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  Texas Test-Market Opens for Rapture-Ready PC Games

  Christian-themed PC games like Left Behind and the Charlie Church Mouse series are now available in – where else – Walmarts in – where else – Texas thanks to an agreement between the retailer and publisher Inspired Media Entertainment. InspiredMedia d/b/a Left Behind Games Inc., worked out the pilot release of its titles in 100…

  By Owen Good Published October 12, 2009
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  ESRB Clarifies PSP Minis Rating Costs

  A story Friday discussed the development costs of an indie game for the PSP versus the iPhone. While getting an ESRB rating does cost money, the board reminds that a different rate structure will likely apply to PSP Minis titles. ESRB spokesman Eliot Mizrachi contacted Kotaku to remind that the ratings authority has a different…

  By Owen Good Published October 12, 2009
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  Of Course Modern Warfare 2 Avatar Goods Are Coming

  Xbox 360 owners, calm your fears. Soon, your Xbox 360 Avatar will reflect your passion for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, says Infinity Ward creative strategist Robert Bowling. I know, it was touch and go there for a minute. Bowling said via his Twitter feed this weekend that he’s “not sure we’ll be doing…

  By Michael McWhertor Published October 12, 2009
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  The Lady is a Spider in Dragon Age: Origins

  Not to say Demerol, or whatever its name is, is a patriarchal society, but when the humans send two dudes and two females to go hike up K2, guess who’s not going to be fully dressed for the weather. Oh, they’re not just there for eye candy. While one woman headshots orc zombies with her…

  By Owen Good Published October 12, 2009
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  Newspaper Predicts Bad Things From Modern Warfare 2 Goggle Users

  Sourcing Internet forums, the UK’s Daily Star informed the world Sunday that the game you may be buying next month has been dubbed “Modern Warfare 2: Peeping Tom Edition.” The Star reports that “joy-pad” junkies will use the goggles bundled with the Modern Warfare 2: Prestige Edition for gay cruising, peeping and other activities that…

  By Stephen Totilo Published October 12, 2009
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  MAG Beta Widens To Pre-order Enlistees

  The public beta for Zipper Interactive‘s massive action game MAG got a few more willing testers today, as the program has expanded to the game’s biggest enthusiasts: those who pre-ordered the game. In Canada. If that’s not you, consider this a friendly reminder that if you’d like to participate in the upcoming MAG public beta…

  By Michael McWhertor Published October 12, 2009
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  Arkedo — The Funniest Press Release I’ve Ever Read

  Game developer Arkedo brought us Nervous Brickdown and Big Bang Mini — two incredibly cute and challenging games for the DS. Now they’re on Xbox Live Indie Games with a new series. The Arkedo series kicks off with 01 JUMP!, which was developed in 35 days by two guys and is out now. Based on…

  By AJ Glasser Published October 12, 2009
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  Kotaku Talk Radio Special Guest

  To: Bash From: Crecente Re: I don’t know if you saw, but Robomodo’s Josh Tsui will be joining us this Wednesday on Kotaku Talk Radio to talk about his upcoming game Tony Hawk Ride. This will be the second time we’ve had a guest. The first was Ken Levine, and that was pretty great. Maybe…

  By Brian Crecente Published October 12, 2009
• Reviews

  Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising Review: Boom Headshot!

  While Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising touts itself as a tactical squad-based shooter, what really separates this franchise from all of the other gun games is its brutal difficulty and faithful adaptation to real battlefield conditions. In this first-person shooter sequel you command a squad of marines helping to retake the island of Skira from the…

  By Brian Crecente Published October 12, 2009
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  In PixelJunk Home, A Mix Of Flirting, Innuendo And… Success?

