Demonstrating how protagonist Edward Kenway transitions from one gameplay style into the next, this extended look into Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag's caribbean playground has enough privateering antics to make Captain Jack Sparrow comically stumble his way into a pre-order.

The game's action-stealth techniques, naval combat and treasure hunting mechanics are all shown off, in addition to the sea's deadly storms and the British's inability to do anything other than be ruthlessly murdered by the same bloodline. We also learn that Kenway's ship is manned by the happiest group of pirates ever featured in a gritty, realistic setting, and that treasure chests are buried in no more than two or three inches of topsoil.

Ubisoft has constructed a charming new gauntlet for Rayman to run through, filled with sights so vivid you nearly forget it's all a string of perilous pits and narrow escapes.

In our new video discussion of Rayman Legends, we quickly cover the game's glut of content (earned after several delays), its clever incorporation of other genres, and how its fast-paced platforming is paired with the Wii U's gamepad. (Note: The Vita version also supports touchscreen co-op, but across two systems.)

Rayman Legends will be available in North America on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita and Wii U on September 3.

A new Nintendo promotion in North America adds a spot of icing to Wii U credit-cakes, offering up to $10 in eShop moolah to those who fill up their accounts by Sunday, July 28.

As Nintendo details, add $50 or more in funds to your Wii U eShop accounts between now and midnight PT on July 28 (3AM, July 29 ET) and you'll get an extra $5 in credit, but if you add over $100 in funds then the reward goes up to $10. Lovely! You won't have long to wait for the e-dough either, as Nintendo promises delivery of the bonus dosh by August 2.

Nintendo helpfully suggests some of the upcoming big names you could spend the extra credit on, including Pikmin 3, The Wonderful 101, and Rayman Legends. We say don't forget about the less big-name come-and-gones like Toki Tori 2, Runner 2, and Little Inferno, or else the cute little kitten gets it*.

*That's our actual real-life Kirby kitten, so in all honesty he's probably safe

If, like some of us, you've been peering over the windowsill, staring sadly at all the happy, smiling faces playing with their Skylanders Giants, wishing you had the excuse to say what-the-hey and jump in to some toy-portal-fun-stuffs, then today's Amazon Gold Box might be for you. The online retailer's daily deal squishes the game's starter kit, complete with game, Portal of Power, and three figures, to less than half-price at $29, which is pretty handy.

Elsewhere, the lightning deals aren't quite as exciting as previous Gold Box fare, although unusually the first deal of the day, a $20 PlayStation Move controller, is already sold out. The next deal, starting 6AM PT/9AM ET is the Move navigation controller, so expect a similarly wallet-friendly price and speedy sales. Based on the not-so-cryptic blurbs, we're forecasting flashes of lightning deals in the Epic Mickey 2 and Hitman: Absolution regions among others.

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Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams is set to weave onto Wii U very soon, if everything goes to plan. A Black Forest Games spokesperson told us the retro-revival platformer has been submitted to Nintendo and the studio is currently awaiting feedback; if all goes well it's eShop city in August.

Black Forest's follow-up to 1987 Mario-a-like The Great Giana Sisters came to XBLA and PSN this year after finding success on Steam Greenlight, and the Wii U version completes the console set. Meanwhile, the German studio is knee-deep in Kickstarter for its co-op run-and-gunner Ravensdale, which at the time of writing was at $33,500 of its $500K goal with 25 days to go.

The Last of Us hits the UK for six this week - that's cricket lingo for a home run, sort of - matching the six-in-a-row runs of Black Ops 2 and FIFA 12 as the UK No. 1. We'll stress again just how slow it's been new releases wise, but it's still a very impressive run for the Naughty Dog game, after shipping 3.4 million units worldwide in the first three weeks and becoming the US best-seller in June.

Elsewhere, as the industry prepares itself for the chaos of the holiday season, right now it's all quiet on the retail front. Dynasty Warriors 8 is the only new release in the entire top 40, marching in at fifth, otherwise it's a muted shuffle in the top five. Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition is back up to second in front of the Nintendo duo of Mario & Luigi: Dream Team and Animal Crossing: New Leaf.

A little lower down lies Max Payne 3, a surprise seventh thanks to discounts, while FIFA 13 and Tomb Raider are perilously close to dropping out of the top ten for the first time in the history of ever and ever. Well, we say perilously close, but it's not without some new games, is it? Bring on the August already.

