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  Madden‘s Exclusive NFL License Survives in $27 Million “Monopoly” Lawsuit Settlement

  Madden‘s exclusive license with the NFL emerged unscathed from the $27 million settlement of a four-year-old class action lawsuit alleging that the deal was an illegal monopoly. Though gamers are entitled to some monetary refund if they bought an American football product from EA Sports between 2005 and now, it is a paltry sum—up to…

  By Owen Good Published July 20, 2012
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  Would You Pay $260 for Xbox Live? Technically, I Just Did

  Helplessly watching this sweating man thrust all of his body weight into my bedroom wall, grunting over the whine of the drill, I realized I was seeing and participating in the perfect metaphor for my attempts to connect my Xbox 360 to the Internet in my new home. “Man,” he said, “you’re a real tough…

  By Owen Good Published July 20, 2012
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  No Serious People Blamed Video Games For The Dark Knight Tragedy Today

  A colleague IM’d me earlier today, asking if I was ready for video games to take the blame for this morning’s awful shooting rampage in Aurora, Colorado. I don’t know if I was ready, but I kept an eye out for the blamers and the blame-watchers, unsure of whose excitement to be more unsettled by.…

  By Stephen Totilo Published July 20, 2012
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  DLC-Loving Cats Forced Developers To Make In-App Purchases Less Receptive to Pawing

  When designing a user interface, you want to make sure the layout is intuitive enough that people can do whatever they need with ease. When your user is a cat, though, there’s such a thing as making things too easy. The folks at Hiccup found this out the hard way with Games for Cats, the…

  By Patricia Hernandez Published July 20, 2012
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  Watch Me Beat Up Captain America and Magneto in Less Than Three Minutes

  I’ve always wanted to be an Avenger. But I’d generally pictured being one of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes as being a bit more dignified than what I experienced yesterday. Up top is video from my first experience yesterday with Avengers: Battle for Earth, a motion-controlled tie-in being published by Ubisoft. The game happens during Marvel Comics’…

  By Evan Narcisse Published July 20, 2012
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  Portal 2‘s Co-Op Robots Rampage Through Grand Theft Auto IV

  This montage of Portal 2‘s ATLAS and P-body raising hell in Liberty City comes to you from the same guy who commissioned the insane death-dealing R2-D2 mod for Grand Theft Auto IV. It is outstanding. Just sit back and enjoy.

  By Owen Good Published July 20, 2012
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  Sorry, Coach. This Video Game Says You’re Getting Fired.

  Poor Paul Wulff. I don’t think I played a dynasty season in NCAA Football 12 in which Washington State didn’t fire him. Like clockwork, his name was on the axe list when the annual “Coaching Carousel,” implemented last year, started to spin. He never had a winning season in Pullman and his two Pac-12 victories…

  By Owen Good Published July 20, 2012
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  You Know What Goes Good with Call of Duty? Lots of Alcohol.

  Commenter Alexdmk recently discovered how much fun you can phave playing online multiplayer games when you’re so soused you don’t give a flying fig about your score. It’s time for Drink Up on Kotaku! There is something undoubtedly beautiful about mixing liquor with gaming. As an admitted lover of intoxication and avid gamer, the combination…

  Featuring Alexdmk Published July 20, 2012
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  A Classic Scene From Pulp Fiction Recreated With Valve’s Filmmaker

  The outfits might be a bit out of place, but this recreation of a memorable scene from Pulp Fiction is otherwise fairly spot on.

  By Tina Amini Published July 20, 2012
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  Can You Find the Windows Phone 7 Gaming Hiding in This Week in Gaming Apps?

