Today's New York Times profiles Bobby Kotick, the boss of Activision Blizzard and longtime bête noir of many a longtime gamer, many of whom have created unflattering portrayals of him quickly found by Google Image search. Well, he wants you to know this doesn't help his game. See, he's divorced and on the prowl.

"Think about what it's like for my dating life when the first picture that comes up is me as the Devil," Kotick tells the Times.

A lot of the stuff in the Times' profile also surfaced in a Kotaku profile more than two years ago— the mob-movie air of the early days, hitching a ride on a casino mogul's corporate jet, the subterranean meeting that got his first venture off the ground, brushes with Steve Jobs and the like.

But it does relate some other fun facts.

• Kotick duped the Sheriff's Office of San Mateo County, Calif. Kotick took over Activision (then known as Mediagenic) at a time when the company's assets were being seized to pay debts. When a deputy arrived to repo an expensive IBM mainframe in 1990, an office assistant surrendered a PDP-11 instead.

• He's unremorseful about the showdown with Infinity Ward's founders. "You find out two executives are planning to break their contracts, keep the money you gave them and steal 40 employees," he said. "What do you do? You fire them."

• He calls himself a libertarian, and voted for Mitt Romney.

There's some other business-y stuff concerning Call of Duty's sales, Activision's share price and pressures on it, and Activision's success despite the overall sour picture of video game sales. But the key detail is that you meddling video gamers are cockblocking him. Guys, guys, stop high-fiving like that. Please.

At Activision, a Hero and Villain, Zapped Into One [The New York Times]

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.

Legacy Control by Javis Ray published Dec. 11.—Read more of Legacy Control
Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich published Dec. 10.—Read more of Awkward Zombie
Nerf NOW!! by Josué Pereira published Dec. 12.—Read more of Nerf NOW!!
Penny Arcade by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik published Dec. 140.—Read more of Penny Arcade
Manly Guys Doing Manly Things by Kelly Turnbull published Dec. 10.—Read more of Manly Guys Doing Manly Things
Brawl In The Family by Matthew Taranto published Dec. 11.—Read more of Brawl In The Family
Virtual Shackles by Jeremy Vinar and Mike Fahmie published Dec. 12.—Read more of Virtual Shackles
Another Videogame Webcomic by Phil Chan and Joe Dunn published Dec. 14.—Read more of Another Videogame Webcomic
ActionTrip by Borislav Grabovic and Ure Paul published Dec. 10.—Read more of ActionTrip

A grab bag full of silly exploitables from the 2012 Video Game Awards, from Snoop Lion to Cliff Bleszinski to our own Stephen Totilo and, of course, Samuel L. Jackson, supplied the grist for this week's edition of the Kotaku 'Shop Contest. We've got the exclusive world premiere of a dozen finalists inside, including overall winner AirCairo!

Getting started, docherty's (3) head swap may be obligatory, but it's damn good—Totilo with hair looks like a teenager, and Bleszinski without it looks like my high school's football coach.

There were plenty of variants on the Cliff-and-Stephen-on-a-date theme, such as justaguylol's (8), the best-done of that theme. bigtimeevans (2) has the two holding hands in the car, but it's meant to re-enact Thelma and Louise. No word if Cliff is working on an adaptation.

francispwilson (4) dug deep and gave us, literally, a VGA Presto Magix set—very impressive. Shadoroch (10) and uscg_pa (11) delivered some great wildcards. Greg the Mad (5) violates nearly every unwritten rule against getting a finalist's berth—very little image editing, the joke is entirely in the text, but dammit, this was funny, and proof that there are no rules in the 'Shop Contest.

Krystian (9) and AirCairo (1) took on Snoop as a subject. As a timely joke and a well-done 'Shop, I've got to give AirCairo the overall finalist nod. Great job.

Thanks to everyone who entered; we'll be back with another 'Shop Contest tomorrow.

