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  First There’s Cross-Dressing and Dancing. Then Shock. Then Respect.

  Graphic design company MokuMoku Factory also makes live-action shorts. They’re fantastic. Why, you ask? Well, I’ll give you thirty-one seconds to watch this clip—and that should do all the explaining you’ll ever need. Hatsune Miku, for those not familiar, is the virtual idol cosplayed by the dancing dude. This clip is from a longer MokuMoku…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published February 10, 2012
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  Iconic Japanese Mecha Inspired…a WiFi Tower?

  Patlabor, the iconic Japanese anime, will be reborn this year—as a WiFi tower. Osaka’s MSystem is rolling out a new series of “intelligent” WiFi towers named after the Patlabor mecha, complete with licensing approval for using the moniker. The tower’s design was based on the AV-98 Ingram, the Tokyo Police Patrol Labor (“Patlabor”) featured in…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published February 10, 2012
• Kotaku East

  The Japanese Side of the PlayStation Button Confusion

  Nihonjin no Shiranai Nihongo (The Japanese that Japanese People Don’t Know) is a collection of real-life stories centering on a young Japanese woman as she teaches Japanese to a group of foreigners in Tokyo. Presented in manga form, the stories are usually about the simple questions her students ask her and the culture shock she…

  By Richard Eisenbeis Published February 10, 2012
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  From Cosplayer to Cover Girl

  It was only last fall that Macau-born Sunny Lin’s cosplay made waves throughout Asia. Japan declared that Lin was the closest to a living incarnation of Boa Hancock from One Piece Based in Taiwan, Lin is the February cover girl for FHM Taiwan, underscoring just how rapid her assent has been and that it is…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published February 10, 2012
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  Bandai Namco Games Making “Bandai Namco Studio”

  Today, Bandai Namco, known as Namco Bandai in the West, revealed it’s created a new studio called Bandai Namco Studio. It will be responsible for Tekken, SoulCalibur, Taiko no Tatsujin, the Tales games, and the Gundam games. [BNG]

  By Brian Ashcraft Published February 10, 2012
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  Virtual Snow Idol Being Rebuilt. Hopefully It Won’t Injure Old Ladies.

  After a snow sculpture of virtual idol Hatsune Miku crumbled and injured an elderly woman at the Sapporo Snow Festival, officials destroyed the statue. The original statue, while cute, suffered by poor balance. Seven craftsmen are working around the clock to complete the safer sculpture. The new statue features “Snow Miku” carved in relief, and…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published February 10, 2012
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  The Stupidest PS3 Password Story Ever

  When Sony was hacked in 2011, it was major news. People’s personal information was put at risk. This latest PlayStation password story is not major news. It shouldn’t even be on television. TV Asahi, a major Japanese television network, is reporting that Ramos Angelo Miguel, 22, was arrested in Tokyo’s Fussa City for using somebody…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published February 10, 2012
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  Tim Schafer Even Makes Kevin Costner Movies More Bearable

  In case you’ve been away or in a coma for the past 24 hours, see here for reference Fund of Dreams [GameTrailers @ Facebook]

  By Luke Plunkett Published February 10, 2012
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  Team Fortress 2 Channels LL Cool J (What?)

  There’s a new item in Team Fortress 2 that the Scout can employ which plays music. Sounds pretty trivial, but man, you’ve got to read Valve’s description of the item. My radio’s bad from the Boulevard. I’m a hip-hop gangster and my name is Todd. Terrorising my neighbours with the heavy bass. I keep the…

  By Luke Plunkett Published February 10, 2012
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  What Pokémon Would Look Like as Classic Disney Characters

  Canadian artist Beth Turnsek is the one to thank for these amazing Pokémon images which reimagine the Japanese series in her own charming style, which resembles classic animated films. What’s cool about this series is that she’s gone through and drawn her favourite pocket monster from each variety, so you’ll find a single Earth Pokémon,…

