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  Talking Companion Cubes, Zombie Rushes and An Australian Eating Raw Steak and Beating Up Hippies

  Valve Presents: The Sacrifice And Other Steam-Powered Stories goes on sale later this month. The 208-page hardcover book will cost you $25 Presented below is a short excerpt from the book which collects Left 4 Dead: the Sacrifice, Team Fortress 2: War!, Mac, Loose Canon, Bidwell’s Big Plan, Meet the Director and associated materials; and…

  By Brian Crecente Published November 4, 2011
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  Russian Dancing Men: Too Unforgiving to be Fun

  Rhythm games are difficult to do well on a smart device without simply porting over the note-highway interface of Guitar Hero or Rock Band whose ship everyone has agreed sailed about three years ago. Russian Dancing Men (iTunes, universal app) delivers rhythm gameplay aided not necessarily by fast-twitch reflexes, but by truly listening carefully. The…

  By Owen Good Published November 4, 2011
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  Playstation Network Cuts Down on Game Sharing Starting This Month

  Later this month Sony will begin limiting the number of PS3s and PSPs that can share a game purchased through the Playstation Network, the UK and U.S. Playstation blogs said this morning. This appears to impact all regions. Starting with game content purchased after Nov. 18 a new policy will apply that limits the number…

  By Brian Crecente Published November 4, 2011
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  Hungry? This Maid Has Omurice!

  Rice | TOKYO, JAPAN: An Akihabara maid shows off omurice and drinks at a PSP game event. (Photo: 4Gamer) Borderlands Fan Passes Away, Honoured as Borderlands 2 Character Michael John Mamaril sadly passed away last month at the age of just 22. Being a big Borderlands fan, Michael’s friend Carlo thought a nice way to…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published November 4, 2011
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  Link Journeys Through The Legend of Zelda’s Skyward Sword’s Dangerous Desert Area in This New Video

  So far, we’ve seen Link make his way over the volcanic parts of the landscape in Skyward Sword. This new trailer opens introduces the arid Lanaryu Desert, where the series hero searches for a mining facility. You’ll also see glimpses of the new Zelda game’s combat in action and a boss battle against a giant…

  By Evan Narcisse Published November 4, 2011
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  Abusive Judge Said His Daughter Dropped Out, Had Video Game Store Job

  Texas court-at-law judge William Adams was filmed (warning: graphic violence) beating his disabled daughter Hillary. The video appeared on YouTube, and the unsympathetic judge has admitted it was real—noting that it’s “not as bad as it looks on tape”. Hillary was apparently beaten for illegally downloading video games and music, and now the judge is…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published November 4, 2011
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  Australian Politician Already Wants Grand Theft Auto Banned

  Never mind that GTAV was just announced, New South Wales Attorney General Greg Smith called for Grand Theft Auto to be “banned”. Le sigh. [Kotaku Australia]

  By Brian Ashcraft Published November 4, 2011
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  Would You Be Excited About a Dude in Jeans with a Boring Name?

  Okay, I like the name “John”. It’s a good name, I think. “John Lennon” was named “John”, and he was a cool dude. Dizzy Gillespie was born “John”, but as good as “John” is, “Dizzy” is way better. What about “Nathan”? Is that better? Uncharted hero Nathan Drake started life as a John. The first…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published November 4, 2011
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  Call of Duty Elite Delayed on, Yes, PC

  Call of Duty: Elite, the franchise’s new online “platform” may not be a game, but we’re still going to add it to the list of “stuff that launches on console but is delayed on PC” anyway. Beachhead Studio head Chacko Sonny has told Activision community man Dan Amrich that not only will be service not…

  By Luke Plunkett Published November 4, 2011
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  Robots, Gunfights and the Unreal Engine, all on the iPhone

  Epoch, a cover-based shooter developed by a bunch of former 2K Australia guys, will be out on the App Store on November 10. Amazing how far these little mobile games have come, no? You can contact Luke Plunkett, the author of this post, at [email protected]. You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and lurking…

  By Luke Plunkett Published November 4, 2011
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  Is This Spoiler Modern Warfare 3‘s “No Russian” Moment?

