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  There Was Too Much Blood On This Game’s Cover

  The upcoming Risen 2: Dark Waters has been asked by the ESRB to change its front cover, because there was simply too much of the ol’ claret splashed across the box art. The body places limits on the amount of violence that can be shown on marketing materials, and as a result the marketing team…

  By Luke Plunkett Published March 28, 2012
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  EVE Online Suicide Taunter Goes Well Beyond Apologising

  The Mittani, a senior player in the EVE Online community and the man at the centre of yesterday’s story about suicide taunts at a game convention, has gone well beyond apologising for his actions. Saying that “actions > words” and that he hates it “when people use alcohol as an excuse” for their behaviour (The…

  By Luke Plunkett Published March 28, 2012
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  Esports

  The World Cyber Games Sounds Like it’s Done for

  The World Cyber Games, or WCG, for a long while regarded as the pinnacle of the e-sports movement, has all but given up with news that it’s dropping all support of PC and console titles and switching to competitive…mobile gaming. In a letter leaked to cadred, and confirmed as authentic by Gamearena, WCG CEO Brad…

  By Luke Plunkett Published March 28, 2012
• CultureTotal Recall

  Nintendo’s Shameless 1970’s Advertising

  Before Nintendo made home console titles and hardware, the company made, among other things, arcade games. Behold, then, the might and majesty of Nintendo’s advertising, circa the late 1970s. In which the company releases clones of other people’s games (in this case Space Invaders), and is damn proud of it to boot! Flyers out of…

  By Luke Plunkett Published March 28, 2012
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  CultureTotal Recall

  Japan’s Most Famous Foreigner in Today’s (Well, Yesterday’s) Best Game Trailer

  UFO Kamen Yakisoban was a 1994 Super NES game that was basically one giant commercial for instant noodles. The star of the show? The dude in the black cape with the fork who ends up covered in giant noodles? That’s Dave Spector, probably the most famous foreigner working in Japan [via VGJunk]

  By Luke Plunkett Published March 27, 2012
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  CultureTotal Recall

  James Cameron, Why Didn’t You Shoot Anything?

  The eyes of the world were on Hollywood director James Cameron this week as he became the first man in decades to reach the deepest point of the ocean floor, and the first man to ever achieve the feat by himself. Good for you, James Cameron. Me, all I could think of was, why can’t…

  By Luke Plunkett Published March 27, 2012
• Uncategorized

  Total Recall Starts Now!

  The history of video games. Let’s not look back in anger, OK?

  By Luke Plunkett Published March 27, 2012
• Culture

  A Review of Mass Effect 3’s Cupcakes

  With Fuss Cupcakes in the news today, having been contracted to bake then send 400 cupcakes to Mass Effect 3 developers BioWare, one man sat down with the company’s wares to try them out. The final verdict? “It was pretty damn delicious”. Take that, BioWare! Just how good are the Mass Effect 3 protest cupcakes?…

  By Luke Plunkett Published March 27, 2012
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  We’ll Always Have Taco-Mail

  Hello, Kotaku, and welcome to the evening Open Thread. I hope you’ve had a nice Tuesday—it’s been raining in San Francisco, and but that’s been kind of nice. Here, gathered from the internet, are some things to amuse and bedevil you. Not a ton of links as today has been very busy! We’ll have more…

  By Kirk Hamilton Published March 27, 2012
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  Uncategorized

  Sony Killing PSP Games to Prevent Vita Piracy?