AirCairo
bigtimeevans
docherty
francispwilson
Greg the Mad
HampstaSandwich
imp
justaguylol
Krystian
Shadoroch
uscg_pa
V8-bit

Cat cosplay, it seems, is a thing. Sometimes, it's very clever, like this Cat Bus... cat. Sometimes, it's cute, such as when people dress their cats up as frogs or chickens. And sometimes, it can get a little odd. Cat schoolgirl? Really?

Here's a smattering of cat cosplay. Dressing up your cat in a cute outfit isn't new. But in the last few years, with cosplay increasingly mainstream, there's more of a concentrated effort to dress up feline friends. Shame these furry cosplayers aren't better at making their own outfits. I mean, come on. Still, cute stuff!

More photos below on Naver.

文句無しで可愛すぎる！猫のコスプレイヤーたち [Naver]

Iconic Lupin the Third characters Lupin and his partner in crime Jigen are getting two new figurines for your posing enjoyment.

Part of the Revoltech line, the figures will be out next February in Japan, with the Lupin priced at ¥2,980 (US$37) and the Jigen priced at ¥2,400 ($29). The Lupin figure is wearing his first series green jacket.

Yes, these Lupin figures do have unsightly, exposed joints, but in what you lose in cosmetics, you gain in posing fun.

In the above gallery, you can also see a previously released "red jacket" Lupin figure.

ルパン三世 [あみあみ]
No.098 次元大介 [あみあみ]

Children (and adults) rejoice! Tomy's Tomica toy cars are getting a handful of iconic wheels, such as the Batmobile, Optimus Prime, and Mario's kart.

The toy cars race out later this month in Japan, with each costing ¥630 ($7.50). Have a look, courtesy of Kotaku Japan.

『バットマン』や『ポケモン』がミニカーに！ トミカ新シリーズ「Dream TOMICA」がリリース [Kotaku Japan]

I guess there's no way of knowing, but I really would like to find out how much of the $5,098,093.79 raised by the Humble THQ Bundle went to charity, and how much went to the embattled publisher, which may qualify as a charitable cause depending on how you feel about its situation and the games it makes.

When it rolled out two weeks ago, comments from some pro-THQ gamers suggested that even though the spirit of the Humble Bundle is to give a slice to charity (and to offer titles DRM free, which these weren't), it'd be quite alright to give all of one's purchase price to THQ, and I don't really have a problem with that. They're hurting. People like their games. I really have no idea what THQ is going to do, long-term. Sure, they're a capitalist company, but if they want to hold a bake sale to stay afloat, willing buyer, willing seller and all that.

THQ's president, Jason Rubin, tossed $11,050 into the pot, giving all but $500 of that to charity. (He began with a $1,050 purchase, then put in a $10,000 buy at the end, I suppose so as not to artificially boost the average purchase price at the outset). Two were listed—the American Red Cross (presumably for Hurricane Sandy relief) and Child's Play, the go-to gamer's charity. He gave the $500 left over to Humble Bundle itself as a goodwill gesture.

The firm's stock price was $1.18 on Nov. 29, right before the bundle was announced. Yesterday it closed at $1.33, though it had gone above $1.50 in between. I guess it was a success, then.

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

QUOTE | "Retail's worst nightmare is coming true."—Former GamesIndustry.biz editor Rob Fahey, talking about the horrible year game retailing had in 2012 and what the future holds as digital takes over.

QUOTE | "We'll be able to compete with any AAA game out there."—Chris Roberts, designer of the famed Wing Commander series, talking about the graphics of his partly crowd-funded game Star Citizen.

QUOTE | "I would rather not compare it to Guitar Hero... I'd rather compare it to a sports franchise."—Tony Key, senior VP of sales and marketing at Ubisoft, talking about why they will release a new version of Just Dance every year.

QUOTE | "All the preconceived notions and console paradigms a lot of us brought in trying to do core for mobile is now sloughing away."—Industrial Toys president Tim Harris, talking about how their new shooter Morning Star for iOS will re-invent mobile shooters.

