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  PlayStation Store Update: Blue Toads, Hamster Balls And Ripped Abs

  We’ve got a bit of a traffic jam on our hands in this week’s North American PlayStation Store update, with almost too much to highlight this Thursday, including Section 8, Blue Toad Murder Files and Cho Aniki Zero. Yes, that downloadable PSP shoot ’em up is the source of the “ripped abs” in the headline,…

  By Michael McWhertor Published March 25, 2010
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  The Ginormous Flow Chart History of Game Studios

  Before Tecmo and Koei, before Square met Enix, before Namco found Bandai – this chart seeks to catalog the history of game studios – spinoffs, mergers, acquisitions, defections. It’s also suitable for posterizing on your laundry room wall. The chart’s creator, Eric Wall for Games Are Evil, advises that “this is by no means the…

  By Owen Good Published March 25, 2010
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  Splatterhouse Screens Get Chunks Of Stuff All Over The Place

  Is it time to start age-gating screen shots? The newest Splatterhouse screens, full of blood-soaked ghouls, chunky guts and flying severed limbs, might be better limited to mature audiences only. Or are we overreacting? Maybe the very idea of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 update to Splatterhouse will turn your stomach and this much…

  By Michael McWhertor Published March 25, 2010
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  The Tester: Episode 6: “Focus, People, Focus!” Liveblog: No Big D Is Bad For Your Health

  PlayStation Network reality show The Tester continues today with its sixth glorious episode, with just five potential candidates gunning for a spot in the illustrious PlayStation QA department, ready to fulfill a dream of filing bug reports. This week’s episode will be lighter on the LARPing and smaller on the Big D, the most recent…

  By Michael McWhertor Published March 25, 2010
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  NCAA 11’s Lighting Strives for Postcard-Perfect Saturdays

  Upgrades to lighting and shadows have become something of a trend in sports gaming – we saw it in both baseball games that just released, and we’ll see it improving the photorealism in July’s NCAA Football 11. Here’s a closer look at the new game’s screen: EA Sports released this screen comparison showing what Ohio…

  By Owen Good Published March 25, 2010
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  The Day Before

  To: Bash From: Crecente Re: Cornell And Suicides Tomorrow morning Mike Fahey and Stephen Totilo head out to Boston for the inaugural Penny Arcade Expo East that kicks off tomorrow night. The two will be filing stories all day and through the weekend. They’ll also be partying at our official party… a party with some…

  By Brian Crecente Published March 25, 2010
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  The Next Club Nintendo Exclusive Is Ultra Handy

  North American Club Nintendo members are in for a treat, as long as they have the 80 coins needed to purchase themselves a copy of Grill-Off with Ultra Hand!—emphasis Nintendo’s—the latest Nintendo fan reward for WiiWare. The game, released via Japan’s version of Club Nintendo as Wii de Ultrahand at the end of 2009, is…

  By Michael McWhertor Published March 25, 2010
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  Resource File Might Hint at Future Plans for Xbox Game Room

  Someone picked apart the resource file for the Microsoft Game Room – the PC version of the Xbox Game Room that launched this week – and found a curious Star Wars image that doesn’t seem to fit anything. Blogger TechKnight looked in the Game Room’s director and noticed a sizable file. Figuring it held clues,…

  By Owen Good Published March 25, 2010
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  This 3D Dot Game Heroes Trailer Is Zelda-Riffic

  It might not be a real word, but Zelda-riffic is the only one I can come up with for this first full trailer for Atlus’ PlayStation 3 exclusive 3D Dot Game Heroes. The word applies to the gameplay as well. I’ve spent a little time with 3D Dot Game Heroes since I last posted on…

  By Mike Fahey Published March 25, 2010
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  Jimi Hendrix Is Coming To Rock Band In A Bold Way Next Week

  Rock Band is getting a powerful hit of Jimi Hendrix starting next week. No, we mean it this time. The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s second album, Axis: Bold As Love, will be downloadable and playable starting on March 30. Harmonix and MTV Games will be releasing “a wave of downloadable content” from Hendrix’s catalog, Rolling Stone…

