You've no doubt already read up on it all by now, so give your brain a rest and soak up these three Diablo III clips. First, and above, is the game's official trailer. After the jump, an artwork clip and, best of all, a 19-minute gameplay shakedown.

Why content yourself with a blurry screen or a low-quality stream when you can get your Diablo III fix directly from the source? Blizzard has the official website for the game up and ready, already filled with pages of screenshots, a gameplay video, and the cinematic trailer, as well as concept art and one hell of an attractive aesthetic. Some of the links may not work, but we have to learn to crawl before we learn to slay hordes of bloodthirsty demons.

Diablo III Official Website [Blizzard]

Diablo III lead designer Jay Wilson took the stage at the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational 2008 to treat fans to a first look at the gameplay in the title, and while I will leave details to our embedded reporter Lesley Smith, who will be giving you the full skinny on the announcement shortly, I couldn't help but post this blurry screen captured from the live stream of the event.

Mmmmm, it's like coming home, isn't it?

What the hell, Blizzard? All of that teasing, all of those runes, and here it is, the Diablo III splash page. No fancy transition from the ice to this, just wham, bam, thank you fans. Oh well. At least we can still have fun figuring out what the penguin and Lost numbers signify.

I think the penguin stands for hope!

Well it's official folks! You can all scream like little girls and then pass out from complete exhaustion as Blizzard officially announces Diablo III at the 2008 Worldwide Invitational. Mike Morhaime told the audience at the opening ceremonies that they had a special announcement to make, the lights dimmed, and a guitar player took the stage, playing the unmistakable opening strains of the Diablo overworld theme. A trailer played, and Jay Wilson, lead designer of the game took the stage...to demo the game.

More to come!

by Lesley Smith

As is expected with Blizzard events, company employees were handing out the much-prized (and instantly eBayable) Goody Bags. The swish mini backpack emblazoned with the WWI logo includes a host of loot, including an in-game pet (which we've not yet been able to redeem in Booty Bay), the Beta key, a programme, a figure from the Upper Deck miniature game, a notebook and a mousemat sporting the event's banner featuring Arthas as well as characters from Diablo and Starcraft II.

We'll let you know what the pet is as soon as Landro Longshot makes nice and starts talking about the WWI.

Looks like that image you folks were pouring into our tips email all day was indeed a fan-made fake! This is the latest Blizzard splash page, ice5andahalf.jpg, indicating that ice6.jpg is on its way, more than likely to coincide with this morning's opening ceremonies of the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational in Paris. The runes are all aglow now in their pentagram-like configuration, and the eyes more intense than ever before.

More Quake mods! While that Simpsons one from the other day was admirable for its craftsmanship, this one is notable for its vision: a recreation of the style, if not the exact setting, of A-Ha's Take On Me video. Sadly, the vid cuts off before we get to see what must be an inevitable boss fight against those creepy blokes in motorcycle helmets, followed by a polygonal reunion with that girl with the awful hair.

[via College Humour]

Got your talking hat on? If you're going to talk, you need a good hat don't chu know. And if you're going to talk, talk to us. That's right, here it is, TELL US DAMMIT. How it works: We ask a question, you answer it. Simple and no strings attached! This isn't some marketing survey or whatever. It's an emotional investment in you. Yes, we're interested in knowing you, Kotaku reader person. You probably know fucktons about us -- more than you even want to, we're sure. But, hey, we'd like to know about you. That way you won't be some faceless blob -- and we might feel a tinge of guilt when we ban your arse. Or not, because really we're incapable of human emotion. We think.

Earlier in the week I asked if I should take a break from GTAIV and start MGS4. Being the impatient bastard I am, I went ahead and started Metal Gear Solid 4. It's a nice game! Quite enjoying it.

Question: Granted, MGS4 *is* of course a Metal Gear Solid game, but do you think the cutscenes are too long?

Duke Nukem's development is - according to 3D Realms' Scott Miller - "swimming along nicely". No, "seriously nicely". So it's fair to assume that we'll be seeing it in some kind of capacity at this year's E3, right? Uh, no. It won't be there. At all. Why not? Miller says it's because E3 is now irrelevant. "It's just that we view E3 as irrelevant nowadays. In fact, I wasn't even aware it was coming up". Harsh words from Scott Miller, who is perhaps secretly envious that E3 has a firm date.