  Q-Games chief Dylan Cuthbert told Kotaku that the popularity of his company’s just-launched PlayStation Home space nearly crushed his team’s servers. Plus, he and I discovered independently, gamers there want to convey a message: “I’m hard.” I stumbled across the PixelJunk space by accident this morning, while checking out PlayStation Home on my PS3 for…

  By Stephen Totilo Published October 12, 2009
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  The Bonus Round Talks Brutal Legend, Assassin’s Creed II

  In the second portion of the newest Bonus Round discussion, Geoff Keighley, Michael Pachter, Tom Russo and I talk about two of this year’s most anticipated games, Double Fine’s Brutal Legend and Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed II. If you thrive on cautious optimism and the soothing words of Wedbush Securities Michael Pachter, always available for reasoned…

  By Michael McWhertor Published October 12, 2009
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  When Halo And Power Wheels Collide

  How could I have possibly been surprised to discover that there is a thriving Power Wheels customization community on the internet? And why was I not surprised to have come across it for Halo-related reasons? Fortunately, thanks to the folks at Bungie, we’re all that much more knowledgeable about the DIY Power Wheels modder set.…

  By Michael McWhertor Published October 12, 2009
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  Etiquette Check: How To Handle Xbox Friend Requests?

  The wisdom of Kotaku’s readership is requested. What’s the right thing to do regarding repeat Xbox Live friend requests? Taking a break from news and such for a moment, I turn to you readers of Kotaku for a question of etiquette. I have recently been receiving repeated friend requests from the same people. These are…

  By Stephen Totilo Published October 12, 2009
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  THQ Gets Cheap On Steam This Week

  Publisher THQ is doling out savings via Steam this week, starting today with half off all things Titan Quest. That’s a decent game from the defunct Iron Lore Entertainment for just ten bucks American! More deals throughout the week… [Steam]

  By Michael McWhertor Published October 12, 2009
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  DJ Hero’s Intro Slightly Larger-Than-Life

  It’s only a couple of weeks until the release of DJ Hero, which judging by this intro video is a game about a dark future where truckers and punk kids destroy overpasses before partying. This is what you get when you give the developers of a music game a very large CG budget and let…

  By Mike Fahey Published October 12, 2009
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  Rogue Warrior Gets A Different Kind Of Gaming Ad

  The slightly defaced ad for Bethesda’s fall shooter Rogue Warrior, photographed by me at my local subway exit near Kotaku’s NYC branch office, had one feature that turned my head: The two small words in red. The two words are a name, a name that was not immediately familiar to me. “Dick Marcinko.” When I…

  By Stephen Totilo Published October 12, 2009
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  Lead And Gold Looks Solid In Motion

  Swedish developer Fatshark’s Lead And Gold: Gangs of the Wild West may look like a dusty retro re-take on Battlefield or Team Fortress, but… that might be why we like the look of it so much. With a smaller class count—there are just four “archetypes,” the Blaster, Deputy, Gunslinger and Trapper—Lead And Gold may look…

  By Michael McWhertor Published October 12, 2009
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  WoW Movie Penned By Saving Private Ryan Scribe

  Speaking with MTV News, World of Warcraft director Sam Raimi revealed that Saving Private Ryan and The Patriot screenwriter Robert Rodat will be handling the story for the massively multiplayer movie. Raimi chats with MTV news about being faithful to the source material and presenting characters and settings that will be familiar to World of…

  By Mike Fahey Published October 12, 2009
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  The Awards We Don’t Give

  This is the second in a series of posts labeled “Hindsight” that discuss games you may have thought we were done writing about. Last time: Godfather II The Game. This time: X-Men Origins: Wolverine. There are many awards for video games. There are almost as many rationales for the granting to game makers and their…

  By Stephen Totilo Published October 12, 2009
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  Left 4 Dead 2 Achievements Reveal New Items, Confirm Campaigns

  The list of Xbox 360 Achievements for Left 4 Dead 2 appear to have just “confirmed” the game’s two, still-to-be-officially-announced final campaigns and revealed new items, new infected and… clown nose honking?! The 50 new Achievements, newly listed at Xbox 360 Achievements, don’t really venture into spoiler territory—there are no plot points revealed here—but we’ll…

  By Michael McWhertor Published October 12, 2009