It's a Hyrule of life: Time changes everything. Here's a new GameXPlain video comparing SNES classic The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past with footage of 3DS follow-up A Link Between Worlds, showing some of the ways the games' overworlds are similar and not so.

Beyond predictable things like different enemy placements, touched-up environments, and aspect ratios, it's interesting to note some of the more structural ways in which Hyrule has changed. For example, where once there were rivers in the dark world, now there are great big chasms of nothingness - and there's a bridge missing for that matter.

As Nintendo discussed in a recent Direct broadcast, A Link Between Worlds takes place in the same world as A Link to the Past, but is set a long time after the original game - which would explain the changes. While the overworlds remain similar, the dungeons are very much different, featuring new puzzles centered around new mechanics. Nintendo showed Link's power to transform into a wall etching, able to cross over gaps and slip between cracks in walls. Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata also teased the presence of a shadow triforce in A Link Between Worlds, as evidenced by the game's logo.

Zelda's return to the same-but-not-quite-the-same Hyrule of A Link Between Worlds is scheduled for sometime this November.

Morrigan is back in town, but don't bother inviting her to your Dragon Age: Inquisition party. As creative director Mike Laidlaw told Game Informer, the Witch of the Wilds has an important part in the third Dragon Age chapter, but it won't be as a party member.

"That's going to disappoint some people," Laidlaw told Game Informer, "but I think it's important for us to be upfront about that." Lead writer David Gaider added, "It's not a cameo, she plays a significant role."

Morrigan didn't appear in Dragon Age 2, but Laidlaw said BioWare knew the core of the Inquisition storyline, which he described as the character's "moment," since "midway through Dragon Age: Origins." Morrigan's story was the focus of Origins DLC 'Witch of the Hunt," which Joystiq chief wizard Ludwig Kietzmann felt didn't address the game's big questions convincingly.

Talking of Origins, Gaider confirmed players' past interactions with Morrigan, romantic or otherwise, will affect "the various states" her Inquisition self can be in - Bioware producer Cameron Lee recently confirmed saves from previous DA games would affect Inquisition.

We'll have to wait until the fall of next year to see what Morrigan's been brewing, when Dragon Age: Inquisition casts itself onto Xbox One, PS4, PS3, Xbox 360, and PC.

This week's Xbox Live deals, which are good until Monday, August 19, include the Hitman HD Pack, Just Cause 2 and Deus Ex Human Revolution, each 40 percent off ($15). Additionally, Hitman: Blood Money ($10) is 50 percent off while El Shaddai ($5) is discounted by 75 percent.

Major Nelson also gave us a sneak peek of what deals are in store for August 20 to August 26, and we have to admit, we're a little more excited for next week. The deals include Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Rumble Roses XX and the Silent Hill HD Collection at 33 percent off, as well as a gaggle of games discounted by 50 percent: Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3, Zone of the Enders HD, Deca Sports Freedom, Otomedius Excellent, Silent Hill: Homecoming, Silent Hill: Downpour, Saw and NeverDead.

Lastly, four new games are available today on Xbox Live's Games on Demand service: Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2, Metro: Last Light, Midway Arcade Origins and Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed.

GameStop is looking to entice Skylanders: Swap Force early adopters with an exclusive pre-order bonus: the Dark Edition Starter Pack.

Outside of the requisite copy of the game and Portal of Power, the Dark Edition Starter Pack includes five exclusive dark variant figures: Dark Washbuckler, Dark Blast Zone, Dark Stealth Elf, Dark Spyro and Dark Lockjaw. On top of that, some sticker sheets with special codes, trading cards and a poster are included in the bundle.

Skylanders: Swap Force's main hook involves hybrid figures – each figure includes a bottom and top portion that can be interchanged with other compatible toys from the new lineup of 16. Portalmasters can tame a new torrent of toys this October, on Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360, PS3, 3DS, Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

From the Land of the Rising Sun comes Vita Games of the Falling Prices. Sony's running a two-week PSN sale on Japanese-developed entries for its gaming portable, and, like the toppings on an okonomiyaki, there are a variety of tasty-looking morsels on offer.

The highlights of the first week are Keiji Inafune's action-RPG Soul Sacrifice and Team Ninja port-of-a-port Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 Plus, down to $25 and $28, respectively. The discounts are much more appealing with a PS Plus subscription; Soul Sacrifice is just $17.49 and Sigma 2 Plus $19.59. Those prices and the other first week offers are available starting today, through to Monday, August 19.

A couple of fighters top the second week's bill, which runs August 20-26. During that time you can pick up Dead or Alive 5 Plus for $20, but here's an even more attractive equation: Dead or Alive 5 Plus plus PlayStation Plus equals just $10. Similarly, Street Fighter X Tekken looks good at the lowered price of $28, but the PS Plus price of $19.59 is even better.

