The overwhelming top release this week is the highly anticipated Borderlands 2, on all three core platforms. Torchlight II at week's end also is not to be missed.

Tuesday

• Borderlands 2 (360. PS3, PC)
• F1 2012 (PS3, 360, PC)
• Kinect Sports: Ultimate Collection (360)
• Jet Set Radio (PSN)
• Street Fighter 25th Anniversary Collector Set (360, PS3)

Wednesday

• Jet Set Radio (PC, XBLA)
• Realms of Ancient War (XBLA)

Thursday

• Torchlight II (PC)

Brian wanted to go to Boise State. I remember that much. Eight years ago, captivated by NCAA Football 2004, I asked my closest friends from grad school to give me their preferred position and college. I was going to create all of us as blue-chip prospects in the game's recruiting engine and see where we ended up.

Dan, a 6-5 Pennsylvanian, was your prototypical drop-back, pocket-passing statue with pigeon shit on his shoulders. He is a Penn State alumnus, but ended up at Virginia instead. Pete D., I think, asked to be a kicker, and signed with Maryland. Chris, from Marin County, wanted to quarterback a Bay Area university, but landed at UCLA. Peter S. probably had the best fit. A water polo player at a Catholic school in real life, his five-star avatar became a fullback for Notre Dame.

But it was Brian, a J-school buddy with Rocky Mountain ties, who left the deepest mark on me. Boise State did pick him up in the video game, and the Broncos did make him a starting linebacker, and he personally sacked my starting quarterback three times when we first met in the following season.

Eight years later, we're finally seeing sports video games making these kinds of incursions into the realm of the MMO—the massively multiplayer online role playing game, in which dozens, if not hundreds, of human participants contribute to the story of a season, rather than one player plugging his friends into the roster and then sending them amusing wish-you-were-here-updates over email, as I did back in 2004.

These games are not there yet, though in the past month, EA Sports released two titles that, separately, show the means of handling large player populations and player-versus-player action. NBA 2K so far lacks that kind of interconnectivity but its singleplayer career offers more outside-the-lines role-playing opportunities than anyone else. And MLB The Show's Road to the Show mode may be the one most tuned toward the traditional RPG model of acquiring experience points and improving attributes.

MMOs are often considered the provenance of fantasy realms, or of superhero worlds. Considering that in high school I lettered in one sport—baseball, as a right fielder—and played Dungeons & Dragons or Marvel Super Heroes on Friday nights, I think I can speak to this subject with some authority. Sports video games are clearly pushing in this direction, and it may be the way their career modes survive past their offline roots.

Already sports video games have a strong multiplayer base. FIFA, NBA 2K, and Madden are, year round, the top titles on Xbox Live. NHL shows up on the service's Top 10 list even in the middle of baseball season. What you're seeing now are the first attempts at making that player base into a feature of the game itself, as opposed to a resource pool.

This year, Madden NFL 13 offered up "Connected Careers," a segment designed principally at Electronic Arts' outpost in Texas—coincidentally, where EA's BioWare studio also has a presence. Connected Careers is notable because members may participate in the same league either as a coach controlling an entire team, or a player controlling a single superstar. When this concept was unveiled to media in April, EA Sports' Josh Looman drew a deep breath and called it "the sports MMO." You had a character. You acquired experience. You allocated it. There was a grind mechanism, in the form of a weekly practice. But most importantly, human players interacted with one another in the same league.

A lot of us shrugged. "Connected Careers" may not be, truly, a sports MMO. Where massively multiplayer games have server populations in the thousands, in Madden, you're limited to 32 in the same league, administered by one person. And you can't have human players managing a franchise with a human player on the roster. There's no trading a star human-controlled quarterback to a human-controlled franchise and back, in other words. Everyone is in charge of a single team, sort of by trick, but you still have a PvP equivalent when someone's franchise goes up against another that week. And Madden is still the first multiplayer sports video game that allows players controlling an entire team to play friends controlling a single player.

"GM Connected," debuting in NHL 13 this past week, adds significantly to a career mode's population but sacrifices personal identity. Theoretically, you can have 750 players in the same league—but they don't occupy a specific role on the roster. One person is the club's GM, and the next five or six who show up for that night's game control the other positions on the ice, not a specific performer. It's a novel take on the game's Online Team Play mode, with an obvious application to the "My Crew" mode that NBA 2K abandoned last year as it tried to upgrade its server infrastructure.

While no one wants to ride the bench as the 53rd man on an NFL roster, it has the NCAA, and the NHL and MLB have minor leagues, all of which, theoretically, could be integrated into persistent online experiences preparing a "character" for his big league debut, as these series mature.

There's a significant technical cost to all of this, of course. In Madden, I can't imagine what it takes to maintain equilibrium between a player running both sides of the offense and someone only controlling one player, who can be substituted out at any time. That's in a 16-game season. Hockey and basketball play 82 games a season. Major League Baseball plays 162. Human players need to be able to advance the game on their own terms without waiting for other participants. NHL 13 seeks to accommodate this by allowing its teams to upload customized AI files so that other league participants can play against a computer behaving with the same strategy. Madden, right now, will simply force-simulate results when necessary.

