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  Pachter: Used Games Sales At 100 Million Annually In U.S., Not A Threat

  Gaming’s most-quoted financial analyst shared some unconventional wisdom about used games today. In a 210-page annual report about the state of the gaming industry that begins with him thanking Kotaku and other websites for “keeping us on our toes and always asking us to think about the industry in real-time,” Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael…

  By Stephen Totilo Published June 29, 2009
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  Fable III “Confirmations” Come From The Darndest Places

  Is Lionhead working on Fable III? In some capacity, almost definitely. Considering the success of Fable II, not developing a third game in the series would be throwing money away. But we didn’t expect this kind of Fable III “confirmation.” So who’s mentioning Fable III now? The New York Times, which is typically not wrong…

  By Michael McWhertor Published June 29, 2009
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  Chinese Gov’t Tries To Officially Ban Gold Farming

  Friday, the Chinese government attempted to address the reported $500 million gold farming industry, said to employ some 400,000 workers, in the form of a ruling on the exchange of “virtual currency” for real world cash. Officially, China’s Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Commerce said that in-game monies “will only be allowed to…

  By Michael McWhertor Published June 29, 2009
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  MJ Loved MK

  Add Mortal Kombat to the video games Michael Jackson was into. The recollections of the recently-deceased pop star continue to make the rounds in the media. And video games have gotten another mention, even though we weren’t asking this time. Author Paul Theroux recalls in today’s U.K. Telegraph a phone call the writer had with…

  By Stephen Totilo Published June 29, 2009
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  This Week’s Wii Rock Band 2 Update Is A Lovely Potpourri

  The Wii version of Rock Band 2 now has access to nearly 350 downloadable music tracks, thanks to this week’s rich update, full of Pearl Jam, Mission of Burma, The Offspring and more. Sixteen new tracks will be available for download via Rock Band 2‘s in-game music store starting tomorrow, including new singles from Harvey…

  By Michael McWhertor Published June 29, 2009
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  Carmack: Just About Everything id Makes Coming To iPhone

  Doom Resurrection and Wolfenstein 3D Classic are only the beginning for id Software on the iPhone, with everything from Wolfenstein RPG to the upcoming Rage making their way to Apple’s platform. As a matter of fact, Wolfenstein RPG has been completed for quite some time. As id’s John Carmark explains it, his excitement over getting…

  By Mike Fahey Published June 29, 2009
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  Video Game Question For The Advice Columnist

  An eight-year-old boy’s parents are concerned about the violent games enjoyed by their son’s friend, who often invites their son over. They don’t want to nix the friendship, ban gaming during visits or question the other parents. What to do? The Chicago Tribune’s advice columnist had the following advice on Sunday: Sooner or later, raising…

  By Stephen Totilo Published June 29, 2009
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  Kotaku Joins The Bonus Round To Chat About The Future Of Game Controls

  Last Friday, we sat down with GameTrailers’ Geoff Keighley, Shane Satterfield and Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter to discuss the future of video game interfaces, from the Wii Vitality Sensor to Microsoft’s Project Natal. Someone taped it! In part one of our Bonus Round discussion, Keighley, Pachter, Satterfield and I touch on the Xbox 360’s…

  By Michael McWhertor Published June 29, 2009
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  First New Rock Band Unplugged DLC Hits

  A rather nice variety of tracks make up the first batch of new DLC for Rock Band Unplugged since launch, with Stone Temple Pilots, Mötley Crüe, Avenged Sevenfold, and Dream Theater getting the Frequency treatment. The downloadable song grand total for Rock Band Unplugged rises from ten to fourteen today, with the introduction of four…

  By Mike Fahey Published June 29, 2009
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  In Defense Of The Classic Controller

  By Leigh Alexander. At the E3 debut of Project Natal, Microsoft’s Don Mattrick called the controllers we’ve known and loved “a barrier separating video game players from everyone else.” Wait. Isn’t that the point? Should video game controllers really disappear? We’ve heard a million times about how the cultural presence of games is growing exponentially…

