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  Report: Microsoft Drops Natal Chip

  Microsoft has dropped a chip from its upcoming Natal motion control hardware, reports website Games Industry. The chip processed data for Natal’s “bone system”. In its place, Microsoft will use a software solution. Back in late December, David Ellis and John Davison from the 4 Guys 1UP podcast mentioned that this is something Microsoft would…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published January 7, 2010
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  Giant LEGO Yoshi Is All Kinds Of Creepy

  Dirk, the same guy behind that enormous giant LEGO Mario, has just applied the finishing touches to an enormous LEGO Yoshi. And it’s gross! Not for the quality of craftsmanship, no, that’s exemplary. It’s because you can see Yoshi’s insides. Like Dirk has hunted Yoshi, captured him, cut him in pieces and is making some…

  By Luke Plunkett Published January 7, 2010
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  Yes, Alan Wake Is Getting DLC

  …like pretty much every other game these days! It’s been known for some time that years-in-development psychological thriller Alan Wake will have an episodic nature. That nature will continue after the game is out. The aim, it seems, is to created gaming’s version of something like the television drama Lost. At CES, Microsoft has confirmed…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published January 7, 2010
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  Ar tonelico III Rolls Out The Manly Lady, Voiced By Pikachu!

  Bandai Namco role playing game Ar tonelico III, the third entry in the Ar tonelico series, features more than abundant fan service underwear. The PS3 title features a macho-looking lady named Mute. She’s a military leader and can beat you up. All of you. The character will be voiced by Japanese voice actress Ikue Ohtani,…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published January 7, 2010
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  Four Reasons Why Hironobu Sakaguchi Is Awesome

  Game designer Hironobu Sakaguchi is best known for two things: Creating role playing games like Final Fantasy and Lost Odyssey and having a mustache. Impressive, sure, but not part of our four reasons — his New Years photos are. In a blog post from early January, Sakaguchi wrote this message: “I still have unsettled adjustment…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published January 7, 2010
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  MMA Fighter Recovers From Injury, Credits Modern Warfare 2 With Recovery

  Around twelve months ago, mixed martial arts fighter Jamie Varner suffered a major injury, breaking the metacarpal bone in his hand. His doctor’s advice? Play some video games. Because the constant movement of his fingers and hands would strengthen the bone, and thus aid in his recovery, Varner was told to go home and play…

  By Luke Plunkett Published January 7, 2010
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  Cave Story Theme As Envisioned By Japanese McDonalds Ads

  Cave Story, the freeware action adventure game from indie developer Daisuke Amaya, has a retro sounding soundtrack. It’s perfect fodder to be recreated with Ronald McDonald ads. Actually, that should read “Donald McDonald” as these are Japanese ads, and the character is named “Donald McDonald” and not “Ronald McDonald”. A series of Japanese McDonalds ads…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published January 7, 2010
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  PC Sales Charts: Oh, Hello 2010

  After a Christmas break, we’re back this week with some PC sales charts, outlining some of the big sellers (or at least big revenue earners) of the new year period. Since both Steam and Direct2Drive had big sales on over the holiday season, these charts are all screwy. But screwy in a good way! Great…

  By Luke Plunkett Published January 7, 2010
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  Square Enix Says Japanese Retail “Prejudiced” Against Western Games

  As far as business execs at large Japanese companies go, Yoichi Wada seems rather forward thinking. He’s been tackling discrimination in video games head on. “Even now, there have been people in Japan using the label youge- (Western games) with a terribly discriminatory meaning,” Wada said in an interview Japanese TV from last December in…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published January 7, 2010
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  Take A Look At How Project Natal Actually Works

  You’ve got questions about Project Natal, we’ve got questions about Project Natal. And, for once, Microsoft have some answers, providing this behind-the-scenes look at the development and technology behind their upcoming motion-sensing peripheral for the Xbox 360. Sure, most of it is fluff, but you’ll catch glimpses of how the camera is able to “read”…

  By Luke Plunkett Published January 7, 2010
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  NSFW: Is This The Sexiest Game Developer Website?

