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  WoW Guilds Just Like…Street Gangs?

  World of Warcraft has been compared to many things over the years. Everquest at first, then later, crack. But I don’t think I’ve ever seen it compared to street gangs in LA. Earlier this year, scientists from the US and China published a paper called “Human group formation in online guilds and offline gangs driven…

  By Luke Plunkett Published December 1, 2009
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  Real Girlfriend Gallery of Horrors

  Erotic game “Real Kanojo” (“Real Girlfriend”) has widescreen, 3-D and even webcam face tracking. That is, if you have a decent gaming computer. But what if you don’t? Well, you get mangled graphics like this. Real Girlfriend is real scary, yo. Real scary. The stuff of nightmares! ハイスペックエロゲ『リアル彼女』を低スペックPCでプレイすると・・・ その2 [はちま起稿]

  By Brian Ashcraft Published December 1, 2009
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  Mario’s Italian Rhapsody

  You may have seen one of these clips before, where a custom level is built for Super Mario World that automatically plays a tune. But you probably never saw one playing the part of all four members of Queen. [thanks denki!]

  By Luke Plunkett Published December 1, 2009
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  Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker Dated For Japan

  The latest entry in the Metal Gear Solid will be hitting the 2010 in Japan on March 18 game mag Famitsu reports. Starring Naked Snake, the game takes place in Costa Rica during the 1970s — 10 years after Metal Gear Solid 3 and chronicling the rise of Outer Heaven. Check out our impressions from…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published December 1, 2009
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  Japan Gets Limited Edition Pro Evo PlayStation Portable

  Next week sees the release of Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 on PSP in Japan. Or, as its known in the game’s homeland, Winning Eleven 2010. To celebrate, there’ll be a Winning Eleven PSP-3000 on sale. Adorned with both the logo for the Winning Eleven series and the UEFA Champions League – the game’s main selling…

  By Luke Plunkett Published December 1, 2009
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  Marc Ecko Wanted To Re-Make Macbeth

  As previously posted, clothing designer Mark Ecko is ready to remake his game Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure. The game is a story of how, with love and courage, one man heroically spray painting crap on a wall can triumph over oppression and give a voice to people yearning to be free. Or just make…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published December 1, 2009
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  Final Fight: Double Impact Screens

  When Capcom release “Final Fight: Double Impact” next April, you’ll not only be getting two retro side-scrollers for your money, but some different graphics modes as well. Here are your options. You get four: the original sprites, the hideous “HD Smooting”, and either of those can viewed in a standard 4:3 letterbox view or a…

  By Luke Plunkett Published December 1, 2009
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  Rumor: Silent Hill Composer Leaves Konami

  According to game site Aeropause Games, Silent Hill composer Akira Yamaoka has apparently left Konami. He has worked at the company for the past 16 years. Yamaoka’s trademark music and sounds are very much part of the Silent Hill experience. He has been producer of the series since Silent Hill 3. If this is in…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published December 1, 2009
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  PC Download Stores Arguing Over Who Comes After Steam

  Stardock’s claim that it holds 10% of the PC digital download market have been shrugged off by two of the company’s main competitors, Direct2Drive and GamersGate. GamersGate CEO Theodore Bergquist tells Kotaku that “We have daily direct contact with all major publishers out there, we can benchmark most of our numbers with both Steam and…

  By Luke Plunkett Published December 1, 2009
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  Blizzard: Don’t Copy World of Warcraft

  Blizzard’s World of Warcraft is a hugely successful MMO. So if you are game developer and you want to make a hugely successful MMO, copy WoW, right? Right? Wrong, says WoW. “There are a lot of people that try to emulate World of Warcraft – and as flattering as that is our end it’s definitely…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published December 1, 2009
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  See Brink’s Characters Running On Autopilot

  I saw people playing Brink at E3, and thought it looked pretty promising. Bit hard for you to really understand without moving pictures of gameplay, though, so here’s some moving pictures of gameplay. It’s the first part of the demo we saw at E3, showing off the game’s free-running “autopilot”. Hopefully the Mirrors Edge 2…