QUOTE | "The other thing that's really important, besides big spenders, is commitment really matters."—Emily Greer, COO and co-founder of Kongregate, talking about where the money is in free-to-play games.

QUOTE | "The industry needs to continue to create new IP, because it will get stale and old fast, and consumers will go to a different industry."—Tim Willits, studio director at id Software, talking about the need for new IP even before a new console cycle.

QUOTE | "It is doing an order of magnitude greater revenue daily than any of our other titles."—John Smedley, president of SOE, talking about the success of the Planetside 2 free-to-play game on PS3.

STAT | 10—Number of the Top 10 highest-grossing iPhone apps that are games, according to Apple; 7 of the Top 10 highest-grossing iPad apps are games.

STAT | 450,000—Number of subscribers to EVE Online on its tenth anniversary; the game has grown every year since its launch, according to publisher CCP.

QUOTE | "Claymation is quite a ridiculous idea to do if you're not geared up to do it."—Animator Chris Roe of Fat Pebble, talking about their new iOS game ClayJam, entirely done in claymation.

STAT | 48%—Percentage of gamers that play online games in the US; this compares to the 42% who play console games

QUOTE | "If you go to some of the Android stores it's extraordinary, it's incredible, it's like the Wild West."—Jason Kingsley, CEO of Rebellion, talking about why the industry's negative over-reaction to Windows 8 isn't justified when compared to an open platform like Android.

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There may be 10 shopping days left until Christmas, but there are only SEVEN left for the rest of all eternity! So get out there and save, save, save with a variety of combos, and discount specials before the Mayan apocalypse wipes us out. Actually, that raises a good question: If there was no tomorrow, would you spend money on video games like it? Or take the time to clear off your pile of shame? Whatever, there are more than 70 bargains in the latest Moneysaver. See them inside!

Gamefly has another round of PC downloads in their "Not So Scary End of the World Sale". The offers below end Sunday 10am PST. A new batch launches then and every 48 hours through Dec 21.

• Borderlands 2 is $29.99 (list $60)
• RIFT: Storm Legion is $24.99 (next best $38)
• Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is $11.99 (next best $40)
• Torchlight 2 is $9.99 (list $20)
• Saints Row: The Third The Full Package is $12.49 (next best $40)
• Assassin's Creed Revelations is $10.19 (next best $13)
• Bioshock 2 is $4.99 (next best $9)
• Mass Effect is $4.99 (list $20)

• Last day for Best Buy's "Buy 2 Video Games, Get a $40 Gift Card" deal on select games for Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii. Includes Skyrim, Assassin's Creed III, Dishonored, and Hitman: Absolution. [Dealzon]

• Also last day for "Buy 2 select Nintendo 3DS Games, Save $20" at Best Buy. Eligible titles: Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask, Style Savvy: Trendsetters, Paper Mario: Sticker Star, New Super Mario Bros. 2, Super Mario 3D Land, and Mario Kart 7. [Dealzon]

• Persona 4 Arena (360, PS3) is $21.99 from Amazon. Cheapest ever by $14. Next best is $30. [Dealzon]

• Hitman: Absolution Professional Edition (360) is $59.99, free shipping from Best Buy. New low by $8. List price is $80. [Dealzon]

• Family Guy: Back to the Multiverse (PS3) is $49.99 with $2.98 shipping from Target. New low by $4. Next best is $59. [Dealzon]

• NBA 2K13 (360, PS3) is $49.99, free shipping from GameStop. Next best is $59. [Dealzon]

• F1 Race Stars (360, PS3) is $29.99, free shipping from Best Buy. Cheapest ever by $8. Next best is $40. [Dealzon]

• Lollipop Chainsaw (360, PS3) is $19.99, free shipping from NewEgg. New low by $3. Next best is $30. [Dealzon]

• Yakuza Dead Souls (PS3) is $14.99, free shipping from NewEgg. Next best is $26. [Dealzon]

• Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (360) is $11.99 from Amazon. Cheapest ever by $3. Next best is $16. [Dealzon]