There are 18 Japanese games in total in the Vita sale; check out the PlayStation Blog for the full list of whens and how muches.

Black Forest Games pledged to make co-op run-and-gunner Ravensdale if its fundraising campaign fails, which barring a miraculous final push is exactly what it'll do. At the time of writing, the game has raised around $60,000 towards its $500,000 Kickstarter goal, and only has three days left to go.

Black Forest Games, who successfully funded Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams via the crowdsourcing platform, said Kickstarter failure will mean the "garage fantasy" side-scroller won't be made "for some time." The German studio intended to release Ravensdale on PC in the second quarter of 2014.

In a Kickstarter update, the studio said, "We want to make this game and while it may be a while until we can secure the funds in order to produce it, we aren't planning on scrapping it any time soon."

The next game from Thomas Was Alone creator Mike Bithell has a colorful, blocky look to it, but it certainly isn't another rectangle platformer. The British developer unveiled the long-teased 'Project 2' as Volume today, a top-down stealth game evocative, at least visually, of a minimalist Metal Gear Solid. The twist is Volume features a level editor that allows players to create and share their own stealthy concoctions.

Volume's story is centered around a criminal who doesn't kill, instead using his stealthy powers to steal. Bithell plans to reveal more about the plot at the UK's GameCity event in October, but previously told us Volume features "a very strong authored story," once again written by himself.

The level editor looks to be the other big part of Volume. Today's debut trailer links to an initial video previewing it, in which Bithell quickly creates a level with props, enemies, and environmental triggers. Each area of Volume can be edited and added to: "The community are free to take the game in any direction they want, even releasing their own takes on the core levels," reads the game's newly-unveiled site.

It seems likely Volume's editor will include narrative tools, too. Bithell previously said he felt one of Thomas Was Alone's big issues was that players couldn't make their own in-game stories, and that he plans to rectify that with Volume.

"It's one of the most requested features on Thomas: 'Can I have a level editor? Can I have a story editor so I can tell my own stories with this engine?' So I want to do that as well, I want to make a game that allows people to tell their own stories," he told us.

Volume is scheduled for next year, platforms due to be announced shortly. Bithell has said he can't see it not coming to PC, and his Twitter timeline suggests it may come to PS4, too.

That Dragon, Cancer will debut on Ouya in 2014, showcasing an intense, emotional game on the big screen, in living rooms and just as developers Ryan Green and Josh Larson intended.

That Dragon, Cancer tells a raw story of Green's real life – his 4-year-old son, Joel, has cancer and is fighting his eighth tumor, and the game chronicles his family's struggles, mimicking events and emotions that Green is experiencing himself. It's a breathtaking, interactive poem disguised as a low-poly point-and-click adventure.

"Part of the reason we're creating this game is to create a safe space to talk about hard things," Green told Joystiq. "We want people to share their own experiences about life and death and hope and grace with each other .... It's an experience that we're designing for players that have an hour or two to spend with us. And while it's certainly a personal experience, my hope is that it will be a shared experience."

Green and Larson will self-publish That Dragon, Cancer through their studios, Media Greenhouse and God at Play, with an investment from Ouya. Kellee Santiago, head of developer relations at Ouya, said that investment was "enough so Ryan and Josh and their team [could] make this game a reality without the added burden of struggling financially to do so."

After crafting the ideal living room experience, the developers will "eventually" bring the game to other platforms.

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Payday 2 is a heist-em-up starring four crooks – codenamed Dallas, Hoxton, Chains and Wolf – who take on a series of jobs in the hopes of earning enough cash to retire on a beach somewhere, sipping fruity drinks with little plastic umbrellas in them. It's a nice fantasy, but Payday 2 proves that you can't plan for everything. No two jobs, despite being of similar set-up, go down in the same way – and without the help of few friends, you'll never survive long enough to reach that tropical paradise.

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King of Fighters 13 has found a home on Steam, hitting PC on September 13 for $30. Buy it before launch day and get it for $25, 17 percent off. Those who want to jump into the action early can apply to be a Steam Edition beta tester now, and SNK Playmore will pick 300 players in a lottery drawing on August 19.

The Steam Edition features online, tutorial and story modes upgraded from the console version, and includes three DLC characters – "Iori with the Power of Flames," "NESTS Style Kyo" and "Mr. Karate" – available right from the start.

We had an inkling that King of Fighters 13 would come to Steam when it showed up in the distributor's database in February, and again last week when a trailer popped up.

American Express is launching League of Legends-branded pre-paid debit cards that give customers Riot Points, in-game currency, with their use. It's kismet – Riot Games wants to make it easier for you to spend money in League of Legends, and American Express wants to make it easier for you to spend money period, as long as that cash comes from its accounts.

