I didn't know books had trailers now, but hey. At least there's no dubstep.

The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia is a hardcover tome chock full o' concept art, Zelda history, and the OFFICIAL ZELDA TIMELINE. It looks pretty damn cool.

For more on Hyrule Historia—created as part of a partnership between Nintendo and Dark Horse Comics—check out our coverage from earlier this year.

Ok, yes: there are some people in your life who don't share your love for panels and word balloons. Yet you want them to feel the joy of getting you just the right gift. What to do? Breathe easy, friends, we here at Kotaku are giving you a place to drop you a big ol' hint—complete with helpful illustration—so that the sequential storytelling that you've been craving winds up in your hands this holiday season. Offer your heart's desire in the comments below. Hopefully, your loved ones will stumble upon this field of dreams and get you just wanted.

Evan's Note: Stumbles aside, the newly-released Wii U is already pointing towards one possible future for console video games. And, when it hits next year, the Ouya box might have the power to shift games development and delivery in a yet another direction. It all sounds great, doesn't it? There's just one catch…

How're you going to pay for all of that future-tastic innovation?

Want to see more of Zac's work? Head over to his personal blog and game-themed site Magical Game Time. If you're feeling commercial, you can buy prints and shirts here. He'll be back on Kotaku with a new comic same time next month!

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Earlier this year we showed off someone's great Minecraft re-creation of Final Fantasy VII's iconic city Midgar.

This one might be better. Kotaku reader Jason sends in these pics from the Minecraft FF7 map he's been working on (which you can find over at Aegis Gaming). Behold, enjoy, and shake your head at just how much time must have gone into this.

Bonus points if you can recognize every picture.

Now that Halo 4 has been out in the wild for over a week, it's proper timing to accurately assess its multiplayer prowess. I had a lot of fun messing around with the various modes during my review event, but how does being in a room full of gamers compare to lounging on my bed with my headset on?

It's just as much, if not more fun. But I don't partake in public chatting. I pick a group of friends I want to play with and we dive in together, in the safety of our Xbox Live party. But saying "it's fun" isn't quite enough to depict what the multiplayer is all about. So let's analyze.

Objective-Based Modes

You can break down Halo 4's multiplayer into objective-based modes versus straight-up killing modes. I'm much more of a killer myself, but I enjoy a good round of Oddball—where the objective is to hold onto the ball for the longest time—or Capture the Flag.

You couldn't always hold a pistol in one hand and the flag in another in CTF. Capture the Flag is exactly how it sounds. Each team—red and blue—has a flag. It's your job to both protect your flag, and secure the enemy flag. The experience can vary drastically based on your team. I've been in lobbies where I've had to hold my entire team together as I desperately tried to play both the role of flag protector and flag stealer. But other times I found solid teams that followed each other's trail to watch over everyone's back.

Oddball is a little more hectic. As opposed to dumping an object (like the flag) into one spot to score a point like you would in basketball (or Capture the Flag), Oddball has players hiding in corners surrounded by their teammates while they fend off enemies, or hopping around trying to avoid death. I played an entire round with zero kills and deaths because I held onto the ball from the start of the round while my incredibly adept teammates protected me. It must have been infuriating for the opposing team, but it was hilarious and exciting for us. Adrenaline really sped through my veins during that round, as I expected at any moment to lose our good luck with me getting hit in the face with a bullet. We were fighting against the odds, trying to stay hidden in the close quarters map called Abandon. I hid behind pillars, quickly swapping between them for the best, most hidden angle. Larger maps would obviously play much differently. Players tend to rely more on scoped weapons to take out the ball carrier from afar.

Free for all Oddball is a whole other devil, best played on larger maps to get a real chase going. My personal favorite would perhaps be Haven for its many shortcuts. It's hard to keep up with where players are because they're constantly dropping down levels or turning corners and leaping across the map.

Oddball is even more fun when you turn it into Grifball, though it's not an official mode. Yet. I'm hanging on for an update that includes it. The gist is about the same as Oddball, but everyone is equipped with the one-hit kill energy sword or gravity hammer and tasked with setting the ball down in a goal. It's hilariously fun to pass the ball to someone as they approach you for a kill, swing at them with your hammer and grab the ball back all in one fell swoop. I still get caught off guard when someone passes me the ball. I stammer a bit, forgetting that, hey that's an actual thing people can do, and almost always trip up because of it. Neat tricks and tactics like this, whether intentional or stumbled upon, are a big part of what make Halo multiplayer so fun.

