Sony released this trailer today for MLB 13 The Show, and producer Ramone Russell vowed that "about 10 Easter Eggs are included in it."

Operation Sports's community has gone dissecting it frame-by-frame; here are some of their readers' guesses:

• "So RttS and HRD now both have some "personal lock on ball" view with a ball trail."

• "Uniform editor possibly outside of [Diamond Dynasty]"

• A ton of speculation around "The Show Live" a new feature that's gone largely undescribed to now.

• Andrew McCutcheon (a cover candidate) picking grass and floating it in the air opened a few guesses. "Why? Is it because of a pre game player analysis? 3D grass?"

• This one is confirmed by Russell himself: "In season modes, when a player is traded or joins a new team in the offseason, if they have a real photo it will be replaced with the cap screen shot. So basically if you do a fantasy draft franchise every player on your team will be wearing the correct hats and jerseys."

MLB 13 The Show's voting for its cover star will open next week, look for more details on the game then. The game arrives on shelves the first Tuesday of March.

MLB 13 The Show Trailer - First Look [Operation Sports]

People wasted no time last month following the tragic events at Sandy Hook, judging from the existence of a dev blog that purports to show screenshots of Sandy Hook: The Game. According to the website, the game is the "official video game of the sandy hook massacre, you play as Adam Lanza."

Not much is shown in terms of game design, which makes it difficult to judge whether or not this is real. My gut says no, especially given how flippant it all seems (there is a postcard that straight has a caption with the word 'edgy' in it for example) but that may be mostly because I want to have a shred of hope in humanity. Also because the game just seems fake somehow.

"Dylan Hockley tells you to have a very edgy Christmas."

If it is real, it seems to be in early stages of development. It seems that there are plans for certain characters such as Nancy Lanza, and some of the professors at the school.

Despite the obvious discomfort around such an idea, perhaps this shouldn't be surprising—Columbine had its own game, after all. Regardless, this looks kind of stupid.

We are reaching out to the folks behind the blog to find out more and will update as we come to know more information.

UPDATE: The game has an indieDB page, made by the same user behind the blog—LiveCort. The game's full page has been taken down though, possibly because of the subject matter.

Either way, the profile claims that the game developer is 37 and from Canada. Apparently he has worked on a different game called The Kid's Super Tower Defence as well.

The spectacular crash of Curt Schilling's video game development studio was one of the most stunning—and heart-wrenchingly sad—news stories of last year.

The downward spiral of the company that made Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning has been well-documented but this news report by Reason does a nice job of laying out the stakes, motivations and consequences of the whole sordid affair. The video covers a lot of ground, looking at the political motivations that entangled the state of Rhode Island in a big MMO mess.

Sonic The Hedgehog released in 2006 sure is a terrible game. The duo known as Game Grumps learned this the hard way, and broadcasted their experience playing the game for their audience about a month ago.

The original, which you can watch down below, is pretty funny on its own. But it also inspired possibly the silliest Source Filmmaker video (above) that I have seen so far.

Have you guys heard of Game Grumps? Have you heard of JonTron—known for raging against terrible games—and egoraptor—known for his cartoon videos—two YouTubers we've featured here on Kotaku before?

The two have come together to form Game Grumps, playing a lot of awful retro titles (among other games) for the amusement of their audiences. They're great together.

But the reenactment video above by thatscoutisaspy? That's something just as special.

Xbox support has a Twitter account—it's very helpful and responsive, in my experience! But sometimes, the stuff they have to put up with is so idiotic that I can't believe how patient they are. I know I couldn't be after this exchange on Twitter.

A bigger picture of what he sent them:

And then after THAT, Xbox support got this inquiry.

Cripes. Guess they aren't joking around when they say they're the Guinness world record holder for "Most Responsive Brand on Twitter."

Start flipping open those cute puppy calendars your parents bought you, and pull out your Sharpies, because it's time to get down to the temporal nitty gritty on entertainment in 2013. We've got a ton of (hopefully) great, big games, movies, and more to look forward to this year. My wallet cringes at the thought.

To help you plan out your upcoming couch hours, here's a chronological look at the essentials on the horizon; from games to hardware, events, movies and TV. Things still waiting on a specific release date are down at the bottom.

This list will be updated periodically as new info rolls in.

