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  How Do You Eulogize A Video Game Character?

  Those of you following along with Telltales Games’ episodic adventure, Tales of Monkey Island, knew this was coming. The rest of you may want to sit down. Guybrush Threepwood, that lovable swashbuckler with an addiction to item-hoarding, has gone to the big pirate ship in the sky. Or Davey Jones’ Locker — or whatever nautical…

  By AJ Glasser Published December 3, 2009
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  Cosplay Suggestion

  To: Ashcraft From: Totilo Re: Are You A Cosplayer? Ash, I once cos-played as a vampire, but some other guy got in the way of the one picture of me doing it. Why is it that when you run into a wall in a video game your character usually keeps running? Why hasn’t that been…

  By Stephen Totilo Published December 3, 2009
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  PlayStation Store Update: Finite Climax Action

  PlayStation 3 owners can see what the Bayonetta buzz is about with the North American release of the game’s demo, which joins Call of Duty: Classic in this week’s PlayStation Store update. If they have an Xbox 360, they can also download the Xbox 360 version of that Bayonetta demo, letting them compare, contrast and…

  By Michael McWhertor Published December 3, 2009
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  Debit Your Way to that Next EA Sports Purchase

  EA Sports and VISA have teamed up to put out a reloadable debit card whose purchases rack up “rewards points” redeemable toward video game purchases. Wait, what if you use it to buy an EA Sports game? The prepaid card, announced Wednesday, “is a perfect marriage of encouraging responsible spending while providing a unique reward…

  By Owen Good Published December 3, 2009
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  Muscle March Buffs Up WiiWare Next Year

  Namco Bandai’s incredibly bizarre Muscle March, the WiiWare game featuring posing races between buff, bikini-clad bodybuilders and bears, is coming to North American next year, believe it or not. This English-language trailer should aid in the believability of it all. Really, there’s nothing I can add to this trailer. I’ll shut up so you can…

  By Michael McWhertor Published December 3, 2009
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  Professor Layton Schools Competitors On Sales, Nintendo Conquers Chart

  Level 5’s latest Professor Layton puzzle-adventure, Layton Kyouju to Majin no Fue, debuts at the top of Japan’s video game software sales charts, another 300,000 Nintendo DS games added to the series’ impressive sales. Professor Layton and his apprentice Luke didn’t have much in the way of competition this week, with cute railroad sim Momotaro…

  By Michael McWhertor Published December 3, 2009
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  Mega Man Done Deathmatch Style

  A modder has put “Doom and Mega Man into a blender” to “spew out a fun new way to blast your buddies online.” Mega Man: 8-Bit Deathmatch seeks to recreate the original game’s levels and weapons in a 3D environment. The mod’s levels employ 8-bit textures and sprites. “Mega Man will jump high and take…

  By Owen Good Published December 3, 2009
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  Borderlands An “Important, Long-Term Franchise” For Take-Two

  With developer Gearbox Software calling a Borderlands sequel a “no-brainer” and the title called out as one of the few bright spots on publisher Take-Two Interactive‘s earnings sheet, more talk of more Borderlands shouldn’t surprise you. Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick said during today’s quarterly earnings update that the role-playing shooter, which had a “successful launch,”…

  By Michael McWhertor Published December 3, 2009
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  Frankenreview: Tony Hawk Ride

  It’s a bit late for a Frankenreview of Tony Hawk Ride, but it’s interesting to see a ratings chart that starts so low and ends so high. Tony Hawk Ride is the latest installment of the storied Tony Hawk skateboarding video game franchise, given new life by developer Robomodo with the inclusion of a plastic…

  By Mike Fahey Published December 3, 2009
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  The Saboteur is “Feckin’ Hard”

  The Saboteur might be in France, but its maximum-strength difficulty is all Irish, reflecting the nationality of its protagonist. Although – help me out here, United Kingdomians, I thought “fookin'” would be the onomatopoeic for the Emerald Isle’s f-word adjectival. Anyway, you can see that the bastard-ass difficulty is “feckin’ hard” according to that screenshot.…

