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  Real Details on the New Counter-Strike from Pros Who’ve Played It

  Valve Software revealed the existence of the newest Counter-Strike today, but the company seemed a bit shy on specifics, saying that next year’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive would bring new weapons, gameplay modes and maps to the extremely popular competitive shooter. Thankfully, some of Counter-Strike‘s most dedicated players, the professionally competitive type, are going hands-on with…

  By Michael McWhertor Published August 12, 2011
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  Lookin’ for Love? Notch’s Wedding Means You Can Give a Free Minecraft to Your Soulmate

  Minecraft creator Markus “Notch” Persson is getting married tomorrow (which may be today come to think of it. Anyway …) and in celebration of such, he’s giving out a free copy of the game to all who buy it. The idea is to enjoy Minecraft and then give a code for the game to a…

  By Owen Good Published August 12, 2011
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  Republican Presidential Candidate Herman Cain Doesn’t Want You to Know About His Pokémons

  You’ve gotta hand it to Republican Presidential Candidate Herman Cain. One minute the guy is proposing a three-page limit on bills in Washington, then he’s calling Jon Stewart a racist, and now… well, now he’s breaking out the inadvertent Pokémon references. In his closing statement during last night’s Republican Primary debate, Cain got all deep…

  By Kirk Hamilton Published August 12, 2011
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  Oh Look, Another Multizillion-Spacedollar Scam Hit EVE Online

  Only in an MMO is a gigantic financial crime a) subject to absolutely no punishment and b) a sign of the community’s health because hey, it’s all role-playing, right? Once again, we’re looking at EVE Online. An intergalactic space Ponzi scheme fleeced investors of 1 trillion spacebuxx or whatever that currency is called, which the…

  By Owen Good Published August 12, 2011
• Culture

  This Week in the Business: ‘Graphics will always matter.’

  What’s happened in the business of video games this past week… QUOTE | “Graphics will always matter.” – id Software CEO Todd Hollenshead reinforces the motto started by John Carmack, noting that games are nowhere near reality and id still makes graphical trade-offs QUOTE | “Total exaggeration.” – Sega West boss Mike Hayes says that…

  James Brightman | IndustryGamers.com Published August 12, 2011
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  What Are You Playing This Weekend?

  This Kotaku editor has some serious gaming to do… next week. We’re departing for Cologne, Germany and Gamescom 2011 on Monday, so I’d better warm up the old thumbs. Maybe with a little Toy Soldiers: Cold War? Perhaps! I’m still catching up on (and completing) many of the Xbox Live Arcade “Summer of Arcade” titles.…

  By Michael McWhertor Published August 12, 2011
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  Nintendo Seeks to Patent the Massively Singleplayer Online Game

  Back in 2010, Nintendo filed a patent application for something called a “massively single-playing online game,” something whose interactions don’t take place in real time and what sounds a little Animal Crossing-ish (above). According to GameSpot, which found the filing, the MSO(?) would be an environment where players’ actions and choices affect the world they…

  By Owen Good Published August 12, 2011
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  Gamescom!

  Gamescom – It’s coming… next week. Gamescom 2011. We’re leaving Monday, feet on the ground Tuesday. See you there? Why You Need to Play Age of Empire Online… And Believe My Lies Be warned: I am a strident fan of classic computer real-time strategy series Age of Empires and when finally given the opportunity to…

  By Brian Crecente Published August 12, 2011
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  Terrifically Tactical Frozen Synapse Gets Demo, Half-Price Weekend on Steam

  I’m only just now getting around to Frozen Synapse, which was released back in May and about which a bunch of people I know have had only nice things to say. So far, it’s like some glorious combination of X-Com and Tron with maybe a touch of Rainbow Six and Ubisoft’s fantastic 3DS game Ghost…

  By Kirk Hamilton Published August 12, 2011
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  From Snot-Shooting to Eyeball Eating, The Best Gaming Apps of the Week

  Shooting your own mucus at phlegm-hungry monsters? Destroying ice sculptures with multicolored bombs? Attacking a dolphin-headed mad scientist from the inside? It’s definitely time for this week’s Gaming App of the Day round-up. It was a week filled with the sort of touchy-feely games you’ll only find on today’s advanced mobile gaming devices, otherwise known…

  By Mike Fahey Published August 12, 2011
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  Does This Sound Like the Year 2027 to You?

