figure. The Clone Trooper comes with four weapons—including a fearsome replica of his signature blaster rifle—and a plethora of hands with fingers sculpted in a variety of configurations.

The index fingers of the hands set in the firing pose fit snugly inside the weapons' trigger guards and the weathering on Fox's armor is aces. With all the scratched paint and chipped armor, you'll believe Fox has seen action all over the Republic. Underneath that armor, there's a black cloth turtleneck, which matches nicely with the waxy cloth kama that adorns Fox's utility belt. And, yes, those pistols fit in the holsters on the figure's belt. This isn't Sideshow's first appearance at the rodeo, guys.

Thankfully, Fox's switchable hands don't match the creep factor of those that come with the Bith musicians. It's just the opposite. The thumbs-up, v-sign and index finger point variants bring to mind the silent order signals that Fox would give to troops, as well as other lewd usages that George Lucas would probably frown on. The custom base also stands out nicely from the generic ones that Tedn and Nalan ship with. Fox may be just another clone of Jango Fett but damn if he doesn't feel special with the treatment he gets here.

At $150 for two big ol' figures, the Modal Nodes' two-pack is an impressive value. But all the work put into the Fox action toy certainly justifies its $125.00 asking price. Head on over to the Sideshow website to learn more about the company's Star Wars exclusives.

Our week-long experiment continues. One of your Kotaku staffers (me, today, obviously) drops in some odds and ends in the discussions below, stuff that may turn into stories or might just be for your own amusement here.

See below....

Today's topic: Barbecue hangovers… do they exist? If you're a vegetarian or just don't care, you fine folks can talk about the games you're playing, loving and hating, too. Head over to Talk Amongst Yourselves, the place where we gather on a daily basis to discuss all things video game and existential. 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.

Occasionally we in the world of games journalism are asked by people in the world of public relations what we thought of a game we just saw. Surely, anything I could say to them, I could say to you, reader of Kotaku. And I should, right? Otherwise I'm just doing free consultation.

In answer to those who asked what I liked or didn't like about Crysis 3 after I played the February 2013 first-person shooter several weeks ago, I'd say, first of all, that I'm hoping to like this game more than I did Crysis 2. That 2011 game presented the promise of open-ended level design but its campaign was ultimately more constricted and funneling than I expected. For a game that was supposed to be the thinking gamer's Call of Duty, it was too, well, Call of Duty.

I was, therefore, happy that the one level I've played of Crysis 3—the dam-detonating level you see chopped up in the trailer above—felt like it offered a variety of tactical options. I could play through it stealthily or aggressively. I could stick to the water or fight on land. I could work my through the level's main building or around it. I liked all of that.

The Crysis games fetishize the super-suit worn by the the player's character. The suit lets you jump really high, turn nearly invisible, punch trees and so on. Crysis 2 made a big deal about the suit always crashing, re-booting and apparently upgrading, though all of that seemed like inconsequential special effects to me. I'm not sure Crysis 3 will do a better job with the suit, but now they've added a new item to fetishize, one that I like more: the bow-and-arrow.

The prevalence of bows and arrows among the games at this past E3 became a bad joke, but Crysis 3 gets a pass from me. Its' bow-and-arrow is great and fits the series perfectly. Over in the new Tomb Raider, we've got a bow-and-arrow that is used as a survival weapon, as a sort of gun-replacement in a place where guns aren't easily obtained. In Crysis 3, the bow and arrow feels like something better than a gun. It's lethal, it fires fast and, best of all, it's quiet. Previously, Crysis was a game about trading off power for stealth, of choosing to forgo one's own cloaking device when it's time to uncork a spray of machine gun fire. In Crysis 3, the bow and arrow feels like the best of all worlds, offering quiet lethality, a combo that feels like it trumps the tactical options of the previous game. This particular weapon also suits the Crysis series' appeal to the shooter player's tactical mind, requiring them to use the ammunition in their quiver efficiently and encouraging them to pick up their spent arrows to use them again.

The new game will let players hack and use alien weapons and still offers bunches of suit upgrades. These features don't interest me much, nor does a perpetuation of the previous game's plant-overgrowth-in-the-city aesthetic. While other shooters globe-hop perhaps more than they should, it feels that Crysis may be erring in staying too still. The new game is supposed to feature a variety of climates and terrain in special biodomes that house the game's urban levels. But the overall foliage-and-steel look that I've seen makes this new game look, to me, like an add-on to a Crysis 2 campaign that had already gone on too long for me. I'm hoping to see more visual variety than we've seen so far.

