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  Pac-Man, Tekken Dev Turns Focus to “Casual” Market

  Imagine playing popular fighter Tekken on Facebook or competing for a high score in Pac-Man against players on iPhones, computers and consoles. That’s the vision behind Namco Bandai’s decision to roll Namco Networks into a single game label this week. “The key reasons we are uniting these two companies (Namco Bandai and Namco Networks) are:…

  By Brian Crecente Published August 6, 2010
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  Red Dead Redemption Legends And Killers In Motion

  This is the trailer for the first paid downloadable content for Red Dead Redemption, the $10 Legends and Killers pack, set for release on August 10. This one’s for you multiplayer gamers.

  By Stephen Totilo Published August 6, 2010
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  Talk Amongst Yourselves

  We’ve got our first repeat winner in the no-prize TAY image sweepstakes. Reader Tanarchi‘s entry is your pic for today. Now, let’s talk about some video games… Submit your TAY pic to #TAYpics Want to know more about commenting on Kotaku? Read our FAQ

  By Stephen Totilo Published August 6, 2010
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  The Magically Morphing Ferrari Steering Rig In Action

  Unveiled in May, this video gives you a much closer look at Thrustmaster’s over-the-top Ferrari Wireless GT Cockpit 430 Scuderia Edition controller. The PC and Playstation 3 racing rig uses a latency-free 2.4GHz wireless system, 50 hours of battery life on 4 AA batteries, an adjustable, rigid metal structure, detachable replica of the Ferrari F430…

  By Brian Crecente Published August 6, 2010
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  What Are Your Plans For The Weekend?

  To: Totilo From: Bashcraft RE: The Big Apple We know Crecente is going house hunting. I have a Kurt Vonnegut drawing I want to get framed, so I’m gonna look for a frame! Maybe I’ll make tacos. Maybe. Maaaaaaaaaybe. Tacos and Vonnegut, what a weekend. What abou you Mister Totilo? What will you be up…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published August 6, 2010
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  Bungie and Blizzard Both “Enormous” Investments

  We already knew The folks behind World of Warcraft and Starcraft are hard at work on a totally new massively multiplayer online game. We didn’t know that Activision Blizzard was pouring gobs of money into it. Ditto for the new game from Bungie, the creators of Halo. Bungie has inked a deal with Activision to…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published August 6, 2010
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  Jillian Michaels Fitness Game Getting Story Mode

  Why? No, really? Why? Please tell me. I’m flummoxed. Jillian Michaels’ Fitness Ultimatum 2011 will have, for some reason, a story mode. A fitness game. For the Nintendo Wii. With a story mode. According to the game’s developer, …Jillian and the player use fitness skills and nutritional expertise in a series of missions to shut…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published August 6, 2010
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  Ditching 3 Games, Japanese Developer Bets On Girl Spanking

  Nippon Ichi Software is suspending new game development and halting work on three games currently in production due to a “severe marketplace”. That isn’t stopping it from releasing a game in which players spank bad little girls. The Gifu-based company is best known (and loved) for its Disgaea tactical role-playing games. Earlier this year, the…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published August 6, 2010
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  Voice Actress Pisses Off Otaku

  Voice actress Aya Hirano doesn’t seem to want to be a voice actress anymore. The 22-year-old is trying to make the leap to mainstream celebrity and ticking off her rabid fan-base in the process. Hirano is best known for voicing schoolgirl character Haruhi Suzumiya in the animation adaptation of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. She…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published August 6, 2010
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  Scary Pokemon Sculptures

  As seen on GoNintendo

  By Brian Ashcraft Published August 6, 2010
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  And Another Foxconn Worker Dies

  Foxconn is famous for two things: Manufacturing electronics (the PS3, the Nintendo Wii, the Xbox 360 and the iPhone) and having employees that commit suicide. This year, 12 Foxconn workers have taken their own lives. A 22-year-old female worker from Jiangsu Province has fallen to her death this week at the company’s Kunshan factory. Foxconn…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published August 6, 2010
• CultureTotal Recall

  Namco: Maker Of Games, Builder Of ROBOTS

  During the early 1980s, Namco wasn’t only conquering arcades with games like Pac-Man. The company was doing something else. Something important. It was building robots. Namco made a handful of bots for the Japanese Science Foundation Musuem, including “Largo” the stamp robot. Kids would press Largo’s red nose and the robot would then stamp their…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published August 6, 2010
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  Adult Game Gets Twitter Service

  Micro-blogging service Twitter allows people to share what they are doing with others. That might include playing erotic computer games. Game developer Moonstone is shoehorning Twitter functions into its adult title AngelRing. Those functions will allow players to tweet, reply, tweet about the scene they are currently playing, collect tweets about the game and the…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published August 6, 2010
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  Kid Icarus’ Pit “Feels Like A New Character”

  Masahiro Sakurai of Smash Bros. fame is currently hard at work on a 3D version of Kid Icarus. His version of Kid Icarus’s protagonist Pit, he says, “feels like a new character”. Here’s why. “One thing I can talk about is that Pit uses a lot of weapons and this is a very important aspect…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published August 6, 2010
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  Is This How Microsoft Will Fix Kinect’s Couch Problem?

  Microsoft’s forthcoming Kinect camera controller for the Xbox 360 plays better with standing humans than it does with couch potatoes. Microsoft says it’s still “calibrating” Kinect for seated players and may accomplish that with a little help from Amazon.com. The Xbox 360 maker may have turned to Amazon’s Mechanical Turk service to make Kinect’s depth-sensing…

  By Michael McWhertor Published August 6, 2010
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  The Alderaan Trail Is Littered With Imperial Entanglements, Bad Motivators

  Dysentery may be a thing of the past, but bad R2 motivators and fully operational Imperial space stations are a real threat on The Alderaan Trail. Part of Matt Marchini’s brilliant Star Wars homage, as seen on Picasa, via BoingBoing

  By Michael McWhertor Published August 5, 2010
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  Better Red Than Dead

  As Kotaku transforms into Kotaku After Dark, let’s enjoy the transition with a little off-topic conversation. Though, when the conversation may touch on The Matrix Online, the line may begin to blur. Stay with me! See, this weekend, I opted to watch portions of The Matrix Revolutions, an entry in the Wachowski… siblings trilogy that…

  By Michael McWhertor Published August 5, 2010
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  Gamer With Stolen Credit Card Leads Cops To Parents’ Pot

  A kid in suburban Chicago boosted a credit card and bought some games and virtual currency online. When the cops showed up to ask some questions, they found his folks, uh, “Victory Garden.” This news comes out of Buffalo Grove, which you might remember is where some kid called the cops after his parents took…

  By Owen Good Published August 5, 2010
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  Reviews

  Castlevania: Harmony of Despair Review: Share In The Despair

  The heroes of a handful of 2D Castlevania games come together to tackle old foes in a new way in Castlevania: Harmony of Despair. Can the normally solitary, exploratory experience of recent “Metroidvania” games make the double-jump leap to multiplayer? Castlevania: Harmony of Despair borrows five vampire-slaying heroes—Alucard, Shanoa, Soma Cruz, Jonathan Morris, and Charlotte…

  By Michael McWhertor Published August 5, 2010
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  We Might’ve Called It Montana NFL 11

  In 1990, Electronic Arts reverse-engineered the Sega Genesis to begin development of a game for it, fully aware that if the project became known, they were in for a major lawsuit. The game was John Madden Football. Even when Sega learned of the gambit, EA still faced up the console maker and acknowledged its right…

  By Owen Good Published August 5, 2010