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  New GTA: Ballad Of Gay Tony Trailer Shows Modern Gay Life Can Be…Difficult

  Gotta say, love what Rockstar seems to be doing with Ballad of Gay Tony. Namely, bringing a little more fun back into the world of Grand Theft Auto.

  By Luke Plunkett Published September 8, 2009
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  Sony Divides Up MAG Factions for Pre-Order Bonuses

  MAG’s rolling out some exclusive in-game character models should you be of a mind to pre-order the game. GameStop and Game Crazy get two of them, the third is TBD. Amazon’s confirmed for … meh … access to a PlayStation Home space. The exclusive S.V.E.R. character is yours if you lay your $5 down at…

  By Owen Good Published September 8, 2009
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  Obama Namechecks Xbox Once Again In Speech To Kids

  President Barack Obama is once again tossing the old Xbox under the bus, naming Microsoft’s console in a speech to schoolchildren today, implying it might interfere with their education. Or maybe this is just smart product placement… In a peppy speech that focused on promoting education and personal responsibility, Obama made brief mention of Microsoft’s…

  By Michael McWhertor Published September 8, 2009
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  Nostalgia Preview: The Winds Of Staying The Same

  Nostalgia is a DS role playing game that hearkens back not only to when Final Fantasy VII’s graphics were next-generation, but to an era of steam and airships that never quite existed. That’s right – that thing I’m always going on about is the main selling point of this game: steampunk. Normally, this would be…

  By AJ Glasser Published September 8, 2009
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  Tokyo Game Show

  To: Bash From: Crecente Re: With Penny Arcade Expo wrapped up, and our stories from the show wrapping up this week, it’s on to Tokyo Game Show planning. We should probably talk tomorrow to see how the schhhhhhheduling is going. Don’t tell the TGS folks that PAX had a touch of Swine Flu, I don’t…

  By Brian Crecente Published September 8, 2009
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  Axel & Pixel Preview: It Looks Like Nothing Else

  We’ve got a guy. A dog. An art style I’ve never seen on an Xbox 360. A point-and-click adventure. And side-scrolling driving. What Is It? At the Penny Arcade Expo, about halfway between where you could buy nachos or watch a comics artist sketch on his DS, there was a kiosk running two forthcoming Xbox…

  By Stephen Totilo Published September 8, 2009
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  Report: Nigerian Gov’t Upset Over New PlayStation Ads [Update]

  While news of the PlayStation 3 price drop to $299 USD appeared to have been met with universal praise, it appears that one group isn’t so thrilled with Sony. That would be the entire country of Nigeria, apparently. According to reports citing a statement from Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Communication, Prof. Dora Akunyili, the…

  By Michael McWhertor Published September 8, 2009
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  Someone At Square-Enix Likes Star Trek?

  Not being a font expert, but having a memory that stretches back to the 80s, I saw something on this very site today that made me think of the font you can see in the image on the left. In the midst of Brian Ashcraft’s superb coverage of all things Final Fantasy XIII, I saw…

  By Stephen Totilo Published September 8, 2009
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  Contra Rebirth, Super Return of the Jedi Scroll Onto Nintendo Weekly Downloads

  This week’s batch of newly downloadable titles for WiiWare, DSiWare and Nintendo’s Virtual Console is a 16-bit paradise, as Konami’s Contra Rebirth and LucasArts’ Super Return of the Jedi overload the Wii with side-scrolling action. Other less spritely items are also available, including the colorful arcade shooter ColorZ for WiiWare and the bite-size DSiWare offering…

  By Michael McWhertor Published September 8, 2009
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  How And Why Halo 3: ODST Was Made In 14 Months

  Is your Peter Jackson Halo project not coming together on schedule? Got a year to make something else Halo-ish? Then construct a creative plan B, spelled ODST. During my visit to Bungie last week I got a chance to learn more about the origins of Halo 3: ODST a game that has all the makings…