King of the Hill is my least-favorite objective-based multiplayer mode. You have to stand in a designated area for a designated time to control the hill. Each hill is marked on your map, so the mode basically just dictates where the next fight will be. The rush back and forth between hills often feels premature, like my work here wasn't done yet, but alas, you'll have to abide by the rules. There's some amount of tactics involved in that you can find a nice little corner to hide in, but it's not as fast-paced and aggressive as I like my Halo multiplayer to be.

Dominion plays sort of similarly to King of the Hill in that the goal is to capture certain points on a map. But in Dominion there's an added layer of complexity that sees players fortifying their captured points with defenses like turrets and shields. Dominion is also special in that it forces players to play under pressure. Rounds will enter a Last Stand if/when all bases are captured by one team, after which the losing team will gain overshields but the winning team has to demolish them to gain the victory. That sense of urgency towards the end is the most exciting thing about Dominion.

Extraction (a mode you can set up in Forge) is somewhat the opposite. Instead of securing a site, you're securing information from a beacon. You camp out near the beacon to defend it before the enemy team kills you.

At this point, all these objective-based modes feel a bit washed out all lined up next to each other. Oddball is definitely my favorite, because it allows you to play Halo 4 a bit more silly than you might normally expect to. It also seems to be the best motivator for teamwork as far as I've seen in my random rounds online.

Straight-Up Killing

Ah, here we go. That's the stuff. The plain, killing-machine-Jane modes are my favorite. Flood should be very familiar to veteran Halo players. The game starts with mostly human, Spartan members while the several Flood players use either cloaking or boosting armor abilities to one-hit kill the humans. Once they land the strike on humans (who are equipped with shotguns and a pistol), they turn into the Flood themselves. It's fast, it's mean, it's thrilling. I like to get a human member on my side to combine armor abilities of Promethean Vision and Camouflage. I usually go for camo, so my partner will tell me what corner to expect a Flood rounding, and I'll crouch to sneak over and surprise him with a hit to the face. This mode escalates really quickly, which is why it's one of my favorites. Before you know it, you're one of the few humans left alive, with a scurry of Flood coming down the hills, or corridors. Facing back-to-back with the other survivor(s), you'll have to fend off a huge wave of enemies. You know you're going to die, but it's a test of how many you can take down with you.

Regicide is another thrillingly awesome killing mode in Halo 4's War Games. The goal is to kill the king, or the player in the lead. Do that, and you get extra points for the assassination. The higher the bounty on the king's head—earned when the king lands more kills under the crown's name—the higher the points the assassinator receives. It's a cat and mouse chase that's constantly flipping and switching, so you'll have to play on your toes to keep up with its pace. The every man for himself mentality adds to the excitement, and has players on a constant shoot-out. Being the king is both a blessing and a curse. It means you're doing well, but a large icon will show up on the map, broadcasting your location to everyone. You know you're being hunted. You can only hope that players get distracted by each other along the way, and that you're quick enough to take out the ones that aren't.

But what about the Slayer options (normal, Big Team, Infinity)? These are the traditional, team-based modes where one team kills the other team and the team with the most points wins. There are big maps and smaller maps. Windy, narrow-corridored maps, and open spaces perfect for vehicles maps.

Though the variety certainly expands quite a lot of tactical playing options, I'd argue that there aren't nearly enough maps out right now. Of course, it's not unheard of for first-person shooters to receive map packs for DLC, and 343 has already announced incoming map packs, so this is a temporary problem. But as it stands I find myself running through the same set of maps all too frequently, and it's even more evident when playing rounds back to back (which I imagine a lot of other players are, like me, doing).

Your Spartan's weaponry depends on the customization options you've selected. You can customize several loadouts to your liking, but the depth of customization at your disposal is limited to how many Spartan points you have to unlock them. As a new player, you'll level up very quickly, but the rush starts to slow down once you reach a ranking closer to the teens. It'll take more than a few hours to unlock every customizable loadout, and every weapon and armor ability you can customize them with. Getting the fanciest weapons requires real dedication, so it feels like it could be representative of how adept a player you are.

You can do quite a lot with the customization to suit your needs. I like to have both my equipped weapons be primary weapons to swap between the DMR and Suppressor. I also like a speed boost and extra ammunition, but faster reloading is also handy. I often opt for the hologram armor ability in my loadouts, too, because while at first I didn't find them useful, you'd be surprised how often you can get people to fall for your decoy. Jetpacks used to be a favorite of mine in Reach, though I understand that wasn't a popular choice. In 4, they're suited best to the open maps like Longbow or Ragnarok so you can quickly jump up to platforms and buildings for an escape or a kill.

Everyone plays differently. Some people like the jetpack or hardlight shield armor abilities. Some find the standard UNSC assault rifle or the needler to be overpowered. I'd argue that each weapon has its advantages and disadvantages, but others say it's a balancing issue.

