Minecraft: The Story Of Mojang premiered today on Xbox Live, with an $8 digital release and a $20 DVD release scheduled to follow soon. But it seems 2 Player Productions doesn't want your money; the production company behind the documentary has uploaded the film for free to the Pirate Bay.

Okay, they'd probably appreciate if you did throw them a few bucks for all their hard work. But they can't care that much if they've willfully uploaded it to the infamous BitTorrent site themselves.

"We wanted to come here first because we knew the movie would end up here eventually, and the best thing to do seemed to be opening a dialogue," reads the torrent's description. "We've been there. We've all needed to do it at some point. Maybe you don't have the money. Maybe you want to try before you buy. Maybe you're pissed at us for premiering the movie on Xbox Live. These are all fine reasons."

Okay, I take it back. They definitely want your money. And you should definitely give it to them if you're going to watch. "We're just three guys trying to make a living doing what we love," the description reads. How can you say no to that?

Keep in mind, though, that this may be a legal grey area, regardless of who uploaded it, as last we heard Microsoft was supposed to have exclusive rights for the time being. We've reached out to 2 Player Productions for comment, and we'll let you know if we hear back.

UPDATE: A representative from Redux, the company helping 2 Player Productions distribute the film, got in touch to confirm that the Pirate Bay release is legit, and to recommend you head to the official site to download Minecraft the Movie: The Story of Mojang if you want to throw down some dollars for it. Avast!

Minecraft: The Story of Mojang [The Pirate Bay via The Verge]

Obviously, the world didn't end last night. Still, the possibility spawned the #endoftheworldconfessions hashtag on Twitter a couple of nights ago, and some of these confessions were gaming-related. I compiled a selection of tweets from gamers where they confess to all sorts of silly, crazy, and sometimes disturbing things.

One of the most popular ones that I didn't include was the 'confession' that folks actually liked video games. Everyone might game nowadays, but it's still a tad shameful apparently!

Image credit: Shutterstock

After talking about Sandy Hook all day, I really just feel like flinging birds at pigs for the rest of the night. Thankfully, the first DLC pack for the Angry Birds Trilogy arrived today, and judging by its title—"Anger Management"—it should be specially tailored to help players reign in their rage.

The $5 "Anger Management" DLC adds 130 of the levels that were originally included in add-ons for the mobile versions of Angry Birds, Angry Birds Seasons, and Angry Birds Rio, the games that comprise the Trilogy.

Wait a second. So the Angry Birds Trilogy is $39.99, and it doesn't even include all the original add-on levels? That's not curtailing my fury at all. That's making me angrier. Oh well—guess I'll go play something a little more violent instead.

Angry Birds Trilogy 'Anger Management' DLC brings back 130 levels for $5 [Joystiq]

Michael Caine is a badass. We're all aware of that. But the 79-year-old actor revealed this week that he's such a badass, he was even doing Christopher Nolan's job for him on the set of the Dark Knight trilogy.

You see, Alfred, stoic butler to the Wayne household, didn't have a backstory in Nolan's take on the caped crusader's saga. So Caine made one up for him, and Nolan liked it so much that he made it canon—in his universe, at least.

Caine describes Alfred's backstory in the above clip from an interview released by Warner Bros. UK. It's much better than the story I made up for him in my head—in my version he became a butler because he just really liked cleaning up after rich people.

Via Spinoff Online

Isaiah-TriForce Johnson is not happy with the response to last week's tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary. The media is having a field day, politicians are jumping on bandwagons, and well-meaning gamers are giving the opposition even more fodder by participating in campaigns like Antwand Pearman's Online Shooter Ceasefire, according to TriForce.

But he's especially upset with one group in particular: the National Rifle Association (NRA), which this week issued a statement so unabashedly manipulative and intellectually dishonest that it boggles the mind.

TriForce had one response when I asked him for his thoughts on the matter. He said simply, "This means war."

He was adamant that his statement should not be taken out of context, but his conviction was palpable. "We're going to fight them the same way they decided to attack us," he told me. "We're going to use the media."

TriForce has become something of a minor gamer celebrity by being first in line in all of North America to buy Nintendo's Wii, 3DS and Wii U. And yes, TriForce is his real name. He loves video games, and he loves gamers, and he's got good reason to be upset. During a press conference this week, NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre called video games "the filthiest form of pornography".
"There exists in this country, sadly, a callous, corrupt and corrupting industry that sells and sows violence against its own people, through vicious, violent video games with names like Bulletstorm, Grand Theft Auto, Mortal Kombat, and Splatterhouse," LaPierre said.

Even Calif. senator Leland Yee, a staunch proponent of legislating against violent games, called the speech "pathetic".

But TriForce admitted that it won't be easy to fight back against forces as powerful as the media and the NRA when gamers are being used as a scapegoat.

"Gamers, we're good at winning every single battle, whether it's in first-person shooters, RPGs, action-adventure games, puzzles, races, you name it," TriForce said. "But when it comes to the media, that is a bad match, like a nine to one match-up, and in the media's favor."

"This is the NRA. We have to prepare ourselves for something like that. They know what they're doing," TriForce cautioned. But when it comes down to it, "This is not a video game issue. This is not a politics issue. This is a sick individual," TriForce told me.

And gamers shouldn't have to take the fall for that.

Photo taken from TriForce Johnson's Facebook page, as taken by Brent Dolan

Presented to you by Rooster Teeth, this fanimation by Shane Newville sheds some new light on what's really going on behind Mega Man's pixelated veil. Yeah, it turns out the little guy hasn't just been running, jumping and shooting in a straight line all these years. His real job is a lot harder than that.