3D Realms: Duke Coming Along, E3 "Irrelevant" [Next-Gen]

Connecticut Senator Searching For "Rape Scene" In GTA IV
Comment by: Nobuyuki
Nominated by: Kokatu

Oh man, you guys totally missed the rape scene. You get like a million points for it too.

The Penny Arcade game is, surprisingly, pretty great. What we've played so far could certainly have been easier, but the game's mid-90s-Lucasarts-adventure-game charm certainly carried it through any niggles we had over the combat's difficulty. With the first episode behind us, though, it's time to turn to episode two. It'll be on show at this year's PAX, but as a sneak peek, Penny Arcade have posted up one of the characters/adversaries from the game: the Hat Spider. Official description: "The vicious Hat Spider is a deadly new foe. As ferocious as he is fashionable. Just because you're an eight-legged nightmare doesn't mean you can't accessorise".

Episode 2 [Penny Arcade]

Sorry for being curt there, but really, that's about all there is to these latest Soul Calibur IV shots. Tits. Oh, and that subtle crotch shot. Good to see Namco Bandai are remembering it's not all about Star Wars, and that there's a church full of the converted who still enjoy being preached to every now and again.

An online survey that may have spilled the beans on the artist line-up for Rock Band 2 may have also given us a peek at what's coming to Guitar Hero World Tour. According to details from an online survey forwarded to us by a second reader, Guitar Hero World Tour will feature playable digital versions of Sting, Ozzy Osbourne, Ted Nugent, Billy Corgan, Jimi Hendrix, Travis Barker, Hayley Williams, and Zak Wylde. We had previously caught wind of Corgan's appearance in the next Guitar Hero after photos of the Smashing Pumpkins frontman in a motion capture suit were passed on.

The survey also lists a number of artists that have yet to be confirmed, but were revealed in a leak from market research firm Intellisponse. Those artists, still unconfirmed, include Korn, The Doors, Interpol and System of a Down. One additional artist, Tool, is now also rumoured to join the stable of Guitar Hero World Tour music acts.

The full survey description is after the break.

Japanese readers, circle it on your calendars in your reddest pen. Anyone outside Japan with a few grand to blow, you've got a date to book your flights to Narita International. Because Capcom has announced that Street Fighter IV will be rolling out to Japanese arcades on July 18. That's less than a month! If you're not Japanese, hey, chin up, kid. Don't let it get you down. Because for Americans, it'll also be available to play at Comic-Con on July 24-27 (Europeans, you're already taken care of)

「稼働日発表！」　プロジェクトマネージャー：塩沢夏希 [SFIV Blog]

Oft-requested Aussie rockers AC/DC may be one of the artists coming to Rock Band 2, according to details from an online survey forwarded to us by a reader. The survey boasted of "120 of the biggest rock anthems from the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and 2000s" including "songs from gods of rock like AC/DC and many, many others".

Other details provided by the survey promised improved "instruments, character creation, and online play" noting that drums would see some sort of undisclosed improvement.

Descriptions of the sequel to the original Rock Band also note that players will have the option to "develop and personalise artwork and apparel in the game, which you can then order as actual merchandise to be mailed to you". Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopulos talked up some of those features something we've seen little of in reality.

Welcome back, Smash Bros. Dojo! We were wondering if you were going to do anything to commemorate the European launch of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. We absolutely love it when you do these "Snapshots Galore" posts, because we need more images of Donkey Kong in a spotted diaper floating around our brains.

Sadly, we think the "return" of the Smash Bros. Dojo will be very short lived and that it will be some time before we see another update to the site. Our European friends who have expertly avoided spoilers up until this point will want to steer clear of this latest update, as unlockable characters abound.

Snapshots Galore #3 [Smash Bros. Dojo - thanks, Kiriphii!]

Why do the civil engineers in the Sonic universe feel the need to construct boost pads, spring loaded bumpers and twisting rails that connect to nothing? They're everywhere! And who's putting those gold rings all over the place? I realise we're discussing a game in which a giant blue hedgehog who wears shoes battles robots at high speeds and occasionally gets freaky with human beings, but c'mon. Sure, Sonic Unleashed looks good -- better than any Sonic the Hedgehog effort we've seen in a long time -- but when Sega's mascot gets all real world on us, we have to question this stuff.

This much crisper look at the Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 version is also available in impressive high definition.

