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  Gods & Kings Join Civilization This June

  Civilization V: Gods & Kings will be out for PC on June 19, publisher 2K Games said today. The upcoming expansion pack will bring religion and espionage back to the strategy series. [2K Games]

  By Jason Schreier Published April 5, 2012
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  Skyrim 1.5 Patch Live for Xbox 360, Due Later Today for PS3

  The patch Bethesda’s hit RPG that PS3 players have been waiting for—y’know, the one that should get the game working the way it’s supposed to—will be coming later today, according a tweet by VP of PR and Marketing Pete Hines. You’ll also get those upgraded kill cams and a slew of other features in the…

  By Evan Narcisse Published April 5, 2012
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  This Week’s Nintendo Download is Every Bit as Exciting as Free Mass Effect 3 DLC

  Just because we pre-empted this week’s Nintendo Download for some special Mass Effect 3 news doesn’t make it any less exciting and important. Does Mass Effect 3 have music from The Shins? Not unless it’s a very special episode of Mass Effect 3. Does it have an exclusive interview with Epic Mickey creator Warren Spector?…

  By Mike Fahey Published April 5, 2012
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  Free Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut DLC To Give “More Closure” This Summer

  The extra content generated in response to fan outcry over Mass Effect 3‘s controversial ending will be out this summer, according to a press release issued by EA this morning. Players of the sci-fi threequel will be able to experience additional cinematics and epilogue cutscenes that add further clarity to the ending of Mass Effect…

  By Evan Narcisse Published April 5, 2012
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  Wow, This is How You do Awesome Box Art

  Ah, Tiny & Big. One of the most promising PC indie games on the horizon continues to show others how its done, this time with its box art. The game’s getting a retail release in Germany, and will look a million bucks on the shelf with this comic-infused masterpiece tarting up the cardboard. You can…

  By Luke Plunkett Published April 5, 2012
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  Theatrhythm and Kingdom Hearts 3D Hitting North America in July

  Square Enix has announced that its two hybrid franchise extenders—music/RPG and Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy and Disney-centric action/RPG Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance—will both be summer releases. The two 3DS games come to retail in July, with Theatrhythm available on July 3rd and Kingdom Hearts 3D on July 31st.

  By Evan Narcisse Published April 5, 2012
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  Dubai Turns into Hell on Earth in This Spec Ops: The Line Trailer

  Mass lynchings. Vultures feasting on unburied soldiers. Lots and lots of sand where it should not be. Things look way past effed up in the new story trailer for 2K Games’ military drama. Watch and you’ll see Captain Martin Walker lead his squad through a modern-day paradise destroyed by natural catastrophe and a moral breakdown.…

  By Evan Narcisse Published April 5, 2012
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  Gabe Newell Just Made My Little Pony Fans Extremely Happy

  Let’s get this out of the way first thing in the morning, before the rest of the herd tramples down Kotaku‘s tips email. During an interview with Geek a Week‘s Len Peralta, Valve head honcho and 854th richest man on the planet Gabe Newell admits that he is, as suspected, a fan of My Little…

  By Mike Fahey Published April 5, 2012
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  République‘s Ambitions Are Way Greater Than Just Metal Gear Stealth

  An American developer with serious Metal Gear cred. The production studio that made that MGS4‘s wild intro movies. Looking at the upcoming stealth game they’re collaborating on you could get the idea that this is just another Metal Gear Solid type game. You’d be wrong. The game follows a young girl named Hope who is…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published April 5, 2012
• Kotaku East

  Why You Won’t See a Super Robot Wars Game Outside of Japan

  This week, Dainiji Super Robot Wars Z: Saisei-hen, the latest in the Super Robot Wars series, came out for the PSP making it the 64th Super Robot Wars related game in a series that is nearly 21 years old. The Super Robot Wars series was born from the most basic mindset of any fanboy: “What…

