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  Talk Amongst Yourselves

  Welcome to Kotaku’s official forum, Talk Amongst Yourselves, where we gather on a daily basis to discuss the joys and wonders of gaming all rolled up into one. It’s Valentine’s Day, the day on which we remember that falling in love can be like falling into a hole. That must be what user CG420, creator…

  By Evan Narcisse Published February 14, 2012
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  Uncategorized

  Making The Last Guardian is Very Hard, Sony Admits

  The Last Guardian is the the PlayStation 3 game that the people who most want PlayStation 3 games want. It’s also the biggest Sony title that appears to be in risk of vanishing before our very eyes. First shown in a pair of trailers in mid-2009, it was a no-show at E3’s 2010 and 2011.…

  By Stephen Totilo Published February 14, 2012
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  Uncategorized

  New Fray Trailer Channels the Spirit of X-COM

  Strategy buffs should get a kick out of this trailer for Fray, which French developer Brain Candy officially announced for pre-order today. I saw this simultaneous turn-based strategy game last year at an event in New York and thought it looked pretty damn neat, so it’s good to see that things are progressing nicely.

  By Jason Schreier Published February 14, 2012
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  Child Left in GameStop Leads to Neglect Arrest

  Attention parents of the world: GameStop is not a babysitting service. That fact was made abundantly clear to 21-year-old Kethia Dagrin-Francois of Florida when police arrested her for child neglect after her five-year-old son was found wandering the parking lot of Boyton Mall. According to authorities shoppers discovered the young boy wandering the parking lot…

  By Mike Fahey Published February 14, 2012
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  Prepare for a Bunch of Mass Effect 3 Plastic to Invade Earth Soon

  Commander Shepard’s battle against the malevolent Reapers may be coming to an explosive end this year, but the associated Mass Effect plastic goodies have only begun to fight. You can tell an intellectual property license is popular when it’s got items coming out from different companies and Mass Effect‘s got stuff coming from Dark Horse—who…

  By Evan Narcisse Published February 14, 2012
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  Metal Gear Online Is Dead

  Launching back in 2008 with Metal Gear Solid 4, Metal Gear Online, the online Metal Gear spin-off, had 1.3 million members at one point in 2009. This summer, Metal Gear Online is going offline. The game’s service is finished, Konami stated today. On June 21, the MGO‘s in-game client will come to an end. But…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published February 14, 2012
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  Masters of Their Domains

  Binary | TOKYO, JAPAN: Via tipster Jinah comes these photos. (Photo: Game Watch) Active Duty Marine is Making a Video Game About Zombies Zombies, man. Everyone loves killing zombies. 22 year-old Marine Sergeant Jacob Way is betting that video game players love killing zombies enough to make room in their libraries for one more zombie-slaying…

  By Mike Fahey Published February 14, 2012
• Kotaku East

  This Chocolate Isn’t Painful. It’s Sweet and Dorky.

  You know “itasha”, right? It means “painmobile” and refers to cars covered in nerdy stickers. These days, everything that has been covered with nerdy imagery—from Shinto plaques to bicycles—seems to get the “ita” label in Japan. Heck, there are even “itachoco” this Valentine’s Day. I guess a literal translation would be “painful chocolate”. Check out…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published February 14, 2012
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  Kotaku East

  Playing With Gravity. Seven Minutes of Gravity Rush Gameplay.

  Gravity Rush (Gavity Daze in Japan) is one of Sony’s most anticipated titles for the Vita in the West. The entire game is built around manipulating your own personal gravity as you adventure through a floating city in a mysterious steampunk world. We’ll be posting our hands-on impressions of the Japanese release on Kotaku East…

  By Richard Eisenbeis Published February 14, 2012
• Kotaku East

  A Valentine’s Day Contrast Worth a Thousand Nerds

  Today, love simulator New Love Plus went on sale. Today is also Valentine’s Day. A photographer at Japanese game site 4Gamer snapped this photo, which seems to show a young couple passing by the Love Plus Akihabara launch, which is populated with dudes. Online in Japan, commenters are saying that the couple is probably wondering…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published February 14, 2012
• Kotaku East

  I Didn’t Get Any Chocolate Today. Did You?