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January

1/15 - DmC: Devil May Cry (PS3, Xbox 360, PC)

1/22 - Ni no Kuni (PS3)

February

2/4 - Fire Emblem: Awakening (3DS)

2/5 - Dead Space 3 (PS3, Xbox 360, PC)

2/12 - Aliens: Colonial Marines (PS3, Xbox 360, PC, Wii U[TBD])

2/19 - Crysis 3 (PS3, Xbox 360, PC)

2/19 - Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (PS3, Xbox 360)

2/26 - Rayman Legends (Wii U)

March

3/5 - Tomb Raider (PS3, Xbox 360, PC)

3/5 - SimCity (PC, Mac)

3/12 - God of War: Ascension (PS3)

3/12 - StarCraft II: Heart of The Swarm (PC, Mac)

3/19 - Gears of War: Judgment (Xbox 360)

3/22-24 - PAX East: The guys behind Penny Arcade host the 4th outing of their Boston based gaming expo.

3/25-29 - GDC: The Game Developer's Conference, a professionals-only event where developers network and interact in San Francisco.

3/26 - BioShock: Infinite (PS3, Xbox 360, PC)

3/31 - Game of Thrones Season 3 premieres.

April

4/12 - Evil Dead released in theaters.

4/23 - Dead Island: Riptide (PS3, Xbox 360, PC)

May

5/3 -Iron Man 3 released in theaters.

5/7 - The Last of Us (PS3)

5/17 - Star Trek Into Darkness released in theaters.

June

6/11-13 - E3: The Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, where big publishers gather to show off the year's hottest games.

6/14 - Man of Steel released in theaters.

6/28 - Kick-Ass 2 released in theaters.

July

7/12 -Pacific Rim released in theaters.

7/26 - The Wolverine released in theaters.

August

8/19-21 - GDC Europe: The European instance of the aforementioned Game Developers Conference.

8/21-25 - Gamescom: The world's largest gaming trade show, held in Germany.

8/30-9/2 - PAX Prime: A massive Seattle-based expo also put on by the Penny Arcade crew.

September

9/19-22 - Tokyo Game Show: Another very large expo, TGS shows off the newest properties from Eastern developers.

Games/Products/Events Without Dates

Ouya Console (March/April)

BlizzCon (August/October): Blizzard's convention is coming back in 2013 after a year hiatus.

Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (March) [Wii U, 3DS]

South Park: The Stick of Truth (Spring) [PS3, Xbox 360, PC]

Pikmin 3 (Spring) [Wii U]

Splinter Cell: Blacklist (Spring) [PS3, Xbox 360, PC]

Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon (Q1 2013) [3DS]

Assassin's Creed III: The Tyranny of King Washington (Q1 2013) [PS3, Xbox 360, PC, Wii U]

Call of Duty: Black Ops II Revolution DLC (Q1 2013)

Grand Theft Auto V (Q2 2013) [PS3, Xbox 360]

Metro: Last Light (March) [PS3, Xbox 360, PC]

Remember Me (May) [PS3, Xbox 360, PC]

Injustice: Gods Among Us (April) [PS3, Xbox 360, Wii U]

Destiny

Star Wars 1313

Watch_Dogs [PS3, Xbox 360, PC]

The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct [PS3, Xbox 360, PC]

Lost Planet 3 [PS3, Xbox 360, PC]

Deadpool [PS3, Xbox 360]

Beyond: Two Souls [PS3, PC, Mac]

Fortnite [PC]

Rainbow 6: Patriots [PS3, Xbox 360, PC]

GameStop's stock price closed lower by $1.30—a five percent loss overall—after word this morning that Sony had applied for a patent on technology that could restrict how used games are played on its next console.

Used games are, of course, a cornerstone of the GameStop customer experience, whether trading them in for store credit toward other purchases or buying older releases for less than full price. The news was enough for the gaming industry analyst Michael Pachter of Wedbush Securities to send a note to investors that, while acknowledging the patent filing, downplayed the idea Sony's next console would outright prohibit used or previously played games.

"Sony benefits little from a unilateral decision to block games," he wrote. "The company's first party software sales represent less than 10 percent of overall sales on its consoles, and it is unlikely that blocking used games would result in a lift of more than 10 percent in new game sales. That means that Sony's sales would rise only marginally if the PS4 blocked used games."

Moreover, "Sony would be materially hurt if its console blocked used games and competitor consoles from Microsoft and Nintendo did not," Pachter said. He maintained confidence in GameStop, rating it at "outperform" and setting a 12-month share price target of $33 for it. The stock currently sits at $24.36 a share; it opened the day at $25.44 and began falling at the time the Sony news spread.

Pachter says a "more rational view" is that the technology Sony has is meant to provide individual publishers with the means of blocking used games from the console, if they so choose. "Should a publisher be reckless enough to risk the wrath of its customers, Sony's ID matching technology would allow that publisher to create terms of use that are similar to a software license, rather than to a disc sale," he said. "We do not believe that either Sony or any publishers are currently foolhardy enough to take such a risk.

