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  Why This Studio Will Never Work With Nintendo Again

  Microsoft has Xbox Live; Sony has the PlayStation Network. Nintendo technically has WiiWare, but their download service hasn’t enjoyed the same breadth of offerings or popularity as other digital download services. And yet, the country is full of homes where Wii hardware can be found. So what gives? WiiWare distribution, it seems, just isn’t worth…

  By Kate Cox Published April 17, 2012
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  Why Is Mitsuru So Hot? (And Other Burning Persona 3 Questions)

  Yeah, sure, fine, there are a lot of great new games out right now. But for some reason, Persona 3 has captured the hearts and minds of not one but two Kotaku editors: Me (Kirk) and our resident JRPG expert Jason Schreier. We’ve been talking about the game pretty much every day, most likely to…

  Kirk Hamilton & Jason Schreier Published April 17, 2012
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  This Minecraft Recreation of Final Fantasy VII‘s Midgar Is Absurdly Detailed

  From Shinra HQ to Wall Market, it’s all there. Final Fantasy VII‘s capital city of Midgar. In its entirety. File this one under “Holy Shit.” (You can even download the map for yourself. Check the YouTube description.) Minecraft Midgar!!! [YouTube]

  By Jason Schreier Published April 17, 2012
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  My Draw Something Disaster, Averted by a Clever Stranger

  He was a stranger. I knew his first name, and he mine, but that was the extent of our acquaintance. And yet, he and I were perfectly in sync. I knew his every move. He knew mine. And neither of us ever, ever doubted the other, or had to work to understand each other. We…

  By Kate Cox Published April 17, 2012
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  Zynga’s Two-Billion-Dollar Bid Wasn’t Enough to Buy Angry Birds

  The company behind Farmville has money. Lots of it. And, for more than a year, they’ve been buying up smaller development houses left and right. But, Rovio—the development house that created mobile megahit Angry Birds—turned down Zynga when they came calling with mountains of cash. An article on the Bloomberg business news site reveals that…

  By Evan Narcisse Published April 17, 2012
• Tips & Guides

  Before You Start… Tips For Playing The Witcher 2 The Best Way

  Today marks the release of The Witcher 2: Enhanced Edition on both Xbox 360 and PC. Sure, those of us with a powerful gaming PC probably played through this game one or more times. But everyone who picks it up on the Xbox will be playing it for the first time. So, first of all:…

  By Kirk Hamilton Published April 17, 2012
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  What’s Not to Like About the Uncharted Series?

  Commenter Roth is wondering if he’s the kind of guy that would enjoy playing the Uncharted series, but he doesn’t want to be sold; in today’s Speak Up on Kotaku, he wants to know what you hate about the franchise. Alright, I’m just going to ask this simply: Fans of Uncharted, what do you like…

  Speak Up Published April 17, 2012
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  A Backup Quarterback Pushes You to be Better in NCAA Football 13

  At EA Sports, developers lug their consoles into conference rooms like you would with a laptop at your job. Larry Richart plugs in his, loads up a build of NCAA Football 13 and picks a game mode. Fittingly, we head to the practice field, the setting where he saw most of his action as a…

  By Owen Good Published April 17, 2012
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  An Argument Against “Immersion” in Video Games

  When we talk about games, the word “immersion” gets tossed around a lot. It’s generally held to be a good thing: If a game has amazing graphics and audio, and a convincingly built world, we will become immersed in it to the point that it feels real. But is it the right word? Is it…

  By Kirk Hamilton Published April 17, 2012
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  Max Payne Comics Coming from Rockstar and Marvel

  Just in time for his return to consoles, Max Payne’s also going to be making a debut into the comics world. Announced today, a new series coming from the House of Ideas will delve into Max’s early years—during the era of the first two MP games—with art from Fernando Blanco. The scripts will be written…

  By Evan Narcisse Published April 17, 2012
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  Quick Recommendations for This Week in Comics

  Time’s tighter this week but we all still need comics. Here’s a handful that you should check out this week. Chime in with what you’ll be getting in the comments below. Reset #1 Indie comics legend Peter Bagge takes on interactive media culture. Bagge’s not a gamer or a tech enthusiast as far as I…

  By Evan Narcisse Published April 17, 2012
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  Fantasy Author China Miéville Discusses Random Superpowers, DC Comics’ Dial H for Hero and Video-Game God Mode

  China Mieville’s been trying to break into comics a long time. The native Londoner has busied himself with becoming an award-winning fantasy and science-fiction author in the meantime, turning out acclaimed work like Perdido Street Station and the upcoming Railsea A few years ago, it looked like Mieville’s big break was all set to happen,…

  By Evan Narcisse Published April 17, 2012
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  Cliff Bleszinski Reveals His Love for The Boys and the Comic That’s Influencing Epic’s Next Big Game

  Cliff Bleszinski didn’t grow up reading comic books. He was all about video games and movies as a kid. But that all changed when he started reading Preacher, the blasphemously brilliant series written by Garth Ennis, and drawn by Steve Dillon. The series published by DC Comics’ Vertigo imprint opened Bleszinski up a whole new…

  By Evan Narcisse Published April 17, 2012
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  By Odin’s Beard! Panel Discussion Starts Now!

  Are we still pretending that comics and video games don’t have anything to do with each other? Not anymore, we’re not. Welcome to Panel Discussion, where the focus will be on comic books and sequential art, whether they connect directly to video games or not. Confused? Read this.

  By Evan Narcisse Published April 17, 2012
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  The Katamari Prince Has A Solution for Long PAX Lines

  Moments of grace are few and far between at a hectic conference like PAX East, but this photo of the Prince from Katamari Damacy surveying the queue-room is about as graceful as they come. I wonder what he’s thinking. Probably something along the lines of “Man, I bet these jerks would be a lot easier…

  By Kirk Hamilton Published April 17, 2012
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  Indie Gem To the Moon Is Going To the Steam

  The wonderfully touching indie game To the Moon will be on Steam soon, creator Kan Gao said on Twitter today. He’s still working out the exact date. [Kan Gao]

  By Jason Schreier Published April 17, 2012
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  Russian Police Mistake Space Invader For Bomb

  A Moscow police force called in the bomb squad last night to investigate a “suspicious object” that turned out to be an alien from the arcade game Space Invaders RT.com reports that Russian street artist P183, also known as “Russian Banksy,” set up a robot version of one of the aliens from Space Invader on…

  By Jason Schreier Published April 17, 2012
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  French Presidential Candidate’s Website Hides an 8-Bit Konami Code Surprise

  Democratic Movement president François Bayrou may be a longshot in next week’s French presidential election, but he’s won my nonexistent vote with a secret NES-era message hidden in his official website via the Konami Code. Or perhaps my vote should go to whoever created his official website. I’m not sure how politics work in France,…

  By Mike Fahey Published April 17, 2012
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  The Domino’s iPad Game Could Transform The Way We Order Pizza (And Get Jobs)

  People who lack vision might call Pizza Hero a mere video game. If they do, they’re seeing only a slice of—no joke—what could be an extraordinary development in our society. We are talking about Pizza Hero, a pizza-making video game from Domino’s that can be downloaded for free on the iPad. But we are also…

  By Stephen Totilo Published April 17, 2012
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  8-Bit Inspired Disney Toon Wreck-It Ralph Features Villains from Real Video Games

  Last month, we first saw concept art from Disney’s upcoming animated feature Wreck-It Ralph. Set inside the world of video games, the film features a game villain — the titular Ralph — in his quest to become more than the sum of his pixelated parts. Disney today released the first teaser poster for the film,…

  By Kate Cox Published April 17, 2012