Still, this seems to be the direction in which sports video games are headed, especially as they seek to indulge their players' fantasies of being top-flight coaches or individual athletes. The last evolution in sports gaming career modes was putting you in charge of one performer supporting teammates—MLB The Show allowing you to call pitches as a catcher is probably the best example of this. The next step is placing you in persistent situations where your actions affect the success, and failure, of other human players, and vice versa. Madden has dipped its toe into these waters this year.

Before all of this happened, I was playing MLB The Show and ruminating on the chance I'd drift across a friend also playing in the minor leagues, both of us trying to get to the big leagues. MLB The Show's "Road to the Show" career lets you skip past all of the at-bats in which you are not involved. But if I was playing first base, I'd love to be able to greet a real-life buddy after a walk. I'd love to measure my performance against his among the league leaders. I'd love to reach the Majors before him, and shake his hand at the bag when he gets his first base hit.

This is a box of "Marios," a novelty product pitched by Mario Williams, a new member of the Buffalo Bills' defensive line, and currently on sale in Buffalo-area grocery stores such as Top's. Proceeds from the sale of this cereal benefit patients and families of children being treated at an area cancer institute. The nameplate font certainly evokes the title screen of Super Mario Bros.

The real question is, what the hell is an enormous Sonic the Hedgehog doing behind Mario?

[h/t mr_raccoon]

Last week Chris Kluwe, the Minnesota Vikings punter and noted World of Warcraft and RPG fan, cast his team's season opener in terms of an MMO quest. He's done the same thing this week so we'll hold him to it and chart his progress.

Although, I do wonder who the quest-giver is: Is it head coach Leslie Frazier? Or Commissioner Roger Goodell, as the league performs the scheduling?

This week's quest:

Update: The Warriors of the Northwoods failed, 23-20. Says Chris Warcraft himself:

Last week:

Result: QUEST COMPLETE (Minnesota 26, Jacksonville 23. Kluwe: 5 punts, average 48.4 yards, long of 59.)

Right now the Vikings trail the Colts 10-6 at halftime.

As promised, the R&B singer/songwriter Frank Ocean brought John Mayer to last night's performance on Saturday Night Live. The two performed on a stage surrounded by some arcade cabinets with nondescript glass and cabinet art, but they were running ROMs of real games in attract mode.

It appears to be a big coup for Namco PR, whether intentional or not, as every game I could identify seems to be one of theirs. Tekken 3 was spotted right of Ocean as you face him. Tekken also is just right of Mayer (left of Ocean) on stage. Dig Dug can be seen, and there appears to be a Ms. Pac-Man/Galaga dual cabinet at far left.

Things got strange in the second song, "Pyramids." During Mayer's guitar solo, Ocean blew on the microphone for a little bit, then walked over to the Galaga/Ms. Pac-Man cabinet and started playing. See for yourself in the video below while everyone from the U.K. complains in the comments that they can't watch it.

[h/t Jalopnik]

Alright, hang with me here. While gazing at Dishonored's box art, I convinced myself I was looking at a deranged steampunk Destro. I've been too cute with topical subjects lately, so I'm just going to give everyone a concept and let you run wild with it. I want to see insane G.I. Joe cameos in video games this week.

That's it. That's all. Don't consider that above to be a source image. Nor are you limited to using Dishonored. You can stick cartoon or movie Joes or even box-art Joes and Cobra in any video game, or vice versa. I'm banking on the inherent humor of the Joes' ridiculous costumes, largely represented by the old Sunbow cartoons when Flint or Footloose or someone would stand there, hands on hips, telling kids why it's a bad idea to drink rubbing alcohol.

So, simple crossover: G.I. Joe, or Cobra, cameos in video games, or vice versa. I think you guys can do this blindfolded, or with a carcinogenic beryllium steel mask affixed to your face. Go to town.

Remember, you have to post submissions in the new forum for the Kotaku 'Shop Contest. I know it's not as fun as seeing everyone's creations underneath this post, but this way automatically displays them in chronological order, which everyone seems to prefer.

Because of this, comments are disabled in this post to avoid confusion. You must visit the 'Shop Contest Forum to participate or to see this week's subissions. After you create your 'Shop, you'll need to post it there. Here are the rest of the guidelines for doing so.

1. Go to the 'Shop Contest Forum
2. Click "Add Image" in the upper right above the comment window.
3. Click "Upload an Image Instead." Then click the "Choose File" button. Browse your desktop, find the image, and click "open."
4. If you prefer, you can upload the 'Shop to a free image hosting service. I suggest imgur. Then click "Add image" in the upper right above the comment window. Paste the image URL into the field that says "Image URL."
5. You can add editorial commentary if you want, but then just hit submit and your image will load. If it doesn't, paste the image URL as a comment.
6. This is important: Keep your image size under 1 MB. If you're still having trouble uploading the image, try to keep its longest dimension (horizontal or vertical) under 1000 pixels.

