Fez is already on track to be this year's indie darling among critics, like Braid, Limbo or Super Meat Boy before it. Heck, it received awards before it ever launched. We called Fez "joyful" and entirely worth its protracted development. We aren't alone.

• Eurogamer (100/100): "It's during this stage that you'll seriously tackle the game's many secrets - all handily marked, but not at all spoiled, on the head-spinning 3D map screen. Think Miyamoto, Kojima or Schafer at their most impish: treasure maps, invisible platforms, secret messages delivered in unexpected ways, puns and tricks of the light."
• OXM (95/100): "For an experience that could've drowned in an overreliance on using familiar signposts from what's come before it, Fez succeeds in celebrating the past in a smart, joyous way that has us incredibly excited for gaming's future."
• Edge (90/100): "Draw lines between distant landmarks; forge connections that reveal the logic of a set piece; untangle the story in short, gleeful bursts. The route you pick through Polytron's floating world is nearly impossible to verbalise, while its puzzles resolve themselves in your mind unexpectedly, in clear, wordless chunks. There's really no language to cover many of the things you get up to in Fez. For a videogame in 2012, that may be the ultimate endorsement."
• Gamespot (85/100): "Fez goes far deeper than the simple platformer it initially appears as, and figuring out the solutions to the many puzzles is an experience that harks back to a time when games weren't scared of taking off the leash and letting you run wild. Invest time in Fez's colorful world, and enjoy the wealth of incredible ideas buried within. "

For those of you in need of a professional-grade accessory for a low-cost downloadable game, Hori announced plans to release an official Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown arcade stick for PS3 in North America this summer.

Based on Hori's Real Arcade Pro V3 SA model, the VF5 stick uses authentic Sanwa Denshi parts for the stick and buttons, and totally inauthentic optional turbo settings for all buttons. Pricing has not been announced, but the stick runs for 13,800 yen ($170) in Japan.

The Shadowrun Returns Kickstarter passed the $1 million mark, meaning all $15 backers will receive the Linux port of the final game -- but that's not all.

Harebrained Schemes added a new $125 donor level that rewards backers with the Deluxe Boxed Edition. This includes a "game disc, soundtrack disc, a mini-poster, and -- check this -- a Shadowrun Returns USB Dog Tag set, containing DRM-free versions of the game (PC/Mac/Linux) and soundtrack (and maybe one or two other surprises, too)," Harebrained writes.

There are two days left in the Shadowrun Returns Kickstarter, so if you enjoy dog tags, get on that thing now.

A Virus Named Tom is one of those under-the-radar indie titles that we've been secretly following for a while now, and we finally have a valid reason to talk about it. A Virus Named Tom is an action-puzzler from Misfits Attic following a mad scientist attempting to destroy civilization with a -- wait for it -- virus named Tom. Check out the intro trailer above.

A Virus Named Tom is now available for pre-order and beta download on Desura, and is set to launch in full version soon on Steam, OnLive and, of course, Desura.

Ever since we saw that ad for the PS9, we've been dreaming of a really cool augmented reality gaming future. The video Google produced for its Project Glass got us excited for what could be, but what video production troupe There is a Canal did with the idea is basically read our diary and create a video of what we want: Battlefield 5 played on a pair of AR goggles.

It's a future we mostly want right now – well, not now now. We should probably get in shape before running around an abandoned lot, pretending to shoot imaginary people.

Microsoft will implement another way to take your money through Xbox Live this holiday season, according to a description on group product planner Praveen Rutnam's LinkedIn profile. It reads: "Developed strategy to further monetize Xbox LIVE subscriber base that will be implemented for holiday 2012."

Without jumping to any rash, outlandish conclusions based on this vague statement, we can't help but consider what this change could be. One innocent possibility is a phasing-out of Microsoft Points, an event that was rumored in January and refuted in translation by Microsoft Switzerland. A more sinister possibility involves a console-based "online pass" and sacrificial spellwork.

Fez programmer Renaud Bedard notes "twenty thousand people" have played the game in the past 24 hours, more than have in its five years of development, adding: "So, as it happens, bugs popped up. Some pretty serious."

Bedard mentions that a "small subset" of older Xboxen with smaller hard drives can't run the game. He also notes the game has problems running off a USB stick and that in a "rare situation" – by exiting the game from the "wall village" interiors – a save file can corrupt. He admits it's "nasty stuff."

"We will be working internally and with Microsoft on those issues and let you know more later. It makes sense to issue a patch, but we don't currently have an ETA on it."

Those experiencing "game-breaking problems" should let Polytronic know by email.

"Sorry, and thanks for understanding!" He concludes, "And we're thrilled to see that the vast majority of you are enjoying the game as it was meant to be."