  By Luke Plunkett Published November 30, 2009
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  PS3 Sales Reach Weekly All Time High

  Sony saw swift PlayStation 3 sales over Black Friday and the holiday weekend. The home console racked up big numbers, reaching an all time high for the the system, selling 440,000 units. “The 2009 holiday season got off to an amazing start for PlayStation, with all key retailers showing a significant increase for PS3, PSP…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published November 30, 2009
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  “There Is A Fine Line Between Jerk And Lovable Rogue”

  Why do gamers seem to like the sometimes un-heroic Nathan Drake of Uncharted fame? One of Drake’s creators explained in a comment on Gamasutra. The short take is that Nathan Drake has attitude without being a jerk, and he cheerfully but woefully gets in over his head. This helps make him charming rather than annoying.…

  By Stephen Totilo Published November 30, 2009
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  Yakuza 3 Turns Up On Amazon Germany

  Yup. This again. Dare to dream. A listing for Yakuza 3 has appeared on Amazon Germany’s site, and while we normally wouldn’t bother with mysterious retail listings, Amazon Germany have quite the track record. It says it’ll be out in March 2010, will cost €63 (USD$94) and…says nothing else. So far, so good! Remember, though,…

  By Luke Plunkett Published November 30, 2009
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  BioWare has a Fix for Dragon Age Soundtrack/PS3 Issues

  Over the weekend we had a lively discussion of file and disc formats and why exactly the mp3 soundtrack for Dragon Age: Origins was inaccessible on the PS3. BioWare’s asking anyone with the problem to email, they can fix it. A BioWare spokesman dropped the official help URL – help.dragonage.com – and asked that people…

  By Owen Good Published November 30, 2009
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  Microsoft: Black Friday Gives Xbox “Biggest Sales Week” Of Year

  Get ready to for some corporate gloating, Microsoft-style, in the coming days. According to the company’s Director of Product Management for Xbox 360 and Xbox Live, the Xbox 360 just had its “biggest sales week of the year.” Greenberg didn’t put a specific figure to the console’s sales from the Thanksgiving/Black Friday week as Nintendo…

  By Michael McWhertor Published November 30, 2009
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  Can You Solve This Professor Layton and the Demon Flute Puzzle?

  Chris Kohler over at Wired’s Game Life blog has gotten himself deep into a copy of Professor Layton‘s next out, Demon Flute, which was released in Japan last week. Here’s a tiny taste of the puzzles we can expect. Kohler’s translation of the puzzle reads: The four photographs below were taken in the same place.…

  By AJ Glasser Published November 30, 2009
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  Dress Up Your Wiimotes With New Super Mario Bros Wii Bundle

  We’ve seen a Black Friday deal or two about Wiis being bundled with New Super Mario Bros. But this is the first I’ve seen of a New Super Mario Bros. bundle with Wiimote static clings. The $69.99 spotted on Amazon.com comes with four Mario static clings, a large t-shirt and a plastic lunchbox. Oh, and…

  By AJ Glasser Published November 30, 2009
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  Crytek Games that Never Were, Have Yet To Be

  Maciej Kuciara, Art Director/Concept Artist at Crytek, posted these spiffy pics to ConceptArt.org forums and we’re re-posting some of them here because they smack of Frank Frazetta… and awesomeness! Find the rest here. And for the record, no, these aren’t Crysis concept art sketches. I think the ninja chick should’ve tipped you off if nothing…

  By AJ Glasser Published November 30, 2009
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  R.U.S.E. Beta Keys Deployed To V.I.P.s

  Did you register for the R.U.S.E beta? Then you may want to check your e-mail and make sure your Steam account is in good standing. Ubisoft kicked off the game’s V.I.P. beta program today. The R.U.S.E. beta test program going live today is a positive sign that the real-time strategy game will make its early…

  By Michael McWhertor Published November 30, 2009