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  Fire Emblem To Set Japan Ablaze Next Spring

  Last night, Nintendo held the second of its Nintendo Direct online press conferences. In it, the Kyoto-based game creator confirmed several Japanese release dates. One of them was new—the one for Fire Emblem While Nintendo did confirm Japanese release dates for titles like Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D (Mar. 8, which we knew), it…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published December 27, 2011
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  Please Do Not Arm Our Readers with Weapons, Especially Those with Cutting Edges

  Commenter GiantBoyDetective poses here with the replica Master Sword he received for Christmas, a harbinger of dark times ahead in today’s Speak Up on Kotaku. Merry Christmas (or whatever you celebrate) one and all! I had probably the best video game haul of my life this morning. A lot more than I was expecting. –…

  By Mike Fahey Published December 27, 2011
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  Finally, The 3DS Gets Its MUCH Better Pictochat

  In case you missed it during all of your holiday revelries, Swapnote hit the e-Shop last week for free. It’s sort of like Pictochat for the 3DS but it also supports 3D sketches, the ability to send to friends online and attach real images to your messages. It’s pretty great.

  By Brian Crecente Published December 27, 2011
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  Kid Icarus: Uprising Will Have Online Multiplayer, Five 3DS Titles Getting Free Demos

  Four big 3DS titles, including Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D and Resident Evil: Revelations, are getting free downloadable demos in Japan, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said last night. No word on the timing for when the free demos will be hitting 3DS in other regions. Iwata also talked a bit more about the upcoming…

  By Brian Crecente Published December 27, 2011
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  Talk Amongst Yourselves

  Hope everybody had a wonderful holiday weekend! So, some of you must of gotten some games for Christmas. So lets hear it, who made out like a bandit and who got hit by the Christmas Whammy (Boxing Day too!). Until tomorrow, Talk Amongst Yourselves. Many thanks to TheDon23 for today’s TAYpic! We could use more…

  By Chris Carolan Published December 27, 2011
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  Is Sword & Sworcery EP Kotaku‘s Game of the Year?

  I played a ton of games in 2011. More, probably, than any other year of my life. So when it came time to choose the best from among them, I spent a lot of time thinking back, sifting through the triumphs and the frustrations, the unexpected joys and the unfortunate disappointments. Arkham City and Portal…

  By Kirk Hamilton Published December 27, 2011
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  Dragonvale Captured My Heart and My Wallet in 2011

  I never should have downloaded a free iOS game about breeding cute and colorful dragons; it was a tremendously bad idea on my part. Normally I’d have avoided such things. I blame Crecente for dropping a link to the game into our inter-office chat room with only the word “cute” as a descriptor. You can’t…

  By Mike Fahey Published December 27, 2011
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  Japan Gets a Store Specializing in…the Xbox 360 (Huh?)

  Microsoft’s lack of Xbox success in Japan is notorious. Microsoft only sells between two and three thousand Xbox 360s a week in Japan. The system doesn’t exactly scream retail hit in Japan. That hasn’t stopped one shop in Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture from creating a store with one thing in mind: the Xbox 360. Japanese blogger…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published December 27, 2011
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  The New York Times Offers Two Round-Ups, But Doesn’t Name a Game of the Year (Yet)

  The end of 2011 brings with it an implicit deadline for those inescapable year-end wrap-ups. Yet, the Paper of Record doesn’t really pony up a traditional countdown-to-the-best list. Instead, New York Times video game critic Seth Schiesel has written two pieces that catalog the games that caught his fancy in 2011. The first article runs…

  By Evan Narcisse Published December 27, 2011
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  There’s a Long Wait For Halo 14

  Age Shall Weary Them | Wonder if Master Chief will be dual-wielding walking sticks by then. By Lobzov Nikolay Some Awesome Magazine Covers From the 1970s In September 1975, the first issue of tech magazine Byte hit newsstands in America. While it would be mildly influential for at least the first decade of its existence,…