"The news has negatively impacted GameStop shares, and we think the reaction is overblown," he added. Four other analysts, including Arvind Bhatia of Sterne Agee, sounded similar notes in memos to investors.

Kotaku reached out to GameStop for a comment on the news but did not receive one as of publication time. In a call to investors last March, GameStop's CEO Paul Raines said "We think it's unlikely that there would be that next-gen console [that blocks used games] because the model simply hasn't been proven that works."

Almost a year ago, Microsoft was rumored to be considering similar anti-used game measures in its next console, codenamed Durango. Those whispers were enough to send GameStop's share price on a similar, if more gradual slide, losing $1.73 from its $25 price in a week. The stock did rebound, but didn't surpass a $25 share price again until November.

GameStop shares fall on Sony patent application [Yahoo! Finance]

Power A has the MOGA. Nyko has its PlayPad. Steel Series has gone Free. Everybody's trying to get into the mobile gaming controller market, looking to deliver a game pad solution that all game developers can embrace. Mad Catz isn't just building a mobile game pad. They're creating a universal Bluetooth technology initiative called GameSmart in order to deliver a full range of traditional gaming accessories to the mobile market.

With GameSmart, Mad Catz is essentially attempting rip the mobile gaming peripheral market wide open and fill it with their products. Apple isn't keen to create a controller standard for iOS devices, which leaves peripheral creators tricking iPads and iPhones into thinking a game pad is a Bluetooth keyboard in order to function. Meanwhile, Android has the capability to hook up a game pad built right in, but the many hardware solutions available don't play well with each other, and not a lot of game developers are chomping at the bit to use controls other than the touchscreen anyway.

With the line between PCs and tablets blurring further each day however, I can imagine a time when mobile gamers will want more. I've already been shopping around for a convenient (read: wireless) way to hook my various tablets up to my television set. The company that can deliver a universal Bluetooth mouse and keyboard control option for the next mobile Call of Duty-clone could stand to make a little dough.

Perhaps Mad Catz will be that company. Their GameSmart technology uses Bluetooth Smart in order to ensure easy compatibility with all of the latest smart devices—iPads, iPhones, iPod Touches, Android tablets and phones and Windows 8 tablets and PCs. GameSmart accessories will be simple to connect for the end-user, while offering game developers and publishers "standardization, ease of implementation and scalability."

"There are a number of point-to-point solutions in the market today that provide proof of concept, but the industry needs an agnostic operating system solution to provide standardization, ease of implementation and scalability," said Mad Catz president and CEO Darren Richardson via official announcement. "With our long history in the gaming industry, Mad Catz has the technical capability, product breadth, global distribution, and developer and publisher relationships that uniquely position our company to make this ambitious initiative a success."

It's definitely an ambitious initiative, but it also sounds a great deal like many prior attempts to provide a standard for mobile controllers. Many have enjoyed limited success, but none have really stuck.

Mad Catz plans to reveal the first GameSmart peripherals next week during the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show, with plans to launch shortly thereafter. Will they succeed? Can they succeed? Check back in a couple of months.

New year, new cretins who hate women who dare to like video games. Here are a couple of videos by YouTube user ShrineNI where he tells people how to go about finding and harassing women gamers, particularly those who stream on services like TwitchTV and play World of Warcraft. His main gripe seems to be that they are attractive and are 'using' that against men who are too stupid to resist falling for them and then donating to them (his reasoning, not mine.)

Juicy tidbits from the description of the video above:

They're a 4/10 in the real world, but a 9/10 in the gaming world.

I'm linking it not because I want you to subscribe, but to spread awareness of a disease known as AWS (Attention Whore Syndrome). You can help prevent future cases being developed by subscribing to ShrineNI.

Though really, the title of the video gives it away, huh?

Examining his gripe, it seems to lie with seeing that some women only like certain parts of World of Warcraft, or they don't dedicate all of their time to mastering a particular class. Because of that, they're not legit.

Actual quote from the above video that utterly baffles my mind: "We need to do a stealthy search of all the common spots you might find a girl gamer. In order to do this, we need to get into the MIND of a girl gamer."

It only gets worse as he walks through all the common faults/crimes committed by these women (which can be summarized as 'existing,' 'being attractive,' and 'not playing the way I want them to') and puts forth evidence that they are not hardcore enough to have a right to exist without criticism or harassment.