  Not counting erotic game developers, Japanese game developer Vanillaware must surely must have the market for the industry’s sauciest website cornered. Don’t believe us? Check out its landing page. Largely specializing in 2D sprite-based game design, Vanillaware is best known for developing PlayStation 2 title Odin Sphere and Wii game Muramasa: The Demon Blade. The…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published January 7, 2010
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  Xbox 360: 39 Million Consoles Sold, Only Half Are On Xbox Live

  To go with their big address at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier today, Microsoft released some statistics on Xbox Live and the Xbox 360‘s install base. To date, around 39 million Xbox 360 consoles have been sold worldwide, while there are 20 million people on Xbox Live (no disclosure was made on how many are…

  By Luke Plunkett Published January 7, 2010
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  Will The Michael Jackson PS3 Bundle Get Western Release?

  It currently does not look that way. The bundle, releasing on January 27 in Japan, comes with a 120GB PlayStation 3 as well as a Blu-ray copy of the Michael Jackson documentary This Is It. But is Japan it? When contacted about whether or not the Michael Jackson PS3 pack will get a U.S. release,…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published January 7, 2010
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  Gran Turismo 5’s Cover Star In Action

  As announced earlier today, Gran Turismo 5 has got real cosy with Mercedes-Benz, and in particular the new Mercedes SLS AMG. You’ve seen it on the game’s cover, but here’s what it looks like moving.

  By Luke Plunkett Published January 7, 2010
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  Shia LaBeouf: Video Games Will Take Over

  One of Hollywood’s hottest young actors Shia LaBeouf (Transformers, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) lent his likeness to the Transformer games and points out this: “Video games are more successful than films,” LaBeouf told GamePro. (That’s not entirely true as Kotaku proved last fall; however, that is not to deride the…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published January 7, 2010
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  Reaping Beauty — the Video

  Also on Kotaku Talk Radio today, Fahey introduced us to “Reaping Beauty,” rapper MC Lars’ shout-out to Bayonetta. Well, here’s the accompanying music video, and it’s slam full of gameplay. “Reaping Beauty” is brought to you by MC Lars featuring colleagues Random and Beefy, with Tina Root singing the hook. Ms. Pac-Man, Zelda, Lara Croft,…

  By Owen Good Published January 6, 2010
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  Kotaku Off Topic: Gaga Reflex

  Day… one(?) of CES wasn’t the most eventful of convention days, but it did see two keynotes, one from Sony and one from Microsoft that were relevant to our interests. But, like this post, they were mostly off topic. The PlayStation 3, PlayStation Network, Xbox 360 and Xbox Live got some attention at their respective…

  By Michael McWhertor Published January 6, 2010
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  Xbox Game Room To Feature “Over 1000” Classic Arcade Games

  Although its cover was blown a little early, there’s still new info coming out of the Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas concerning Microsoft’s Xbox Game Room. Microsoft’s press release concerning the new Xbox Live service says the Game Room will be a “place to relive the glory days of arcade games”, and over the…

  By Luke Plunkett Published January 6, 2010
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  Bethesda Once Pitched Singleplayer Star Trek RPG

  Before making Fallout 3, Todd Howard and Bethesda Softworks pitched a sprawling single-player RPG set in the Star Trek universe – of the Shatner Capt. Kirk era, Howard told Kotaku Talk Radio. Appearing on our call-in show earlier today, Howard said at one point Bethesda did have the rights to Star Trek games, acquiring them…

  By Owen Good Published January 6, 2010
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  Project Natal Launching This Holiday Season

  It’s always been strongly hinted at, but today at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Microsoft’s Robbie Bach has confirmed it: Project Natal will be out this “holiday season”. Nothing more specific than that was offered, but we take “holiday season” to be “November”. Guess the motion-sensing peripheral’s other important aspects – namely its…

  By Luke Plunkett Published January 6, 2010