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  Turn Your Minecraft Creations Into Actual Sculptures

  There’s a new program available called Mineways, which uses open-source (read: free) software to let people turn their Minecraft creations into real-world objects. We’ve seen services like this provided before, mostly for avatar recreation, but this looks way cooler, both because the software is free and because it lets you build anything from the game.…

  By Luke Plunkett Published January 3, 2012
• CultureTotal Recall

  Forcing Old Atari Game Boxes to Tell the Truth

  Rarely was there ever a greater discrepancy between actual graphics and box art design than during the Atari era. You’d get these amazingly evocative, painted box arts for a game about…blocks. Not cool. Mighty God King seeks to rectify this by taking the box art and changing the game’s name to better reflect what’s being…

  By Luke Plunkett Published January 3, 2012
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  The Great Fallout Legal Battle is Over

  The legal stoush between Bethesda and Interplay over the rights to certain aspects of the Fallout universe, which has been dragging on for years, has finally been settled, according to a report on Fallout fansite Duck & Cover While the actual details of the settlement are yet to be released – they’re expected to be…

  By Luke Plunkett Published January 2, 2012
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  All of the Best Video Game Music of 2011

  It’s been a lot of fun cataloguing and recognizing the best video game music of the year. We’ve gone from AAA blockbusters to indie games, sweeping melodies to ambient synths, heroic themes to dread-soaked atmospherics. Some of the games built music into their gameworlds, while others brought in full orchestras and still others used the…

  By Kirk Hamilton Published January 2, 2012
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  The 2011 Video Game Year in Review

  We love video games here at Kotaku. We love them so much. We think they had a good year in 2011, although it was a pretty weird year. We had the PlayStation Network going down. We got a 3DS and, at least in Japan, a Vita. We got Minecraft and Duke Nukem Forever and even…

  Kotaku Staff Published January 2, 2012
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  Portal 2 Takes Kotaku’s 2011 Game of the Year Award for Science, You Monster

  After several weeks of debate, discussion, and deliberation, Kotaku‘s 2011 Game of the Year Award came down to a simple vote, and the majority voted for science. We voted for Wheatley, the delightfully ditzy but well-meaning artificial intelligence that unwittingly guided us to our potential doom. We voted for GLaDOS, the power-hungry robot with a…

  By Mike Fahey Published January 2, 2012
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  Is the PS Vita A Device Ahead of Its Time or Behind It?

  With its big, bright screen, ability to sense touch and motion, and controls that mimic a home game console’s, Sony’s Playstation Vita delivers the sort of gaming that approaches what you might expect to experience in your den. But is that what gamers still want? I’ve spent the past week with a PS Vita, enjoying…

  By Brian Crecente Published January 2, 2012
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  Meet the Team Fortress 2 Kids

  Wee Little TF2 | Dutch artist SLiD3 breaks hearts with these cute little Team Fortress 2 soldiers. Why People Say the World Will End In 2012 You’re going to hear a lot this year about how, at some point in 2012, the world is going to end. That we will all, in some way or…

  By Luke Plunkett Published January 2, 2012
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  New Halo: Reach Figures Capture Tiny Little Flags

  Next month, McFarlane will release what feels like the 117th series of Halo toys, this time based on the characters and bad guys from Halo: Reach There are Spartans with multiplayer colour schemes, actual character Spartans from the game with no helmets on, giant aliens, human pilots and, my favourite, a pack containing multiplayer accessories…

  By Luke Plunkett Published January 2, 2012
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  Portal Boots Look Great in the Real World

  Once again, Volpin Props knocks it out of the park. Though in this case, they’ve knocked themselves out of the park. And fallen a great height, only to land safely, thanks to these Portal Long Fall Boots. Master prop builder Harrison Krix’s efforts continue to amaze, these boots looking like they jumped straight out of…

  By Luke Plunkett Published January 2, 2012
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  Jon Hopkins: Circle

