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  Forty-Five Minutes As A Bunny-Loving Guild Wars 2 Necromancer

  In my 45 minutes with Guild Wars 2 I saved a fortress from centaur attack, rescued some villagers, saved a farm from bandits, watered several other players, gained the admiration of meat eaters everywhere, and corralled bunny rabbits. Guild Wars 2 was the game I was looking forward to seeing the most at Gamescom 2010,…

  By Mike Fahey Published August 23, 2010
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  This Motorcycle Game Looks a Little Pricey

  We found this motorcycle game over at the Motorcycle Association’s booth at GamesCom last week. The game was set up on an actual motorcycle and appeared to require the player to use the throttle, shift, breaking and of course steering as if they were really riding a bike. The graphics weren’t that impressive, but it…

  By Brian Crecente Published August 23, 2010
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  Mass Effect 2 Shadow Broker DLC Gets A Date

  The Shadow Broker expansion for Mass Effect 2 will be available on September 7 for $10, according to the game’s official site

  By Stephen Totilo Published August 23, 2010
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  PAX Is Our Next Event

  Where in the world is Kotaku headed next? With half of our team back from Germany and Gamescom 2010 we will stay put only briefly. Next week, we hit PAX in Seattle. Specifically, I will be hitting PAX. The show starts a week from Friday on September 3 and runs through Sunday. Will I find…

  By Stephen Totilo Published August 23, 2010
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  Playing With The Force Unleashed II’s Jedi Mind Tricks and Limb Lopping

  I loved the original Star Wars: The Force Unleashed when it came out, but it was not without its issues. There were problems with using the force to grab the object you wanted to grab, a deep upgrade system that was perhaps a bit too complicated and some infuriating level design. But I played through…

  By Brian Crecente Published August 23, 2010
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  Still Life With Portal 2

  Five more Portal 2 screenshots, from last week’s Gamescom, where the February 2011 game was proudly shown by Valve Software. All shots seem to be from single-player, if the “sp” in their filenames is any indication.

  By Stephen Totilo Published August 23, 2010
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  James Bond 007: Blood Stone Looking Smarter, Better, Bonder

  The last time I saw James Bond 007: Blood Stone in action, I wasn’t convinced. Something, some hard-to-define Bond quality was missing. But developer Bizarre Creations may have won me over with my second look at Blood Stone. The developer of the new, Daniel Craig-starring James Bond video game brought two new levels with it…

  By Michael McWhertor Published August 23, 2010
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  Somebody Clean Up This Messe!

  Visitors to Gamescom in Germany aren’t big on trashcans. The inside halls were even worse, with trash piled up so thick in places you could slide through it.

  By Mike Fahey Published August 23, 2010
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  iTunes Chart Topper: Dysentery Returns

  The iPhone version of The Oregon Trail brings its own beloved brand of interactive illness to this week’s chart. Plus: more top-ranked iPhone and iPad zombie games than ever before. Here’s the full list of games for both platforms: iPhone Position Title Price Weeks Last Week 1 Angry Birds (Clickgamer.com) $0.99 17 2 2 Madden…

  By Stephen Totilo Published August 23, 2010
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  The One Thing I’d Change About Resident Evil 5’s Move Controls

  What would I change about Resident Evil 5’s PlayStation Move controls? I’d stop staring at Sheva so much. Brian Ashcraft and Stephen Totilo have already played Resident Evil 5 with Sony’s new Move controller, and for the most part I agree with their conclusions: It does feel better than the standard controller, with only one…

  By Mike Fahey Published August 23, 2010
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  The Force Unleashed II’s Wii Version Adds More Jedi Powers

  As with the original, the sequel to Star Wars: The Force Unleashed will be getting different versions of the game for the DS and Wii. When the original game came out I was deeply disappointed in how those DS and Wii versions played. This time around it sounds like the Wii version, by developers Red…

  By Brian Crecente Published August 23, 2010
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  What’s So Special About Rage

  There are people who are excited about Rage, the next game from id Software, makers of Doom. And there are people who say they don’t get it. It’s a first-person shooter. With car combat. What are these people missing? “There’s nothing that we’re doing besides technology that really hasn’t been done before,” Rage creative director…

  By Stephen Totilo Published August 23, 2010
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  Grab The Keys To The City In Crackdown 2

  Ruffian Games and Microsoft detail the Toy Box add-on for Crackdown 2 today which adds the eagerly anticipated Keys to the City cheat mode for free, as well as a handful of new content for those willing to pay the price. The Toy Box updated for Crackdown 2 is an update in two parts, one…

  By Mike Fahey Published August 23, 2010
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  Crysis 2 is Like “Parkour Free-Running With Guns”

  It’s like parkour (free-running) with guns… at least that’s what developer Crytek is hoping for with their shooter Crysis 2. I played through two matches of team combat in the game last week alongside 15 other people. While I found the gameplay quick, responsive and fun, it had some issues. Chief among them was the…

  By Brian Crecente Published August 23, 2010
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  TimeShift Weighs Heavily On Inversion

  Saber Interactive created 2007’s TimeShift, a first-person shooter with a time-twisting gimmick that wasn’t particularly well received. Now they’re back with Inversion, a third-person shooter with a gravity-twisting gimmick. Will history repeat itself? Saber Interactive’s Matthew Karch was on hand at Gamescom on Friday to give us a brief overview and a look at the…

  By Mike Fahey Published August 23, 2010
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  We Get A Surprise DeathSpank Sequel Next Month

  In one of the fastest sequel turnarounds you’ll see in gaming, last month’s fun and funny fantasy action game DeathSpank will be succeeded in September by DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue. It turns out they were making two DeathSpanks all along. The new DeathSpank, Thongs of Virtue, is a promised 50% longer new adventure that brings…

  By Stephen Totilo Published August 23, 2010
• Reviews

  Mafia II Review: Smelling The Roses In A Life Lived Too Fast

  Morning. The phone rings, I answer. It’s Joe, chirping the usual advice. Get dressed and get my gun. I go to the fridge instead for a Master Beer. In the bathroom I flip on the light. I flush the toilet. None of these actions in Mafia II are from cutscenes, and that is both the…

  By Owen Good Published August 23, 2010
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  The Nintendo Download: And Yet It Moves

  If you only download one WiiWare title in your Wii-owning lifetime, this week’s release of indie PC game And Yet It Moves from developer Broken Rules would be a damn fine choice. Released last year on the PC, And Yet It Moves is a puzzle platformer in which the player navigates a world made of…

  By Mike Fahey Published August 23, 2010
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  DJ Hero 2 Serves Up New Ways To Get Served

  My outrage at the fact that a novice had scored the freestyle crossfade instead of me quickly turned to delight that DJ Hero 2 multiplayer had made me feel anything at all. At Gamescom this weekend I had a chance to play DJ Hero 2 multiplayer at a session hosted by FreeStyle Games studio manager…

  By Mike Fahey Published August 23, 2010
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  A Face Full of Hat in GoldenEye 007 Multiplayer

  When GoldenEye 007 returns to the console it will do so with a mix of covert and run-and-gun action and a brand new script penned by the writer of the original movie screenplay. Before dropping us into a round of eight player deathmatch on the Wii, Graham Hagmeier, the game’s production coordinator, walked us through…

  By Brian Crecente Published August 23, 2010