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  You Know What, Ian Is A Cool Name For A Horse

  The upcoming Legend of Zelda game on the Wii will make use of a fair bit of motion control. Which should be fun, but there are perils in that amount of waggle, as seen in this cautionary tale. It’s funny, I almost always give my characters stupid names when I’m given the chance, but in…

  By Luke Plunkett Published November 19, 2010
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  Leaving Lord Of The Rings 4 Dead

  As someone who loves zombies almost as much as I love Lord of the Rings, this is certainly something: it’s a Left 4 Dead map made to look like the fortress of Helm’s Deep. It’s not exactly canon for either franchise, I’ll grant you that. The music and ramparts don’t exactly scream “zombie infested urban…

  By Luke Plunkett Published November 19, 2010
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  Report: Foxconn Workers Protest Over Pay, Foxconn Denies Protest

  Foxconn assembles your Xbox 360s, your PS3s, your PSPs, your iPhones, your iPads, your Wiis and your Nintendo DS units. And some of its workers are not happy. This week, Foxconn employees tell Reuters that they held protests during the week over wages. “The entire street here was filled with workers,” a worker told Reuters.…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published November 19, 2010
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  Can Games “Hook” You Like Movies Can?

  In movies, there’s a simple rule: if you haven’t hooked the audience by the time the film’s ten minutes in, you’ve lost them. But how can this work for video games? A great piece over on Gamasutra by Leanne C. Taylor offers some ideas, showing how some of the industry’s most successful games have used…

  By Luke Plunkett Published November 19, 2010
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  What’s The Easiest Game You’ve Ever Played?

  It’s Friday. Did you know that? I knew that. Let’s talk. Here’s how it works: We ask a question, you answer it. Simple and no strings attached! This isn’t some marketing survey or whatever. It’s an emotional investment in you. Yes, we’re interested in knowing you, Kotaku reader person. You probably know oodles about us…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published November 19, 2010
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  Assassin’s Creed Meets The Matrix With Breathtaking Results

  Most glitches, serious ones at least, will ruin a game. This one, encountered during a site’s playthrough of Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, is the opposite of ruined. Throwing the player into the sky, where for the first time in the series’ history, they’ve actually gotten a good look at an entire city, is so glorious it…

  By Luke Plunkett Published November 19, 2010
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  Dude Looks Like A Lady

  Like many young Japanese males, 29-year-old Nanami Igarashi is working hard to establish his career as he lives with his girlfriend. His hobby, however, is somewhat unique. Igarashi enjoys putting on make-up and dressing as women. Whether it was putting on his girlfriend’s make-up or wearing her clothes, he kept himself occupied while she was…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published November 19, 2010
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  Why GameStop Wants Your Used Games So Bad

  It’s common knowledge that GameStop is reliant on the used game trade to stay afloat, but if you ever needed hard numbers to put it in perspective, here you go. Releasing its latest quarterly financial results, the global games mega-retailer has revealed that the sale of pre-owned games and hardware accounted for 47.4% of the…

  By Luke Plunkett Published November 19, 2010
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  From Boobs To Beef And Back To Boobs

  Swords-and-sandals saga Gladiator Begins for the Wii quickly became known as an underboob-and-slave-girl saga at the 2009 Tokyo Game Show thanks to a model in a teeny bikini. The PSP version, however, ditched the slave girl and went all beefcake. Like his slave girl predecessor, the beefcake gladiator had his own office hijinks — much…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published November 19, 2010
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  There’s More Waggle Here Than One Man Can Handle

  On the left of your screen, Sports Champions for the PlayStation Move. On the right, Dance Central for Kinect. And in the middle? One man trying to play both games at the same time The PlayStation Move has many uses, but glowstick? That’s a new one He seems a bit crap at both Sports Champions…

  By Luke Plunkett Published November 19, 2010
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  This Won’t Help Kinect Work In Tiny Apartments

  American homes can be huge castles, but Japanese homes are, and I quote, rabbit hutches. How are Japanese gamers to know if their matchbox-sized apartment can handle Kinect? This is how. Maybe Xbox Japan’s Kinect displays have 0.9 meter (2.9 feet) paper measure for gamers to take home and suss out their gaming quarters. 2.9…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published November 19, 2010
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  The PlayStation Portable “Was Doomed” From Launch

  Sony’s PlayStation Portable, while hardly a failure, hasn’t really caught on the way most were expecting it to around the time of its launch back in 2004. Why? Because, as one developer says, it was “doomed”. “It was doomed from the very get-go”, says Ready At Dawn’s Ru Weerasuriya. “There are some things which aren’t…

  By Luke Plunkett Published November 19, 2010
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  Donkey Kong Country Returns Visual Guide

  Footage from the original Donkey Kong Country for the Super NES. Get ready to hate life at this point in Donkey Kong Country Returns.

  By Michael McWhertor Published November 19, 2010
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  Off Stage, She’s Pretty, On Stage? She’s A Nazi

  Western cosmetic brand Ponds is using members of the all-female Takarazuka Revue theater troupe in its latest campaign. This is what Takarazuka’s Rurika Miya looks like off-stage. What’s she look like on stage — as a Nazi? The Takarazuka Revue performs a wide variety of shows that range from The Great Gatsby to a theatrical…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published November 19, 2010
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  It Is Real, This Is Actually Happening

  Gran Turismo 5, a game over six years in development – and the recipient of its fair share of major delays – will finally be out next week. Don’t believe us? Reader Michael sends the proof.

  By Luke Plunkett Published November 19, 2010
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  Pinball Gave NBA Jam’s Announcer His Gaming Start

  His bombastic boothman persona in NBA Jam isn’t Tim Kitzrow’s only gaming credit. The guy also was the voice of Rod Serling in the classic Twilight Zone pinball table. He got his start from his bandmates, who worked for Midway. “In a lot of ways, it was the most fun I ever had,” Kitzrow (left)…

  By Owen Good Published November 19, 2010
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  Your First (Brief) Look At Kinect’s Panzer Dragoon

  Project Draco is basically Panzer Dragoon for the Xbox 360’s Kinect. It’s even made by the same guy. First revealed at this year’s Tokyo Game Show, though, it’s only today we get our first proper look at the game. These two screenshots, courtesy of Japanase game site Famitsu, show that, yeah. You ride dragons! Project…

  By Luke Plunkett Published November 19, 2010
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  Reviews

  Review: Guwange Is Bullet Heaven

  Guwange is a scrolling shooter that was first released in Japan all the way back in 1999. It’s now being re-released on the Xbox 360, and it’s – pardon the pun – one hell of a time. Despite being more well-known in the West for games like DonPachi and Deathsmiles, Guwange is one of Cave’s…

  By Luke Plunkett Published November 19, 2010
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  Donkey Kong Banana Chowdown Features Japanese Champion Eater

  Takeru Kobayashi, famous as the six-time winner of the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest, is appearing in Toronto for a pre-release stunt for Donkey Kong Country, in which he and the game will evidently have a banana-eating contest. That’s all I can infer from the wording of Nintendo of Canada’s news release, which says Kobayashi…

  By Owen Good Published November 18, 2010
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  Off To The Grid

  Kotaku readers, please use this open thread post to talk amongst yourselves, to stimulate each other in conversation and seek advice about things that may or may not be about video games. I’ll be at the movies. Yeah, sorry, not trying to rub it in, but I’ll be seeing Tron Legacy tonight. Maybe I’ll be…

  By Michael McWhertor Published November 18, 2010