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  Ultima Online, EverQuest and World of Warcraft Earn Their Place in the MMO Hall of Fame

  The MMO Hall of Fame was created to recognize massively multiplayer online games from 1996 on up for bringing “years of excitement to millions of fans”. Which games made it into the inaugural class of 2012? Those first three come as absolutely no surprise to anyone. Ultima Online put MMOs on the map. EverQuest took…

  By Mike Fahey Published March 8, 2012
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  From Skyrim to Lollipop Chainsaw, This Lady Does It All

  Earlier this week, Kotaku attended an event for upcoming zombie game Lollipop Chainsaw. At the event, the game’s heroine, Juliet, was there in the flesh. You might know her better as cosplayer Jessica Nigri. The 21 year-old Nigri has a been cosplaying since the 2009 Comic Con. Whether it be Skyrim, Gears of War, or…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published March 8, 2012
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  Evil Robot George Washington Is One of BioShock Infinite‘s Big Villains

  Meet the Motorized Patriot. This creepy, Washington-faced automaton will try to mow you down with his gatling gun in the first-person shooter BioShock Infinite, which will be out October 16 for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC. He’s one of the Heavy Hitters, a group of enemies that the team says will “provide a unique…

  By Jason Schreier Published March 8, 2012
• Kotaku East

  Cracking the Vita: A Hacker Speaks

  Among hackers and modders, Sony’s PSP is a favorite for its hack-ability. Depending on one’s knowledge, the portable console can be altered to play custom games and programs (homebrews) as well as pirated games. Taking all it’s learned from the weaknesses of the PSP, Sony developed the PS Vita with safeguards against such hacks and…

  By Toshi Nakamura Published March 8, 2012
• Kotaku East

  Goodbye Winter Food! It’s Been…Delicious

  It really feels like spring here in Osaka—finally! Flowers starting to bud, bees buzzing, and birds chirping. But that also means, no more winter food. Many dishes in Japan are seasonal. I grew up in Texas, and yes, we ate seasonal food (I think). Japanese food is even more seasonal than what I had as…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published March 8, 2012
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  Kotaku East

  Plastic Girls Star in Commercials, Too

  Japanese figure maker (and car racer) Good Smile Company released a web ad for its latest figure of virtual idol Megurine Luka. The figure will be out this July. どの角度から眺めてもセクシーなルカ姉！ [Kotaku Japan]

  By Brian Ashcraft Published March 8, 2012
• Kotaku East

  Japan’s Newest RPG Hero Is Unemployed

  A strong innocent youth with a thirst for adventure, a soldier with a sense of duty and honor, an outcast warrior… The heroes of the fantasy RPGs of yesteryear have always been people of strong moral fiber and a will to stand up and fight. Now, game developer e-smile in their new game Ore-ni Hatarakette…

  By Toshi Nakamura Published March 8, 2012
• Kotaku East

  Lollipop Chainsaw Reveals Skimpy Outfits

  Upcoming action game Lollipop Chainsaw features a slew of special outfits. Let’s have a look. Both the Xbox 360 and PS3 Japanese “Premium Editions” come with an array of special features—most notably outfits. The PS3 version gets “Cutie Waitress” and “Multi-Boarder Bikini” outfits. The Xbox 360 gets pink a “Sexy Rider Suit” and a “Shell…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published March 8, 2012
• Kotaku East

  Man Bought Fake iPhone. Man Got Angry. Man Killed Two People.