  Instead, I got apple pie. Mrs. Bashcraft, my wife, made apple pie for the kids and me. This is it! Actually, this isn’t mine. While the kids got their apple pie in nice little bags, I got mine in a Ziploc bag. Apparently, we are out of nice little bags, but have tons of Ziploc…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published February 14, 2012
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  Kotaku East

  North Korean Clams Cooked with GASOLINE

  While North Korean hamburgers look (and sound) awful, North Korean gasoline-baked clams also sound pretty friggin’ awful. They’re not, according to Japanese site RocketNews24. A Japanese traveler who recently visited the country and tried the dish said they’re actually pretty good—and don’t even taste like gasoline. While Kotaku East does not recommend playing with gasoline…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published February 14, 2012
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  Kotaku East

  Lowest. Score. Ever. (In Super Mario World)

  Everyone’s heard about high score runs, but how about the opposite? In this video, NicoNico Douga user Haru@Yotsuba sets out to get the lowest possible score in Super Mario World on the SNES. Mario World becomes a very different game in this challenge, where killing Koopa Troopa or breaking a brick is the same as…

  By Richard Eisenbeis Published February 14, 2012
• Kotaku East

  Super Cars? Super Cute, Super Cool, and Super Geeky.

  At this weekend’s Wonder Festival in Chiba, Japan, collectible figures and cosplayers weren’t the only thing on display. There were also super cars—and race queens. The Neon Genesis Evangelion racing team (yes, there’s an Eva racing team!) was on hand, showing of its Super GT cars and bikes. The Eva team’s “race queens”, dressing as…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published February 14, 2012
• Kotaku East

  iPads Yanked only from Some Chinese Stores. Still Available in Shanghai and Beijing.

  Yesterday, a report surfaced that after Apple lost a lawsuit over the term “iPad” in China, the tablet was getting pulled from the country’s shops. Via sister site Gizmodo, the news was that the Chinese Administrations of Industry and Commerce was seizing iPads. Officials at Shijiazhuang Industrial and Commercial Administrative Bureau, however, were confiscating the…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published February 14, 2012
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  Reviews

  Ace Attorney Is the Best Video Game Movie Ever (Take That, Hollywood!)

  Gyakuten Saiban—the movie based on Capcom’s visual novel series, Ace Attorney—was released in Japan to sold-out theaters this past weekend. Staying closer to the source material than any video game movie before it, does this film prove that games can successfully be adapted into movies or does it reiterate the idea that games and movies…

  By Richard Eisenbeis Published February 14, 2012
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  Kotaku East

  Little Deviants Is a Game You Will Never Play in Public

  Vita launch title Little Deviants is a portable game on a portable system. But some mini-games in this collection aren’t exactly suitable for your average morning commute… Little Deviants was released in Japan on Dec. 15, 2011 for the PlayStation Vita. It will be released in North American and PAL territories on Feb. 22, 2012.…

  By Richard Eisenbeis Published February 14, 2012
• Kotaku East

  Japanese Kids Don’t Walk Much These Days (Video Games Blamed)

  According to a Tokyo Metropolitan Board of Education poll, today’s Japanese kids walk 30 percent less than they did 30 years ago. Experts attribute this to video games and other indoor activities. [Yomiuri]

  By Brian Ashcraft Published February 14, 2012
• Kotaku East

  Man Gets Hello Kitty Haircut To Amuse His Father

  When your loved ones are down, you’ll do anything to cheer them up and make them laugh. For 50 year-old Hu Han-yan, getting his father’s spirits up meant one thing: a Hello Kitty haircut. According to Taiwan’s TTV News, the man’s 84 year-old father was feeling ill before the spring festival. Hu, a successful businessman…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published February 14, 2012
• Kotaku East

  Move Over Romance, It’s Time for the Killers

  The Romance of the Three Kingdoms was a Chinese historical fiction novel written in the 14th century, and it wasn’t about romance at all—well not romance as in love. It is a story about the struggles of three kingdoms and their battle for power and dominance over China. The story is full of treachery and…

  By Eric Jou Published February 14, 2012