  By Luke Plunkett Published December 27, 2011
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  Now That’s a Zelda Tattoo

  Marian von Charlottenburg had this badass Zelda tattoo done in Hamburg, Germany. Nice to see someone take the normally-clean heraldic image and mess it up a bunch. My Triforce [Fuck Yeah, Tattoos!, via Gamefreaks]

  By Luke Plunkett Published December 27, 2011
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  Android Tablet Rips Off Sony, Nintendo, Angry Birds and Everyone Else

  Chinese tablet company JXD has released a new unit called the S7100, which in an effort to sell to its local market, flaunts not just its specs, but who and exactly where it’s ripping off properties that are owned and controlled by someone else. From the emulated games on its menus to the PlayStation buttons…

  By Luke Plunkett Published December 27, 2011
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  Even Skyrim Fan Films Are Full Of Bugs

  If you’re going to make a fan film based on Skyrim, you need to replicate not just the spirit of the game, but its maddening technical bugs as well. Shame they’ve left out the one that’s plaguing my game. Namely, my invisible Shadowmere. Some days, it’s great, I can pretend I’m Skyrim’s own Wonder Woman.…

  By Luke Plunkett Published December 27, 2011
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  Adventure Time x Metal Gear x Mario x Halo x Everything Else

  While we’ve already heard what the creators of Adventure Time would want to see in an Adventure Time game, there’s no stopping the rest of us from dreaming. Like this guy, whose dream is one I can get behind. While it’s lacking in the kind of originality the series thrives on, the idea of the…

  By Luke Plunkett Published December 27, 2011
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  Controller Company Berates Customer, Then Penny Arcade. Bring Popcorn.

  Reader Dave has sent us a rather interesting conversation he’s had over the past few weeks with Paul Christoforo, a PR rep from Ocean Marketing, representing the makers of the Avenger controller accessory It is entertaining reading. Initially the correspondence was between Dave and Christoforo, but once things get interesting he ccs us via our…

  By Luke Plunkett Published December 27, 2011
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  This Week’s Cosplay Round-up Is All Men, Women & Animals

  Skyward Sword. Aion. League of Legends. Mortal Kombat. They’re just some of the video game franchises represented in this week’s Fancy Pants cosplay roundup, alongside what I’m pretty sure is the segment’s first ever animal cosplay. As in, not a person dressing up as an animal, but an animal dressed up as a video game…

  By Luke Plunkett Published December 27, 2011
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  Skyrim Meets Minecraft, Results Exceed Expectations

  Let’s pretend, for a moment, that the court battle between Skyrim’s owners and the developers of Minecraft never happened. And that instead of fighting each other, they got together and made a sweet, sweet video game. About blocks. And blocky dragons. This isn’t some cheap piece of Minecraft machinima set to Skyrim’s score. It’s an…

  By Luke Plunkett Published December 27, 2011
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  The Official Zelda Timeline, Now With Added Detail

  While we were able last week to bring you the official Zelda timeline, courtesy of the series’ new art book, it was only the barest of structures, with just game names in chronological order. Now that the book has been out for a few days, more comprehensive translations are available. In addition to listing the…

  By Luke Plunkett Published December 27, 2011
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  The Vita Gets Two More Apps

  As we’ve shown you, the PlayStation Vita has some handy apps. And now, following the Asia Game Show, it’s got two more. Unveiled at the Hong Kong show, which wound up yesterday, were new apps Wake-up Club and Picture Park. Wake-up Club is an alarm clock service, which runs in the background and can interrupt…

  By Luke Plunkett Published December 27, 2011
• CultureTotal Recall

  Some Awesome Magazine Covers From the 1970s

  In September 1975, the first issue of tech magazine Byte hit newsstands in America. While it would be mildly influential for at least the first decade of its existence, I’m not bringing it up today for its editorial content. I’m bringing it up for its awesome covers. The world of computers in the 1970s was…

  By Luke Plunkett Published December 27, 2011