Sonic Unleashed Trailer [GameTrailers]

We've been inundated with tips today pointing us to an image that, in some people's eyes, proves that Blizzard is on the cusp of announcing Diablo III. They may very well be, but that image is sadly no proof at all. Work that was attributed by some to "hackers" who weaseled their way into the well-secured depths of Blizzard's web site is more than likely just a ruse, just clever Photoshop work designed to toy with your emotions.

Oh yes, we've known about the existence of Metal Slug 7 for some time now, but today, Ignition and SNK Playmore make an honest game of the Nintendo DS title. You know the drill with this Metal Slug stuff. Walk right, occasionally left, you might possibly move vertically, and while you do, shoot everything. It should be on store shelves some time this fall.

This was in the press release and attributed to the President of Ignition Entertainment Ajay Chadha: "Truth be told, I have a pink DS and was embarrassed to play it in public. Now with Metal Slug 7 loaded, I have no qualms". Excellent.

By Lesley Smith

While the rest of Kotaku are puzzling over that ever changing Blizzard splash screen and the recently revealed purple penguin, I'm sitting in a hotel overlooking the Eiffel Tower and stroking my press pass into this weekend's Worldwide Invitational. Upon arriving this afternoon, a perky Blizzard employee thrust the nice folder you see above into my hands along with said press pass.

While I'd love to report the folder contains the secrets of the universe, all it happened to hold was shuttle information to the event and - of all things - a walking guide to Paris and a map.

Okay ....

However the event itinerary has been released on the official WWI site; it all kicks off tomorrow morning with the opening ceremony and there's a press conference right after. Hmmm what could that mean? Whether it's Diablo 3, a release date for Wrath of the Lich King and Starcraft II, a new IP or all of the above, we'll be bringing you the news as it happens.

According to E3.net and various excited internet reports, Half-Life 2: Episode Three will be making its debut appearance at E3, just a few weeks away. According to the site, it will also be joined by titles like Kid Icarus and Animal Crossing for Wii. That'd be great news, if E3.net were the official E3 site, as some reports have claimed, and not an unofficial UGO owned web site.

According to Valve's marketing director Doug Lombardi Half-Life 2: Episode Three won't be making an appearance at E3 this year, with the listing chalked up to a "misprint (or something)". We would assume that if Valve is showcasing anything at E3 this year, it will be Left 4 Dead which is planned for a November 4 release.

To: All of Kotaku
From: Stephen
Re: Nobody Knows Good Pasta Like Stephen Totilo Does (Photo Proof!)

Well, this was a fun week. And a hard one.

Juggling a day job and Crecente's shoes isn't easy. (Oh, but the smell -- wow!) A fan of Kotaku and my MTV blog said the past week was like the Jetsons Meet The Flintstones. That was a good cross-over, right?

I enjoyed my time posting for the readers here and rubbing elbows with the fine Kotaku editorial staff. You're all an impressive bunch and terrific group to write for. I always try to do work that I'd like to read -- that is interesting, respects people's intelligence, and, when suitable, enjoyable. I'm glad it seemed to hit the mark here.

I hope all you Kotaku readers out there will never lose sight of the influence you wield. Your decisions about what you consider important and worth reading direct the reporters and bloggers who ultimately serve you. Go with your gut and please keep helping the coverage of games improve, as I think it has, year after year.

And, if you didn't do so already, please drop by MTV Multiplayer blog next week and beyond to see what we're up to over there. I won't even force you to take a quiz or read about Jimmy Olsen.

See you in the comments section.

What you may have missed

New Details On DC Universe Online
My Game Collection Is This Small
Was There A Better Way To Pitch A Lego: Transformers Game?
Yes, I Really Did Watch A Guy Play Boogie Superstar
I Beat Harry Potter's Executive Producer In A Wand Duel
This Samsung Xbox 360 TV Looks Fake (But It's Not A Bad Idea)

In our previous encounters with Sega, reps have told us that they were "thinking" about maraca controllers for the Wii version of Samba de Amigo. They're "looking into it," they say. Well, if this box art from UK retailer HMV is right, they're pretty much a lock. Dug up by GoNintendo, the included maracas appear to be sleeve-style attachments, not dedicated controllers similar to the ones Sega shipped alongside the Dreamcast version of Samba.

HMV is currently listing the game and maraca combo for £34.99 (about $AU 72.91 USD). We've contacted Sega to find out more and have expressed our genuine excitement, hoping that they'll get back to us sooner rather than later.