All set? Great. Now, Gentlemen, start your 'shopping!

Just because a series celebrates its 25th anniversary doesn't automatically mean we're going to see a new game out of it. Metroid is a notable example. And 2010 came and went without any kind of re-release of Duck Hunt.

That said, Rockman/Mega Man fans note the game turns 25 on Dec. 17, and the last title published in the series is Mega Man 10, from two years ago. So one took to the "Ask Capcom" forum of Capcom-Unity to ask what gives, and if anything's in the pipeline, why wait until December to tell us about it?

Christian Svensson, the Capcom senior vice president, responded that the company does have plans to celebrate Mega Man's 25th birthday, but don't get your hopes up about a game.

In December "some but not all" plans for the coming year of celebrations will be shared. There are many moving parts and not everything will be done and final come December. No one has promised a game or even an announcement of one at that time. Please do keep expectations in check.

As of now, the only game planned is Mega Man Xover, which, as a social game for the iPhone, understandably does not excite many. Especially as Capcom canceled both Mega Man Universe and, most notoriously, Mega Man Legends 3. That decision set off a furious response in 2011, and the series' creator said he had offered to finish the game, although his departure from the company probably gave Capcom little incentive to take him up on it.

Real talk: Mega Man [Capcom-Unity via Game Informer.]

Welcome to your Sunday read of the week's best in web comics. Make sure to click on the expand button in the bottom right to enlarge each comic.

Nerf NOW!! by Josué Pereira published Sept. 15.—Read more of Nerf NOW!!
Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich published Sept. 10.—Read more of Awkward Zombie
Penny Arcade by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik published Sept. 12.—Read more of Penny Arcade
Brawl In The Family by Matthew Taranto published Sept. 11.—Read more of Brawl In The Family
Virtual Shackles by Jeremy Vinar and Mike Fahmie published Sept. 10.—Read more of Virtual Shackles
ActionTrip by Borislav Grabovic and Ure Paul published Sept. 10.—Read more of ActionTrip
Legacy Control by Javis Ray published Sept. 12.—Read more of Legacy Control

The WTFery of Konami sponsoring lifelike horseheads as a costume item in PlayStation Home gave rise to this week's 'Shop Contest, which I am proud to report is brony free. Keep your friends close and your 'Shops closer with double-finalist and overall winner uscg_pa, inside!

Let's get started: ZeroToad supplies an equine take on Infinity Blade (15). Pan_1da7 (8) conjures up a new take on Beta Ray Bill, while mooglegiant (6) gives us the original Wyld Stallyns. Longtime finalist sciteach (10) is not impressed by any of this.

Our first animated .gif finalist in a long time belongs to Abrahim Ladha (1). Riley King (9) gives us armored horses for free. I thought arniejolt (3) was going for a headswap but not quite. He still makes the cut.

Overall No. 1 is uscg_pa (13), with the first and best take on why Konami would be fooling around with horseheads. Snake's look is perfect (note also the Oscar on the table behind him). Runner up also is uscg_pa, with a fresh take on another iconic Konami game and character.

Thanks again to everyone who participated. We have another 'Shop Contest tomorrow.

Abrahim Ladha
Angryrider
arniejolt
Vigafray
EROLE
gameproblems
mooglegiant
Nude_Eskimo
Pan_1da7
Rile King
sciteach
Snufkin
TomasLacerda
uscg_pa
uscg_pa
ZeroToad

On one hand, this seems like a painfully obvious thing: Broken hardware typically can be replaced under warranty or through the manufacturer for a fee, and the Nintendo GamePad is hardware. On the other hand, it's a controller, and Nintendo is deliberately not selling GamePads on their own in North America. So that raises the question of what happens if yours breaks?

Gimme Gimme Games got the answer from a Nintendo of America representative: "Individual replacement Wii U GamePad controllers will be available from Nintendo Consumer Service for a fee," they were told, but there was no word on how much a replacement will cost.

What about the warranty? Well, NOA has "no specific announcements" to make regarding warranty coverage for the GamePad, said the rep, but he noted that Nintendo warranties don't cover physical damage. Fair enough.

Extra GamePads will be sold in Japan for the equivalent of about $172. So if in North America, a GamePad costs $150, and if its replacement fee is lower than that, you probably can expect to be asked to ship back the old one, even if you broke it. Otherwise, what's to stop people from claiming they broke their old controller, buying up an extra one at discount and saving it for gray market resale once two-GamePad support arrives here, believed to be sometime after March.

I can't wait to see the Will It Blend Guy disintegrate a GamePad and ship them back the dust. "Wii U GamePad Dust! Don't breathe this ..."

Broken Wii U Game Pad replacements will be available ‘for a fee' says Nintendo [Gimme Gimme Games.]