  By Toshi Nakamura Published April 5, 2012
• Kotaku East

  Taiwanese Man Destroys Finger While Playing Video Games

  According to a broadcast on Shenzhen satellite television, a Taiwanese man damaged the cartilage in his finger while playing mobile phone games. The man would apparently play mobile games for hours and hours on end each day, swiping and tapping his phone. As a result, his hand is now injured, and he cannot bend his…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published April 5, 2012
• Kotaku East

  Namco Bandai Ready to Meld Games and Anime with New “Hybrid Discs”

  This week in Weekly Famitsu, Namco Bandai Games CEO, Shin Unozawa sat down to discuss the company’s 2011 performance, and some plans for the future. Despite a shaky start last year, Namco Bandai managed to pull in massive sales totaling ¥440 billion by the end of the fiscal year. Most surprising, Unozawa pointed out, were…

  By Toshi Nakamura Published April 5, 2012
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  Kotaku East

  Ten Totally Insane, Totally Bloody Japanese Flicks

  During the 1970s, Japan made some amazing grindhouse flicks, like School of the Holy Beast and Terrifying Girls’ High School: Lynch Law Classroom. The country’s exploitation filmmakers have been going through a Renaissance in the past decade, concentrating on outrageous splatter flicks like Tokyo Gore Police and The Machine Girl. And it does not look…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published April 5, 2012
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  Stupid Pigeons are No Match for a Man in a Paper Hat

  If you’ve played SNK fighting game Fatal Fury, you know Terry Bogard’s Power Wave. Over the years, it has evolved—into chopsticks, apparently. Watch as Japanese comedy site Megwin has Terry Bogard takes on some pigeons with the Power Wave. 木製パワーウェイブで鳩を追い払えるか？ [Kotaku Japan]

  By Brian Ashcraft Published April 5, 2012
• Kotaku East

  Heroines Are A Dangerous Drug: Japanese Users Spend Massive Money On Imaginary Idols

  Namco Bandai’s idol simulator is taking the Japanese mobile game market by storm and burning holes in players’ pockets. The Idolmaster game series is well known among Japanese gamers for its cute virtual girls and plethora of costly DLC. Now it seems the mobile phone version of the game, Idolm@ster Cinderella Girls, (better known among…

  By Toshi Nakamura Published April 5, 2012
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  Missed the New Lupin Anime Debut? Here’s a NSFW Recap.

  A brand new Lupin anime is airing in Japan. Dubbed Lupin the Third: A Woman Called Fujiko Mine, It’s centered on Lupin heroine Fujiko. The show is the first televised Lupin anime series in 27 years—and the first to feature a female director. If the teaser poster, which featured a topless Fujiko, didn’t clue you…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published April 5, 2012
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  This Concept Art Will Kill You Dead

  Goichi Suda’s next game is called Killer Is Dead. The game isn’t a sequel to his cult hit Killer7, but it does feature No More Heroes style swordplay. The concept art does make the title look quite different from his other work. It’s like salarymen plus the future plus stabby-stabby. For more about Killer Is…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published April 5, 2012
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  Kotaku East

  It’s Not Just Weather, But Women’s Underwear

  This week, a typhoon hit Japan. It snapped telephone poles in half. It overturned trucks. It killed people. Footage of the storm in action showed just how powerful it was. Yet, when Japanese news station TV Asahi did its report on the typhoon, it also didn’t hesitate from showing a close-up of a woman’s skirt…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published April 5, 2012
• Kotaku East

  Kotaku East Starts Now

  Kotaku East runs from 4am to 8am Eastern. For more info about Kotaku East click here

  By Brian Ashcraft Published April 5, 2012
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  If Video Game Box Art Hadn’t Changed in Thirty Years…

  There was a certain charm to video game box art from the 1970s and 1980s. The graphics were so terrible that often quite abstract, quite amazing art had to be used to sell a game in its stead. These days everything is “better”. Read: more airbrushed, photoshopped, boardroom-approved. Wouldn’t it be great if instead of…

  By Luke Plunkett Published April 5, 2012