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A new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game is coming in October, Activision announced via press release. The game is based on the Nickelodeon animated series, and is described as a "side-scrolling action-brawler" with "loads of combat and animated scenes." It is the product of a multi-year, three-game deal between Activision and Nickelodeon, first announced in February.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will launch on October 22 in North America, October 23 in Asia and Australia and October 25 in Europe and Latin America for 3DS, Wii and Xbox 360.

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Reptilian DC villain Copperhead was unveiled for Batman: Arkham Origins at San Diego Comic Con, but not as you may remember him ... because he's a she now. Origins features the character's new womanly guise, as per DC Comics' New 52 revamp.

As Newsarama reports, DC Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns told panel attendees the lady Copperhead is coming to "mainstream" New 52 books shortly after Origins hits shelves.

What you're seeing in the trailer, according to Warner Bros. Montreal Creative Director Eric Holmes, is the culmination of a stunt woman, a Cirque du Soleil performer, and a martial artist, combining efforts to capture Copperheads's slithering, venomous motions.

Copperhead joins a host of other baddies out to get the young caped crusader in Arkham Origins, which is set to swoop onto PS3, Xbox 360, PC, and Wii U on October 25.

The NPD Group has published its monthly report outlining the performance of the physical sector of the video games retail market, with unsurprising results with respect to both the industry's overall performance and which games sold the most between June 2 and July 6. Nintendo's 3DS remained the best-selling piece of hardware for its second month in a row with "nearly 225,000" units sold according to Nintendo, while the Xbox 360 held its spot as the best-selling home console by moving 140,000 units.

The overall industry brought in $593.3 million from the sale of hardware, software and accessories (read: Skylanders toys and digital currency giftcards) at brick and mortar retail locations. This was a 15 percent year-over-year decrease from the $700.6 million the industry brought in during the same period in 2012.

The hardware sales segment and its collectively accumulated $142 million suffered the most severe year-over-year loss out of the three subsections, down by 30 percent from last year's $201.5 million.

June was also the first month of availability for the Ouya, the Kickstarter-funded Android microconsole that kicked off a growing craze for Kickstarter-funded Android microconsoles. "Retail sales for Ouya (not counting direct sales through ouya.tv) and were relatively light for a new console," an NPD analyst Liam Callahan said in a statement. "This may be due to the lack of a major marquee title driving consumers to seek out the console, low awareness due to Ouya being a new brand, or low inventory volume due to manufacturing constraints."

The period's 10 best-selling games were lead by three different console exclusives: The Last of Us, Animal Crossing: New Leaf and the physical SKU for Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition. New physical sales of console and portable games in general were down 10 percent from last year, ringing up $296.1 million at the end of the period.

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Earthbound has launched on the North American Wii U Virtual Console, Nintendo announced via a Nintendo Direct Mini video today. The port for the SNES game was first announced in April for North America and Europe. The game costs $9.99 on the Wii U eShop.

Nintendo also announced that the original Earthbound strategy guide has been optimized for the Wii U GamePad and will be freely available for viewing on Nintendo's Earthbound site. "Unfortunately, we haven't figured out how to make scratch-and-sniff technology work on the Internet just yet, though," Nintendo's Bill Trinen said in the video, alluding to the smelly cards that came with the strategy guide.

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EA Sports announced that it reached licensing agreements with 19 soccer clubs in Brazil today, and will be bringing those teams to FIFA 14 this year. FIFA 13 had 20 Brazilian teams, but not all of them were exactly "real."

Unlike the English Premier League, Brazilian league team licenses are negotiated on a team-by-team basis. FIFA 14 will include 19 authentic teams, "meaning authentic kits, club name, crest and real players," an EA representative told Joystiq.

"However, unlicensed clubs can still feature in-game under our FIFPro license which enables us to use real player name/likeness," EA added. So of those 20 Brazilian teams in FIFA 13, a handful were unlicensed clubs. That means fully-licensed teams such as Internacional, Nautico and Ponte Preta in FIFA 14 were seen as I. Porto Alegre, N. Recife and P. Campinas in FIFA 13. "We call these clubs 'art generic' because an artist makes the kit/crest look very similar. Football fans know the difference," EA said.

