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  The PlayStation Network is About to go Down for a Day

  The PlayStation Network undergoes maintenance all the time. Usually, though, it only lasts for 2-4 hours. On Thursday, the network is undergoing some serious maintenance, because it’ll be down for most of the American day. Starting at 8am Pacific and running until an estimated 10pm Pacific, almost everything PlayStation-related that uses the internet will be…

  By Luke Plunkett Published February 27, 2012
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  OnLive Gains Cred With Free Indie Games Festival Nominees

  While members of the video game industry and press are attending the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco next week and getting a chance to view the Independent Games Festival awards ceremony on the show floor, OnLive is giving you a chance to feel included, and this very fortunately involves playing games. As of today…

  By Tina Amini Published February 27, 2012
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  Reviews

  Asura’s Wrath: The Kotaku Review

  Asura is an angry, angry man. It’s right there in the title, really: Asura’s Wrath. The game tells the story of one man’s rage-fueled superpowers, as he seeks revenge on those who betrayed him, kidnapped his daughter, and left him for dead. One can’t really blame the guy for feeling wrathful. Asura certainly lives in…

  By Kate Cox Published February 27, 2012
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  Hawken Team Given $10 Million Because Hawken Looks Awesome

  Indie multiplayer shooter Hawken, which stole my heart, stuffed it in a mech then begged me to come get it back, has always attracted attention for how good it looked despite it being the product of a small studio, Adhesive Games. Note I say small and not poor, because the guys who are working on…

  By Luke Plunkett Published February 27, 2012
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  The Best Film of the Year Didn’t Need Talking. Do Video Games Need Graphics?

  Last night at the Academy Awards, a silent film won best picture. Michel Hazanavicius’s The Artist, a movie about silent film star George Valentin, is itself a classic silent film—for the most part, it has no sound effects or dialogue, just music and on-screen action. Several new video games like the Move-enabled competitive game Johann…

  By Kirk Hamilton Published February 27, 2012
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  The Creator of Final Fantasy Just Wants to Have Fun

  Hironobu Sakaguchi doesn’t worry too much about the future, he said in an interview with Eurogamer published today. He worries about the now. The creator of Final Fantasy, whose latest game The Last Story hit European stores last week and will invade the U.S. this summer, says he doesn’t have any specifically pressing goals or…

  By Jason Schreier Published February 27, 2012
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  Okami-Inspired Fan Art Will Be Your New Wallpaper

  Foxified | Okami is not a fox, sure, but this is still awesome. (Sakimichan) Pokémon Black and White 2 Catch All the Western Gamers This Fall Announced this weekend for a June release in Japan, the first pair of main series Pokémon titles with the number two in the title will be hitting North America…

  By Tina Amini Published February 27, 2012
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  Heisman Winner Robert Griffin III Earns NCAA Football 13 Cover

  Former Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III will star on the cover of NCAA Football 13, publisher EA Sports said today. The Heisman Trophy winner and projected #2 NFL draft pick will join one of eight other athletes on the game’s box art. EA said in a press release that starting March 12, fans will be…

  By Jason Schreier Published February 27, 2012
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  No Need to Love Lucy; Just Like Her Facebook Game

  There is always another television property out there that can yet be mined for its game tie-in potential, it seems. I Love Lucy, 1950s classic and staple of late-night reruns for decades, will be making its entry into the Facebook game space soon thanks to Entertainment Games, Inc. In a press release, the social and…

  By Kate Cox Published February 27, 2012
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  Every Action Has a Cost in I Am Alive

  The latest developer diary for Ubisoft Shanghai’s I Am Alive goes behind the scenes of the game’s creation. A huge disaster has dragged a city back to instinctual basics, and “90% of the human race is gone.” The diary shows off a handsome amount of footage as to how you’ll survive, using what’s in your…

  By Pierre Bienaimé Published February 27, 2012
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  Study Says Video Games Have ‘Problematized’ View of Religion

