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  First Ever Dota 2 Championship Winner Revealed

  Valve’s yet-to-be released Dota 2 has its first champion. The publisher held a tournament for the still-unreleased game at the Gamsecom video game conference last week. It wrapped up over the weekend. There are spoilers ahead, in case you haven’t looked up the winner yet. The 16 top-ranking Dota teams from around the world battled…

  By Jen Schiller Published August 23, 2011
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  How Video Game Deaths Help Us Live

  “Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result,” wrote Winston Churchill, in The Story of the Malakand Field Force in 1898. The thrill of survival in the face of danger is so satisfying and scary that we recreate it in a thousand ways, among them the adrenaline-pumping sensations provided by…

  Maria Bustillos Published August 23, 2011
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  Diablo III Furries Mill About at Gamescom

  Gamescom was invaded by the depths of hell this weekend. But it was mostly a low-key affair. Diablo III demons of all types appeared at the misty Blizzard stage. The horned creatures mostly just walk around the stage in this video, sometimes menacing at folks in the audience. These fury monsters entertained the crowd in…

  By Max Abrams Published August 23, 2011
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  Let’s Imagine the Ultimate Video Game Arcade

  As video game arcades across the country blink out like lights on an artificial discount store Christmas tree, commenter Blessrok asks us to imagine the arcade of our dreams in today’s short but sweet Speak Up on Kotaku. I have an interesting question for everyone. Arcades, I love em, you love em, but they’re all…

  By Mike Fahey Published August 23, 2011
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  iPad 2 “About Half” as Powerful as Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Says Man Who Would Know

  The iPad 2 is “about half” as powerful as modern games consoles like the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, according to graphics genius John Carmack. In an interview with Tom’s Hardware, Id Software’s John Carmack—one of the most knowledgeable, influential, and affable graphics programmers of the last twenty years—spoke at great length about the power…

  By Joel Johnson Published August 23, 2011
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  Rise From Your Graves, It’s Black Ops Rezurrection Day

  It’s time to strap on your space suit, dual wield your space guns, and take out some space zombies on the moon, as Activision and Treyarch launch the all-zombie Rezurrection map pack for Black Ops on the Xbox 360. What you see above is perhaps the most bizarre Call of Duty screenshot I’ve ever posted,…

  By Mike Fahey Published August 23, 2011
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  Talk Amongst Yourselves

  Howdy fellow game seekers and welcome to another edition of your favorite forum! Gamescom is long over, but PAX starts this weekend! A lot of new game info to talk about. What are you most excited about? New Vita games? PS3 price drop? Any info you’re especially looking forward to at PAX this weekend? Let…

  By Max Abrams Published August 23, 2011
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  How Capcom Turned Buddhist Mythology Into A Game About Planet-Splitting Battles

  Asura’s Wrath is an angry game based on an angry group of Buddhist demigods. In the game you play as Asura, a god stripped of all of his powers out to save his daughter from the seven gods that betrayed him. As Asura grows angrier in the game he also grows more arms. That multitude…

  By Brian Crecente Published August 23, 2011
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  Virtua Fighter 5 Returns Next Summer as the Final Showdown

  Sega wants in on the Street Fighter IV-led fighting game resurgence. Their entrant? A new version of 2006’s Virtua Fighter 5, Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown, scheduled for a downloadable release on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 next summer. Final Showdown is supposed to include “a full overhaul of Virtua Fighter 5‘s mechanics, balance…

  By Stephen Totilo Published August 23, 2011
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  How Do You Like Hitting Dem Apples?

  From a young age, I loved bows and arrows. I can remember getting a bow and arrow set from the supermarket, taking off the plastic suction caps, and firing potentially eye-poking-out arrows around the yard. Thankfully, no one was willing to play William Tell with me. Hit the Apple! is a very simple game: The…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published August 23, 2011
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  Link and Zelda Game Together

  Legends | KOELN, DEUTSCHLAND: Link and Zelda checked out the 3DS at Gamescom. (Photo: Sascha Schuermann | AP) If Only I Had a Door to Take Me to This Wonderful Place Some people love Mario. Others love Mickey. But I love Doraemon, that blue robotic cat from the future, with a pocket full of gizmos…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published August 23, 2011
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  These Tron Lightcycles Can Seal Packages and Boxes

  When you look at Duck Tape, you might not think Tron, but you will now. I’m a sucker for clever ads, and this one is pretty clever, but not annoyingly so. Stick around for the end. (GEDDIT?) Not that you’d, you know, walk out on a thirty-seven second commercial. Who does that?! Tron Gets Sticky…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published August 23, 2011
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  Some People in Montreal Dressed Up

  Earlier this month, the Otakuthon Anime Convention stormed through lovely Montreal, Canada. And when there’s a convention, you can bet there are people in funny costumes. Reader Yeti sent along these snaps he snapped at this year’s Otakuthon of cosplayers dressed as characters from titles like Final Fantasy IX, Resident Evil, and Katamari Damacy Okakuthon,…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published August 23, 2011
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  It’s Like .hack, but with .sex

  Story within a story .hack isn’t only getting a CG animated film. It’s also has an erotic game knock-off called, coughs, .fuck Released years ago, the game promises to blend cyberspace, enormous eyes and one heck of a title. And this is volume four? I feel like I’ve missed something, namely volumes one, two, and…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published August 23, 2011
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  Is Nintendo Working on a Redesigned 3DS?

  Nintendo’s already slashed the 3DS’s price tag, but, according to new rumors, that’s not the only thing the Kyoto-based game maker is planning on slashing. According to French website 01Net, insiders said that Nintendo is prepping an entirely new 3DS model that “radically tones down” the handheld’s 3D, and it could even be an entirely…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published August 23, 2011
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  Report: Nintendo Holding Pre-Tokyo Game Show Event

  Nintendo is holding a 3DS related event in Japan on September 13, days before TGS begins. Nintendo does not traditionally show at TGS, and Kotaku is following up with Nintendo for clarification. According to the Wall Street Journal, the event is called the Nintendo Conference and will be open to members of the industry, press,…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published August 23, 2011
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  Does This Fix the From Dust Disaster?

  When PC title From Dust was released, PC gamers discovered that, yes, you must have an always-on internet connection. Previous claims stated that it wouldn’t. Now, Ubisoft is ready to make amends. As Kotaku posted last week, Ubisoft originally said that reports of a mandatory always-on connection were erroneous. Yet after From Dust’s release, Ubisoft…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published August 23, 2011
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  So I Guess This Will Be a Movie Within a Game?

  Or maybe it’s a game within a movie? Or maybe it’s just a movie—enough! Okay, .hack, the video game within a video game video game, is getting a movie version. .hack debuted as a video game with 2002’s .hack//Infection, and are part of a multimedia franchise that encompasses television anime, manga, and even music. The…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published August 23, 2011
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  Great Street Fighter Player’s Not So Great Autograph

  Daigo Umehara, aka “The Beast”, is a pro gamer. He’s famous enough to get his picture on books he has little to do with! Umehara’s picture is on the book binding for the Japanese translation of tech thriller Daemon—he didn’t write it! But, often in Japan, photos of celebrities are used on book covers in…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published August 23, 2011
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  Sony Gives PlayStation Home a Massive Theme Park Makeover With MMO-like Gameplay This Fall

  PlayStation Home, the digital hang out space for Sony’s PlayStation 3 that opened to the public in 2008, is getting an extreme makeover later this year. Sony’s console social network will be redesigned for the fall, reemerging as an experience that’s part theme park, part online game and part social network. The new PlayStation Home,…

  By Michael McWhertor Published August 23, 2011