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If TBS can give us a 24-hour marathon of "A Christmas Story," then we'll wish you a Merry Christmas with video gaming's counterpart, the unforgettable boxing of a NINTENDO SIXTY-FOURRRRRRR! YES! YES! More »
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Three children (with a baby cameo) take on the roles of Link, Zelda, and Ganon in what could be the most favorable outcome of Legend of Zelda fans in love, even if they got the musical credit wrong. More »
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Not only did Nathan and Jen Glemboski use the lure of sweet, puffy marshmallows to lure their child into playing a real-life version of the arcade classic Pac-Man, they then sent the link into a gaming blog for our amusement. As long as you're living under my roof you'll eat those marshmallows! More »
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In today's child safe episode of Speak Up on Kotaku, commenter Truthtellah becomes truthseekah, searching for family-friendly first-person games for a very special little boy. More »
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A recent study conducted by researchers at Michigan State University found that the more time middle school students spent playing games, the more negative an opinion they held about their parents. It seems like a simple matter of cause and effect, but which is which? More »
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When I was twelve years old my friends and I attempted to decipher the mysteries of Dungeons & Dragons. As I recall, the game we ended up playing involved us hitting each other with sticks. If only we had James Stowe's child-friendly D&D character sheets. More »
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Filed in things I'm going to do when I'm a dad: when my lazy punk of a son refuses to get out of bed, he's going to get shot with a super soaker. With no mom in sight, he's dead meat. More »
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The internet is abuzz with the story of a Chinese couple that's gotten in trouble for selling their three children for money to spend on online games. As it turns out, that's not the sort of thing people take kindly to no matter where you live. More »
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In today's very special episode of Speak-Up on Kotaku, commenter Hongo deals with an issue that every gamer faces at some point: Children think we're pretty damn awesome. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5789025&view=rss&microfeed=true A 34-year-old woman in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, today received a one-year jail sentence (suspended to one and a half months) for convincing a nine-year-old to steal his mother's Percocet in exchange for a video game. If only she had known. More »
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Police responding to a bomb scare this morning on a school bus outside of the Northside Intermediate school in Milton, Wisconsin, discovered an 11-year-old boy in possession of a video game system dressed up with wires and batteries to look like an explosive device. More »
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Nintendo warned that its new 3DS portable gaming system might have negative effects on young children's vision. Now the American Optometric Association steps forward to say that using 3D technology could have a positive effect on children's eyesight. How so? More »
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A Gallup survey conducted over the weekend finds that while Americans believe the greatest responsibility for keeping violent games out of children's hands lies with parents, they aren't opposed to the government stepping in to help. More »
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So long from Comic-Con, and the indoctrination of another generation of gamer/geeks. Picture via Shiraz Malik. More »
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Pure excitement, as seen on Allis0nMarie's Flickr page. More »
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"They appear to have crossed the line from virtual reality to reality," said Police Chief Lou Pachec of the two teens who allegedly threw Molotov cocktails at an apartment building in Raynham, Massachusetts over the weekend. More »
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Three-year-old Finley's hands might be too small for the mouse, but that doesn't stop him from kicking ass at both Mirror's Edge and Portal on the PC. More »
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It might not be the City of Heroes meets the X-Men we were hoping for, but kids should get a kick out of playing as tiny versions of their favorite Marvel characters in Gazillion Entertainment's Super Hero Squad Online. More »
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University of Guelph professor Barbara Morrongiello doesn't want your children to be eaten by dogs, so she's created a video game that will teach kids how to avoid catastrophic canine confrontations. More »
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Today's kids need to know how to go about getting revenge for the murder of their daughter using the skills they acquired as a top-secret secret government operative. The Splinter Cell Activity Book for Kids can help. More »
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Grand Theft Auto, often the whipping-boy for the anti-violent video games movement, is being used by a program in Merseyside, England to help stop children becoming desensitized to violence. Welcome to Bizarro world. More »
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No, not the British rock legends, the World Health Organization, which called out video games as a prime contributor to sedentary lifestyles obesifying the planet's children. More »
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Direct from the We Could Have Told You That department, a recent study determined that introducing young boys to video games has a direct effect on their academic performance. Introducing a major distraction interferes with learning? Who'd have thought? More »
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Remember that painfully adorable Voltron cosplayer Ash posted about a few days ago? Well, that was nothing. More »
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The National Institute of Health is granting Yale associate professor Dr. Lynn Fielin $3.9 million over five years to develop a game aimed at helping children aged 9 through 14 say no to sex, drugs, and other HIV-transmitting behaviors. More »
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Resisting a Nintendo DS game about cute little robot hamsters might be possible, but when Activision packs in a tiny stuffed hamster baby into the collector's edition of Zhu Zhu Pets, even the strongest man's resolve begins to falter. More »
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Our finalists for Game of the Year have all been announced and continue to be hotly debated within Kotaku Tower as we try to come to a conclusion, but those three titles weren't the only ones of note in 2009. More »
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I've often criticized parents for not taking enough responsibility for the gaming habits of their children, but an experience I had over the weekend gives me hope that there are indeed responsible parents out there. More »
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Done in the style of a toddler's first book, "A Gamer's Alphabet" pairs letters and important words from video gaming. And, seriously, profits from the sale of this clever gift go to help kids suffering from a rare epileptic disorder. More »
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The Magi and The Sleeping Star, the heroic Oz must free his relatives from gigantic dinosaur robots, but if he doesn't correctly manage his type-1 diabetes, his magic will fail him. More »
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Some video game reporting can be conducted from a swing-set. Here's fifth-grader Owen Migel who made it into the Today Show's semi-finals of their Kid Reporter contest. More »
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The fact that Dante's Inferno features an achievement awarded for killing unbaptized babies might sound horrendous, but to be fair they are pretty ugly babies. More »
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Why spend your evening waiting in an queue to play Aion when you can watch an hourglass spin around in EA's new MMO, Littlest Pet Shop Online? More »
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Amateur musician summer camp Power Chord Academy is using Rock Band and Guitar Hero in two new courses designed for "the new age of musicians," those who happen to play Rock Band or Guitar Hero. More »
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Cartoon Network's first foray into the massively-multiplayer online role-playing world is set to launch tomorrow, as FusionFall for PC and Macs heads to stores with special retail-only goodies packed in. More »
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For a celebrity whose past is filled with questionable choices — nearly making out with her own brother on camera, having "Billy Bob" tattooed on her arm, making two Tomb Raider movies — Angelina Jolie has taken a shocking turn for the normal. The UN goodwill ambassador has a decent head on her shoulders, at least in terms of talking to her kids about violence and video games. More »
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All new parents worry about how their little angel is going to turn out. The world is full of temptation and wonder that you fear may elevate or corrupt them. They could be upstanding, particle physicist olympians who volunteer at homeless shelters, or end up living out of the back of a van scavenging for roadkill to feed their 34 illegitimate brats. (Note: those are the only two options open, according to recent census data) More »
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As study findings go this may not be rewriting any sociology textbooks - apparently, kids really like video games. Who knew? More »
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The Virtual Worlds Expo took place last week in Los Angeles, and there's been bits and pieces of news from the event floating around — the wrap ups of roundtables and panels are the most interesting. Over at Free To Play, they have put together five big trends in virtual worlds, ranging from 'the war on geekiness' (oh, ouch) to one I'm most interested in, the movement from virtual world to real world instead of the other way around: More »
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