• Scribblenauts Unlimited (Wii U) is $49.99, free shipping from Best Buy. Next best is $60. [Dealzon]

• Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 (Wii U) is $49.99, free shipping from Best Buy. New low by $10. List price is $60. [Dealzon]

• Tales of the Abyss (3DS) is $29.99, free shipping from Amazon. Next best is $39. [Dealzon]

• Code of Princess (3DS) is $29.99, free shipping from Amazon. Next best is $39. [Dealzon]

• PS Vita games Little Big Planet and Spy Hunter are still $19.99 each from Gamestop ($40 elsewhere). Add $3.49 shipping or use coupon SAVER for free shipping on orders totaling $25+.

• Syndicate (PC) is $6.99, free shipping from NewEgg. Cheapest ever by $11. Next best is $20. [Dealzon]

• FTL: Faster Than Light (PC download) is $7.49 from GOG.com. List price is $10. [Dealzon]

Green Man Gaming offers a coupon code for 25% off PC downloads. Ends 4am PST Tuesday. The 35% coupon offer from earlier this week is hard to beat, but below are a few titles that still dropped in price thanks to instant savings.
• Spellforce: Complete Collection is $7.50 (next best $20)
• Xpand Rally is $1.87 (elsewhere $10)
• Nail'd is $1.87 (elsewhere $5)
• Sniper: Ghost Warrior is $1.50 (next best $10)

• Borderlands 2: Creature Slaughter Dome (PC DLC) is $3.75 from Green Man Gaming. Elsewhere $5. [Dealzon]

Hardware

• Xbox 360 320GB Console Star Wars Kinect Limited Edition Bundle is $349.99, free shipping from GameStop. Elsewhere $380. [Dealzon]

• Sennheiser X320 Xbox 360 Gaming Headset is $99.95, free shipping from eBay Deals. Next best is $150. [Dealzon]

• MSI Radeon HD 7770 1GB GDDR5 PCIe Video Card is $99.99 after rebate, free shipping from NewEgg. Next best is $132. [Dealzon]

• HP Pavilion dv6t-7000 15.6-inch 1080p Laptop with Ivy Bridge Core i5-3210M, GeForce GT 650M 2GB, 6GB RAM, Windows 7 is $722.49, free shipping from HP. List price is $850. [Dealzon]

• Lenovo Y400 14-inch Laptop with Ivy Bridge Core i7-3630QM, 8GB RAM, GeForce GT650M 2GB, Blu-ray, Windows 8 is $879, free shipping from Lenovo. New low by $120. List price is $1,249. [Dealzon]

• HP Pavilion HPE h9-1180 Phoenix Desktop with Ivy Bridge Quad Core i7-3770, 12GB RAM, Radeon HD 7770 2GB, Blu-ray, Windows 7 (Refurbished) is $879.99, free shipping from HP. Next best is $1,180. [Dealzon]

• Lenovo H520s Desktop with Ivy Bridge Core i7-3770, 8GB RAM, GeForce GT630, Blu-ray is $729, free shipping from Lenovo. New low by $70. List price is $999. [Dealzon]

• Dell is offering $100 gift cards with select Alienware systems. A couple good deals: (1) X51 Core i3 desktop with $100GC for $649 (previous low was $599 with no bonus); and (2) Alienware X51 with Core i7-3770 and $200 GC for $1,199. But for this Aurora Core i7-3820 overclocked desktop or this Alienware M18x laptop you're better off using $100 coupon instead of getting $100 gift card. [Dealzon]

Digital Distribution

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

Amazon
• Syndicate is $4.99, save 83 percent.
• Crysis Maximum Edition is $7.49, save 75 percent.
• Homefront is $8.97, save 55 percent.
• The Walking Dead is $12.49, save 50 percent.
• Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier is $19.99, save 50 percent.

Beamdog
• Monster Minis Extreme Off-road is $3.99, save 50 percent.

Blizzard Store
• World of Warcraft Battle Chest is $5.00, save 75 percent.
• World of Warcraft: Cataclysm is $10.00, save 75 percent.