  In China, fake electronics are everywhere. The whole place is packed with them. But increasingly, folks in China don’t want to own fakes. They want to own the real deal. Chinese news is reporting that a man in Henan Province desperately wanted an iPhone; he found what he thought was a real one at a…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published March 8, 2012
• Kotaku East

  What Japanese Game Companies Have Done for Japan Since the Quake

  March 11th this year will mark the one-year anniversary of the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake. Since that time, a great deal of time effort and money has been offered for the rebuilding of the North-Eastern area of Japan from all parts of the world. Including the gaming world. Weekly Famitsu has gathered reports from numerous major…

  By Toshi Nakamura Published March 8, 2012
• Kotaku East

  Game Console Destruction Led to Insane Car Chase

  “A man destroyed a game console and escaped by car,” the caller told cops. What started as a routine police call turned into much more, with the suspect evading thirty patrol cars. All over a broken game machine! Thirty-five year old Yoshihiro Kubota, who works as a car salesman, apparently took off after smashing a…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published March 8, 2012
• Kotaku East

  Lupin the Third Is Ready to Steal Your Television

  Anime Lupin the Third, one of the greatest things ever, is returning to television with a new series. It’s the first new Lupin anime series on TV in 27 years. Dubbed Lupin the Third: A Woman Called Fujiko Mine, the anime follows the exploits of Fujiko Mine, the anime’s iconic female character. This new episodes…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published March 8, 2012
• Kotaku East

  How Drugs Could Kill the Japanese Internet

  There are Japanese websites. There are Japanese blogs. But at the heart of the country’s internet and internet culture, one destination stands alone: 2channel. In Japan, the vast majority of game related culture and news first appears on 2channel, the country’s largest bulletin board, and then disseminates to other Japanese sites and blogs. And it’s…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published March 8, 2012
• Kotaku East

  Kotaku East Starts Now

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

  By Brian Ashcraft Published March 8, 2012
• Uncategorized

  What Would a 19th Century Portal Gun Look Like?

  This. Needing an accessory for her steampunk Chell costume, DeviantArt user batman-n-bananas set about building a steampunk Portal gun. The results of which are here, and which are damn impressive. Like all the best models, it’s made of the remains of many random, strange things. Like teapots, pianos, hair gel pots, antique clocks, an old…

  By Luke Plunkett Published March 8, 2012
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  Retailer Sends Copies of Madden Instead of Mass Effect 3. Whoops.

  Sounds like “some” customers of online retailer Newegg who pre-ordered a copy of Mass Effect 3 didn’t get what they paid for. They got a game, delivered on time, only it was...Madden 12 An email sent by the outlet reads: We’re contacting you today regarding your recent purchase of the Mass Effect 3 Xbox 360…

  By Luke Plunkett Published March 8, 2012
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  Save Your Screen’s Universe With Awesome Mass Effect Wallpaper

  Artist Ricky Linn has, in a fit of excitement over the release of Mass Effect 3, drawn these great little homages to the cast and crew of the Normandy. Given the art style and their original dimensions, I thought it was only fair to resize them into wallpapers. One for your desktop, the other three…

  By Luke Plunkett Published March 8, 2012
• Culture

  The Razor-Sharp Art of Johan Wahlbäck

  Swedish artist Johan Wahlbäck works for SouthEnd Interactive, the guys behind last year’s delightful ilomilo. But you won’t find any art for that cute little game here. What you will find are a stack of awesome pictures of men with swords, men with bigger swords and other images associated with bludgeoning and stabbing, some of…

  By Luke Plunkett Published March 8, 2012
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  It Takes a Download of Trillions to Hold Sales Back (Well, Not Even That)

  Minecraft creator Markus “Notch” Persson says a lot of things. Some of them interesting, others regrettable. As with most humans! This, about piracy, is one of the former. I’ve always found it interesting that it’s usually independent developers, those whose livelihoods are most closely associated with the success of their games, that are always the…

  By Luke Plunkett Published March 8, 2012
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  New Rainbow Six Game Loses its Top Men

  Usually, when a studio is developing a new game, it has top men working on it. Top. Men. But Ubisoft’s upcoming Rainbow 6: Patriots is a temporary exception, as four of its top men have reportedly been “removed” from the project. Not fired from the company, just removed from this game. Those men are Creative…

  By Luke Plunkett Published March 8, 2012