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  Take a Tour of the Tales Cafe

  To promote the latest Tales role-playing game Tales of Xillia, Namco is rolling out a Tales cafe, first in Tokyo and later in Tokushima. It’s pretty much trendy cafe Ufotable sprinkled with Tales memorabilia and merchandise. Though, those placemats showing the Xillia characters eating curry in Ufotable are cool indeed. That cutout by the window?…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published July 18, 2011
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  Report: The Next Xbox Can Render Avatar Graphics

  No, it won’t be wall-to-wall digital blue people. Well, I hope it won’t, because, man, I did not like Avatar However, AMD, the tech company responsible for Xbox 360 graphics tech, said the next Xbox will be able to render graphical detail on par with James Cameron’s sci-fi opus. AMD won’t confirm it’s working on…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published July 18, 2011
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  Giant Bugs Versus Heavy Armor in Japanese Arcades

  Steel Chronicle is Konami’s latest arcade game, and it has players suit up to shoot down huge insects. It’s reminiscent of 3DP’s Earth Defense Force games, which also have players shoot large insects. Wearing the gray assault suit, characters carry an assault rifle, a machine gun, and a beam blade. Wearing a heavy duty blaster…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published July 18, 2011
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  This Cosplay Is a Flawless Victory

  This Mortal Kombat shot is above and beyond what you normally expect when you think “cosplay photograph”. That’s because Cosplay photographer Alexander Vasiliev is not here to screw around. His Kitana versus Jade image leads the way this week in our round-up of Western cosplay, which also features people dressed to the nines as characters…

  By Luke Plunkett Published July 18, 2011
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  Enjoy A Portal Song, Sung by Two Valve Voice-Over Greats

  I know, Portal junk and stuff are so prevalent it sometimes feels as if the internet is drowning in it, but you will still be better off watching this video, filmed over the weekend at the Anime Midwest festival in Chicago. That lady up on stage, Ellen McLain, you’re about to hear her sing the…

  By Luke Plunkett Published July 18, 2011
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  Bikini Figures Plus

  In Japan, it’s summer. Time to put on a swimsuit and head to the beach. Easier said than done when you’re a virtual schoolgirl. The girls of Love Plus, Konami’s hit love simulator, are getting a new set of PVC figures. Manaka, Rinko, and Nene bathing suit figures are priced at ¥6,510 (US$78). They’ll go…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published July 18, 2011
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  Oh Jigglypuff…

  …why so serious? By Dan Hipp

  By Luke Plunkett Published July 18, 2011
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  Tales of Pricey Merchandise

  If playing Tales of Vesperia wasn’t enough for you, then there’s this: a Yuri Lowell bracelet. It seems at least one cosplayer wanted this bracelet commissioned! Good news, because it’s now officially available for purchase at Namco Bandai’s online shop for ¥5,040 (US$64). テイルズ オブ ヴェスペリア | ララビットマーケット（バンダイナムコゲームス公式通販サイト） [lalabitmarket]

  By Brian Ashcraft Published July 18, 2011
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  The Halo Toy Box Set Charting the History of Master Chief

  Action figures normally aren’t funny, but McFarlane’s Halo Anniversary piece is good for a chuckle. Better still, it’ll also be sold as part of a three-pack, each figure depicting Master Chief as he’s appeared in the three main Halo games. Due for release later this year, the bundle includes three figures each his own assortment…

  By Luke Plunkett Published July 18, 2011
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  Don’t Just Sit There, Let These Toys Blow Your Mind

  Gundam. Draonball. Kamen Rider. Great Mazinger, even. Namco Bandai’s 2011 Tamashii Nation toy show proves just how wonderful (and awesome) Japanese figures can be. Don’t believe me? Have a look at the pics in the gallery, courtesy of website Gigazine. There are some old favorites in there as well as new characters like the pirate-infused…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published July 18, 2011
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  Will You Help These Stupid Aliens Into Space?

  Kerbal Space Program is a simple, free strategy game in which you’re in charge of an alien space program. Don’t worry, it’s nothing too complex. You just build rockets, and if they explode, you build a better one. The core of the game is the space craft creation suite, which is essentially Spore’s Creature Creator,…

  By Luke Plunkett Published July 18, 2011
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  She Didn’t Have Friends. She Had Pocket Monsters.

  Ever wonder why nerd heroine Shoko Nakagawa is the queen of Pokémon? Because growing up, she was lonely. Very, very lonely. “When I was a kid, I didn’t have friends,” Nakagawa recently said at press event. “But I did have Pokémon.” Nakagawa has previously discussed her experience with bullies in junior high school. Seeing kids…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published July 18, 2011
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  This Man Spent Over a Month of his Life Completing a Video Game

  It usually takes some kind of achievement or trophy you can show off to your friends to compel people to 100% complete a video game. For Steve Tolin, however, all it took was the pursuit of true completion. That and 773 hours of his life. Tolin has completed 100% of Dragon Quest IX’s content, the…

  By Luke Plunkett Published July 18, 2011
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  Rumor: Gameloft Working Employees to the Bone

  Mobile publishers Gameloft are known for making blatant, if high-quality rip-offs based on other people’s intellectual property. Might they also be known now for shitty work practices? [games.on.net]

  By Luke Plunkett Published July 18, 2011
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  Eat Curry. With Your Plastic Girlfriend.

  Some people have flesh and blood girlfriends. Others have pillows. And some have plastic toys. One curry restaurant in Tokyo’s geek district is sensitive to this. Mammoth Curry is the home to mammoth curry—mammoth curry is 1 kilogram of curry, rice, pork, and raw egg. Yum. With its location in the nerd haven of Akihabara,…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published July 18, 2011
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  Let’s Check out a Sports Game That Isn’t American (or About Soccer)

  The biggest sports game in the world is EA’s FIFA series. After that? A whole bunch of American sports. Great for Americans, or the sport’s fans, but they’re not the only sports in the world. So let’s take a gander today at Rugby Challenge, from New Zealand outfit Sidhe Interactive. A common complaint levelled against…

  By Luke Plunkett Published July 18, 2011
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  Your Steam Downloads Are Now Faster, Stronger

  This may not be the sexiest PC gaming news of the year, but for many it may well be the most important to their week-to-week purchasing habits: Valve’s Steam service is now promising vastly improved download speeds. Only a week after Steam was brought to its knees by a massive sale, many downloads trickling down…

  By Luke Plunkett Published July 18, 2011
• CultureTotal Recall

  A Celebration of Awesome NES Title Screen Art

  I know we recently took a look at the “forgotten” art of the video game title screen, but those were contemporary examples, from the time the art had already been forgotten. It’s probably a better idea to look at a time when it was in its prime, featured on the games of the Famicom and…

  By Luke Plunkett Published July 18, 2011
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  Japan’s Cup Runneth Over

  Japan’s Cup Runneth Over | Homare Sawa celebrates her equalizer in extra time of a final won—with tremendous resilience and courage—by Japan. Congratulations! (Photo by Friedemann Vogel | Getty) Activision Seeks to Sieze Nettlesome ModernWarfare3.com Domain It appears that Activision is fed up with the owner of ModernWarfare3.com. The publisher filed a complaint with a…

  By Owen Good Published July 17, 2011
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  Here’s What the ESRB has to Say About Dead Island

  It’s no surprise that Deep Silver’s zombie title is getting an M-rating. The certificate just handed to it by the ESRB is still a little interesting for the bits of details it gives up from the game, from dialogue to gameplay features. From the listing, we get these details: • Bats, knives, axes, shotguns, rifles…

  By Owen Good Published July 17, 2011