Desura
• 8-Bit Night is $2.49, save 50 percent.

DotEmu
• Stronghold HD is $3.00, save 50 percent.

GameFly
• Deus Ex: Human Revolution" is $4.99, save 75 percent.
• Defense Grid: UltraBundle is $5.43, save 66 percent.
• Anno 2070 is $19.99, save 60 percent.

GamersGate
• Indiefort Ignition Bundle is $4.00, save 91 percent.
• Duke Nukem Forever is $6.78, save 86 percent.
• Call of Juarez: The Cartel is $7.49, save 75 percent.
• Port Royale 3 is $10.00, save 75 percent.
• Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning Collection is $14.99, save 70 percent.

Gametap
• Police Simulator 2 is $11.98, save 60 percent.
• Circus World is $14.97, save 50 percent.

Get Games
• Binary Domain is $6.25, save 75 percent.

GMG
• Jane's Advanced Strike Fighters is $7.49, save 75 percent.
• Carcassonne is $4.99, save 50 percent.

GOG
• DRM Free Holiday Sale save 50% on 500+ games.

GameStop
• Gray Matter is $4.99, save 50 percent.
• Crazy Machines Bundle is $14.99, save 50 percent.

iTunes Store
• DEMONS' SCORE (iPhone) is $0.99, save 86 percent.
• MEGA MAN X (iPhone) is $0.99, save 80 percent.
• BattleLandˇWarrior vs Monster (iPhone) is $0.99, save 80 percent.

Mac App Store
• Paranormal Agency (Mac) is $2.99, save 57 percent.
• Commando vs Zombies (Mac) is $0.99, save 50 percent.

Steam
• Crysis 2 Maximum Edition is $9.99, save 75 percent.
• Red Orchestra Franchise Pack is $8.74, save 75 percent + Free Weekend.
• Tripwire Interactive Bundle is $14.99, save 75 percent.

The Gamers Front
• Space HoRSE is $22.95, save 34 percent.
• Battle Group Commander: Episode One is $10.95, save 27 percent.

Kotaku thanks our coupon partners for providing these and other great deals. 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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Now that we've got the right name of the killer in the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre yesterday, the media profiles are starting to emerge. To the Drudge Report, playing video games is a remarkable enough thing that it bears mentioning in a headline. An italicized headline. Oh, it's factual enough, but that typeface and those ellipses raise a suspicious eyebrow, or at least mutter a "Just sayin'." Good work, Matt.

Having worked a cops reporting beat at a large newspaper utterly obsessed with tragedy, I can tell you what is going on: Reporters have been told to gather every single detail they can on Adam Lanza. They are. There is a bottomless desire to know as much as possible about the person who caused this tragedy. And it's absolutely fair game to mention Adam Lanza enjoyed computer games if it's part of who he was. If I was in my old job, I would have no trouble putting that into a story, as the Associated Press did—in the 16th paragraph, well below statements from investigators about Lanza's potential mental illness, and in obvious context of what Lanza was otherwise like as a person.

It's lazy and dishonest to list that detail in a headline stack along with the more likely causes of a mass killing, such as having a personality disorder, or being "obviously not well." I'm sure parents of autistic children enjoy seeing the suggestion Adam Lanza was autistic, too.

So, what does "played video games dot-dot-dot" really mean? Stories say Lanza belonged to a high school technology club whose members organized, and you can just see someone making the airquotes here, LAN parties. The game they played was not specified. I'm rooting like hell for the kids to have been StarCraft fans. The mind boggles at how this could be pinned on an RTS, but I'd like to see asshats like Drudge try.

Gamers are naturally defensive about this scapegoating, as they have every right to be. But let's focus our indignation where it really belongs: at a national conversation that cares more about whether a disturbed 20-year-old shot a bunch of fake guns in video games than how he so easily came into possession of real ones to go kill 27 people, including 20 grade-schoolers. Then again, America has never had the balls to forthrightly address its gun problem, and I have zero expectation that we will grow a set after this tragedy either.