FIFA 14 will only include clubs from the Campeonato Brasileiro Serie A league (the top league of three within Brazil's professional soccer system) with the exception of Palmeiras, a popular team that was recently relegated to Serie B. EA does not have licensing agreements in place for use of team logos and kits for two Serie A teams that were in FIFA 13 and Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer 2013, EC Bahia and SC Corinthians. The publisher is still in negotiations for "additional club and league licenses and will have more announcements to make." FIFA 14 is due out in North America on September 24, and will also come to PS4 and Xbox One later this year.

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Angry Birds: Star Wars is headed for every console in the galaxy, with courses plotted for North America on October 29, and globally November 1. The sci-fly crossover that came to smartphones, tablets, PC, and Mac last year will be remastered for Xbox 360, PS3, Wii U, Wii, Vita, and 3DS with 20 fresh levels exclusive to the new versions, along with new two-player co-operative and two-to-four player multiplayer modes.

The news follows the announcement of Angry Birds: Star Wars 2, which will bring the Star Wars prequels together with Skylanders-like toys when it launches for mobiles on September 19.

A new version of Indie Game: The Movie, the 2012 documentary chronicling the lives of indie video game developers chasing their dreams, will be released on July 24.

This special edition will include 300+ minutes of footage, including over 100 minutes of never-before-seen film that will include epilogues for some of the developers featured in the film. The Team Meat fellers, prominently featured in the film, also provide some new commentary tracks, as do directors James Swirsky and Lisanne Pajot.

The special Indie Game: The Movie will be available through Steam and the official site for $15, or for $5 if you already own the first version. If you pre-order now, a DVD boxed set is available for $59 (regularly $69), while the Blu-ray version is down to $69 from $89.

Boxed sets won't ship until August, at which point they'll revert to their full prices. Both DVD and Blu-ray special editions will be signed by the directors, include exclusive artwork from Edmund McMillen, and offer a code for the digital special edition. Indie Game: The Movie is currently available for streaming on Netflix Instant, as a rental or purchase on YouTube and, until July 22, a $2.99 purchase on Steam, thanks to the Steam Summer Sale.

Cloudberry Kingdom is a sadistic platformer with randomly generated levels, and it's not likely to be any easier on any particular console, so take your pick. It's coming to PSN on July 30, XBLA and Steam on July 31, and Wii U eShop no August 1, for $10 across the board. Later this year, Cloudberry Kingdom will hit Vita, too.

Cloudberry Kingdom has been on our radar since September, when developer Pwnee Studios showed off its hardcore gameplay. For something so cute, it can get absolutely masochistic - that's the hardest gameplay mode. The game has a unique AI system that generates new levels on each run-through, three game modes, up to four-player co-op and multiplayer, a level creator, 10 heroes and voice acting by Hercules himself, Kevin Sorbo.

Cloudberry Kingdom is up for pre-order now on PSN, discounted to $8 as part of the PlayStation Store PLAY campaign.

Ultra Street Fighter 4 is not yet planned for Wii U, Xbox One or PS4. Responding to fan inquiries on Twitter, Street Fighter series producer Yoshinori Ono said Capcom has no plans to pursue any platforms beyond Xbox 360, PS3 and PC for the fighting game's latest incarnation.

Ono has been quite active on Twitter in the days following the announcement. He dashed fan suggestions that he's working on a Street Fighter for next-generation consoles and reiterated that many have asked for a PS Vita version of Ultra Street Fighter 4. He also said he's been talking to Capcom about a 3DS version of Ultra Street Fighter 4.

Ultra Street Fighter 4 adds five new characters, plus new modes, stages, features and fan feedback-fueled balances on top of the current Super Street Fighter 4 Arcade Edition Ver. 2012 (phew!) update. Ultra Street Fighter 4 will be available as $15 DLC for Super Street Fighter 4 or SSF4: Arcade Edition; or as a physical disc for $40.

What time is it? Why, time for the very first Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I Don't Know! trailer, of course. The isometric hack-and-slash co-op dungeon crawler from WayForward features the voice talents of John DiMaggio, Tom Kenny and Jeremy Shada, all of which are present to varyingly belligerent degrees in this first look at the game.

Kenny, the voice of the Ice King and everyone else from your childhood, describes Princess Bubblegum's Secret Dungeon as more of a "fungeon," while DiMaggio (Jake the Dog) seems mostly offended that someone is talking to him in the first place. The single most important takeaway from this, however, is that Cinnamon Bun is a playable character in all his awkward, uncomfortable glory.

Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I Don't Know! is headed to Wii U, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC and 3DS sometime this fall.