• Kotaku East

  Japan’s Black Widow Killer Met Men Online. Then She Killed Them.

  On the morning of August 5, 2009, Yoshiyuki Oide logged onto his blog. He posted some photos of a model tank he was working on as well as some cookies he recently got in Tokyo’s geek district, Akihabara. “To tell the truth, I’m getting married, and today, I’m going to meet her family,” Oide blogged.…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published April 16, 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 16, 2012
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  It’s People Like This That Make me not Want to Play Battlefield 3 Any More

  I mean, what’s the point? I hide in tanks to stay away from guys like this, but the more they level up, the more tools they get to pry me out and do terrible things to my corpse. Seriously, if you play Battlefield 3 – or even can appreciate a skilled player of first-person shooters…

  By Luke Plunkett Published April 16, 2012
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  Team Fortress 2 Meets One of the Greatest Films of all Time

  Charlie Chaplin’s The Great Dictator, a masterpiece of both comedy and propaganda, is rightly regarded as one of the most important motion pictures ever made. Meaning it’s well worth watching in its own right. If you’re put off by all that black and white, though, maybe ease yourself in with some Team Fortress 2 machinima?…

  By Luke Plunkett Published April 16, 2012
• Reviews

  This is a Real Man’s PlayStation Vita Case

  If you had to describe most video game carrying accessories in one word, it would probably be something like minimal. Boring. Tacky. Cheap. Puffy. And it would usually look like something you’d buy for $10 that looks like it cost $0.50 to make. Which is why I like Waterfield’s new PlayStation Vita case so much.…

  By Luke Plunkett Published April 16, 2012
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  Report: EA About to Lay Off 500-1000 People [Update]

  According to a report on Startup Grind, a site that normally deals with tech companies and their founders, publisher Electronic Arts will very soon lay off as many as 1000 employees. Originally planned to take place last week, the lay offs have reportedly been slightly postponed, though may now take place ” as soon as…

  By Luke Plunkett Published April 16, 2012
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  Sub Zero Seeks Revenge for The Matrix: Revolutions

  Sub Zero, in whose head it’s always 2003, plugs into the Matrix just to kick Neo’s ass. I don’t know about you, but it took me at least ten minutes before I could pull my head away from this. [via The Best Fun Site]

  By Luke Plunkett Published April 16, 2012
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  Iron Man vs Mass Effect vs Everybody Else

  With our little trip around the world in pursuit of the best individual purveyors of the art of cosplay now at an end, this weekly feature returns to business as usual. Namely, highlighting the best damn cosplay photos of the last seven days. OK, so that’s a slight stretch in this case, as we’ve got…

  By Luke Plunkett Published April 16, 2012
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  Dead Space’s Isaac Clarke Comes to Life as This Amazing Custom Action Figure

  Forget NECA’s official Dead Space figures, which make Isaac look like was born disfigured. Remember the Dead Space hero as he should be remembered, with this intricately-detailed, custom-made action figure. A Korean fan the series’ official Facebook account only calls “이호갑” is to thank for it, and included alongside the finished shots some images of…

  By Luke Plunkett Published April 16, 2012
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  Someone Actually Wants to Make That Call of Duty: Police Warfare Game

  In February, an entertaining, if “fake” concept video did the rounds, in which the Call of Duty franchise was re-imagined from the perspective of law enforcement It looked pretty cool. And turns out it wasn’t fake. Turns out it was from a team of experienced developers who actually want to sit down and make the…

  By Luke Plunkett Published April 15, 2012
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  Scott Pilgrim’s Creator Designed This Adorable Mario Level When he was a Kid

  Canadian comics man Bryan Lee O’Malley, the creator, artist and writer behind Scott Pilgrim, obviously grew up loving video games. So much so that he was designing his own Super Mario Bros. levels. Here’s one he drew around 1990. Rubine City. A city with sewers! Which not only looks incredibly detailed, but also claustrophobic and…

  By Luke Plunkett Published April 15, 2012
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  Star Wars Could Only be Gayer if They Gave the Millennium Falcon a Handlebar Moustache

  Publisher Electronic Arts has taken a bit of flak lately over the fact video games let you be, or even be around, gay people in space. Said flak has mostly come from homophobic assholes, but still, flak is flak. It’s an argument other media has had to deal with for years and will for years…

  By Luke Plunkett Published April 15, 2012
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  Call of Duty Might Finally be Running Out of Puff

  For years now, through thick and thin, one thing has remained constant in this business: every holiday season, a new Call of Duty game arrives and outsells the last one. Except for this year, that is, because it looks like 2011’s Modern Wafare 3 will, at the rate things are going, sell less copies than…

  By Luke Plunkett Published April 15, 2012
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  After 14 Years, Ocarina of Time Can Now be Beaten in Under 25 Minutes

  The last time I sat down to get through Ocarina of Time, around five years ago, it took me days. And that’s with hindsight, and GameFAQs, backing me up. An exploit has recently been discovered, though, which lets you beat the thing in under 25 minutes. You can see it in video above, in which…

  By Luke Plunkett Published April 15, 2012
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  FarmVille 2 Coming Soon?

  According to the resume of advertising man Alex Harvey, over the course of the past year he “Contributed concepts and copy for several new business presentations, including the successful Malibu Black and FarmVille 2 pitches”. [Alex Harvey, via superannuation]

  By Luke Plunkett Published April 15, 2012
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  EA (Sort of) Fixes Origin, Allows Banned Users Access to the Games They Paid For

  For around a year now, EA has had a system in place where users reprimanded for their conduct in an online arena – whether that be multiplayer games or forums – were punished by losing access to their singleplayer games as well It was a ridiculous measure, and whether it was intentional or just the…

  By Luke Plunkett Published April 15, 2012
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  Crysis’ Engine Just got an Upgrade, Makes Fish-Men Look Beautiful

  With Crysis 3 on the way, even if we know almost nothing about it, we can at least guess it’ll feature improved visuals from the second game in the series. Especially since developers Crytek just announced a range of upgrades to their proprietary engine, including “revamped DirectX 11 tessellation, advanced character rendering options” and an…

  By Luke Plunkett Published April 15, 2012
• Culture

  Trials by Fire

  The long-awaited return of RedLynx’s acclaimed Trials series, plus the Xbox 360 release of The Witcher 2, highlights an otherwise light week for core video game releases. Tuesday • The Witcher 2 (360) • Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention (Vita) • Deadliest Warrior: Ancient Combat (360, PS3) • Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet (PC) Wednesday •…

  By Owen Good Published April 15, 2012
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  Fez Devs Say They’re Working to Fix Game-Crashing Bugs

  After its launch on Friday, “about TWENTY THOUSAND PEOPLE (!!)” supplied “more testing” than the game had received in the past five years, according to Polytron programmer Renaud Bedard. “So, as it happens, bugs popped up. Some pretty serious.” Among the glitches: complete inoperability on older Xboxes with smaller hard drives; trouble running the game…

  By Owen Good Published April 15, 2012
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  Would You Bling Out Your Smart Phone with Retro EA Sports Cases?

  Twenty years seems to be a good enough time to start selling back nostalgia to gamers. We’ve seen some old-school EA Sports 16-bit designs on T-shirts and other apparel, sold in the stores the label has opened at airports in Charlotte, N.C. and Salt Lake City. Looks like they’re interested in putting Madden, NHL and…

  By Owen Good Published April 15, 2012