  To capture the sound of the year 2027 for Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Eidos Montreal recruited a man with hair so glorious the music composer had to be bald to balance it out. While the graphics folks are busy working on textures and such, the sound folks are busy trying to create the aural identity…

  By Mike Fahey Published August 12, 2011
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  MelVille is like FarmVille With Much Better Writing (And a Whale)

  Herman Melville was born well ahead of his time, wasting his writings on paper when the great Moby-Dick deserved a more impressive platform: Facebook. History has been bent in a corrective direction by Zynga-weary game designer David Fox. The brave Fox has finally brought Melville’s great novel to Facebook in the form of Melville, a…

  By Stephen Totilo Published August 12, 2011
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  Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet Takes You on a Weird, Wild Tour of Metroidvainia-land

  The recently released XBLA side-scroller Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet wears each of its various influences proudly on its sleeve. You’ll probably see them if you play it, but if I had to list them all, I’d take a deep breath and say: A moderately tripped-out short from Fantasia grafted onto PixelJunk Shooter through the lens…

  By Kirk Hamilton Published August 12, 2011
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  Watch Playstation’s Gamescom Press Conference Live

  Sony Computer Entertainment Europe says they’ll be providing a live video stream of their press conference at Gamescom next week. Of course we’ll be on hand too covering it from the floor. You can catch the stream ( Tuesday 16 August 2011 at 19:00 CET / 18:00 BST / 03:00 Sydney (Wed) ) on the…

  By Brian Crecente Published August 12, 2011
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  Get Wasted, Bomberman Style

  Because today is Friday, and because while we know the entire Kotaku community enjoys video games, we also know a few of you might also enjoy consuming alcohol with friends—we thought it would be a good idea to share a way for you to combine those interests. It’s called Sake Bomberman. I really don’t think…

  By Joshua Rivera Published August 12, 2011
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  Why You Need to Play Age of Empires Online… And Believe My Lies

  Be warned: I am a strident fan of classic computer real-time strategy series Age of Empires and when finally given the opportunity to play a new take on the game I will go to great lengths to make sure it sticks around. Usually that wouldn’t be a problem. But Age of Empires Online’s survival faces…

  By Brian Crecente Published August 12, 2011
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  Watch Electronic Arts’ Gamescom Press Conference Live

  Electronic Arts tells Kotaku that they will be streaming their Gamescom press conference live on EA’s Gamescom site. The conference takes place on Tuesday at 4 p.m. local (German) time. Which works out to… um… one second… 10 a.m. eastern, 7 a.m. pacific.

  By Brian Crecente Published August 12, 2011
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  It May Be a Good Idea to Keep Your Foes at a Distance in Fable: The Journey

  You won’t be able to use a sword in Fable: The Journey. Or a gun. You may have been able to surmise this from the game’s E3 demo or from Brian Crecente’s impressions a couple months back. But, speaking to OXM, Peter Molyneux wants to make sure you know the reason behind the design decision.…

  By Joshua Rivera Published August 12, 2011
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  FrontierVille Sequel Pioneer Trail Gets Zynga a Little Closer to Making Hardcore Games, Limits Friends

  Pioneer Trail is the brand-new, massive sequel to FrontierVille, one of the most popular games on Facebook. It’s got a few twists that are going to throw any FrontierVille fan for a loop. But it also has hints of where the people who made it at Zynga might be going… directions that any hardcore gamer…

  By Stephen Totilo Published August 12, 2011
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  Is Iron Wolf the Next Call of Duty?

  A pair of hackers that gained access to the Xbox account of a Treyarch employee believes they’ve stumbled across the next entry in the Call of Duty series, code named Iron Wolf. Are they on to something? The Iron Wolf speculation comes after hackers gained access to the Xbox Live account of an internal PartnerNet…

  By Mike Fahey Published August 12, 2011