  By Stephen Totilo Published September 8, 2009
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  Enter to Win a Copy of Darkest of Days

  What historical military leader would you bring back from history a la Bill & Ted to play backup keyboards in your Wyld Stallyns tribute band? Agamemnon? Mussolini? The best choice wins a copy of Darkest of Days. Send your entry to [email protected] and register to win a chance to alter the course of history. Well,…

  By Chrissie Lamond Published September 8, 2009
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  Sony’s High-Res Image Enlargement Tech Could Make PlayStation Store Awesome

  Sony’s “High-Resolution Image Enlargement Technology” may not have the coolest name, but the PlayStation 3 and PSP software could make for a much more interesting, zoom-tastic PlayStation Store. Shown at the recent CEDEC conference in Tokyo, the high-res image tech makes for a sweet looking calendar, smoothly scaled images and embedded web pages, but not…

  By Michael McWhertor Published September 8, 2009
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  A Reward For Doing Good Xbox Work

  Here is the Xbox “Playmaker Award”/Lamp as seen by Koaku at the Microsoft Xbox offices in Redmond, Washington. You can’t buy this. It’ll be passed around to exceptional employees. There were other oddities that I saw during my quick tour of the offices. The lamp was one of my favorites. The Playmaker Award is kind…

  By Stephen Totilo Published September 8, 2009
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  PAX Organizers Report “Confirmed Swine Flu Case” From Show

  Communication from official PAX sources indicate that the show may have been home to an infestation of the H1N1 flu virus, more commonly known as the Swine Flu, with Penny Arcade reps urging attendees to monitor symptoms. The official PAX Twitter account wrote today “Just heard of our first test-confirmed swine flu case at the…

  By Michael McWhertor Published September 8, 2009
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  Commodore 64, No Longer On iPhone

  iPhone owners with a retro enthusiast streak got some good news this weekend — an approved Commodore 64 emulator was now available for the Apple platform via the iTunes Store. Today, the bad news hits. That C64 app has since been removed, due to the accessibility of the emulator’s built-in BASIC system, according to Pocket…

  By Michael McWhertor Published September 8, 2009
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  The Cosplay of Penny Arcade Expo

  Increasingly, I’m starting to suspect that a video game convention is defined by its cosplayers. If that’s the case, what would you say the cosplayers of Penny Arcade Expo say about PAX?

  By Brian Crecente Published September 8, 2009
• Reviews

  Defense Grid Micro-Review: Mmmmm… Raspberries

  Defense Grid: The Awakening is now out on Xbox Live Arcade. But it’s been out for a while on PC, where it’s got a reputation as, well, the best tower defense game there is. Like most tower defense games, Defense Grid asks the player to strategically place defensive towers to prevent something bad from happening.…

  By Luke Plunkett Published September 8, 2009
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  The Beatles: Rock Band Frankenreview

  What happens when what many consider to be the ultimate band game teams up with what many consider to be the ultimate band? The Beatles: Rock Band. While several bands have gotten their own standalone music titles, none have gotten nearly the sort of treatment Harmonix has given The Beatles: Rock Band. Not only is…

  By Mike Fahey Published September 8, 2009
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  Tony Hawk Ride Impressions: Tony’s Way

  Forgive me if I get some skateboarding terminology wrong in this post. I’ll do my best to relate what happened when I turned my board sideways and hit the Vert ramp in Tony Hawk: Ride last week. I’m the kind of person who has to double-check what “Vert ramp” means before I type it, to…

  By Stephen Totilo Published September 8, 2009
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  The News And Impressions Of The Final Fantasy XIII Premiere Party

  Last night in Tokyo, Square Enix hosted a Final Fantasy XIII Premiere and our own Brian Ashcraft was on hand to liveblog, break news, watch videos and play demos. Here’s a break down of everything you may have missed if you weren’t surfing Kotaku at 4 a.m. Square Enix FFXIII Event Liveblog Incoming Final Fantasy…

  By Brian Crecente Published September 8, 2009