  By Owen Good Published December 3, 2009
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  Take-Two Delays Max Payne 3 Again, Blames Baseball For Bad Quarter

  Originally planned to hit this “winter” then moved to the first half of next year, Rockstar Games‘ third Max Payne title won’t hit until August 2010 at the earliest, publisher Take-Two Interactive announced today. The rest of Take-Two’s slate, including BioShock 2, Red Dead Redemption and Mafia II appear to be sticking to their regularly…

  By Michael McWhertor Published December 3, 2009
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  THQ Makes A Move Into Montreal

  The game industry job market in Quebec gets another shot in the arm today, as THQ announces plans to open a massive development studio in Montreal, with plans to create more than 400 new jobs over the next five years. THQ’s Montreal Studio, planned to open in 2010, will represent the company’s largest development facility,…

  By Mike Fahey Published December 3, 2009
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  Meet Media Molecule’s Little Big VGA Award, The Vector Monkey

  When Spike TV‘s telegenic hosts hand out awards at this year’s VGAs show next week, this, the Vector Monkey as designed by LittleBigPlanet developers Media Molecule, is what winners will walk away with. Yes, Megan Fox, this could be yours! How did Media Molecule get wrapped up in the Spike TV Video Game Award statuette…

  By Michael McWhertor Published December 3, 2009
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  The King Of Kong Becomes ‘Bones’ Murder Mystery Fodder

  This week’s episode of crime procedural Bones tells the tale of Billy and Steve, competitive gamers vying for the “perfect score” on a classic arcade game. But unlike documentary The King of Kong, one of these gamers winds up… murdered! And unlike The King of Kong, gamers Billy Gabel and Steve Rifton—the less fortunate of…

  By Michael McWhertor Published December 3, 2009
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  This Treasure Chest Made No Sound

  Box sent by Nintendo containing both a copy of the new Zelda DS game and a noise-making device that was probably supposed to make a sound when the chest was opened.

  By Stephen Totilo Published December 3, 2009
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  Check Out Girl Han Solo And Other Old Republic Characters

  Now that we’ve got all eight classes out in the open, here’s how each of them look. I defy you to differentiate between the Jedi Consular and Knight purely on visuals.

  By AJ Glasser Published December 3, 2009
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  Yes, Michael Jackson Did Work On Sonic The Hedgehog 3

  Late pop star Michael Jackson had a fairly close relationship with Sega, lending his image to Space Channel 5 and Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker. Jackson was also rumored to have contributed to Sonic the Hedgehog 3, a rumor now confirmed. According to an interview in the French magazine Black & White—the “official magazine of Michael Jackson”—Jackson’s…

  By Michael McWhertor Published December 3, 2009
• Reviews

  Tropico 3 Review: Go Bananas For El Presidente

  I’ve played a lot of games over the past 29 years. I’ve been wizards, warriors, soldiers, pilots, businessmen, cops, athletes and actors. One thing I’ve never been, until now, is the despotic ruler of a tinpot Caribbean island. Tropico 3 is the third game in a series that tasks you with assuming control of small,…

  By Luke Plunkett Published December 3, 2009
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  Games On Demand Coming To Games For Windows Live

  Microsoft has announced that on December 15th, Games on Demand comes to Games for Windows Live, which is a very fancy way of saying it’s going to start digitally distributing PC games. It’s really the next natural step in Games for Windows Live development. The Xbox 360 Games on Demand program has been doing well…

  By Mike Fahey Published December 3, 2009
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  Funcom Demos Age Of Conan Expansion Live On Monday

  Funcom is letting fans in on the Rise of the Godslayer action, showing off never-before-seen content in a live gameplay demo of the Age of Conan expansion on Monday, December 7th. The Rise of the Godslayer expansion introduces players to the lands of Khitai, with several new world regions filled with new dungeons, quests and…

  By Mike Fahey Published December 3, 2009