Double Fine's Ron Gilbert has revealed another character from his puzzling new title, this one called "the time traveler."

She is one of "three playable characters" that Gilbert has unveiled in three days on his personal gaming blog, Grumpy Gamer. Yesterday and the previous day Gilbert revealed the monk and the hillbilly.

The time traveler's silhouette is visible in the background of the puzzle Double Fine sent us earlier this month. We have to admit, she looks way cooler with glowing blue (we assume time-travel-inducing) accessories than as a vague, whispy shadow.

The plot, and the question, thickens: What do a hillbilly, a monk and a time traveler have in common?

After launch hiccups that prevented the ravenous hordes to delve deep into the dungeons of Diablo 3, it appears things are stable enough now for the masses to descend. We understand if you won't be able to join in, as hell takes many forms.

What's everyone playing?

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On top of providing "further clarity" to Mass Effect 3's ending, some more details regarding the upcoming "Extended Cut" DLC have come out. "Extended Cut" will include cameos from both Admiral Hackett, who is played by Lance Henricksen, and EDI, voiced by Tricia Helfer.

"I just did another session with them. They were saying there's a little bit of a problem with the abruptness of the ending," Hendriksen told G4 during a press junket for a new animated series called Tron: Uprising that he's involved in. "So we did a whole series of things to add to the end of the game, to live up to the quality they've been doing." Helfer, also part of the show, confirmed EDI would make an appearance.

Brothers in Arms: Furious 4 may be in trouble. Some lapsing trademarks for the its title intimate the Gearbox-developed game is all but abandoned (or the name is changing), and our inquiries into Gearbox Software have yet to be answered. "We don't have anything to share at this point in time," an Ubisoft representative told Joystiq.

Brothers in Arms: Furious 4 was announced at last year's E3 ... and then that was it. We didn't hear a single thing after that preliminary announcement, even though the game was given a tentative 2012 launch window. Right now a cancelation isn't confirmed, but it's looking like these four will have something to be really furious about soon enough.

EA's request to dismiss a class action lawsuit from former NCAA athletes has been denied, meaning the trial will movie forward and EA stands to lose more than $1 billion if found at fault.

The former NCAA athletes claim EA conspired with the NCAA and the CLC to have players sign away their likenesses and names to be used in video games without compensation. The players allege that in order to participate in NCAA sports they were required to sign a form allowing EA their likenesses in games, even after their college sports careers ended.

The federal judge previously dismissed other claims in the lawsuit, but denied EA's attempt to have an antitrust claim thrown out.

EA is facing more than a few lawsuits at the moment, but it did recently settle a two-year-old lawsuit with Activision, with as-yet undisclosed concessions from either side.

The "Maiden Epics" pack of Iron Maiden tunes coming to Rock Band next week has things that sound like they wouldn't be metal, but are, in fact, totally metal.

Like "Rime of the Ancient Mariner." Sounds like some old epic poem, right? Well, it is epic in that sense, as well as in the sense of being thirteen minutes long.

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A patent filed by Nintendo in October of last year has just surfaced online, suggesting a neat feature for the Wii U. The patent outlines a feature in which the player can use the Wiimote to grab things from the television and transport them over to the Wii U tablet.

In the example provided, the player is under attack from a UFO and uses the Wiimote to move a character from the TV to the safety of the tablet. Sounds like an interesting feature, though we're not looking forward to taking a bath in radioactive liquid so we can grow that extra arm to use all this stuff.

Mario Tennis Open, like most of the Mushroom Kingdom's forays into the world of athletics, isn't really a sports game. All of the pieces are set in place to look like a tennis game, with a layer of Mario's signature whimsy on top, but the game itself is all rhythm and pattern recognition.

This simplicity makes it easy to pick up and play, with the unfortunate side effect of making it lose its challenge too quickly. It's a satisfying game and packs some exhilarating moments, but it exhausts its mechanics too soon.

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The main story in The Elder Scrolls Online will be a solitary experience, game director Matt Firor revealed in a video interview with Game Informer.

"In the Elder Scrolls games you're always the hero, whether you want to be or not," Firor said. "You go out there and you kill the dragons. You kill Mehrunes Dagon in Oblivion. In Morrowind, you're up there fighting the Tribunal - those are huge, global, epic things that you don't want to stand in line to do in an MMO. The last thing you want to do is have the final confrontation with Mehrunes Dagon as he's stomping across the Imperial City, and you see like 15 guys behind you waiting to kill him because they're on the same quest.