Meet the new protagonists of Pokemon Black 2 and White 2. They're the guy with hair spilling out of his visor and the girl with Princess Leia hair. In this trailer, you'll also see the rival (spiky haired guy with no nose), a researcher named Akuroma, and some new gym leaders.

We hope we're not spoiling anything by telling you that you'll have a rival and face a series of gym leaders. Pokemon Black 2 and White 2 will be out in Japan on June 23; it's due in North America this fall.

"To be clear, this is R&D – it doesn't in any way involve a product at this point, and won't for a long while, if ever – so please, no rumors about Steam glasses being announced at E3." A blog post by Valve researcher Michael Abrash clears up just what CEO Gabe Newell was talking about in regards to wearable computing a couple months back – and the kind of hardware "experiences" Valve is hiring for.

In short, it's not a product announcement. When Abrash was hired at Valve, he was encouraged to find his own interesting project to work on. Seeing the rise of wearable computing as an "inflection point" similar to Quake (which pushed things like networking and 3D graphics into ubiquity), he decided that was something he, and Valve, should be ahead on.

"By 'wearable computing,'" Abrash explains, "I mean mobile computing where both computer-generated graphics and the real world are seamlessly overlaid in your view; there is no separate display that you hold in your hands (think Terminator vision)." Google is working on something similar, of course.

In other words, Valve hired a guy to do whatever at its game development company, and he decided to research a type of computing that doesn't exist yet. If nothing else, this is an indication of just how much money Valve has.

Kid Icarus: Uprising AR cards are hard to come by unless you go to conventions or press events, but if you can brave a crowd of kiddos, you may be able to pick some up at a local GameStop today.

Nintendo and GameStop are holding demo events in "select GameStop locations" today from 1-4PM, during which you can try out the game if you haven't yet, and pick up some cards if you have. Reader Andrew tells us that the cards include the Eggplant Wizard, Fiends Cauldron, Skyscraper Club, Firework Cannons, and Minos, along with possible random packs.

Check GameStop's site to see if your local store is participating, and then look deep into your heart to decide if you want to be the person who goes to a GameStop just to pick up some video game cards. It's okay to be that person occasionally – especially when it leads to some possible Kid Icarus multiplayer.

[Thanks, Andrew!]

The fourth episode of Sam & Max: Beyond Time and Space is now available on your iDevice, granted you have an iPhone 3GS and above. Episode 4: Chariots of the Dogs includes a playable Whack da Ratz mini-game and a Sam & Max soundboard. (Because ordering a large pepperoni from Domino's is less depressing when you do it as Max.)

It'll set you back $4.99 – about three quarters the cost of that Domino's pizza.

The flashy red PS3 console is no longer exclusive to Japan. The 320 GB console, which comes with a matching DualShock 3 controller, should go on sale in the UK pretty soon. Amazon has it from April 27 for £250, and Play.com is selling it for £240 starting May 4.

If you're holding out for the blue model, don't bother. Eurogamer says Sony reps declined to bring that model from Japan over to the UK. You should see listings for the red 320GB PS3 popping up at other retailers shortly.

Game has effectively checked itself before it wrecked itself, first selling its UK operations and now selling its stores in Spain and Portugal, MCV reports. OpCaptia, the same investment company behind the UK deal, established Cherrilux Investments for the Iberian transaction and bought all 290 stores across Spain and Portugal.

Cherrilux is a "sister company" to Baker Acquisitions, which bought the UK branch, and both businesses will most likely run independently but share revenue, MCV says. The sale saves 1,000 jobs, and Cherrilux "has no plans to close stores at Game Iberia and will continue to run the business as a going concern while evaluating the possible sale of the business."

We all know that time, from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, is simply a ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff. However, there are moments where the strict progression of cause and effect do occur. We can trace one such occurrence to the year 2012, when The Doctor played a video game called Fez. He took it to (one of his) heart(s) -- even if some of his companions didn't -- and declared, "Fezzes are cool."

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Good Old Games is hosting an Interplay 50 percent off sale this weekend, cutting the prices of 32 games right in half. Or, as we like to call it, this is GOG's "buy 16 games, get 16 games free" sale.

The sale includes Fallout 2, Earthworm Jim 1 and 2, MDK, Freespace and Invictus: In the Shadow of Olympus, for $3 each. Every title is $3, actually, making the entire bundle $96 -- a savings of $96. Yes, that's what we meant with "buy 16, get 16 free." This could also be the "buy one, get two half off" sale, or the "buy 8, get 16 half off" sale. Take your pick; any way they're all good old games for a great new price.

The sale runs from now until Monday at 11:59 p.m. EDT.