Samba De Amigo: Including Maracas [HMV via GoNintendo]

Earlier today, a tipster who wished to remain anonymous sent us the above pic, something he claimed was the Samsung "X-Series" LCD TV. According to the tipster, the television would be the "first on market" to integrate Xbox 360 hardware when it shipped this November in the United States and Europe. The TV was purported to include four USB ports, 512 MB of hard drive space(?) and a "ring of light" style power button. It even came with a model number (XS40R360A) for maximum believability.

That would mesh nicely with that rumour from EGM that Microsoft was permitting third parties to manufacture their own Xbox 360 compatible hardware, wouldn't it? Unfortunately, it all sounds like total bunkum.

Okay, so I like Harry Potter. I checked out the Wii version of EA's upcoming Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince, slated to drop alongside the film, mainly because I was interested in seeing what kind of magic wand a Wii remote made.

I had it demoed for me by executive producer Jonathan Bunney and producer Justin Manning, and it came down to a fight.

Actually, the first part of the demo let me try out the potion-mixing minigame; you've got a bubbling cauldron and a desk full of ingredients like little vials, bottles, leeches and caterpillars, and symbol-based instructions for each step of the potion-making scroll up in a little wheel to the screen's right. A potion-making sim was a first for me, and I exploded the thing a few times, but it was mostly pretty fun, especially when you can tilt the Wii remote to spill a beaker's contents into the cauldron and then make a stirring motion to whirl it up until the colour changes. It's all timed and ranks your precision, which was pretty fun.

You can play Fallout games many ways: as a brute, as a marksman, as a pacifist, as a diplomat. Hipolito is a blogger who decided to play Fallout 2 as an idiot.

He started his character with an intelligence of 2 and is chronicling his playthrough on his blog. Funny? A bit. Frustrating? The blogger writes:

This might sound like a downer, but it's a burden to be dumb (Intelligence < 4). It's like being evil; you might get a kick out of the dialogues, but there are much fewer quests and party members available to you. Even Sulik didn't join me! I thought I had read somewhere that the quests in Fallout 2 would play out completely differently for a dumb person, such that he could essentially Gump his way to victory. So far, though, many of the quests aren't playing out at all.

I played Fallout 3 last week in L.A. (in the same room as the legendary, long-lost Crecente). I didn't do very well. Maybe my character's intelligence was set to 2 as well.

Fallout 2 for Dummies: A Post Nukular AAR [Octopus Overlords blog]

Just last month, Crecente checked out EA's DS rhythm title Zubo, and the verdict of the commenters based on his impressions was that it looks like a "bizarre kids' game". I got to give it a whirl myself yesterday, and I actually find it pretty interesting.

Like Crecente said, it leans heavily on its art style, cool mini-fig style creatures that are really artsy and look vivid and fantastic on the DS. The basic gameplay might lead one to believe it's a kids' title, but since higher difficulty levels advance in complexity, I have to say with cautious optimism that I'd probably enjoy it too.

Particularly, I liked the character designs.

Ever conscious of educating today's youth, Nintendo has been providing DS systems to an all-girls school in Tokyo. The AP got their reporter into one classroom full of "giggly" seventh-graders to determine if any learning was going on.

In the process, the AP determined the favourite game of one 12-year-old:

Like many other Japanese youngsters, she has the DS at home and plays DS games like "Mario Kart" and "Animal Crossing". But she insisted her favourite was her English class software

It was only a couple of years ago that I went to a high school in Chicago to watch students try to learn from Civilisation III. Putting each student at a desktop computer seemed to make communication hard. I wonder if the DS is any better a replacement for a textbook.

Curious detail about this story #1: Nintendo is providing 40 DSes to a classroom of 32.
Curious detail about this story #2: English Training for best game?

Nintendo DS Teaches English In School [AP via NPR, OK?] [English Training DS Pic]

While wrangling coverage of Blizzard's Worldwide Invitational will consume a portion of my weekend, spending more time hands-on with Silicon Knights' Too Human will swallow up quite a bit more of my Saturday and Sunday. Expect extended impressions on that game throughout next week. To wind down, I'll be devoting some personal time with Team Fortress 2, playing as one of the many Pyros clogging the ranks on the hunt for Steam Achievements and new weapons. Oh, and there's Soul Bubbles to finish. Lordy!

Other than that, it's time for serious Summer fun. We'll be bandying about shuttlecocks and grilling lots of meat in the greater Los Angeles area, working on our third sunburn. What have you got planned for this regular sized weekend? Any gaming gettin' done?