Card holders will get 1,000 RP for signing up, 1,000 RP the first time they load up $20, 10,000 RP with the first direct deposit of $20 or more and 1,000 for their first 10 purchases. League of Legends cards come with images of Teemo, Vi, Lux, Twisted Fate, the Summoner's Cup or the game's logo. Ads for the cards will start popping up on Wednesday on the League of Legends Championship Series website, The New York Times reports.

This isn't American Express' first foray into the digital gaming world – in November it launched a program that rewarded account holders for finishing Halo 4. And you thought Steam was the only reason to hide your wallet in the freezer.

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Most people will probably have to play Race the Sun over and over again to become proficient at it, so get as early a start as you can: It launches on August 19 for PC, Mac and Linux.

In its most basic state, Race the Sun is about "racing a solar-powered craft toward the sunset at breakneck speed," developer Flippfly told us in July – it's a game where players literally try to outpace the sun. But that's not enough. A new mode, Apocalypse, is for the "devoutly masochistic" and it looks like it exists outside the bounds of mere practice.

Race the Sun is up on Steam Greenlight, and pre-orders with instant access to the full game, including Apocalypse, are live now on Flippfly. Don't stare at the sun – race it.

Mighty Switch Force 2, the sequel to Wayforward's 3DS platformer of a similar name, will come to Wii U eventually, the developer told Nintendo Everything. It's "kind of a backburner project" at the moment, though there should be an official announcement in the coming weeks, Wayforward said.

Mighty Switch Force, the first game in the series, debuted on 3DS in December 2011, and in July 2012 it was the first 3DS game announced for Wii U. Mighty Switch Force 2 landed on 3DS eShop this June, and we found it to be "an impressively economical 3DS game that packs a lot of interesting phase-shifting puzzle platforming into a relatively small set of levels."

On July 15, a PEGI rating outed Wayforward's intention to take Mighty Switch Force 2 to Wii U.

The Xbox One controller will work with your Windows PC – just not when the Xbox One launches later this year. A Microsoft representative says the company hopes to roll out the drivers in 2014.

"As we've stated, the Xbox One controller, although it looks similar in many ways, shares no underlying technology with the current Xbox 360 controller. New wireless protocol, combined with the ability to work in 'wired' mode, and the addition of features like Impulse triggers, means that new software has to be written and optimized for the PC," the representative told CVG . The representative also said work must go into ensuring existing games supporting Xbox 360 controllers also support the Xbox One game pad.

One of the big differentiators between the Xbox One and Xbox 360 controllers is Wired mode, which allows an Xbox One game pad, when plugged in through micro-USB, to disable its radios and operate as a true wired controller.

Square Enix has laid off around a dozen staff at Crystal Dynamics, the publisher confirmed in a statement to Joystiq. "We've made some decisions at Crystal Dynamics this week around the second project we're working on, which has resulted in a small number of roles (roughly 12) becoming redundant as we re-scope the project," the statement reads.

"We're a close-knit team at Crystal and wouldn't be making these changes if we didn't feel it was absolutely necessary," the publisher said. The staffing changes do not impact the subset at Crystal Dynamics that is working the next-generation Tomb Raider sequel, which was confirmed by Square Enix's CEO Phil Rogers earlier this month.

Square Enix will "help those affected as best we can" and asks that anyone currently searching for talented developers contact 'mtrout at crystald.com.'

Xbox One does not need the Kinect sensor in order to function normally, Xbox Corporate VP Marc Whitten tells IGN. This runs contrary to previous statements: In May, Microsoft Studios Corporate VP Phil Spencer said the Xbox One would require the Kinect to be plugged in.

It's unclear whether this is a shift in policy or phrasing, but Whitten says that while ditching Kinect may limit the console's capabilities, the sensor isn't a necessary piece of equipment at all times. Instead, you'll only need it for voice- and motion-based navigation features, or to play games like Fantasia: Music Evolved, which rely on the sensor.

"Games use Kinect in a variety of amazing ways, from adding voice to control your squad mates, to adding lean and other simple controls beyond the controller, to full immersive gameplay," he says. "That said, like online, the console will still function if Kinect isn't plugged in, although you won't be able to use any feature or experience that explicitly uses the sensor."

Clean out some extra space on the entertainment center or in the closet: it depends on what you play.

Devolver Digital has revealed a port of Duke Nukem 3D, coming to PlayStation Vita. Dubbed Duke Nukem 3D: Megaton Edition, this latest iteration of the classic shooter was revealed in a tweet earlier today. It's likely this is a PS Vita port of the same Megaton Edition offered on Steam, which includes three additional DLC packs on top of the core game, but Devolver isn't saying for the time being.

No other information is available at this time, though the tweet implies this port is being handled by Abstraction Games. This is the same studio that handled the PS VIta port of Hotline Miami.