As you rack up points and kills in a round, you'll gain access to ordnance drops, which are bonus items you can call upon mid-battle. These range from super-powerful machine guns like the SAW to extra grenades and even an overshield.

Bonus items can also be picked up on their marked locations on the map. This is a change from previous Halo games where a race to be the first to the energy sword would depend on how well you knew the map and where that item always spawned. Now they're clearly marked on the map, taking a bit of the fun out of the equation. You'll even know when someone has picked it up, because the marker will disappear from the map. You don't encounter as many spontaneous battles for an item as you have in previous titles. They're still incredibly convenient, especially if you're a new player just leveling up, but I haven't found myself as excited about picking them up as I was playing older Halo iterations.

Ordnance drops can be tweaked if you're playing a customized map and/or mode. Happily, 343 has also recently added SWAT mode, a four versus four competitive mode (one-shot headshot kills, three shots to the chest, no radar) that gets rid of them entirely. It's also the perfect mode to fight out the DMR versus Battle Rifle argument. SWAT is perhaps the best mode to test out what reigns—the DMR's longe-range accuracy, or the BR's more rapid, deadlier fire. If you're more sniper-friendly than that, 343 also just recently added Team Snipers to the War Games mix.

People have already been finding creative uses for items, too, like spawning an ordnance drop on top of another player to kill them. It actually works! Sometimes people's creativity is not so nice though, like when your teammate decides you can't ride the Mantis because they want it. Ever experience this? I've had multiple people throw grenades on me while aboard my mech just to wait for it to respawn to take for themselves. Regardless of how many unjust deaths I've been the victim of, it is fun to see how the community takes ordinary objects and uses them extraordinarily. It's just not always to the best results.

The community in Halo 4 is, of course, hit or miss. One round to the next could entirely depend on the class of people you're playing with, which is why I try to even the odds by bringing a few friends into each game with me. But what I can say with confidence is that many of the multiplayer modes are well constructed and fun to play. You can find cooperative ones if that better suit your taste, or every man for himself killing chaos, which I happen to thoroughly enjoy. Now I'll wait patiently for unofficial modes to be turned into official ones, and for a few extra maps to switch things up.

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Halo 4: The Kotaku Review

I've never seen Halo like this before. Halo 4 is emotional, something I've never felt from the franchise quite like this. Sure, invested fans will protest and say that the lore is fascinating and the war struggles moving, but I can safely say I've never sat through a Halo campaign quite at the... More »

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Gameloft's Order & Chaos Online was mobile gaming's answer to World of Warcraft, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game for tablets and smartphones. Tomorrow the brand expands with Heroes of Order & Chaos, a MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) game shades of League of Legends.

This is actually a rather interesting reversal of the origin of the MOBA, which sprung from the Defense of the Ancients variant game type created in Warcraft III, the precursor to World of Warcraft. Good times.

Gameloft's MOBA is a free-to-play affair, packed with 30 different characters, six of which are available at no cost every week on a rotating basis. It packs two maps, one three-on-three and one five-on-five, along with AI companions and a guild system, for the more organized among us.

Gameloft is calling Heroes of Order & Chaos the first true MOBA game for smartphones and tablets. I'm calling it a game in which I shall be quickly outclassed by the hardcore devotees, eventually becoming afraid to even log in.

Look for it in iTunes and Google Play tomorrow.

Well, file this USB Portal turret under "Things you can get me for Christmas that I'll only use once but will still totally love."

You can buy one for the Portal fan in your life (or for yourself) for $40 at Thinkgeek.

(Via John Davison)

Remember how Nintendo wasn't going to release The Last Story in the United States, even though it's an awesome role-playing game and the Wii was barren for two whole years? Remember how XSEED came in and scored a publishing deal just by asking for the game late last year?

Well it looks like XSEED made the right move. The Last Story sold out at launch—XSEED VP Ken Berry said in a press release today that it was their "most successful title to date"—and now they're re-printing it for the awesome price of $30. (This version won't include any of the trimmings that the last one had, like the fancy artbook.)

The Last Story's not up on digital stores yet, but it should be soon. XSEED says the game should arrive on store shelves within the next few days.

It's an awesome game, by the way. You can play it on your fancy new Wii U, too, and I hear the resolution upscales, although I haven't had the chance to try that yet. Have you? Let me know below.

You might be able to download the Wii U's large, slow-downloading day-one firmware update while playing games, according to online reports from Wii U owners on Reddit and GoNintendo. It seems that there's a secret background-downloading option. Good to know!