"We have a whole part of the game that is 100 per cent solo, which is the main story, where the world focuses on you. You are the hero, everything you do is solo and the world reacts to you that way," Firor said.

Previous details do include PvP matches of up to 200 players, but those are obviously separate from the main quest. The Elder Scrolls Online will be played in a third-person perspective and is attempting to be a "modern" MMO, blending The Elder Scrolls features into this new genre. Not all Elder Scrolls fans are happy with the new title's angle, but Firor said that's just fine.

"The worst situation for a game community to be in is where no one posts on the boards because they don't care," he said. "If they post on the boards, they care, even if they're not being so polite about it. But that's a fact of life: You're an Internet game, you're on the Internet, you have an Internet community. And the Internet community is always very vocal.

"So what you do is learn from it. You make sure you do the best job to deliver the best game that you can and they you go from there."

EA's Origin is jumping on the Kickstarter bandwagon – no, not by Kickstarting an EA game (that would be hilarious) but instead, by presenting itself as an ally to crowd-funded games.

EA announced today that it will waive distribution fees for crowd-funded games for 90 days after launch. The offer is extended only to "fully-funded, complete and ready-to-publish games designed for digital download to PC platforms." InXile's Brian Fargo and Pinkerton Road's Jane Jensen voiced their support in the press release.

"The public support for crowd-funding creative game ideas coming from small developers today is nothing short of phenomenal," said Origin SVP David DeMartini in the announcement. "It's also incredibly healthy for the gaming industry. Gamers around the world deserve a chance to play every great new game, and by waiving distribution fees on Origin we can help make that a reality for successfully crowd-funded developers." EA also gets a nice patina of indirect indie cred by supporting Kickstarted games.

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The Super Joystiq Podcast goes to hell and back in another packed episode.

In the Previews segment, Xav and Ludwig discuss E3 Judge's Week, new details on The Last of Us, Max Payne 3 single-player, Infinity Blade: Dungeons, and more; Mike and Richard discuss their experiences with Diablo 3 and the Torchlight 2 beta in a new segment of Debate Club; Jess, Jordan, and Dave play Offspring Fling in a new approach to the Joystiq Research Institute (We've added Science!); and Alexander, JC, and Ben discuss this week's biggest news, including the 38 Studios debacle, Activision's legal issues, and THQ's financial woes.

Stay tuned to the end of the show to find out how you can win a copy of the Diablo 3: Collector's Edition! (Some rules and conditions apply, see after the break for details.) Also, make sure to follow the new @JoystiqPodcast Twitter feed for your shot at Torchlight 2 beta codes!

We told you this show would be Super.

Listen to the Super Joystiq Podcast:

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A stream of the show and details about each segment is available after the break.

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The next artist and musician pair to create a Sound Shapes album has worked together before: Superbrothers and Jim Guthrie famously collaborated on Sword & Sworcery EP, and now they've made "Corporeal," a series of levels for Queasy Games' Vita platformer.

"After some initial discussion with Queasy," Craig "Superbrothers" Adams said on the PlayStation Blog, "we chose to explore some of the concepts in prior Superbrothers films including Children of the Clone and Dot Matrix Revolution, so our levels are populated by computers, mainframes, office workers and water coolers." The level design is modeled on "something like Impossible Mission for C-64 & Spectrum," though still within the mechanics of Sound Shapes.

Adams didn't offer a specific release date for Sound Shapes, but he did say it'll be playable at Sony's E3 booth. Good news ... for us!

Rhode Island governor Lincoln Chafee told attendees of a 38 Studios-related press conference that the long awaited 38 Studios MMO – only known currently as "Project Copernicus" – is set to launch in June of 2013. Chafee said, "What I understand is Copernicus is June of '13."

Considering we've literally never heard any information on the Amalur-based MMO (aside from the fact that it's an Amalur-based MMO), it's a bit hard for us to believe that the game will arrive by next year. "I said from the beginning that it was a risky enterprise," Chafee told press of the troubled business deal between 38 and Rhode Island.

38 Studios is supposed to start paying back its $75 million loan – facilitated by the state of Rhode Island and supported by bond investors – by the beginning of 2013. It's unclear how 38 will afford those payments, but Chafee repeatedly pointed out 38's intention to seek private capital (read: more money from private investors – and not from the state). Said private capital has yet to be secured, Chafee said.

38 Studios's $1.125 million check to the state of Rhode Island has cleared, governor Lincoln Chafee announced during a press conference this afternoon, thus fulfilling the first required payment on the studio's loan from the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation.

