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  Kotaku East

  This Is How You Bring a Manga to Life!

  There are a lot of surprises in One Piece: Pirate Warriors but none are quite as impressive as how good the game looks. Much like Sega’s Valkyria Chronicles, the entire game is rendered in a cell-shaded art style, with all the shadows made to look as if done via a colored pencil. The result is…

  By Richard Eisenbeis Published March 9, 2012
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  The Next Xbox Won’t Have a Disc Drive? [Update]

  As Kotaku revealed last month, work has begun on the next Xbox. It’s codenamed “Durango”. Today, website MCVUK reported a source revealed that the next Xbox apparently won’t have a disc drive. Instead, according to MCVUK, the next Xbox “will offer compatibility with some sort of interchangeable solid-state card storage, although it is not known…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published March 9, 2012
• Kotaku East

  From Okami to Stripper Poles, She’s Got It All

  Say hello to Taiwanese cosplayer Ajo. The cosplayer often appears at Taiwanese game events, cosplaying her heart out. She’s a big Dissidia Final Fantasy fan and loves the anime Panty ＆ Stocking with Garterbelt. Recently, Ajo uploaded a batch of Okami pics in which she is Amaterasu personified. Check out her work, which includes Okami,…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published March 9, 2012
• Kotaku East

  Japanese Games “Just Suck” Target Speaks Out

  Earlier this week, game designer Phil Fish (above), best known for Fez, set off a firestorm. During a Q&A after documentary Indie Games: The Movie, a Japanese game designer asked Fish what he thought of modern Japanese games. Fish gave his honest opinion—rather bluntly. “Your games just suck,” Fish infamously said. But who was that…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published March 9, 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 9, 2012
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  Uncategorized

  It’s Like a Multiplayer Shooter, Only Set in the 15th Century

  This is the first proper trailer for War of the Roses, a multiplayer combat game from Fatshark and Paradox. Come for the bows and medieval countryside, stay for the man who gets stabbed in the head not once, not twice, but thrice. It’s due on the PC later this year.

  By Luke Plunkett Published March 9, 2012
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  WoW’s Lich King is “Only” 19″ Tall in the Real World

  In October, Sideshow will be releasing this enormous statue of World of Warcraft’s Arthas, better known to everyone who doesn’t play World of Warcraft as The Lich King. Standing 19″ tall and weighing twenty pounds, he’ll cost you $350 and should be available at your favourite comic store or online retailer.

  By Luke Plunkett Published March 9, 2012
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  Uncategorized

  Crytek’s New Shooter is Waging Class Warfare

  This is Warface. You may remember, it’s an upcoming multiplayer shooter from Crytek. But it’s not Crytek Germany. It’s Crytek Korea. Which explains the wonderfully bombastic trailer.

  By Luke Plunkett Published March 9, 2012
• Culture

  Fable’s Concept Art is Like a Giant Storybook

  Emrah Elmasli is a Turkish concept artist who now resides in the UK, where he’s done a ton of concept art for the last few games in the Fable series. Here’s a selection of his contributions, mostly taken from Fable III I’ve also thrown a few more in from some of Elmasli’s other work, for…

  By Luke Plunkett Published March 9, 2012
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  No, a Smaller Screen Does Not Mean you can Release a Banned Video Game

  Last year’s Mortal Kombat reboot was never released on console in Australia, because it exceeded the country’s MA15+ rating. Without an adults-only rating Down Under, the game couldn’t be put on shelves. With the game getting a later release on the PlayStation Vita, though, publishers Warner Bros. figured they’d try their luck and re-submit Mortal…

  By Luke Plunkett Published March 9, 2012
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  How Game Value is Like Six Boxes of Horseshit

  This is from Dan Pinchbeck, writer of PC indie story/thing Dear Esther, while giving a presentation at GDC earlier today. For reference, the full quote is below: Of all the turds in the pipe, this is the granddaddy. Games are not too expensive. If you go to the store to buy granola and accidentally buy…

  By Luke Plunkett Published March 9, 2012
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  Sadly, Mass Effect 3 on PS3 Has Some Problems

  While it’s unfortunate to still have to be writing this in 2012, when most games have their multiplatform houses in order, it seems that the PS3 version of Mass Effect 3 has a lot of trouble sticking to its assigned 30 frames-per-second. As a video on Eurogamer shows, while both game suffer from slowdown when…

  By Luke Plunkett Published March 9, 2012
• CultureTotal Recall

  A PlayStation in Pieces Looks Strangely Beautiful

  There’s a touch of the macabre to seeing it laid out like this, I grant you, but for the most part the effect of seeing an original PlayStation and its controller stripped bare and put on display is just lovely. Things Organized Neatly [Tumblr]

  By Luke Plunkett Published March 9, 2012
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  CultureTotal Recall

  Who Would Have Thought Skiing Down a Mountain Would be so Damn Hard

  It’s Thursday, which means it’s time for another instalment of grown men playing competitive, mostly awful arcade classics for nothing but internet fame. In tonight’s episode, the boys are facing off on Alpine Ski, a Taito game first released all the way back in 1981. Which kicks their ass like only a senior citizen of…

  By Luke Plunkett Published March 8, 2012
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  Future Indie Game Developers, Cliff Bleszinski Says Make Your Games on PC

  Epic Games’ Cliff Bleszinski, speaking at a GDC panel earlier today, gives some practical advice to the fledgling developers of tomorrow. It may not mesh with the corporate views of his employers, necessarily, but it’s sound advice regardless. (Top photo by Mark Davis | Getty)

  By Luke Plunkett Published March 8, 2012
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  There Will Be No Open Thread Post Tonight

  Sorry folks, no time for Open Thread tonight. We ran out of internet. And colors. In its place, I give you a solid black 960×540 image, suitable for printing and framing (click on the enlarge button in the bottom right-hand corner for a larger view). Why not just use HTML code to color the square…

  By Mike Fahey Published March 8, 2012
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  In One of the Greatest Comebacks in Sports History, Fans Fund “The Tecmo Bowl MMO”

  Two days ago, the “Tecmo Bowl MMO” was left for dead, less than halfway to its funding goal on Kickstarter. Today was the deadline for the game. If it didn’t raise $7,500, every cent contributed would be lost. In a last ditch effort, Gridiron Heroes‘ project leader, Dave Murray, asked me, Operation Sports, and Epic…

  By Owen Good Published March 8, 2012
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  How to Make 10 Million Sound Like an Unimpressive Number

  At GDC, Sony engineer Gabe Ahn proclaimed that 10 million PlayStation Move units have been shipped to retailers since the motion-control system was released in late 2010. Yeah, that’s “shipped,” not necessarily “sold,” but we can infer a decent portion of them have at least cleared shelves. Of course, included in that total is the…

  By Owen Good Published March 8, 2012
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  Uncategorized

  Building a Better Mech in Armored Core V

  You can never have too many giant killer riding robots. Thanks to Armored Core V’s customization options, you’ll soon be able to put that ancient wisdom to the test. Customizing your own ride is one of the best features of an Armored Core game. I might have spent more time putting my mech together in…

  By Mike Fahey Published March 8, 2012
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  First SimCity Gameplay Footage Reticulates my Splines

  When EA first showed off the new SimCity, it didn’t show a snip of gameplay footage. It was all idealised, stylish stuff. Leaving many to wonder, hey, what does this game actually look like. Well, it looks like this! At another GDC talk, this time about the game’s Glassbox engine, Maxis show a ton of…

  By Luke Plunkett Published March 8, 2012