  By Michael McWhertor Published March 25, 2010
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  Modern Warfare 2’s Stimulus Package In Five Pictures

  We’re still five days away from the release of the first Modern Warfare 2 map pack for the Xbox 360, so you might want to check out these latest screens one at a time, one per day. The Modern Warfare 2 Stimulus Package, featuring five maps for the interesting price of $15.00, or 1200 Microsoft…

  By Mike Fahey Published March 25, 2010
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  Reminders: Kotaku In NYC Tonight, Boston This Weekend

  Tonight, in New York City, Kotaku is on a games journalism panel. Friday night, in Boston, Kotaku hosts a party. Saturday, at PAX East in Boston, Kotaku has a panel. You’re invited to all three! NYC details / Boston details

  By Stephen Totilo Published March 25, 2010
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  Want a Free Trip to Switzerland?

  Just find every empty Red Bull can you can, create a piece of art (can you sculpt a giant head bearing an uncanny resemblance to Candace Bushnell or Jose Canseco—see where we’re going here?) out of cans. Click here if think you can In other words, enter the Red Bull Art of Can contest. Submissions…

  By Gawkercreative Published March 25, 2010
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  Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker Co-op In Hot Three-way Action

  We’ve already seen double the Snake-sneaking action in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, perhaps the Biggest Deal to hit the PSP this summer. What about three Snakes buddying up for “super co-op weapon Railgun” thrills? Yes, we’ve seen two, now we see three, and we’re sure to see four Snakes/Big Bosses teaming up for cooperative…

  By Michael McWhertor Published March 25, 2010
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  The Old, New, Finally Official Super Mario Galaxy 2 Cover

  We’ve seen all of the elements of the upcoming Wii blockbuster before, but never combined and with the official “this is the box art” seal from Nintendo. Note the extra little stars. The lack of secret homo-erotic star writing, the glee with which Yoshi is carrying Mario through the sky.

  By Brian Crecente Published March 25, 2010
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  Project Natal “World Premiere” Starts This Year’s E3 On A Sunday

  The biggest week of video game news for 2010 is beginning to fill up. Just two days after Nintendo revealed that its DS successor, the 3DS, will appear during E3 week. That week now begins on Sunday, June 13, with Project Natal. An Xbox 360 briefing follows. Last year’s Microsoft E3 press briefing included debuts…

  By Stephen Totilo Published March 25, 2010
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  Yakuza 4 Stomps The Competition With Its Gleaming White Shoes

  As long as Japanese gamers keep buying Yakuza games at this rate, Sega’s going to keep making them. The latest chapter in Sega’s Japanese gangster series just put a hurt on the competition to the tune of 384,000 copies sold. That’s enough to kick Nintendo’s latest Pokemon spin-off, Pokemon Ranger: Hikari no Kiseki, from first…

  By Michael McWhertor Published March 25, 2010
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  First iPad “HD” Games Sneak Out, Including Plants Vs. Zombies HD

  It looks like a slew of new games bound for the iPad include the letters HD after their names, including Plants Vs. Zombies HD, Flight Control HD and Worms HD. The listings for the not-yet-available games were uncovered by the folks at Pad Gadget while they were digging through the web version of the iTunes…

  By Brian Crecente Published March 25, 2010
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  Kotaku Census 2010: The Results

  Last week, we ran a series of polls, asking you for your thoughts on everything from console ownership to piracy to your favourite gaming franchises. We now have the results. You’ll see the key findings represented here. It’s far from everything, I know, but this is the best stuff, presented in a way that won’t…

  By Luke Plunkett Published March 25, 2010
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  Ubi Apologizes For Assassin’s Creed 2 PC Downtime With Free Games

  Ubisoft apologizes to Assassin’s Creed 2 purchasers who found themselves unable to play due to attacks on the verification servers, offering free game downloads in exchange for their forgiveness. I suppose you don’t even need to forgive Ubisoft in order to take advantage of the special offer, sent via email to Kotakuite Igor, one of…

  By Mike Fahey Published March 25, 2010