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  And Then There Were Three

  To: Ash From: Crecente Re: Headache, Headache, Headache McWhertor leaves first thing tomorrow for Japan. He’ll be spending a bit of downtime this week in Tokyo before the rest of us arrive on Sunday to prepare for next week’s Tokyo Game Show. It sounds like we may have the venue nearly nailed down for our…

  By Brian Crecente Published September 15, 2009
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  Bungie’s Throwing A Halo ODST Launch Party (And You Can Go)

  Bungie is throwing a party next week in Seattle to celebrate all things Halo, an event that just so happens to coincide with the release of Halo 3: ODST. Should you go? Well, Halo 3: ODST creative director Joseph Staten from Bungie and Halo franchise development director Frank O’Connor from 343 Industries will be there,…

  By Michael McWhertor Published September 15, 2009
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  The Game Looms, The Beard Thickens

  Assassin’s Creed II developer Patrice Desilets models beard before sharing some big ideas with Kotaku.

  By Stephen Totilo Published September 15, 2009
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  DJ Hero’s Daft Punk Trailer Robot Rocks You

  .html The addition of French electronic duo Daft Punk to FreeStyleGames’ DJ Hero may represent the tipping point of my DJ Hero purchase. Especially considering the group’s extensive contributions to the soundtrack. Having played the game a handful of times, I’ve found some of the selections interesting, but lacking in actual Daft Punk. Eleven Daft…

  By Michael McWhertor Published September 15, 2009
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  Shadow Complex Cheaters Targeted For Bans, Gamerscore Wipes

  Chair Entertainment may approve of players sequence-breaking Shadow Complex, but it does not condone cheaters who “compromise our game.” Microsoft’s Xbox Live team will be going after dishonest Shadow Complex players, banning them from leaderboards and deleting their Gamerscores. An official statement from Chair and the Xbox Live team sternly warns verified Shadow Complex cheaters…

  By Michael McWhertor Published September 15, 2009
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  Consider, BioWare, The Non-Epic RPG

  Must we always save the world or preserve the existence of humanity in our video game role-playing games? Must the stakes always be so high? I recently asked one of the principals of RPG super-studio BioWare about this. Between discussing the impending launch of Dragon Age: Origins or teasing the features of Mass Effect 2,…

  By Stephen Totilo Published September 15, 2009
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  3 Million Enlist In Combat Arms

  Nexon America is growing in leaps and bounds, and its greatly due to the success of Combat Arms, the free-to-play online multiplayer FPS, which recently surpassed the three million registered user mark. Nexon America’s revenue for August was up 32% over the previous year, and if the company’s celebratory press release is any indication, Combat…

  By Mike Fahey Published September 15, 2009
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  Nintendo Updates Holiday Lineup, Reveals New Games

  Nintendo of America has laid out its plans for the upcoming holiday shopping season—and a little bit beyond—dating a ton of Wii, Nintendo DS, WiiWare and DSiWare games, while also subtly announcing a few new ones. The list is long and likely full of third-party goods for both the Wii and DS platforms that won’t…

  By Michael McWhertor Published September 15, 2009
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  Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth Confirmed By Nintendo

  Konami’s Wii-imagining of Game Boy Castlevania: The Adventure, as leaked by the ESRB this weekend, has just been confirmed by a newly updated release list from Nintendo. The better news is that it’s coming, like, this month. Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth has a (potentially subject to change) release date of Q3 on WiiWare. And that…

  By Michael McWhertor Published September 15, 2009
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  The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks Arriving In December

  Nintendo’s next Legend of Zelda adventure will be making a stop at retail just in time for the Christmas shopping season. The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks has been dated by Nintendo of America for December 7th. Spirit Tracks was officially unveiled at this year’s Game Developers Conference, but it wasn’t until this year’s E3…

  By Michael McWhertor Published September 15, 2009
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  XNA Studio Adds Zune HD Dev Support

  To coincide with the retail launch of the shiny new Zune HD, Microsoft has released extensions for XNA Game Studio 3.1 to aid indie developers in creating games for the mobile media player. It won’t be long now before the Zune HD is swamped with indie game titles, thanks to these new extensions freely available…

  By Mike Fahey Published September 15, 2009
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  A Referendum On Bottomless Pits

  A question yesterday about the comparative merits of being saved from a plummet into a bottomless pit by a beautiful woman or one’s own grappling hook is occasion enough to determine: How do we feel about bottomless pits in 2009? In my preview of Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack In Time yesterday I lamented…

  By Stephen Totilo Published September 15, 2009
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  Create Your Own Gawker Media Hybrid

  Be like thousands of satisfied GizHackSpin users and create a custom Gawker Hybrid, made possible by Toyota Prius. Read your favorite titles in one place, with the content you want from each. What’s your hybrid creation? Try it here »

  By Chrissie Lamond Published September 15, 2009
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  Virtua Fighter 5, FIFA Street 3 Join Xbox 360 Games On Demand

  The Xbox 360 Games On Demand options expand by two, as Microsoft has added brawler Virtua Fighter 5 and footballer FIFA Street 3 to the downloadable games service, making it easier to be a game-buying sloth. Or, so they say. Looks like FIFA Street 3 is available to download according to the online Xbox Live…

  By Michael McWhertor Published September 15, 2009
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  Star Wars Galaxies Servers Closing

  Sony Online Entertainment’s free character transfer service for Star Wars Galaxies was so successful, they’re closing a dozen severs next month. That’s right, free character transfers are so popular that everything must go by October 15th! Go from the twelve closing servers to the remaining thirteen, that is. From the SOE forum post on the…

  By Mike Fahey Published September 15, 2009
• Reviews

  Scribblenauts Review: Embrace Your Inner Geek

  Riding on the back of a Tyrannosaurus Rex into a crowd of robot zombies: It’s a pretty powerful image, one that taps into the basic instincts of most geeks and screams “Buy this game.” Scribblenauts is out to prove that it’s more than just a clever, a really clever, game mechanic and that the “Write…

  By Brian Crecente Published September 15, 2009
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  Peter Moore: EA Sports Tennis To Use Natal, Sony Motion Control

  Electronic Arts “indefinitely” delayed the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of its foray into pro tennis, citing the success of EA Sports Active as root cause of the high-def Grand Slam Tennis slip. Turns out there was another reason. According to comments made by EA Sports boss Peter Moore to VG247, it sounds like…

  By Michael McWhertor Published September 15, 2009
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  Borderlands Is An Exhilirating But Oddly Hollow Experience

  I’ve scoured the Arid Hills in search of the monstrous Moe and Marley, hunted the winged and clawed predators of Skag Gully and blown off the legs, arms, heads of more bandits in the Arid Badands than I can remember. But after all of the time spent in Borderlands, collecting weapons, finding upgrades, earning experience…

  By Brian Crecente Published September 15, 2009
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  The Lessons Learned — Or Resisted — While Making Assassin’s Creed II

  The man in charge of Assassin’s Creed II wants to continue his dialogue with you. He’s changed his game in some ways you requested. But he still wants to send obsessive collectors a message and struggles with a grand idea. “A game is a dialogue,” Patrice Desilets was telling me earlier this month when we…

  By Stephen Totilo Published September 15, 2009
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  Spyborgs Webisode 2: Webisode Harder

  When we last left our intrepid half-human heroes, armless guy and ninja girl were hang gliding, Kinetic was missing, and Jackal was nowhere to be found. The Spyborgs action continues in webisode 2! It looks like Capcom has toned down the corny dialog a bit in the second webisode for its upcoming Wii beat-em up.…

  By Mike Fahey Published September 15, 2009