  Over the past few weeks, hackers from Wololo.net claimed to have exploited code found in two downloadable PSP games, allowing for the playing of homebrew games on the system. Those two PSP games were Everybody’s Tennis and MotorStorm: Arctic Edge, the latter of which was shown off with a hacker playing the PC version of…

  By Luke Plunkett Published March 27, 2012
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  Uncategorized

  The True Ending of Asura’s Wrath Drops Next Month, Followed by Street Fighter

  Today sees the release of the first of five rounds of downloadable content for Capcom’s interactive anime epic Asura’s Wrath, the beginning of a five round cycle that ends with a pair of Street Fighter grudge matches. The Asura’s Wrath DLC spectacular kicks off today with the release of Episode 11.5: Forging Ahead, followed next…

  By Mike Fahey Published March 27, 2012
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  The US Military Wants to Hack Foreign Game Consoles, Steal User’s Information

  The Department of the Navy is looking very closely at used video game consoles. Only, they don’t want to play them. They want to crack them open and steal all the information on overseas users they can get their hands on. To that end, the Department has contracted a company called Obscure Technologies to go…

  By Luke Plunkett Published March 27, 2012
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  Forget Draw Something, Check Out the Madness of Drawception

  Do you like Draw Something, but feel like it could be crazier? Drawception might be more to your taste. It combines the fun Pictionary-style guessing of Draw Something with the weird-to-weirder design of a game of “Telephone.” Here are the rules, as shared on the Drawception site: How it Works Like the games “eat poop…

  By Kirk Hamilton Published March 27, 2012
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  Finally, A Game That Lets Me Have Unique Relationships With More Than 15 Realistic Horses

  I wouldn’t say I’m a “Horse-Game Connoisseur,” but I do think horses are pretty neat. So I got a kick out of the press release I received from Ubisoft today about their upcoming 3DS game, Horses 3D According to the press release, Horses 3D will be the “first authentic horse game for the Nintendo 3DS…

  By Kirk Hamilton Published March 27, 2012
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  Uncategorized

  The Fake Threat of Fake Geek Girls

  Imagine: You meet a girl, and you get to talking. You talk about your jobs, your neighborhoods; you talk about your interests. As it turns out, the two of you are into a lot of the same things. This is cool! Wow, she likes the same obscure slasher flicks and retro video games that you…

  By Kirk Hamilton Published March 27, 2012
• Uncategorized

  Closure, Fifa 2012 New This Week on the PlayStation Store

  Sony’s “Spring Fever” promotion comes to an end this week with the IGF award-winning (and very cool looking) Closure releasing as a downloadable game, as as Fifa 2012 coming as a full downloadable game for the PS3. Also of note, the AR Monument Viewer for Resistance: Burning Skies has come to the Vita as a…

  By Kirk Hamilton Published March 27, 2012
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  Facebook Voters Will Determine if EA is The Worst Company In America

  Game publisher Electronic Arts is now officially one of the eight worst companies in the United States. Well, maybe not officially. They’re one of the worst according to consumer affairs blog The Consumerist, which is running a March Madness-style bracket to determine the most heinous companies on the planet. Though The Consumerist isn’t defining exactly…

  By Jason Schreier Published March 27, 2012
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  Just Who Is Assassin’s Creed III‘s New Hero?

  I’ve heard about three lines from Connor Ratohnhaké:ton, the hero of Assasssin’s Creed III and I don’t know what to make of him. The hero of Ubisoft’s massive October video game is no Ezio Auditore or even an Altair. He’s not a beloved rogue or a noble assassin. He’s not the star of multiple games.…

  By Stephen Totilo Published March 27, 2012
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  These Guys Want Half A Million To Prove That People Still Love JRPGs [UPDATE]

  If MonkeyPaw Games raises $500,000, they’ll know that gamers still love JRPGs. The publisher, previously responsible for bringing Japanese role-playing games like Alundra and Vanguard Bandits to the PlayStation Network, is launching a Kickstarter campaign to prove that the beloved genre ain’t dead yet. Tomorrow, MonkeyPaw (and partner Gaijinworks) will kick off their Kickstarter to…

  By Jason Schreier Published March 27, 2012
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  Uncategorized

  Gaming Provocateur Aiming to Raise $1 Million for Humanitarian Aid

  Athene is quite a character, for a player. He rose to a certain kind of internet fame thanks to World of Warcraft, declaring himself the World’s Best Paladin. After leaving WoW, he moved on to Starcraft II and in recent months, he’s taken to League of Legends He’s provocative and potty-mouthed (the video above contains…

  By Kate Cox Published March 27, 2012