  Do video games spend too much time emphasizing the violent aspects of religion? A study released by the University of Missouri on Monday says so, concluding that video games present religion in a “problematized” way In the study, doctoral student Greg Perreault looks at five modern games: Mass Effect 2, Final Fantasy XIII, Assassin’s Creed,…

  By Jason Schreier Published February 27, 2012
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  How I Achieved Greatness on a Sonic the Hedgehog-Themed Bed

  Sonic fans sometimes have a notorious reputation among the general internet populace that we’re terribly annoying, way too demanding, and that we have an unwarranted sense of entitlement. As a fan, I can boldly proclaim that while all of that is 100 percent factual (in an opinion kind of way), I can also say that…

  Kris Kail Published February 27, 2012
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  At Least in the New Syndicate They Don’t Run You Over with a Car

  I know a lot of people have nostalgia for the 1993 Bullfrog classic Syndicate (myself included). I also know that critical reception to the new game has been a bit mixed. But I will say one thing the new game has going for it: At least they don’t recruit agents by slamming into total strangers…

  By Chris Person Published February 27, 2012
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  Exploring the Ancient Top Ten Lists of Doom

  id Software’s classic first-person shooter Doom is a part of gaming history, forever occupying a prominent place in the collective gaming consciousness. Let’s travel back to 1993, as PC gamers faced impending Doom the only way they could: with funny top ten lists. Harvested from an archive by one Hank Leukart located on the website…

  By Mike Fahey Published February 27, 2012
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  Triumphantly Hideous Dialog Makes Evil Zone One of the Funniest Games Ever

  Crafted by Yuke’s and published by Titus Software in North America for the original PlayStation, Evil Zone is a fighting game that uses only two buttons for battle. I’m guessing they couldn’t afford more buttons after shelling out big bucks for this amazing voice-over work. “I’m gibbering nonsense!” Often cited in compilations covering the worst…

  By Mike Fahey Published February 27, 2012
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  The Dorkly Weekly: Shedding a Little Light on Limbo

  Being chased through a black-and-white forest filled with blowgun-wielding natives, dangling corpses, and the gigantic silhouette of a spider sure is creepy. If only the hero of Limbo had remembered to pack a flashlight. It’s amazing what you discover when you turn the lights up a bit, isn’t it? For more sick and twisted video…

  By Mike Fahey Published February 27, 2012
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  Are Mass Effect and Dragon Age In The Same Universe? BioWare Responds

  It wasn’t a serious question, but I did ask it. And they answered. I was talking to BioWare co-founders, doctors Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka, about a lot of things during an interview earlier this month in Las Vegas. The query just popped into my head. Maybe it all crosses over. Here’s how the conversation…

  By Stephen Totilo Published February 27, 2012
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  Now Entering the Kotaku Off-Kilter Zone

  You are entering another dimension. A dimension of sight and sound but sometimes not much mind. There’s a signpost up ahead. I said there’s a sign…oh great, you’ve walked into the signpost. Great job.

  By Mike Fahey Published February 27, 2012
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  This Cool Ninja Text Adventure Isn’t Really A Ninja Text Adventure

  Well this is some creative marketing. Head on over to markoftheninja.com to play through a ninja-centric text adventure game. It’s called “Mark of the Ninja,” and it’s brought to you by Klei Entertainment, makers of Shank (Well, it’s not really a “text adventure” game like Zork or The Lurking Horror, it’s more of a “choose…

  By Kirk Hamilton Published February 27, 2012
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  PSN Gamers’ Choice Awards Voting Opens Tomorrow

  Last year, Sony piloted their PSN Gamers’ Choice Awards, and they apparently liked the results enough to repeat the endeavor this year. This year’s awards include nominees in ten total categories, up from 2010’s four. The featured games received high user ratings after their release on PSN. Voting runs through next Tuesday, March 6, and…

  By Kate Cox Published February 27, 2012