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  9 Basterds

  To: Ash From: Crecente Re: Did you ever catch Inglourious Basterds? Man, what a great movie. Sorta happy I saw it instead of District 9 first. Should I go see that next? Or is it something I should pass on? What you missed: Universal Ratings Raises Its Head Again, ESA Responds Modern Warfare 2 Gameplay…

  By Brian Crecente Published August 28, 2009
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  Nintendo’s Mii Collecting Game Still A Big Hit In Japan

  When Nintendo describes its software as “evergreen,” it means games like the Nintendo DS title Tomodachi Collection, which was released mid-June and sits atop this week’s Japanese software sales chart. The Mii collecting game beats out DS rival Dragon Quest IX to secure the top spot once again amid a non-eventful release week. Stuff like…

  By Michael McWhertor Published August 28, 2009
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  Notebook Dump: The Wii’s Missing Arkham, NBA 2K10, More

  There comes a time in the week to reflect on what got into my reporter’s notebook but didn’t turn into Kotaku blog posts. Shall we? Shifting Responsibility: EA was nice enough to stage a game demo of Need For Speed Shift just one block from my office on Thursday. So I went to it, got…

  By Stephen Totilo Published August 28, 2009
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  ESRB Details Unannounced Raystorm, Thexder Revivals

  While neither game has been officially announced to the best of our knowledge, both Raystorm HD and Thexder NEO have recently been fully described by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board. So you can expect their respective North American announcements soon. Both Thexder NEO and Raystorm HD appear to be remakes of the 8-bit and 32-bit…

  By Michael McWhertor Published August 28, 2009
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  A Reignited Console War Means A Happy Holiday For Gamers

  The long-simmering war between the Playstation 3, Wii and Xbox 360 has boiled over in time for the holidays thanks to dual price drops that put all three consoles within $50 of each other. In a much anticipated move, Sony announced a new $300 model for their Playstation 3 in Cologne, Germany during the Gamescom…

  By Brian Crecente Published August 28, 2009
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  Maxis Layoffs Include Outspoken Spore Dev Chris Hecker

  Electronic Arts’ recent attempt to “focus” Spore developer Maxis—which was a nicer way of saying some people got laid off—includes one of its more rant-ready folks, Chris Hecker, a Technology Fellow at the company. Remember him? If not, he’s probably best known—in addition to his contributions to Spore—for one of his Game Developers Conference talks,…

  By Michael McWhertor Published August 28, 2009
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  More Monkey Island Hits WiiWare Monday

  After a relatively successful launch on the PC, Telltale Games is ready to release Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 2: The Siege of Spinner Cay with Monday’s Nintendo Download. Sure, Nintendo Wii players have had to wait a couple of weeks longer than PC gamers to take the next step on Guybrush Threepwood’s journey to…

  By Mike Fahey Published August 28, 2009
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  DSi Honors Japanese Bestelling Hardware Tradition

  Not much activity in the Japanese hardware market these days, as the Nintendo DSi remains atop Media Create‘s weekly sales chart, with the PlayStation 3 an understandably distant third. Hey, when there are no PS3s to buy, the console can’t very well show itself in an impressive way in terms of console sales. Depleted stock…

  By Michael McWhertor Published August 28, 2009
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  Exploring Strange New Worlds With Ratchet & Clank

  Insomniac creative director Brian Allgeier walks us through the space exploration that our favorite Lombax will be doing as he searches for his robot buddy in Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time. Exploration and discovery have always been a large part of the Ratchet & Clank experience, but space travel has generally been…

  By Mike Fahey Published August 28, 2009
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  No More Heroes 2 Playable At PAX 09

  No More Heroes 2, the sequel to the eccentric Wii game from Grasshopper Manufacture (the only Wii game that has had a sexy lady speak to you through your Wii remote speaker) will be playable for all PAX-goers next week. While booking Penny Arcade Expo appointments with game publishers this week, Mike Fahey and I…

  By Stephen Totilo Published August 28, 2009
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  What Are You Playing This Weekend?

  While I was away in Germany and the Netherlands, a copy of Rock Band 2 “special edition” was shipped to my house. I already have the original full band set up, but thought a second was a “good” idea. It was actually just the solution to my broken drum set and the need for a…

  By Michael McWhertor Published August 28, 2009
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  Star Wars: The Old Republic – Enter The Sith Warrior

  Fear, anger, and hatred fuel the latest character class revealed by BioWare for Star Wars: The Old Republic, the Sith Warrior; the death knights of the Star Wars universe. The Sith Warriors are front line fighters who inspire fear and loyalty in their comrades, which certainly sounds like your standard MMO definition of a death…

  By Mike Fahey Published August 28, 2009
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  Things A UPS Man Allegedly Stole

  The Fort Myers News Press lists nearly 100 items allegedly stolen by a UPS driver in Cape Coral, Florida. It is an extraordinary haul, full of game consoles and a surprising amount of weapons. This is the video game portion of the list, with the prices included as presented by the News Press. Nintendo Wii:…

  By Stephen Totilo Published August 28, 2009
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  PlayStation Store Update: TGIF!

  This week’s North American PlayStation Store update is running just a little late. Technical difficulties, you see. Fortunately that tardiness has been largely made up for by way of the inclusion of new stuff to download. That includes the playable Invincible Tiger: The Legend of Han Tao—available in 3D!!—and a quartet of demos for Wet,…

  By Michael McWhertor Published August 28, 2009
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  New Demon Souls Screens Arrive Just In Time

  I actually stopped by Atlus this Sunday to take a look at the upcoming PlayStation 3-exclusive dungeon crawler Demon Souls, so these new screenshots couldn’t be timelier. My visit, on the other hand, could have been. I stayed up far too late on Saturday night, so come Sunday morning I was a bit sleepy. I…

  By Mike Fahey Published August 28, 2009
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  This Time, The Video Game Announcer Won’t Repeat Himself So Much

  During a demo of NBA 2K10 yesterday, I was told that the new basketball game will use a technology that frees its announcers from saying the same things again and again. The development team at 2K Sports is calling their feature Dynamic Voice-over. It re-arranges pre-recorded commentary from the game’s two announcers, real-life NBA commentators…

  By Stephen Totilo Published August 28, 2009
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  Forming A Supergroup In Champions Online

  Some superheroes largely work alone, but even the most jaded vigilante has to bring in a little backup now and then. Here’s how that works in Champions Online. I’ve been a bit worried about how group roles would work in a game with such flexibility to its character creation, but Cryptic’s Bill Roper seems to…

  By Mike Fahey Published August 28, 2009
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  Shadow Complex in LEGO

  As seen on GamOvr [via GameSetWatch]

  By Brian Crecente Published August 28, 2009
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  NCsoft Already Preparing Guild Wars 2 Art Book

  The art section of the relatively bare Guild Wars 2 website now features a listing for The Art of Guild Wars 2, a 128 page art book for a game we’ve only really seen a trailer of. Well, a trailer and some concept art. Still, the game seems to be at a really early stage…

  By Mike Fahey Published August 28, 2009
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  Dawn Of War II DLC Brings New Co-op Mode

  Free downloadable content for Relic’s Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II next month will introduce The Last Stand, a new cooperative multiplayer survival mode in which players work together to overcome impossible odds. Things get a bit more personal in The Last Stand, as you and two other squad mates team up to battle waves…

  By Mike Fahey Published August 28, 2009