We can't test it on our already-updated Wii Us, but those of you who are just getting a system might want to try this out: When the system asks if you want to update the firmware, don't do it. Click "cancel". If you've already set up a Wi-Fi connection, the firmware update will supposedly download in the background. Later, if you're prompted again, it should be saved in your system, waiting to be installed.

Please note that we have not tried this, but users on Reddit and GoNintendo say this has worked. Please also note that the system does not make it obvious that background-downloading is an option. If we'd known it was possible, we'd have told you all sooner!

If any of you have gotten this to work—or if you can confirm that it doesn't—please chime in below.

Wii U will download the update in the background. [Reddit, via Twitter]

RUMOR - Download the Wii U day-one update in the background? [GoNintendo]

There are plenty of shows that apparently only certain groups of people can appreciate. Adventure Time? Scoff! That's a kid's show! Definitely heard that one before.

Adventure Time—created by the lovable and witty Pen Ward—is a cartoon show on Cartoon Network. It features two adventurers, Jake and Finn, who are the best of friends. They get each other's humor and share each other's strength of character and values. They're heroes. They're also super silly and say things like "mathematical!" to proclaim their excitement. It's wonderful.

Not everyone gets the appeal. But if you keep up with the show you can see how hauntingly serious it can get, and how it delves into mature themes that kids wouldn't understand. If you're not a fan of Adventure Time, there's probably some depth you're missing. Or maybe you're just really not a fan, that's fair too.

If you are a fan, though, and have been nervous about the 3DS game—Hey Ice King! Why'd You Steal Our Garbage?!—based on the fantastic show let me, as a fellow fan, tell you not to worry. Well, don't worry too much.

You see, I was worried first, too. I figured that the developers WayForward would lean this game too much towards the kids' category. And they did, to a degree.

Hey Ice King! is an adventure game. You explore a map, enter dungeons, kill enemies, pick up items, give those items to other people, go find more items. Everything, of course, fits the theme of Adventure Time. Your main enemy is the sad and lonely Ice King. Your damsel in distress is a princess. Well, a princess made of garbage, but hey, this is Adventure Time so as long as it doesn't make normal people sense it definitely makes Adventure Time sense. But it is a kid's game in the sense that it is supremely easy. The platforming is basic, the enemies aren't too difficult. Progression through the game relies on entering new dungeons to find new Jake abilities that open access to parts of the map that were previously inaccessible. As you wander and unlock access to more of the map with Jake's new ability to turn into a bridge or a boat, you'll meet more characters from the show.

And this is where I knew I'd love the game: the characters and the writing really shine. I'm not surprised, considering Pen Ward himself co-wrote this game. Reading each character's dialogue, I could practically hear their respective voices in my head. I knew exactly how they'd say that one line and what kind of tone they'd use to respond to that other thing, and so I'd give an appreciative smile and a mental thumbs up to the game. Good job, game. I'm convinced! The writing is truly spot on. It helped that occasionally you can hear actual voice overs for small portions of the dialogue. I would have loved if the game was fully voiced, but it's a 3DS game. I didn't expect production to be console-quality.

As basic and easy as the game is, it still has a lot of depth. I marveled at how much you can evolve Jake and Finn's fighting abilities. Jake can turn into an ear to provide shield cover. Or he can slam a fist down to strike with more damage. Finn's sword upgrades, but he can also use items in his backpack full of self-described "stuff" to enhance his skills or even just make him jump higher.

By the end of the game, when you finally reach Ice King's Ice Kingdom and fight him for the rights to your garbage, you'll actually have to use your items intelligently. The boss battle was challenging enough to keep me happy, but not frustrating to where a kid couldn't figure it out (which is a hilarious distinction to make because if playing shooters on Xbox Live has taught me anything it's that some kids game even better than I can). I had to prioritize my items and use them wisely. Even during the game's easier side of facing random map encounters, dungeon-dwelling zombie candy people and fiendish trolls that steal your stuff, I still enjoyed embarking on a journey through the Land of Ooo, fulfilling my favorite characters' NPC requests and kicking butt rhombus-style.

Hey Ice King! Why'd You Steal Our Garbage?! may not be the ideal Adventure Time game I can dream up. I would love to venture through a fully-realized Land of Ooo rather than the top down view I actually adventured in or the 2D platforming battles I fought through. I would love to hear every voice actor read every line in the game, and play hours worth of adventures dreamt up by Pen Ward all through the many worlds we've seen in the show. We don't get to hear nearly enough from BMO or Marceline or Lady Rainicorn. We never get to explore Lumpy Space or step foot in the Nightosphere. There are so many adventures you just know you're missing out on in Hey Ice King.

But what we currently have is still certainly a pleasurable experience and is committed to the essence of what makes Adventure Time so delightfully silly. And for now, I'm ok to enjoy that.