  By Luke Plunkett Published February 10, 2012
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  Blizzard and Valve go to War Over DOTA Name

  Blizzard once made a game called WarCraft III. Then someone made an awesome mod for it called DOTA. Then Valve decided to make a game called DOTA 2. Then Blizzard decided to make something called Blizzard DOTA And now Blizzard is fighting a legal battle with Valve over the whole thing. What a mess Two…

  By Luke Plunkett Published February 10, 2012
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  Mass Effect Gets the Final Fantasy VII Treatment

  In Final Fantasy VII, there are two art styles at work. On the overworld, everyone is blocky, cute and deformed, but jump into a battle – or look at the game’s promo art – and suddenly everyone’s adult-sized and finely-detailed. 3D artist Nix has taken the same approach and applied it to Mass Effect. Not…

  By Luke Plunkett Published February 10, 2012
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  Video Game Divorce Rates Lower Than Real Divorce Rates

  Maplestory, an online game that’s been running since 2003 (2005 in North America), lets players get married. It also lets them get divorced. And that’s where it gets interesting. In 2011, the divorce rate in Maplestory for North American players was 46%. That’s…pretty terrible, but it’s actually less terrible than the divorce rate for American…

  By Luke Plunkett Published February 10, 2012
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  Super Meat Boy Being Rebuilt for Touch-Screen Mobiles

  Despite the fact its creators have railed against the quality of iPhone games, and openly trolled consumers on the iTunes store by selling a parody game for $350, Super Meat Boy is being rebuilt to be playable on touch-screen mobile devices, the game’s two-man team said in a Twitter conversation today. Yes, that could mean…

  By Owen Good Published February 9, 2012
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  Live in L.A.? Want to Hang Out with Nintendo This Friday?

  To mark Rhythm Heaven Fever‘s launch, Nintendo is holding a launch event this Friday Feb. 10 at the iam8bit Gallery on Sunset Blvd from 6 to 10pm. There will be drinks, food, and music, too. First come, first served.

  By Brian Ashcraft Published February 9, 2012
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  Here are all of Tonight’s Interactive Achievement Awards Winners

  Tonight, the 15th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards are going down at DICE in Las Vegas. The winners aren’t selected by TV voters, or magazine readers, they’re picked by 20,000 members of the Academy of Arts and Interactive Sciences. In other words, the peers of those nominated. The show has just wound up, and here’s the…

  By Luke Plunkett Published February 9, 2012
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  This Ezio Statue Could be Yours for Just…$375

  Sideshow Collectibles has released this line of Assassin’s Creed statues which feature star Ezio jumping from a busted building about to stab someone in the face. What could you expect to pay for such polystone heroics? It’s in the headline. Sure, he’s just under 14″ tall, and is “limited” to 2000 pieces, but boy, $375…

  By Luke Plunkett Published February 9, 2012
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  Look, I Only Killed Them Because My Jerk of a Cat Asked Me To

  Greetings, Kotaku-eers, and welcome to the Thursday evening open thread. The week is almost over! It’s been a fun one. Below, find a selection of link-type-things from around the internet, arranged for your reading enjoyment. How the tv shows in The Running Man compare to reality – I need to watch The Running Man again.…

  By Kirk Hamilton Published February 9, 2012
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  These Developers Just Took Their Characters Out Back and Shot Them. For Real.

  There’s retiring old video game characters by not using them any more, and then there’s retiring old video game characters by building little models of them and destroying them. Introversion, the developers of strategy game Darwinia, are done with the property. Having worked on it in some for another for nearly a decade now across…

  By Luke Plunkett Published February 9, 2012
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  Call of Duty Population Explodes to 40 Million Users, Half Coming From Modern Warfare 3

  Activision today said its Call of Duty franchise has more than 40 million monthly active users across all of its titles, half of that coming from the latest release, Modern Warfare 3 What’s more, there are 7 million users in the game’s Call of Duty: Elite online service, 1.5 million of them as paying annual…

  By Owen Good Published February 9, 2012