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  Ragnarok Online Comes Alive

  Earlier this month, South Korea’s GungHo held a, well, GungHo Festival in Tokyo. The event also saw the Ragnarok Online Japan Championship—so there was that, too! Ragnarok Online is a South Korean MMORGP that has a sizable following in Japan and throughout the world. Kotaku Japan was on hand for the festivities, the costumes, and…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published June 16, 2011
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  A Game Release from Beyond the Grave

  Game Republic, the Tokyo-based studio behind PS3 titles Folklore and Genji, appears to be dead. The studio’s honcho went from riches to rags, and the studio’s been erased from the internet—and the Earth. Yet, Game Republic’s Knights Contract is still getting promoted in Japan, garnering a huge splash on Famitsu. Namco Bandai, the game’s publisher,…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published June 16, 2011
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  Multiple Wii U Controllers Are a Cost Issue

  The Wii U comes with one Wii U Controller. Each console will support only one of these controllers; Kotaku broke the news that Nintendo is looking into games that support two Wii U controllers. But why is Nintendo planning to release the console with single Wii U Controller support? “There’s a cost issue,” Nintendo president…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published June 16, 2011
• Culture

  The Beautiful Fighting Game Art of Stanley Lau

  Stanley Lau has been asked by Capcom to provide the official artwork for the upcoming Street Fighter III 3rd Strike Online Edition. Being both an accomplished comic artist and a Street Fighter nerd, his work does not disappoint. In addition to the stuff he’s done for the game’s upcoming re-release, Lau is something of a…

  By Luke Plunkett Published June 16, 2011
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  For $35,000, You Can Make Your Own PS1 Games

  Website PlayStation Museum has a complete PS1 development kit, including everything you need to make a game, from coding it to burning master discs. And now it can all be yours. The site is selling this obscure and yet amazing collection of hardware, which includes dozens of pieces of equipment as well as software and…

  By Luke Plunkett Published June 16, 2011
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  The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of a Boy Band

  Europe gets Robin Williams and his daughter. Japan gets boy band Arashi. In Japan, Arashi have been Nintendo pitchmen of sorts, selling titles like Wii Party and even the Nintendo 3DS. The group is appearing in recent television and print spots for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on the 3DS. Arashi are one…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published June 16, 2011
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  Uncategorized

  World of Warcraft: Cataclysm’s 4.2 Trailer Burns the House Down

  You know a game is big when its patches get big fancy trailers. Rage of the Firelands, an update to the expansion Cataclysm, brings new raids, new massive bad guys, new quest hubs and more

  By Luke Plunkett Published June 16, 2011
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  Uncategorized

  Pikachu, in Wonderfully Disturbing Song Form

  I shouldn’t like this. I should think this is stupid. It’s not, and I don’t. For some reason, I cannot stop watching this. “Singachu” was written and performed by A.J. Pinkerton. He also has a Sonic musical showtune. Likewise, I like it, but I don’t know why!

  By Brian Ashcraft Published June 16, 2011
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  It’s a 2D Multiplayer Shooter…Thingy

  Take Arms is a 2D multiplayer side-scrolling combat game destined for the Xbox Live Indie Games Channel. And it looks pretty great. With two teams, selectable classes, bots, three maps and three game modes, you’re getting a lot for the $3 developers Discord Games will be asking for the game. And yes, before you ask,…

  By Luke Plunkett Published June 16, 2011
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  BioWare Hacked, 18,000 Accounts Compromised

  BioWare, the creator of Mass Effect and Dragon Age, has had its servers raided by hackers and the account details of around 18,000 customers have potentially been lifted. BioWare’s Aaryn Flynn writes on the company forums: Yesterday (June 14), we learned that a hacker gained unauthorized access to the decade-old BioWare community server system associated…

  By Luke Plunkett Published June 16, 2011
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  Uncategorized

  I Don’t Know About This Neon Genesis Evangelion Game…

  Grasshopper Manufacture is making a Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Akira Yamaoka, best known for Silent Hill, is handling the sound and remixing. Cool! The game’s debut trailer is less so. It’s all so underwhelming, so blergh. Maybe it plays better than it looks.

  By Brian Ashcraft Published June 16, 2011
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  Devil May Cry Series Getting HD Re-Releases [Update]

  This year is the 10th anniversary of the Devil May Cry series, and to commemorate the occasion, it looks like Capcom will be releasing a collection of three games, all of them remastered in high definition. Those games are Devil May Cry, Devil May Cry 2 and Devil May Cry 3, the collection outed not…

  By Luke Plunkett Published June 16, 2011
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  When All Else Fails, Use Final Fantasy to Sell 3D

  As you may or may not be able to tell, this is Final Fantasy XIII running on a glasses-free Toshiba television. The game’s trailer was on non-stop loop at an Osaka electronics shop. Interesting choice! For those who have seen glasses-free 3D televisions, you’ll know how the effect is lost once you leave the screen’s…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published June 16, 2011
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  The Struggles of a Gay XCOM Scientist

  It’s hard enough finding enough major characters who aren’t white in games, let alone people who aren’t straight. So it’s interesting to see how 2K is handling the inclusion of a homosexual character in upcoming shooter XCOM As is becoming customary at the Canberra studio where XCOM is in development, 2K Marin Australia have snuck…

  By Luke Plunkett Published June 16, 2011
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  Japanese Gaming’s Greatest Ambassador

  It’s over. That’s what people say about Japanese gaming. While there are bright spots in Japan, Western games (and gamers) now rule the roost. It’s easy to forget just how great Japanese games used to be. One man is here to remind you of that. His name is Shinya Arino. Shinya Arino is the host…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published June 16, 2011
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  What the Fuck is Bobby Kotick Doing in This Brad Pitt Movie?

  This is a trailer for an upcoming Brad Pitt movie called Moneyball. It’s about baseball. And at 0:58, you can see that the owner of the Oakland A’s baseball team is being played by none other than Activision boss Bobby Kotick. Remember, this is a movie about baseball. Not video games. And while it could…

  By Luke Plunkett Published June 16, 2011
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  About Time Somebody Thought to Remaster Old Trailers In HD

  Reader Gray, with a little help from actress Jennymarie Jemison and Zane Rutledge, one of the original Alice’s CG artists, has sent us two clips fans of American McGee’s and EA’s series might be interested in. One is a live-action homage to the new game, Alice: Madness Returns. The other, and this is really cool,…

  By Luke Plunkett Published June 16, 2011
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  If Only Jimmy Fallon Was This Cool Every Night

  All this week, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon is showing off big video games. To honour this special (marketing) event, the show has put together a new intro that’ll only run this week. Isn’t it great? I like the existing intro, but they should keep this one, run it every night. Chiptunes and all. Every…

  By Luke Plunkett Published June 16, 2011
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  CultureTotal Recall

  Japan, What the Hell Did You do to This Classic PC Adventure Game?

  There are few more storied franchises in adventure gaming than Sierra’s Police Quest series, which in the late 80’s and early 90’s was home to some of the grittiest, most realistic and yet most rewarding games around. Oh, I’m sorry, did I say gritty? Because that only applies to the Western version of the game.…

  By Luke Plunkett Published June 16, 2011
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  Is the Third Black Ops Map Pack Coming at the End of June?

  A tipster sends along that picture of that GameStop poster, advertising Call of Duty: Black Ops‘ third map pack, titled “Annihilation.” June 28 appears to be the release date. The maps are Hangar, Hazard, Silo, Drive-In and another Zombie map. We’ve been hearing that GameStop is taking preorders for the pack. I called mine here…

  By Owen Good Published June 15, 2011