I'm kind of saddened that this whole thing didn't follow up the whole 'get into the mind of a girl gamer' thing with 'and then we must become the girl gamer.'

Because really, it's so surreal and baffling that an actual human being would be so ignorant and hateful. So much so that I'm almost having trouble believing it's true. Let's postulate, just for a second, that the video is a troll.

First off, there are two of them—see the other embedded video to the left, where he gives more in-depth 'advice' and even shows the reactions of his victims. At one instance she pleads to be left alone, to which he responds that he's going to destroy her.

Okay, maybe this is an elaborate hoax. But! But, but, but. The comments. Dear god, the comments: actually asking for further advice or rooting him on, meaning that even if the YouTube user isn't real, there are still people out there who genuinely think like he does.

And that's horrifying to think about, and part of the reason why this issue keeps coming back up. There are still people like this, despite all the constant attention brought to the issue.

Some samples:

What would you advise for a 2s comp? What would be a good partner for resto druid?

I support you though. Screw ugly whores

i want to thank you for this great idea, me and a friend have been ganking this same girl as the one in the video now for 3 hours it was alot of fun.

If you don't recognize feminism as the blight it has become on mankind, I can just think of you as a moron right back. Men and women are not the same.

You do a great service to society, but are vastly unappreciated. I commend thee, good sir. Please, have my children.

Women being manipulative sadistic bitches who think they're better than men.

The last thing I put forth for your consideration is what he says at the end of the second video, when he explains why he does it all.

"I'm not a hero, I'm a silent guardian. A watchful protector."

Right.

You don't realize just how good a gaming year it's been until you look back at all of the games you actually played. From physics puzzlers to ninja simulators, 2012's library was full of interesting, creative, unique experiences.

I played a lot of games last year. A few were bad. Most were good. Some were great. Those are the ones I'll remember: the games that stood out from the pack in memorable ways. So here are my ten favorite games of 2012. Presented in no particular order:

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Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward

My personal game of the year, Virtue's Last Reward kept me up for many hours, many nights in a row. Though some—like Kotaku boss Stephen Totilo—have found the game's opaque puzzles and overwrought dialogue to be rather tedious, I enjoyed every moment of Aksys's chilling visual novel.

The Last Story

A wonderfully well-written role-playing game with pleasant British voice acting and combat that taught me how to enjoy running around and smashing the A button, The Last Story (not to be confused with Hironobu Sakaguchi's other work, Final Fantasy) is the year's best JRPG—if not the generation's.

Dishonored

I've written a lot about how Dishonored is a stellar experience, but really, all that matters is the Blink spell. There are few abilities in a video game as satisfying, as empowering, as totally game-breaking as an ability that you can use to teleport anywhere at any time. The world and art direction are just dismally gorgeous icing on the delicious Blink cake.

Persona 4: Golden

Let me sum up my feelings toward Persona 4 with an anecdote. A few nights ago, I was fighting one of the game's final bosses. After a solid 45 minutes of battling, I had taken him down to something like 10% health. I was following the same patterns: buff, attack, heal, rinse, repeat. I was ready for it to be over.

He uses one attack. Bam. My main character instantly dies. Game over. Time to start again.

If I was playing any other game, I might have quit and moved onto something else at this point. Instead, I went and killed monsters for an hour to make my characters stronger. Persona 4 is the worst. (Also the best.)

Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy

Rhythm games are fun, Final Fantasy music is fantastic, and there's something really special about a game that combines the two. Even when you're repeating the same songs ad infinitum, it's hard not to love the addictive, frenetic tapping of Theatrhythm. The name, on the other hand, is very easy not to love.

Quantum Conundrum

I enjoyed every minute of this first-person puzzler, wonky physics aside. I wish the ending had been more satisfying, but the journey was totally worth it.

Torchlight 2

Funny that the year's best Diablo game wasn't even called Diablo.

Mark of the Ninja

Forget the snappy controls and smart interface; the best part of Mark of the Ninja is that every stage feels like a puzzle with multiple solutions. Would you like to choke out that guard from behind or throw a smoke bomb so you can get past him without being seen? Ninja is a smart, tight, remarkably enjoyable game.

Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask

It's easy to complain about the "annualization" of video games—how companies like to milk a series cow for yearly sequels until the teat has run way too dry. But when it comes to Layton, I say bring it on: the professor's charming puzzle adventures just seem to get better and better every year.

Far Cry 3

Because shooting down pirates, running into the forest, finding myself face to face with a giant tiger, getting the hell out of dodge, finding a hang-glider, and using it to soar across the skies to safety was one of my most enjoyable gaming experiences in 2012.