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Allegedly enraged over her five-year-old son's playing of a video game he received as a Christmas gift, Jutrina Tillman of Phoenix, Arizona, dragged the young boy into his bedroom and began to strangle him before threatening to kill him and his 13-year-old sister with a butcher knife. More »
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As a gamer that regularly reviews big titles and otherwise has the means to procure his own video game entertainment, it isn't often I get to experience the joy of a thoughtful video game related gift. Instead, I give things to my family and live vicariously through them. What did they get this year? More »
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If you got or you gave a mobile device this morning—iPhone, Android phone, iPad or tablet—chances are there's a "what now?" factor in the discussion. Chances are you or someone else may also have given or been given a little money to put some apps on the thing, too. What do you do? What are the first games to download? Calm down, we've got you covered here. More »
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Here's further proof that basically everything goes better with Portal. Check out Ryan Kelly and his coworkers' Portal-fied Christmas tree, which certainly beats the hell out of the 20 years' worth of musty tinsel I festooned all over my folks' Tannenbaum this very evening. Also, learn how to make this Aperture Science-infused arbor for next year. More »
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In 1966, TV station WPIX filmed a a fireplace at New York's Gracie Mansion, canceled $4,000 worth of advertising, and broadcast it for two hours on Christmas Day as a gift to viewers who had no fireplaces in their apartments. Its spirit lives on screens large and small to this day. More »
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First DC Universe Online introduced the Green, Yellow, and Red Lanterns. Now, just in time for Christmas, they're getting all greedy. The one and only Orange Lantern Larfleeze has appeared in game update seven, spreading Season's Greedings to Gotham and Metropolis. More »
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It was the winter of 1980. My brother and I, wrapped in blue robes, ran down the stairs to be greeted by a brand new Atari 2600 and bevy of games under the tree. More »
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Steam is ringing in the season with ridiculous savings on some of the best games available for the PC and Mac, with weekly and daily specials from now through January 2. Now how much would you pay? More »
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Yesterday, we asked you, the Kotaku readership, to name the video games that might make the least thrilling gifts to find under the Christmas tree this season, metaphorically, the fruitcake or the Lee Carvallo's Putting Challenge of gaming gifts. More »
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Fueled by new hardware colors and special holiday bundles, Nintendo had a very happy Black Friday week indeed, with 1.5 million video game systems finding their way into the hands of gaming-hungry shoppers. What systems sold the most? More »
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Previously on Weird News from Canada: A garrison outside of Montreal opened a requisition for $25,000 worth of video games, an order a headquarters spokeswoman called "strange." Turns out they're gifts for soldiers stationed in Afghanistan. Whoops. More »
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Video games like LEGO Harry Potter and fancy new controllers—Kinect and PlayStation Move—are among the most wished-for items this holiday, according to a new survey. But it's Apple's iOS-based devices that kids are demanding most. More »
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The New York Times took a first look at holiday sales and, while finding that it didn't suck as bad as last year for retailers, found someone to remind us that stores aren't the only ones deserving of concern. More »
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I cannot express in words just how sick I am of the 12 Days of Christmas song. And I'm not saying that just because I'm Jewish and Hanukkah is over — I really can't stand that song. More »
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Xbox Live Marketplace has been running Deal of the Day promotions since Friday; today's is completely free. Pick up a New Year's Theme for the rock bottom price of zero Microsoft points. More »
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Little doors and fun-sized prizes aren't just for the kitchen wall. The Indie Games Advent Calendar reveals a new game each day counting down to Christmas. It's a neat way to see what's out there and support indie devs. More »
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Seen at a home in San Diego, by reader Jon S. Happy Holidays. More »
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Earth Eternal, an adorable massively multiplayer online game, brings you Santa suits and snowmen to celebrate the holiday season. That's great, so... where's my menorah? More »
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Largely Nintendo-themed Christmas Tree (with some Sega and arcade), as seen on 8-Bit Fix via Hawty McBloggy. More »
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Ric Turner, a former special effects specialist with Disney Imagineering built this, a 21,268-bulb Guitar Hero holiday display that plays "Cliffs of Dover" by Eric Johnson. More »
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Target's goes video game bargain crazy this Sunday, with gift card cash back on the Wii and DSi, $88 bundled games, and select Nintendo DS titles for only $25 - including The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks. More »
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Toys 'R Us has kicked off a buy 1, get one half-off promotion - so, two AAAs for $90, basically. While not as eyepopping as the price war between Walmart and Gamestop, it does cover the retailer's entire game stock. More »
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Valve's back, following its hilarious Team Fortress 2 Valentines from last year,with four sets of gift cards featuring characters from TF2, Left 4 Dead, and L4D2 that are simply a holiday must. More »