I did not attend EA's E3 press conference a month ago, and I was surprised to hear that this game closed the show. I'd walked away from my demo of the game feeling that Crytek's series was on the upswing, but I did not walk away feeling that it was grand finale material. Blame the marketing team or show organizers for that, I guess.

I have a hard time seeing where Crysis 3 fits in and it remains a sequel that risks being one too many in a crowded field. For me, it needs to be best at something or at least interestingly different. Crysis 3, however, feels a shade more conservative than the next Call of Duty, which is adding branching story to its own previously-safe formula. I am now looking toward first-person shooters such as Metro Last Light and its striking Russian post-apocalypse for my FPTS aesthetic left turn. I now look to whatever the former Infinity Ward folks at Respawn Entertainment are doing for the next big shake-up in first-person shooting game design. I wasn't the kind of person who was dying for a new Crysis and I could, honestly, have been content without one.

But there's something about this game's bow and arrow. It was just about the most satisfying weapon to shoot of all the E3 games I played. Can one weapon alone make a game? I don't know, but it's something I can say got my attention and got me to care about what comes next for Crysis.

Old school action role-playing meets newfangled dungeon crawler in this week's Nintendo download, as a free demo for Square Enix's Heroes of Ruin goes head-to-head with one of Nintendo's most legendary games.

If you were one of the folks that picked up the Nintendo 3DS before they dropped the price from $250 to sensible, then you've already got your free copy of NES classic The Legend of Zelda. It was one of the titles given out for free to people to keep them from feeling silly for spending too much. Nintendo is now rolling out those games as part of its 8-Bit Summer promotion, one of the easiest to pull-off promotions ever.

Meanwhile, Square Enix gives North American players a taste of Heroes of Ruin, it's Diablo-esque dungeon crawler with online multiplayer support. The game's been out in Europe since the middle of last moth, so it's about time we yanks get our hands on it.

As for the rest, it's a pretty big week for Nintendo downloadables, with seven new titles introduced, including a WiiWare title that lets you make clay pots — the same sort of clay pots one might stow spare rupees in. And that ties things up readily. On to the games!

Games

The Legend of Zelda
Platform: 3DS
Price: $4.99

Celebrate the Nintendo eShop "8-BIT SUMMER" series with this smash-hit adventure, originally released on the NES console in 1987. Ganon, the King of Evil, has broken free of the Dark World and has captured Hyrule's beloved Princess Zelda. But before she was caught, Zelda managed to shatter the Triforce of Wisdom and scatter its eight pieces throughout Hyrule. Begin your adventure by finding a small wooden sword in a dark cave. As you grow in stature, experience and strength, so do your weapons. Help Link collect the captured pieces of the Triforce, rescue the princess and thwart Ganon's evil plans.

NES Open Tournament Golf
Platform: 3DS
Price: $4.99

We all know Mario is a hero, but did you know he's also a world-class golfer? This classic NES game from 1991 – now available for Nintendo 3DS as part of the Nintendo eShop's "8-BIT SUMMER" series – lets you challenge another player in Stroke, Match and Tournament modes. Play on three fantasy courses in the United States, the UK and Japan, and try to win a million dollars. Make sure you keep an eye on the wind and the distance to the hole before selecting your club, or else you'll be racking up some high scores –which is exactly what you don't want to do in this game. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced golfer, NES Open Tournament Golf is perfect for those days when you just can't get to the local golf course.

Akari by Nikoli
Platform: 3DS
Price: $4.99

"Akari" is a puzzle in which you set lights based on the hint numbers in order to light up the entirety of the white space. The main features of "Akari" are the easy to understand rules, and the depth of the game. There are great numbers of patterns for which you will figure out "When the numbers and lights and spaces are combined like this, then THIS is how they are sure to match up", so you have plenty of opportunities to taste "the excitement of discovering new patterns". To ensure your long-term enjoyment, we're prepared both a "Stage Clear" mode and a "Random" mode. In "Stage Clear" mode, you progress by clearing puzzles one by one, and in "Random" mode puzzles are generated at random. Please enjoy this high-quality "Akari" game.

Topoloco
Platform: 3DS / DSi
Price: $4.99 / 500 Points

Meet professor Topoloco. He's absolutely crazy about topography and he is glad to have you in his world topography class! For each of the 5 continents he covers you can practice your skills in a series of mini-games like locating cities and countries, dragging flags, and more! You can practice as much as you want in order to prepare for a final exam which you can take whenever you think you're ready. Topoloco is both a fun topography learning game and a digital atlas for all ages.