  This post has a spoiler in it. If you want a tiny part of Modern Warfare 3, which officially hits Nov. 8, spoiled, read on. If you don’t, this is a post (and comments section) you should skip. Okay? We all here? Let’s dive in. The above clip was sent to Kotaku, with the tipster…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published November 4, 2011
• Culture

  Dota 2’s Character Art is Like Magic Candy for the Eyes

  While the game’s not out yet, Valve’s sequel to the super-popular WarCraft mod already gets a thumbs up from this feature for its gorgeous character art. It’s being used once or twice a week to accompany the reveal of new characters and/or features for the game, and seeing as it hasn’t been plastered all over…

  By Luke Plunkett Published November 4, 2011
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  The Games Industry’s Biggest Influence at the Moment is Apple, Apparently

  At least, that’s what around 1,000 games industry employees reckon, as the results of a survey for the London Games Conference show. Attendees for the upcoming event were asked who they think the most influential people were, along with the most influential products. Note they’re not being asked their favourites, or the most important (whatever…

  By Luke Plunkett Published November 4, 2011
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  It’s Dangerous To Gamble Alone! Take These

  Last year, Nintendo, who started out as a hanafuda maker, released several sets of Mario playing cards. This December, Nintendo is releasing another themed deck. This time, Zelda Priced at ¥1,050 and out this December in Japan, the decks feature art from four Zelda games. The spades are The Legend of Zelda, the hearts are…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published November 4, 2011
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  Someone is Turning the Crysis Engine Into a…Sports Game!

  Crysis developers Crytek’s proprietary engines are always impressive, but for some reason or another aren’t often used by other studios. Or when they are, they’re used for shooters. Not this time! A Swedish developer by the name of Poppermost is working on a game called Snow, which is a skiing/snowboarding title that, like EA’s Skate…

  By Luke Plunkett Published November 4, 2011
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  An Example of Sexual Harassment? Grand Theft Auto

  Sexual harassment is awful. Many people—often politicians, it seems—say things or create situations that make others uncomfortable. So Bolt insurance agency created a chart explaining “Sexual Harassment in the Workplace”. Specific examples include: “Constant and repeated requests for a date or unwanted flirting”, “Unwanted jokes, gestures, comments and repartee”, and “Displaying sexually suggestive objects, pictures…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published November 4, 2011
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  Gearbox Thinks Duke Nukem Reviews Weren’t Fair

  Duke Nukem Forever was, I thought, an absolute disaster. I was not alone in this. Yet Gearbox co-founder Brian Martel thinks the game’s poor reviews weren’t a consequence of the game being terrible. They were because reviewers were somehow unfair to the game. “There were [review scores] towards the high and things towards the low,…

  By Luke Plunkett Published November 4, 2011
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  Don’t Let a Little Thing Like a Sex Video Slow You Down

  During the 1990s, when Neon Genesis Evangelion exploded in popularity, voice actress Yuko Miyamura was along for the ride. Like many other voice actresses, she wasn’t merely someone who read lines, she was an idol. Fans worshipped her. That is, until the unthinkable happened: A porno. In Japan there are, generally speaking, idols who are…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published November 4, 2011
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  Report: Assassin’s Creed Gets a Movie Deal That Even Spielberg Couldn’t

  Last month, it was reported that Sony and Ubisoft will soon sign an Assassin’s Creed movie deal. From the sound of it, this is no normal movie deal. Ubisoft apparently has control over everything, from the budget to the script to the actors to even the release date. According to one studio exec, Ubisoft even…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published November 4, 2011
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  The First Grand Theft Auto V Rap Wants to Drive a Wind Turbine

  British rapper Dan Bull, who you may have heard of before, was so moved by the first trailer for Grand Theft Auto V he went and wrote a track about it. Part literal description, part wishlist, it certainly makes the trailer worth watching a second time. Especially if you like the Fresh Prince You can…

  By Luke Plunkett Published November 4, 2011