  By Stephen Totilo Published June 29, 2009
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  QuakeCon 2009 Is Going To The Gaylord

  id Software‘s annual gathering of Quake, Doom and Wolfenstein fans will happen August 13th to August 16th. And it will happen at a new location, the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine, Texas. QuakeCon festivities were previously announced to throw down at the Hilton Anatole Hotel, but it appears that id Software and company have had a…

  By Michael McWhertor Published June 29, 2009
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  Doom Resurrection: The iPhone Game That Nearly Wasn’t

  With the rail-shooter Doom Resurrection for the iPhone hitting the App Store at any moment, Kotaku spoke to John Carmack about design decisions, multiplayer, and why the game was nearly canceled months into development. id Software‘s John Carmack is one of the masterminds behind some of the greatest first-person shooters of all time, often referred…

  By Mike Fahey Published June 29, 2009
• Reviews

  The Conduit Review: A Bland, But Enjoyable Shooter

  In Sega’s The Conduit, you play as a pawn in a vast conspiracy involving aliens, shadowy government agencies, and the president of the United States. But the Wii-exclusive first-person shooter hopes to win gamers over not with its plot and known voice talent, but its nuanced controls and solid multiplayer gaming. With the ability to…

  By Brian Crecente Published June 29, 2009
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  Ogle Blizzard HQ’s Epically Mounted Orc

  World of Warcraft developer Blizzard moved into its new Irvine, California digs in late 2007, 240,000 square feet worth of space in which to develop more Starcraft, Diablo and WarCraft. This year, Blizzard headquarters added some lovely Orc art. The bronze Warcraft statue measures some twelve feet in height. It moved onto the Blizzard campus…

  By Michael McWhertor Published June 29, 2009
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  This Week On Live Arcade: Worms And The King Of Fighters

  Two completely different types of combat hit the Xbox Live Arcade service this week, with Worms 2: Armageddon and The King of Fighters ’98 Ultimate Match. Worms 2: Armageddon is the sequel to Worms Armageddon, released 10 years ago for the Dreamcast, PC, PlayStation, and Nintendo 64. The gameplay is tried and true: use various…

  By Mike Fahey Published June 29, 2009
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  Would Natal Enable User-Generated Mo-Cap?

  Let’s start the week with a million-dollar-idea, courtesy of Kotaku, offered for free. An idea’s been rattling in my head I’d like to share (reader warning: I’m home sick today). It’s an idea for the Xbox 360‘s controller-free control system, Project Natal, for which I’ve been able to get no official comment. Perhaps folks don’t…

  By Stephen Totilo Published June 29, 2009
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  Marvel VS Capcom 2: Claws Versus Fireballs

  So Marvel VS Capcom 2 isn’t coming until the end of July. That just means more time for Capcom to release promotional strategy videos! While I’m not sure what the above clip is supposed to be, I do know the ones below are demonstrating how to handle the game’s two most iconic characters in head-to-head…

  By Mike Fahey Published June 29, 2009
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  Monkey Island’s Ron Gilbert to Keynote PAX

  Maniac Mansion and Monkey Island creator Ron Gilbert plans to keynote the sixth annual Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle in September, the organizers said today. “This is an unbelievable moment for us,” Penny Arcade’s Robert Khoo said. “I wasted an entire family vacation one year trying to figure out how to win that stupid spitting…

  By Brian Crecente Published June 29, 2009
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  Blame WoW For Starcraft II’s Late, Late Release

  Blizzard’s Starcraft was released in 1998. It’s sequel, Starcraft II, won’t be out until at least 2009. Why the hold-up? Blame World of Warcraft. Rob Pardo has told Eurogamer that development on Starcraft II began in 2003, and there’s been a playable build since 2005. But then along came World of Warcraft. One of the…

  By Luke Plunkett Published June 29, 2009
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  Celebrate Independence Day With The Sacktue Of Liberty

  Give us your poor, your tired, your huddled masses longing to be free, and Media Molecule will give them a free costume that embodies their hopes and dreams in LittleBigPlanet. Media Molecule follows up last week’s free druid costume with another new outfit for your sackboy, or perhaps sackgirl, in this case. The Sacktue of…

  By Mike Fahey Published June 29, 2009