This reminds me of that "Haloid" video from 2007—the one that put animator Monty Oum on the map. Check it out below and enjoy spending the rest of your night pondering who'd come out on top in that three-way.

Antwand Pearman is a father. As we spoke on the phone this afternoon, his kids chattered in the background. He kept apologizing, but I told him I didn't mind.

When Adam Lanza murdered 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn. last week, Pearman, CEO of GamerFitNation, was understandably affected. "I know I would lose my mind if my child didn't come home," he told me. So he decided to do something about it: he called for all gamers to participate in an Online Shooter Ceasefire on Dec. 21, abstaining from violent games for a single day to show respect for the victims and their families.

The response blew him away.

Pearman said the result was better than anything he expected. Based on the data he received from clans and organizations that participated and what he could surmise from social media, he estimated that around 50,000 gamers participated in the #OSCeasefire. Even hacktivist group Anonymous got on board, promoting the movement through social media.

He compared it to the Christmas truce that took place on the Western front of the first world war during 1914. As the holiday approached, British, French and German troops stopped shooting at one another long enough to exchange gifts, sing carols and play football.

"I wanted gamers to come together to try to show that we care," he told me. "It shows that we can come together and do something positive on a grand scale."

But not everyone was on board. Isaiah-TriForce Johnson (yes, that's his real name), internet famous for being the first in line for three Nintendo hardware releases in a row, told me on Friday that he would be playing whatever games he wanted.

In fact, TriForce, who makes a point every year to engage with charities through his organization Empire Arcadia, held his own tribute on the night of Dec. 21. He and some friends live streamed a marathon session of games like Zelda II and Street Fighter X Tekken—games that feature storylines in which you save kids. To promote his point of view he created a simple image that he hoped would be impossible to misinterpret:

"I've been around gaming for a very, very long time and I've watched the media butcher video games and blame video games for a whole bunch of stuff that has nothing to really do with us, or the manufacturers, or the developers, the producers, the inventors—it has nothing to do with us," he told me.

"The reason I think that the online ceasefire is a bad idea is because, as I said before, the media will take anything that we say and they will manipulate it," he continued. "I think the media would take that and use it against him."

TriForce said as much to Pearman, but the two didn't see eye-to-eye. "TriForce voiced that to me as well, but I'm like, 'Listen, one: you can't be afraid, you know, to come out and speak against something in fear of what's going to happen,'" Pearman told me. "You can't let the media define who you are, you know? You define who you are."

Besides, he said on Saturday the media coverage of the Ceasefire had been positive so far. He even appeared on CNN with Piers Morgan, who later tweeted a quote from Pearman: "I don't see how videogames… contribute to violence, especially when most (games) emulate real life."

I'm more inclined to agree with Pearman; when you fly a flag half-mast, you're not blaming the flag. A moment of silence is not an accusation aimed at speaking. And screw whoever wants to twist the Ceasefire to their own agenda. We're saying to those pundits and politicians who would use games as a scapegoat: we don't care what you say about us. We're going to show respect, and we're going to do it our way.

"You and I both know Antwand means good," TriForce said. "But we are in a very tense position in the nation right now. We're really walking on egg shells, and anything we do or say will be used against us."

I say let them try.

Archer, the crazy-good animated spy sitcom, is coming back on January 17th. That's almost a month from now! Thankfully, you can watch some smaller clips of the next season—where apparently there is a robot uprising and Lana is once again dating Cyril (geeze). There are also drowning puppies.

Now excuse me while I go listen to The Danger Zone on loop. Preparations, people.

Via Ali Neyers

Last week you voted on the lineup for Kotaku's Sunday Comics feature. The roster going forward will be:

Penny Arcade by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik.

Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich.

Manly Guys Doing Manly Things by Kelly Turnbull.

Brawl In The Family by Matthew Taranto.

Nerf NOW!! by Josué Pereira.

Nerf This by Scott Ferguson.

Brentalfloss the Comic by Brent Black, Andrew Dobson and Dan Roth.

Virtual Shackles by Jeremy Vinar and Mike Fahmie.

Another Videogame Webcomic by Phil Chan and Joe Dunn.

Corpse Run by Alex Di Stasi.

As you can see, newcomers are Nerf This, Brentalfloss the Comic and Corpse Run. You got rid of Action Trip and Legacy Control.

As promised, here is the final voting tally:

1. x-Penny Arcade (3,990 votes)
2. x-Awkward Zombie (3,616)
3. x-Manly Guys Doing Manly Things (3,042)
4. x-Brawl in the Family (2,655)
5. x-Nerf NOW!! (2,500)
6. Nerf This (2,477)
7. Brentalfloss the Comic (2,370)
8. x-Virtual Shackles (1,928)
9. Fanboys (1,840)*
10. x-Another Videogame Webcomic (1,661)

Yes, Fanboys pulled in ninth, good enough to make the feature instead of Corpse Run. I spent the entire week trying to get in touch with the strip's creator, who doesn't publish an email address, to discuss permission to republish. I went through Twitter, the strip's Facebook page, even a Tumblr AMA. None of my messages were returned, so on Friday afternoon I reached out to Corpse Run, the next highest-scoring comic, which accepted.

There it is. That's your comics page, as you voted on it. The new lineup begins tomorrow.

While most Diablo 3 players are scrambling for legendary loot on nightmare mode, others are creating their own real-life loot. Enter Arixystix Creations, who posted some images of these custom Diablo 2 plushies just before the holidays.

Not that it matters, since they're not available for sale. Don't worry, though—she's got plenty of other adorable patterns in her etsy shop, including a creeper from Minecraft and the Plants vs. Zombies plushies we posted about before.

Diablo 2 Plushies! [Arixystix Creations, Thanks Steve!]