Rhode Island is changing its legislation on tax breaks, closing loopholes pertaining to state funds being used for motion-picture endeavors, Chafee said. The state's interest lies in protecting the taxpayers, balanced with keeping 38 Studios solvent, since "taxpayers have had a very generous deal for 38 studios," Chafee said.

"It's time for them to go out and get private capital funding," Chafee said. "That's the deal. It's a generous deal, but stick to it."

Rhode Island officials believe that the total of the $49 million loaned to 38 has been spent. Chafee said that until late April, meetings with 38 suggested that they would make their May payment. "I want to make sure we're doing everything possible to make sure 38 doesn't fail," Chafee said. "We're in deep." Everything possible except giving them more money."There's not going to be any money from the state. They're not coming here for easy money."

According to Chafee, "Basically, the access to private capital hasn't materialized."

38 Studios' next payment is a debt service payment due November 1 of $2.6 million, and Rhode Island officials believe the studio will have the capital to cover it.

38 Studios will then owe $12.6 million in full annual debt service in 2013, and "that's on their dime," officials said.

Chafee said he recognized the risk involved in starting a new gaming studio, but the state would have benefited greatly from the studio's "huge success" had it done well.

"I said from the beginning that it was a risky enterprise," Chafee said. Regarding how 38 Studios will function if it doesn't have the funds to pay its employees, Chafee reiterated, "Again, these are the ramifications of being in a risky business."

Chafee doesn't plan on taking a gamble of this nature again: "Never, never ever. Not under my watch," he said.

If you've somehow managed to get your fill of Trials Evolution's dusty peaks and valleys already, Techland's latest, Mad Riders, may be perfect for you. And hey, the game is set to launch on May 30 according to the latest trailer. That's pretty soon!

Like Trials before it, Mad Riders is a digital-only title, but unlike Trials, it's not limited to a single console (Mad Riders is headed to PSN, XBLA, and PC). It'll be available one day earlier for PSN users on May 29, and May 30 on XBLA and PC, but it'll cost the same on all three: a cool $10. Techland describes that as "an awesome game for the price of a pizza," though we'd warn the studio against devaluing its games as such. What kind of pizza are you gonna get for $10? Terrible pizza, that's what!

"As the Americans learned so painfully in Earth's final century, free flow of information is the only safeguard against tyranny. The once-chained people whose leaders at last lose their grip on information flow will soon burst with freedom and vitality, but the free nation gradually constricting its grip on public discourse has begun its rapid slide into despotism. Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master" – Commissioner Pravin Lal ... and there's never been a game quite like Alpha Centauri since.

This weekend, GOG has Alpha Centauri, Dungeon Keeper 1 and 2, SimCity 2000 and Populous 1 and 2 for $3 apiece.

If dated graphics don't bother you, we expect you to be done extracting the fun out of these games sometime in 2015.

Starting May 20 in "participating" US retailers and today in their Canadian equivalents, college students have the opportunity to get a free 4GB Xbox 360 with purchase of certain Windows 7-based PCs. Microsoft didn't announce specific models, but you can ask at the retailer instead of blindly assuming you'll get a free Xbox. Don't forget to bring your student ID.

"Together, a Windows 7-based PC and an Xbox 360 console provide students the functionality they need for school while also helping them stay connected to friends and family far away," Microsoft noted in the announcement, giving students a hint as to the angle they should use to make an Xbox 360 sound like a totally necessary, responsible thing to have for college.

In celebration of stores like Steam and the App Store that allow developers to price their games at whatever they feel like, a group of indies are putting their games on sale next week for ... whatever they feel like.

The "Because We May" sale will run from May 24 through June 1, and will feature sales on the iOS and Mac App Stores, Steam, Google Play, direct downloads from developers, and assorted other venues. The participating games include World of Goo, Osmos, Eets, Bit.Trip Beat and Runner, Canabalt, Waking Mars, Super Meat Boy, Cave Story, the Double Fine Bundle ... basically, you'll find something to buy. As for the prices, it would appear nobody has decided yet.

Publisher Kalypso Media and Tropico series developer Haemimont Games are bringing mob city simulator Omerta - City of Gangsters to Xbox 360 this fall. The game was previously announced for PC, but will now make its way to Microsoft's console, much like Tropico 3, Tropico 4 and Tropico 4: Modern Times (albeit, a little later).

Instead of controlling the day to day of Tropico's banana republic operations, Omerta takes place in the 1920s, as players work their way up as a powerful mobster on the macro level. The made men and women of Omerta must construct or buy building to create speakeasies, distilleries, illegal boxing rings and much more to be good earners. If they don't, well... we hear fishes make great cuddle buddies.

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