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  Five Uses For This Wrath of the Lich King Art Book

  The Cinematic Art of World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King is an art book any WoW fan would be proud to have in their home. Here are some fashionable suggestions about what to do with it when you get it. Cinematic Art provides a very pretty look at the behind-the-scenes development of WoW’s…

  By AJ Glasser Published February 27, 2009
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  How Much Do Blizzard Contribute To Activision’s Bottom Line?

  Activision and Blizzard, they’re now tight, combining Guitar Hero and Call of Duty’s dollars with those World of Warcraft rakes in on a monthly basis. But what’s the split between the two? Activision’s freshly-released annual report lets us know (using net revenue as a yardstick). And the winner is…Activision, who for 2008 (and we’re talking…

  By Luke Plunkett Published February 27, 2009
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  Boy Has Siezure After WoW Marathon, Daily Mail Has A Fit

  Did you know that playing World of Warcraft is addictive to its players on par with cocaine? It’s true!* Too bad you don’t get the by-product of a slimmer physique and coke-fueled sex benders… But after a boy in Laholm, Sweden was hospitalized following a 20-hour-plus World of Warcraft bender, the results were clear: WoW…

  By Michael McWhertor Published February 27, 2009
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  The Onion Previews Punch-Out!! Documentary We Wish Existed

  Is there some special video game issue of The Onion currently in print? Because not only did the humor publication skewer game violence this week, it also poked at Super Mario Bros. and, now, Punch-Out!!. We won’t spoil the thing for you (too much), but The Onion Sports writes of Punched Out!!: The Mike Tyson…

  By Michael McWhertor Published February 27, 2009
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  Tomb Raider: Underworld Sells 2.6 Million, Helps Eidos Perform Less Terribly

  Tomb Raider publisher Eidos saw its sales jump a respectable 26% during the first half, thanks to solid sales of Tomb Raider: Underworld. To celebrate, we’ve uploaded a picture of Lara in a wetsuit. While Eidos may feel that Lara Croft‘s Tomb Raider franchise is in need of an overhaul and the company says Underworld‘s…

  By Michael McWhertor Published February 27, 2009
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  Slew of Home Updates On the Way

  A patch, some clothes and Watchmen-themed costumes are out for Home this week. Street Fighter, SOCOM, Uncharted and Siren stuff is on the way. The patch fixes a problem with Game Launching, which caused crashes when you opened the list of game sessions available and then tried to launch one. Most of the clothes are…

  By AJ Glasser Published February 27, 2009
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  The Space Game: Desktop Tower Defense Goes Deep Space

  Get ready to log more life-hours you’ll want back on your death bed, as the recently launched The Space Game is ready to steal your time away with space pirate-like mercilessness. From The Casual Collective, founded on the success of the Flash game Desktop Tower Defense, The Space Game shares much of that game’s addictive…

  By Michael McWhertor Published February 27, 2009
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  TGS09

  To: Ash From: Crecente Re: Where Special Effects Go When They Get Old… Busy, busy day. Wrapped up my Well Played column, worked a bit onK2 with Mike and reviewed Killzone 2, all while trying to resist the urge to spend the entire day immersed in Killzone 2 multiplayer gaming. Are you going to get…

  By Brian Crecente Published February 27, 2009
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  Rumor: Second God Of War PSP Game In The Works

  The PlayStation Portable may be getting a second helping of Kratos, as reports put God of War: Chains of Olympus developer Ready At Dawn Studios hard at work on a follow-up handheld adventure. According to a report from Joystiq, Sony has already put in an order for a sequel to the PSP blockbuster, a game…

  By Michael McWhertor Published February 27, 2009
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  Japanese Gamers Invent New Way To Play Super Mario 64

  A pair of Mario 64 enthusiasts have reinterpreted the rules of Super Mario 64, resulting in a clever and at times hilarious way to play the Nintendo 64 classic—in short, avoid the 1UP mushroom. The secondary goal in this particular Super Mario 64 challenge is to collect all eight red coins while being consistently haunted…

  By Michael McWhertor Published February 27, 2009
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  Three Reasons This Could Be the PSP’s Year