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Destineer brings the holiday cheer with We Wish You a Merry Christmas, a collection of mini-games and activities that will surely help families get into the holiday buying spirit. More »
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Industry analyst Michael Pachter predicts that strong sales for the new PlayStation 3 Slim could give Sony their biggest holiday season yet, potentially outselling the 360 for the rest of the year. More »
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From the creation of Spacewar! at MIT in 1961 to today's release of The Beatles: Rock Band from Cambridge-based Harmonix, Massachusetts celebrates video game innovation today with an official holiday. More »
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Despite an 18.8% drop in year to year PlayStation 3 sales in November, Sony Computer Entertainment America states early internal data puts them at a 130% increase over pre-holiday PS3 sales. More »
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Just another friendly reminder that Funde Razor, the party for Child's Play, gets its philanthropy on in three locations including Denver on Wednesday. It's also another excuse to post that awesome Lego art. More »
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It's the season of giving. Right now, we're going to give you a reminder and a round-up. Happy Holidays! More »
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PlayStation 3 owners who haven't seen the point of paying for a monthly magazine on their console will get a taste of what they're missing tomorrow as Sony releases Qore episode 07 for free. More »
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Visiting family for the holidays? You know what an antisocial faux-pas it is to bring along a console, and if you're a PC gamer, hell if you're dragging along that rig. More »
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The folks at Parents.com have just issued their list of the Best Kid-Friendly Video Games of 2008, a quick and dirty guide to games that aren't...quick and dirty. More »
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Is Celine Dion festive holiday fun? Sony Computer Entertainment seems to think so, bundling her single "Christmas Eve" together with four other innocent recording artists' works and calling it the Festive Fun SongPack. Joining Celine as she claws her raptor-ish way through your PlayStation 3 will be Toni Braxton with "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", Babyface with "Sleigh Ride", the legendary Paul McCartney with "Wonderful Christmastime", and finally Shakin’ Stevens with "Merry Christmas Everyone". The pack shall be released on Thanksgiving Day, November 27th. More »
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It's all fun and games using 'Piracy' to describe copyright infringement when you want to reframe the debate and equate the sharing of intellectual property with aquatic larceny, but what happens when your actual ship-based armed robbers yo-ho-ho into view? What then, Mr cognitive linguistics smartypants? More »
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Well, just fancy that. The results of the Xbox 360 Holiday Entertainment Survey are out and what do you know, this year we will be staying at home, wishing for video games, watching movies without going to the cinema and trying to 'bring the family together' with one reasonably priced gift. More »
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'Operation Main Street' is not - as you may have suspected - a sinister mash-up of the Rainbow Six and SimCity franchises, but is in fact Wal-Mart's Holiday Season price cutting bonanza.The supermarket chain reckons it can save consumers around $200 Million on consumer electronics, toys, games and other gifts. $200M between them, obviously. Anything else would be silly. More »
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Nintendo took a moment during their press conference in San Francisco this morning to assure desperate parents that the Nintendo Wii and DS Lite would be in ample supply this holiday season. Specifically, Wii supplies should see a significant increase over last year's levels, while the DS will be available in greater numbers than ever before. More »
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Some babies are born head first....others feet first...but only one was born beard first. 68 years ago today in Oklahoma a legend was born. Carlos Ray Norris was once a shy, non-athletic boy, who was often tormented by his classmates for his mixed native-American heritage, but he used his lust for revenge to help him become the most powerful being on the face of the earth. As an Air Policeman (I'd assume sans plane, just flying round and arresting people) in the US Air Force he would earn the nickname Chuck and started studying the martial arts so hard that he had to create his own - Chun Kuk Do - because nothing else was good enough. Actor, ass kicker, inventor of the roundhouse kick, and star of the Atari 2600 game Chuck Norris Superkicks, without Chuck's influence the video game industry would just be a bunch of cutesy pet sims. Let it ring across Barrens chat on every server - Happy Birthday Chuck Norris! He might be 68-years-old, but he could still kick all of our asses at once without even blinking. More »
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We've heard about Sega's NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams using the Wii weather channel to control weather within the game, but in an article on 1Up, Sega has revealed that there is some additional hidden content on the disc. In the "My Dream" part of the game, players can raise their own A-Life and the hidden content will allow them to have monthly celebrations. Using the Wii calendar as a time clock, the little AIs can celebrate various holidays each month including New Years, Chinese New Year, Halloween, Thanksgiving and even the Bull-Run. Make the jump to check out each month's activities. More »
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Twas the month before Christmas and all through the land,
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