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  One of Japan’s Biggest Developers Will Be Smaller at the Tokyo Game Show

  Year after year, Level-5 is one of the biggest draws at the Tokyo Game Show. Except this year. Level-5 will be at TGS, but it’s most likely to be a meeting room, instead of a huge booth like in year’s past. Instead, Level-5 is holding its own event, “Level-5 World”, in October in Tokyo. “I…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published August 22, 2011
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  How Many People Visited Gamescom?

  Another attendance record for Gamescom. This year’s show drew 275,000 visitors, organizers stated in an official release.

  By Brian Ashcraft Published August 22, 2011
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  So Much Time, So Many Crappy-Sounding 3DS Games.

  The Nintendo 3DS gets flack for not having a killer line up. And so far, it doesn’t. That flack is largely deserved, but it’s flack that will, over time, disappear. But until that happens, dig in Japanese 3DS owners. As 2ch pointed out, here are known release dates for titles between August and November: •…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published August 22, 2011
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  This Guy Just Wants To Hold a Controller (So Do I)

  Game designer Xander Davis recently started a new game design show on YouTube called “THINK TANK!” (his caps, not mine), where he sounds off on game design. Davis most recently did the UI art for Transformers: War for Cybertron and is currently working on a new CryEngine 3 action role-playing game. In the above episode,…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published August 22, 2011
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  Battlefield 3’s Multiplayer Blows 128 Socks Clean Off

  Battlefield 3’s booth at Gamescom was not fucking around. Inside its cavernous hall, at the end of an hours-long wait, were 64 personal computers and an 18-minute round of the game’s multiplayer. It’s quite the experience. Taking place on the game’s Caspian Border map, an enormous expanse of creeks, hills, plains and buildings, the demo…

  By Luke Plunkett Published August 22, 2011
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  Namco Bandai Ready To Go After Mobile Games

  Namco Bandai established a start-up with Japanese mobile gaming giant DeNA to make social games. Dubbed BDNA, the company’s funded by Namco Bandai (75 percent) and DeNA (25 percent). DeNA makes the popular “Mobage” titles in Japan. [IT Media]

  By Brian Ashcraft Published August 22, 2011
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  With Warhammer: Space Marine, the Future’s so Dark You Gotta Wear Shades

  Upcoming title Warhammer 40,000 gets a a handful of short trailers that should loop in newcomers and get old hands excited. The trailer is heavy on heavy armor, big weapons, bad guys, and blood. But even though, this is a third-person action game, it doesn’t feature a cover system, which has quickly become a standard…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published August 22, 2011
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  When Gundam Meets Professor Layton

  Well, Professor Layton‘s creator, that is. Level-5 honcho Akihiro Hino is penning the new Gundam cartoon series, Mobile Suit Gundam Age Since Hino is known for his talky games like Professor Layton, there was a rumor that the Gundam in Age would actually talk. Hino called this a “misunderstanding”, and he added that the mecha…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published August 22, 2011
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  You Got Mario in My Jenga!

  Jenga and endless Jenga clones are popular enough in Japan for Mario to get into the mix. Called Super Mario Balance Block, the game is a spin on Jenga and has players use a Mario pointer to push the blocks out—there are also question blocks and mushrooms. But, like with standard Jenga, knock over the…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published August 22, 2011
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  Getting Up Close (and Very Personal) With the PlayStation Vita

  This video isn’t as sexy as it sounds (unless you start up some simultaneous saxophone). For those interested in the PlayStation Vita but who haven’t laid hands upon one, however, it is practical It’s a good look at the handheld’s thumbsticks. And its tiny (though excellent) buttons. And its very shiny rear touchpad.

  By Luke Plunkett Published August 22, 2011
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  Love Plus Brings Failed Upskirts to Japanese TV

  Japanese TV already has already seen upskirts (both failed and successful), but here we go, once more with feeling. This fall, Love Plus, that popular love simulator from Konami, is getting a 3DS version called New Love Plus. It has new features. Some of those new features, like the ability to stare at your Love…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published August 22, 2011
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  From Erotic Games to Murder Charges

  In 1999, a thirty-one year-old voice actress under the name Suzuka Yuna voice one of the lead characters in Japanese erotic computer game Triangle Heart 2 In 2000, she voiced the sequel, and during the following decade, she launched a reasonably successful voice acting career. But by summer 2011, she was arrested for murder. Yuna,…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published August 22, 2011
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  A Tale of Two Games of Battlefield 3

  I’ve got to play Battlefield 3 twice this week at Gamescom. Once on PS3 and once on PC. One was OK and one was amazing. We’ll start with the OK one first. That version was the PS3’s. Making its playable debut at the show, the PS3 edition was there to show off the game’s co-op…

  By Luke Plunkett Published August 22, 2011
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  Castlevania: Harmony of Despair Hits PSN Next Month With All of the 360’s DLC

  We heard back in July that Castlevania: Harmony of Despair, last year’s cooperative multiplayer platformer on Xbox Live would be making its way to the PS3. Konami has now said to expect it in September. It will also feature a new, local four-player cooperative mode in addition to the six-player online cooperative mode, the “Beauty,…

  By Owen Good Published August 21, 2011
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  All Your Gamescom 2011 News Right Here: Assassin’s Creed Revelations, Dark Souls, Guild Wars, Cosplay and Lots More.

  The giant Gamescom show in Germany wrapped up this weekend, but the coverage won’t stop here. We have more galleries, impressions, news and notes from days four and five here, and the crew returning from Germany will have much more to share as the week unfolds. For now, here is a round-up of the latest…

  By Owen Good Published August 21, 2011
• Culture

  Body Modification

  Deus Ex: Human Revolution leads us back to the land of big release weeks, serving up the third game in the Deus Ex series and, canonically, the prequel to the first. Other names of note include another map pack from Call of Duty: Black Ops and Street Fighter III‘s “Third Strike” Online Edition. Tuesday •…

  By Owen Good Published August 21, 2011
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  Kinect was Tested by Dropping It on Concrete

  The Microsoft engineers building Kinect “knew this thing was going to be viewed as a toy,” says one, “and so it was going to be abused.” So they abused it first, toughening the thing up to the point it could be dropped on concrete and still function. Now, it’s not said how high of a…

  By Owen Good Published August 21, 2011
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  Transforming Pinball Machines Are Too Cool For Michael Bay

  Slick teaser trailers for…pinball machines? It’s a wonderful world we live in.

  By Luke Plunkett Published August 21, 2011
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  Toilet Humor

  Each week throws off several new video game lists ranging from the humorous to the trivial. What’s better? A list of those. Here’s a roundup of the rundowns out there. •Top 10 Most Memorable Toilets in Video Game History [Piki Geek] I get the strong feeling I’ve seen something like this elsewhere and, sure enough,…

  By Owen Good Published August 21, 2011
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  Pokémon in Minecraft? Hell, Why Not?

  Two worlds of obsession collide with this Minecraft mod under development, bringing Pokémon into the game. Ten minutes of gameplay! Learn how to make a Pokéball! (redstone, coal, wool). Catch a Pidgey! Rename him! The mod’s maker, Seagoingmanatee, says he hopes to bring all 151 original Pokémon, plus Team Rocket, battle support, and lots more.…

  By Owen Good Published August 21, 2011