  This month, many of the nation’s video game sellers and makers met in Houston, Texas with Sony to talk all things PlayStation. At the top of the list was the entertainment behemoth’s plans for a renaissance of the PlayStation Portable. The PSP revival is being led by three key factors: A resurgence in developer interest…

  By Brian Crecente Published February 27, 2009
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  New Virtual On XBLA Screens Full Of Mechs Appeal

  Don’t fault us for being extremely excited about the prospects of Virtual On battles via Xbox Live Arcade. Instead, spend that time looking at crisp and clean direct-feed shots of the Sega mech fighter. True, we’re still holding out hope that Sega will re-issue its bulky twin stick arcade controller for the XBLA release of…

  By Michael McWhertor Published February 27, 2009
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  We Play Battle Rage So You Don’t Have To

  Last week Destineer quietly released Battle Rage: Mech Conflict, a $19.99 robot battler for the Nintendo Wii, and for some odd reason I picked up a copy. Let’s play! So what it Battle Rage: Mech Conflict? For an in-depth explanation, I took the liberty of copying the official sales blurb from the game’s Amazon.com listing.…

  By Mike Fahey Published February 27, 2009
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  Resident Evil 5 Gets UK TV Special

  If you live in the UK make sure to catch the Resident Evil 5 special that’s airing this weekend. The program on cable and satellite channel Bravo includes new interviews with the development team, previously unseen levels and game features and walks viewers through the history of the video game franchise and movie spin-offs. “For…

  By Brian Crecente Published February 27, 2009
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  Patapons Coming To LittleBigPlanet

  In an effort to turn every single Sony property into Sackboy form—hurry up, Blasto Sackboy!—the company has turned the LittleBigPlanet transmogrifier on the PSP tactical rhythm game Patapon. Cross-promotion is just a happy by-product. Yes, Patapon 2 is coming stateside soon-ish—the official PlayStation blog says it’s “in the horizon”—meaning a cyclopian Sackboy interpretation is overdue.…

  By Michael McWhertor Published February 27, 2009
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  Blood Bowl Cheerleader Battle: Wood Elves Versus Chaos

  Like any battle between good and evil, the fantasy football face-offs in Cyanide’s Blood Bowl are ultimately decided by who has the best-looking cheerleaders. Or is that the other way around? Do the cheerleaders make the team, or do they simply look better when their side is winning? Either way, we can judge the qualities…

  By Mike Fahey Published February 27, 2009
• Reviews

  Killzone 2 Review: A PS3 Must Have

  In the PlayStation 3 exclusive Killzone 2, players take the fight to the red-eyed Helghast, invading their barren home planet of Helghan to try and capture the warmongering leader Emperor Scolar Visari. It is, on its surface, a big ball of science fiction and video game cliches, but what first-person shooter isn’t? What matters here…

  By Brian Crecente Published February 27, 2009
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  Contra Remade In LittleBigPlanet (The Whole Thing)

  Remakes in LittleBigPlanet—or LBPmakes, if you will—are typically nothing if not impressive. The Gradius remake, for example, might have blown your mind. But this Contra remake is awesome if only for its exhaustive authenticity. This group effort covers all eight levels of the arcade and NES classic from Konami and was developed by a group…

  By Michael McWhertor Published February 27, 2009
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  BattleForge Beta Welcomes All Comers

  EA Phenomic has dropped the beta key requirements for BattleForge, inviting PC gamers everywhere to get an early taste of what the card-based real-time strategy title has to offer. Starting today, participating in the BattleForge beta is as simple as downloading the client and creating an EA account, for those of you who haven’t already…

  By Mike Fahey Published February 27, 2009
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  Cops Say Man Used Video Game Store To Molest Victims

  Leland Beasley, owner of independent games store Gamestation Sector 19, was indicted today on two counts of first-degree child molestation, five counts of first-degree statutory sodomy, two counts of third-degree assault and attempted statutory sodomy. These charges come almost two months after a January 6 molestation charge filed against the St. Louis storeowner. That case…

  By AJ Glasser Published February 27, 2009