3, 2, 1... WordsUp!
Platform:
Price:

The Legend of Zelda
Platform: 3DS / DSi
Price: $1.99 / 200 Points

Show your command of the language in 3, 2, 1... WordsUp! Build the maximum number of words with the same combination of letters. Do it before time runs out or you will lose! Challenge yourself in this unique game of wit and skill. Practice your mental agility and your knowledge of the language in 3, 2, 1... WordsUp!

Let's Create! Pottery
Platform: WiiWare
Price: 500 Points

With "Let's Create! Pottery" making ceramics has never been more simple and fun! Become a true artist and create "one of a kind" pottery items and share them with your friends! Throw the clay on the wheel, release all your artistic talents and take benefit of dozens of materials available in order to create your own design! Even when you glaze and fire your very first pot you will feel accomplished and relaxed as pottery is the best way to relieve your everyday stress and find your inner peace. An amazing, therapeutic and uplifting experience you can enjoy with your family and friends!

2020 Super Baseball
Platform: WiiWare
Price: 900 Points

Originally released in 1991, this is not your typical baseball game. In the near future, there are two leagues with a total of 12 teams for players to choose from. Pick your team and go for the championship. The games are held at the exclusive Cyber Egg Stadium, where the home run zone is alarmingly small and the fair zone is unusually wide. There is even a stop zone to stop any ball that lands there. As the game progresses Crackers (mines) are installed. During games, armor can be purchased to reinforce your players. All this makes for a unique baseball experience. You may be a bit perplexed at first, but once you get used to it and begin devising a strategy, you might even start enjoying all the curveballs being thrown at you.

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Demos

Heroes of Ruin
Platform: 3DS

Create your own mercenary and battle forth on your own or join forces with other heroes in 4-player co-operative multiplayer. Test your combat skills and earn rewards by taking on new daily challenges.

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Game of the Weekend

Sakura Samurai
Platform: 3DS
Price: $6.99 $4.99

The "Game of the Weekend" program is featuring Sakura Samurai: Art of the Sword. For a limited time this precision sword-fighting game is available at a special price of $4.99. Offer is valid from 9 a.m. Pacific time on Friday, July 6, through 9 p.m. Pacific time on Sunday, July 8.

Yesterday, Square Enix confirmed that it will re-release Final Fantasy VII on PC at some point in the near future.

What's most interesting about this re-release is that it adds new features to the seminal role-playing game, like achievements. But Square hasn't shared any details on exactly what these achievements will comprise. So I'm offering a few suggestions. Free of charge. You're welcome, Square Enix.

Here are ten achievements I think Final Fantasy VII should have.

Why Would You Even Bother? She's Gonna Die In Like An Hour Anyway

Get Aeris's ultimate Limit Break.

Animal Cruelty

Attack and capture harmless chocobos in the wild. Imprison them in a cramped stable. Force them to breed with one another. Throw out the ones that don't turn black or gold. Use them to make yourself more powerful. Whip them into shape on the race track.

Stop Trying To Break Our Game

Equip one character with the following materia: Mime, MP Absorb-Master Summon, Final Attack-Phoenix, MP Turbo-Knights of the Round, Slash All, Mega All, HP Plus. Equip your other two characters with Mime. Enter combat. Press the A button once.

Nostalgia Overload

Realize that Final Fantasy VII isn't as good as it was when you were 12. Deny this to the grave.

Get A Lifestream

Level all of your characters to 99. Master all Materia. Kill Emerald and Ruby Weapons. Brag about these accomplishments to all of your friends. Lose all of your friends.

Physics? What Are Physics?

Use Tifa in combat.

Hey Foo

Go on a date to watch fireworks with Barret. Have a lovely time. Give him your number. Wait a day. Wonder why he hasn't called yet. Wait another day. Stare at his Facebook. Hit refresh. Wait a third day. Cry. Eat Haagen-Daaz. De-friend him on Facebook.

You're A Douche

Re-name Aeris to Aerith.

You Got Got

Spend over 50 hours traveling the world of Final Fantasy VII in search for the fifth Huge Materia which you can then use to unlock a secret color of chocobo that will allow you to travel into Sephiroth's cocoon and find a key that opens the door to Sector 3 in Midgar, where you can revive Aeris for real guys seriously you read it on an AOL message board!

Square Enix

Convince a shopkeeper to pay you five times for the same item.