Trials HD, the death/patience-defying XBLA motorcycle acrobatics game originally released during 2009's Summer of Arcade, apparently contains a riddle so massively brain-busting that no one has been able to fully divine its true meaning.

Perhaps out of pity for its tireless community, or perhaps out of frustration over waiting three years for its awesome riddle to be solved, developer RedLynx has assisted Trials HD veteran FatShady in bringing resolution to the burning questions posed by various clues scattered about the game.

As the above deconstruction video demonstrates, RedLynx put a lot of effort into this riddle, so much so that we think they might be in the wrong line of work. Don't get us wrong, Trials HD is great, but with talent like this at the helm, maybe LOST wouldn't have turned out the way it did.

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. "

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."

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."

EA already has a script for a Need for Speed movie, courtesy of sibling writing duo George and John Gatins, known for their work on Hugh Jackman vehicle, Real Steel. And apparently Paramount, Warner Bros. and Sony are interested in plunking down the millions it'd cost to get Need for Speed on the starting line.

Variety says that Paramount is the current leading potential financier, but EA is still open to other bidders. If EA ends up securing funds for the Need for Speed film, we wonder which game the movie would be based on? The most recent franchise entry, Need for Speed: The Run? How about Need for Speed: Undercover? It already has Maggie Q in it and we're pretty sure she was in a movie once.

Following its launch on February 28, it seems Binary Domain didn't have a very good March. According to data Joystiq received from the NPD, Sega's sci-fi shooter only sold 20,000 copies during the month. Compare that to the 1.3 million physical copies sold of the other big sci-fi game of March, Mass Effect 3.

Of course, Binary Domain had a lot going against it. For one, it's called Binary Domain. There was little-to-no marketing, whereas Mass Effect 3 ads were everywhere and everything you bought came with DLC. In the sci-fi wars of March, 2012, Mass Effect 3 emerged victorious.

As the last big boxed product from Sega, this disappointing performance likely contributed to Sega's decision to drastically alter its publishing strategy and issue substantial layoffs worldwide at the end of March.

Despite the fresh renaissance the fighting game genre has grown into over the last couple of years, the medium is still dominated by the superpowers that brought it to its knees during the late twentieth century: Capcom, Namco Bandai, SNK Playmore, etc. Now, however, a new challenger comes.

Skullgirls, the debut title from Reverge Labs, is unique in that it's one of the very few original IP fighting games to come out since the genre regained its popularity. What's more, its also an anime-style 2D fighter from an American development studio, which is crazy. I've been following Skullgirls' production since it was announced last year, and as much as I wish it were the paradigm-shifting indie darling the fighting game scene so desperately needs, that is sadly not the case.

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Total Mass Effect 3 sales for its launch month of March were 1.3 million units across Xbox 360, PS3 and PC, the NPD informed Joystiq. The number covers purely new physical retail sales, so no digitally distributed product on PC or PS3 is tallied.

Although the NPD doesn't publicly share sales breakdowns by platform, Microsoft executive Aaron Greenberg did share that Xbox 360 sales for the space opera were 943K units for the month.

Mass Effect 2 had over a half-million sales on Xbox 360 during its debut month, with another quarter million the following month. We've contacted Electronic Arts for further clarification on Mass Effect 3 sales data.

Update: "We think the monthly NPD reports are a very poor indicator of the industry's performance given the proportion of digital sales – including digital downloads via Origin, DLC, mobile and social games and much more – that are not captured in their reports," John Reseburg of EA's corporate communications told Joystiq. "Taking these reports as an accurate snapshot of the industry today is a dangerous assumption."

Later this month, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning will add a new city and numerous side quests through the Teeth of Naros DLC pack. Well, before you venture to the floating isle of Idylla and meet its insanely hospitable people, who are in no way as cold as the stone of which they're partly made, learn the history of one of Amalur's oldest areas by checking out the trailer and gallery of screens below.

Hong Kong-based action game Sleeping Dogs will launch at retail on August 14. Publisher Square Enix announced the game's launch date this morning alongside news of three separate pre-order bonuses tied to three separate retailers: Best Buy, GameStop, and Amazon.

Should you choose to go the brick-and-mortar route, Best Buy is offering the "Georges St. Pierre Pack," which features a trio of GSP-related gear and moves (his "signature flying punch," for instance). GameStop is similarly offering a slew of in-game content, dubbed the "Police Protection Pack. As you might imagine, it comes with a variety of police officer-themed gear. Finally, Amazon has the "Martial Arts Pack," which ... well ... you get it at this point, right? For full listings of all the gear, head past the break.

Oh, and if you're a PC gamer wondering what your fancy pre-order bonus is, know that Square Enix hasn't forgotten about you: "Exclusive content for the digitally downloadable PC version of Sleeping Dogs will be announced at a later date," the press release reads.

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When Skyrim's Kinect functionality arrives some time during "the week of April 23," it'll come in five different languages (English, Italian, Spanish, German, and French). Bethesda revealed said details to CNN in an exclusive interview, wherein the concept was referred to as "Project Adam" and outed as having begun "shortly after the game's release in November."

Despite the addition of Kinect to Skyrim in a voice-based way, Bethesda VP of marketing and PR Pete Hines said replacing any combat with physical actions in front of a Kinect sensor wouldn't make a lot of sense. "Doing combat and swinging your sword and all that stuff without a controller would dramatically change the game. We're trying to enhance the experience as we designed it with some additional functionality." We can't help but agree, Mr. Hines.

Take a look at the upcoming Kinect support for Skyrim in the video just above.