  One day, I’m going to make a science-fiction movie. It won’t be about action, or killing. It’ll just be about some guys cruising the galaxy, exploring all the cool shit that’s out there to see. And when they see it, they lean back in their space chairs and just…soak it all up. When I make…

  By Luke Plunkett Published January 2, 2012
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  Mass Effect Monopoly is my Favourite…You Get the Idea

  If you liked the idea of BioShock Monopoly but prefer the depths of space to the depths of the deep blue sea, Mass Effect Monopoly might be more your thing. Tommy LeRoy is the man to thank for this awesome custom game, which changes everything about the original to bring it into line with BioWare’s…

  By Luke Plunkett Published January 2, 2012
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  Bison, Ling Xiaoyu Are In Street Fighter x Tekken

  This screenshot, posted on Street Fighter x Tekken’s Xbox Marketplace website, accidentally (?) reveals two new characters for the crossover title. You won’t see them punching; you’ll find them in the character section up the top of the screen. They’re Tekken’s Ling Xiaoyu and Street Fighter’s M. Bison. For Tekken, the day Bison graced this…

  By Luke Plunkett Published January 2, 2012
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  Zelda’s Great Fairy Takes On Star Wars

  Just because you’re (probably) on holidays doesn’t mean the cosplayers of the world take a break. In this week’s Fancy Pants, we have an amazing Great Fairy from Zelda, a double serving of perfect Star Wars cosplay, Final Fantasy, Mortal Kombat and, believe it or not, some Muramasa Fancy Pants is a look at the…

  By Luke Plunkett Published January 2, 2012
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  Call of Duty Ads “Hideous Marketing”, Says Actual Soldier

  Activision’s big-budget Sam Worthington x Jonah Hill commercials for Modern Warfare 3 won a lot of fans, but novelist, essayist and former paratrooper D.B. Grady is not one of them. Writing on The Atlantic, Grant – “a former paratrooper with U.S. Army Special Operations Command and a veteran of Afghanistan” – says the commercial series…

  By Luke Plunkett Published January 2, 2012
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  People are Already Playing Genesis Games on the PlayStation Vita

  Oh look. It’s Genesis game Sonic & Knuckles running on the PlayStation Vita, a handheld that’s been out for less than a month. How is this possible? Don’t get too alarmed; rather than cracking open the Vita itself, this homebrew Genesis emulator (originally built for the PSP) is running via the Vita’s own PSP emulation.…

  By Luke Plunkett Published January 2, 2012
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  You Can Use PC Mods On Grand Theft Auto III’s iOS and Android Version

  Merry (belated) Christmas, owners of the recently-released Grand Theft Auto III on iOS and Android. That mobile version you bought is actually, in almost every respect, the old PC version of the original, meaning if you can get at its file structure, you can use PC mods on it. For Android users it’s as easy…

  By Luke Plunkett Published January 2, 2012
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  Why People Say the World Will End In 2012

  You’re going to hear a lot this year about how, at some point in 2012, the world is going to end. That we will all, in some way or another, wound up gone, destroyed, burned, eaten, smashed to pulp or, if we’re really lucky, a combination of the lot. We’ll be fine, of course, but…

  By Luke Plunkett Published January 2, 2012
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  Happy New Year, from ‘Black Ops Guy’ and Starbuck

  The gentleman who dressed up as the box of Call of Duty: Black Ops at this year’s Fan Expo in Toronto was one of our favorite cosplayers of 2011. He starred in one of Kotaku‘s best ‘Shop Contests and is currently featured in the all-star revue going on now. He sends everyone here best wishes…

  By Owen Good Published January 1, 2012
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  Kotaku‘s Most-Read Stories of 2011

  In two hours, the year 2011 will have run its course. To video games, it was a year of scandal, of disappointment, of surprise and of achievement. Traveling to all parts of the globe, with staff writers on three continents, serving an audience of more than 3 million unique visitors each month, Kotaku chronicled the…

  By Owen Good Published December 31, 2011