  “Diversify!” the people cried, and so our normal weekly roundup of five mostly iOS titles was invaded by a tiny ball of fluff only available on Microsoft-powered smart phones. What, you want Android games? I’m not even sure that’s a real thing. Of course Android games are a real thing, and I fully intended to…

  By Mike Fahey Published July 20, 2012
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  The Next Final Fantasy XIII Game (Or DLC) Will Be Announced In September

  Square Enix will announce news about the future of Final Fantasy XIII on September 1, Andriasang reports today Presumably this will be a Final Fantasy XIII-3 that continues where Final Fantasy XIII-2 (and its DLC) left off, but Square Enix has not specified. They’ve only said more is coming, promising what’s called the “Final Fantasy…

  By Jason Schreier Published July 20, 2012
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  Dumb-Looking TV Show Upstaged By Its Flashy Interactive Street Ad

  I’m not saying that TNT’s new show Perception is necessarily going to be bad, but it’s got a ways to go before it’s as cool as its interactive dot-matrix advertisement. The ad, which is on the street in New York, was created by the tech firm Breakfast. In the above ad about the ad (yes,…

  By Kirk Hamilton Published July 20, 2012
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  ZombiU‘s Multiplayer Will Probably Be One of the Best Things About the Wii U

  From what I played yesterday, ZombiU might just have the most unique boss battles of any game on Nintendo’s upcoming WiiU console. That’s because I essentially got to be the boss—sending out waves of the undead to kill human beings—in Ubisoft’s cleverly asymmetrical survival horror shooter. Saying that I was the boss was a bit…

  By Evan Narcisse Published July 20, 2012
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  Forget Mystic Quest. This Is The Worst Final Fantasy Game.

  You know how people like to use the word “rehash” to describe games? “Oh, that Call of Duty 44 is such a rehash.” “Can’t believe they’re rehashing Halo again.” That sort of thing? In the wake of Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, I think it’s time to find a new word. Final Fantasy IV:…

  By Jason Schreier Published July 20, 2012
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  It’s A Battle For The S**ty Wok In These New South Park RPG Screens

  We here at Kotaku are pretty darned excited about the upcoming South Park RPG South Park: The Stick of Justice THQ has sent out four new screenshots of the game, including what looks like a boss battle against Mr. Kim, the manager of the oh-so-humorously mispronounced City Wok. Good times.

  By Kirk Hamilton Published July 20, 2012
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  Microsoft Won’t Take Blame for Lack of Fez Fix

  Microsoft has denied responsibility for a game-breaking glitch that the developers of puzzle game Fez said they couldn’t afford to fix. Earlier this week, Fez developer Polytron said they wouldn’t fix a rare game-breaking bug because Microsoft asked for too much money to re-certify the game. In response to Kotaku‘s request for comment, Microsoft sent…

  By Jason Schreier Published July 20, 2012
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  This Impressive Fan-Made Dishonored Frankentrailer Was Assembled From Real Movie Bits

  Dishonored has all the trappings of a major motion picture: intrigue, assassinations, redemption, cool masks… rats… you know, the usual. As it turns out, it’s possible to create a trailer for an imagined film adaptation from bits and bobs lifted from other films. This fake trailer, made by YouTuber bloodrunsclear, is darned impressive, mixing together…

  By Kirk Hamilton Published July 20, 2012
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  Comment of the Week

  This is a reminder to nominate your favorite comments, as you see them, on the official CotW forum. I’ll sort through your selections and votes every Friday. Please remember to VOTE on already submitted discussions.

  By Tina Amini Published July 20, 2012
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  Jet Set Radio Has Never Looked as Inviting as It Does Right Here

  Jet Set Radio has always been an incredibly pretty game, but there’s just something about the way Sega framed this latest screen that just ties it all together. Maybe it’s the iPad. Yes, it’s definitely the iPad. Along with the Xbox Live Arcade, PC, PlayStation Network and Vita versions of the best damn rollerblading /…

  By Mike Fahey Published July 20, 2012
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  This Truly is The Box Solid Snake Belongs In

  It’s almost like a Wheel of Fortune-style before-and-after. “Solid Snake in a box” + “a box full of kittens” = “Solid Snake in a box full of kittens!” The artists, Becky & Frank of webcomic Tiny Kitten Teeth, painted this particular rendition of Solid Snake (“in his natural habitat,” they explain) for artist Olly Moss,…

  By Kate Cox Published July 20, 2012