As many gamers will be able to tell you, today marks the release of Diablo III, the long awaited next installment of Blizzard’s Diablo series. We’ve talked about the game before, and fully understand the hold it has over gamers of a certain age. It wouldn’t be launch day without server overcrowding and the discovery of some easily avoidable but still game breaking bugs, but, odds are, if you’re into the game and you’re reading this, you’d love to be playing right now and the only reason you’re not is probably because you have some sort of real life responsibility… Isn’t being a grown up fun?

In the meantime, enjoy this animated short produced by Blizzard with Titmouse Studios, the people behind Metalocalypse, Guitar Hero‘s cinematics, the opening titles of Avatar: The Last Airbender, and the ping pong anime sequence on Community.

Pardon our vague title but we’re trying to make sure we don’t spoil anything for those of you who still haven’t seen The Avengers. If you have, or don’t care if you’re spoiled, read on to find out whose idea it really was to do that big thing Joss Whedon is notorious for. 

Yesterday, Matthew Inman‘s The Oatmeal was embroiled in the quickest of internet controversies: he published a comic that’s purpose was to illustrate his personal experience that female gamers who are playing badly don’t get called out on it by their male teammates, while when he screws up, he is “eviscerated” with foul language and threats of violence. Naturally, this particular perspective on online gaming culture, particularly in first-person and third-person shooter culture, doesn’t skew with most female gamers’ experience, or, at the very least isn’t the dominant trend in their experiences. And many people told him so. After clarifying his intentions when writing the comic, and the presumably hearing from a lot more people, Inman apologized, admitted the comic was “stupid” and made a significant donation to a worthy, gender-related charity.

So, the story’s over, and it turned out in a pretty satisfying way, so you might be wondering why I’m even talking about it. And it’s because I look at a lot of controversies over harassment in gaming and other aspects of geekdom every day, and not all of them turn out to have even remotely satisfactory resolutions. And let it not be said that I can’t laud a good outcome when it happens, even if most of the others are bad, so lets talk about what went right here.

There may be a need to set aside a significant block of time for the premiere of Arrested Development‘s new episodes — they are going to get up at you Netflix-Instant-style, all on one day. At a Netflix-sponsored event during the National Association of Broadcasters Convention in Las Vegas, the video streaming/DVD service announced, along with series creator Mitch Hurwitz, that all 10 new episodes will premiere on the same day rather than over the span of two and a half months. Hurwitz even hinted at the possibility of doing additional seasons of the show beyond these 10 episodes. So, consider yourself to be “unavailable” that one day. We’ll understand, and we’ll let your loved ones know.

The release of the final Harry Potter movie seemed like the end for many fans, but J.K. Rowling is apparently determined not to let it be so abrupt as all that. And though she’s currently working on a darkly comedic novel about the politics of small British towns, she’s also working on the project that’s been most frequently requested of her over the years: a Harry Potter encyclopedia.

About a month ago, when J.K. Rowling announced that she was moving publishing houses and penning her first novel that wasn’t a part of the Harry Potter series in some way, that was pretty much all we knew. Little, Brown would be putting the book out, it wouldn’t be tied to the Boy Who Lived, and it was going to be written for adults, rather than the children’s or young adult market.

Today, however, Little, Brown has delivered a synopsis, release date, pricing and even a hint at how long the book is going to be on its own website. So read on, for some juicy details on J.K. Rowling’s The Casual Vacancy.

You might be familiar with this picture of Sir Ian McKellen, sporting a rather fetching red t-shirt with block lettering. You might not (and then again you might) be familiar with the fact that it’s a fake. McKellen was actually sporting a shirt that said “Some People Are Gay. Get Over It,” the slogan of Stonewall, a UK based Gay rights organization; not “I’m Gandalf and Magneto. Get Over It.” When the nerdy photoshopped version hit the internet in 2010 it went viral pretty quickly, despite attempts by many involved to remind people that it was a fake. It seemed the internet was pretty enamored of the idea of an actor brushing the world off with their ability to knit different geek properties together.

And so are we. In that feeling, we present sixteen actors and actresses who can claim to have two, or three, or more major fandom characters under their belts.

The nominees for the Hugo Awards, the most prestigious award in science fiction, have been announced, and you can even read some of them right now, for free! After the jump, we’ll provide the full list of nominees with links to the readily available works. The winners will be announced at Chicago’s Chicon 7 (aka Worldcon), which is taking place August 30 to September 3. The Hugo ceremony will be hosted by Toastmaster John Scalzi. Come inside, let’s celebrate science fiction!

Did you know that India will see The Avengers a week before the rest of the world? Not only that, but they are also getting their own theme song for the flick! And here it is! … I don’t speak Hindi! That means I really can’t tell you anything about what they’re saying, but the song is called ”Hello Andheron” (“Hello Darkness”) and the band is Agnee, featuring Aditi Singh Sharma. It was directed by Bollywood producer Abbas Tyrewala. Translations are welcome!

(via Pajiba)

Previously in The Avengers

With all the positive hype surrounding Snow White and the Huntsman, we figure Disney must be kicking themselves. Why? The director, Rupert Sanders, went to Disney with the film idea first. And they turned him down.