• Kotaku East

  Video Games Killing Off Violent Japanese Biker Gangs?

  In the past, the mainstream media’s M.O. has been: If there’s a shooting, blame video games; if kids are having problems, blame video games; if someone farts, blame video games. Like heavy metal and rap music before it, video games are an easy—and often, misunderstood—target. Yet, a recent report fingers video games (among other things)…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published March 19, 2012
• Kotaku East

  Kotaku East Starts Now

  Kotaku East runs from 4am to 8am Eastern. For more info about Kotaku East click here

  By Brian Ashcraft Published March 19, 2012
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  Battlefield 3 Goes Back in Time, High-Fives Contra

  Just in case you ever thought Battlefield 3 would be better with sound effects from Contra and the NES version of Top Gun (and music from Batman), here you go. Battlefield 3, with sound effects from Contra and the NES version of Top Gun It’s amazing how, once the joke wears off, you notice it…

  By Luke Plunkett Published March 19, 2012
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  When Star Wars Meets High Fashion, AT-AT Drivers Ride French Bicycles

  Artist John Woo throws together two very unlikely things – high fashion and the characters of Star Wars – in his “He Wears It” series of prints and images. Don’t let the name fool you, there are ladies as well. And some characters from outside the Star Wars universe, like the T-1000. But mostly, it’s…

  By Luke Plunkett Published March 19, 2012
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  Be the Humans, or the Giant Shark Monster

  Omegalodon is a simple little arcade action game for the PC that gives you an easy choice: either control an enormous shark monster as it smashes through a city, or control the humans trying to stop it. Adding a little strategy to proceedings is the ability of the humans to jump in a wide range…

  By Luke Plunkett Published March 19, 2012
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  Mass Effect 3’s Multiplayer Stats are Missing One

  There’s the usual hours logged and enemies killed in this multiplayer stats report from BioWare, but the most interesting – percentage of players only playing in the first place because they felt they were forced to – seems to have been left out. Which may sound awfully ungrateful, but as robust as it is –…

  By Luke Plunkett Published March 19, 2012
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  The Skyrim Tourism Board Wants you to Visit Winterhold

  Not that Skyrim really needed a tourism board, since millions of people have been spending entire weeks in the place lately, but if it did, you’d hope its efforts would look this classy. These posters were done by artist Dean Walton, and if they look familiar that’s because he did a similar series for Zelda…

  By Luke Plunkett Published March 19, 2012
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  Bit.Trip Runner’s Sequel Just Keeps on Running

  The ridiculously good Bit.Trip Runner has a sequel, of sorts, on the way. It’s not part of the Bit.Trip series, though, so it’s simply called Runner 2. Which about sums up what’s going on. Note that, as good as this already looks, it’s a “super sneaky peek” at pre-alpha code, which you’ll eventually realise with…

  By Luke Plunkett Published March 18, 2012
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  First-Person Grand Theft Auto is Kicking Everyone’s Bananas

  While this clip showing Grand Theft Auto from a first-person perspective is a little slower – and less explosive – than you’re probably accustomed to, it at least gets the spirit of the series less scripted moments right. Except for those hands. Not really sure what’s going on there.

  By Luke Plunkett Published March 18, 2012
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  Mass Effect’s Reapers are Going to F**k Every Organic Being in the Galaxy

  Surprisingly, this whole “unnecessary censorship” gag hasn’t entirely worn out its welcome, as this very dramatic clip from Mass Effect 3 shows. If you’re not entirely sold on the idea, make it to 1:13. Or, better yet, Miranda.

  By Luke Plunkett Published March 18, 2012
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  The Very Best In Cosplay: Julia Kasu

  Julia Kasu, aka KasuzameYuu, is a costume builder and cosplayer from Russia. You may never have heard of her, but if you read this website, you should have seen her work from time to time Her Left 4 Dead outfits (both of which she made, while she also “played” the Witch), for example, are some…

  By Luke Plunkett Published March 18, 2012
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  Half-Life, Portal Toys are About to Get Even Cooler

  So far, toy company NECA seems to be doing a pretty good job with a license for Valve’s catalogue of first-person shooters. But at the end of the day, NECA makes toys for the mass market, so what you’ll be getting will be fairly standard stuff. Over the weekend a potentially more exciting announcement was…

  By Luke Plunkett Published March 18, 2012
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  Haunting Skyrim Songstress Returns With New Number

  In December, Malukah performed a Skyrim song on YouTube that sent shivers across the internet. It was that good. She now returns to sing another, and this time has brought a friend, fellow internet musician Miracle of Sound Unlike the first one, which haunted your bones while you slept, this one is corny as hell.…

  By Luke Plunkett Published March 18, 2012
• Culture

  In the Gaiden of Good and Evil

  Ninja Gaiden 3 and Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City lead the list of console releases this week, joined by Armored Core V and the return of Kid Icarus at the end of the week. Tuesday • Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City (PS3, 360) • Ninja Gaiden 3 (PS3, 360) • Armored Core V (PS3, 360)…

  By Owen Good Published March 18, 2012
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  Soulcalibur V’s Next Costume Offerings Includes a Pac-Man Cameo (Sort Of)

  Pac-Man is having a hell of a career second act in fighting games. Of course, he is one of the free characters in Street Fighter X Tekken on the PlayStation 3. Now it looks like he’ll be included—as some kind of bizarre head-thing—in Soulcalibur V‘s next batch of monthly costume DLC. See for yourself at…

  By Owen Good Published March 18, 2012
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  Fan-Made Wing Commander Game Can Go Forward, but It’s Not Endorsed by EA

  A fan-engineered sequel to the long dormant Wing Commander series is known to Electronic Arts, and all of the franchise’s rights holders, but they are taking no action to shut down its development. That said, they don’t officially or unofficially endorse the game. The creators of Wing Commander Saga: Darkest Dawn had to clarify that…

  By Owen Good Published March 18, 2012
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  Grade-School ‘MMO’ Launches Site, Plans Kickstarter Drive

  ClassRealm, the role-playing game/teaching system developed by educator and longtime Kotaku reader Ben Bertoli, has launched a web site to help share the game with other schools and teachers interested in it. Bertoli says a Kickstarter project is planned soon.

  By Owen Good Published March 18, 2012
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  Canabalt Runs Onto PlayStation Platforms This Week

  Adam Saltsman’s Canabalt, the 2009 flash game sensation and mobile gaming hit, is making its way to PS3, PSP and PS Vita through the PlayStation Mini offerings in the PlayStation Store. Saltsman tweeted earlier this past week that the game already is available as a Mini in Europe, and it will arrive in North America…

  By Owen Good Published March 18, 2012
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  Could Kickstarter Damage Studios’ Relationships with Publishers?

  Let’s suppose for just a minute, that you are a developer. You’ve had some successes and a loyal following, but lately, you’ve taken some jobs that haven’t turned out so well. You’ve drifted away from your roots in order to keep your independent studio afloat with much needed capital. The last project you worked on…

  Michael Futter Published March 18, 2012
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  Capcom Says It’s Working on a Patch as Four Infinite Combos Found So Far in Street Fighter X Tekken

  This past week saw multiple YouTube videos demonstrating infinite (or nearly infinite) combinations across multiple characters in Street Fighter X Tekken One involves some gem usage, and believed to be tool-assisted, but four others are confirmed. It’s enough of an issue that Capcom on Friday informed fans the game’s development team is looking at a…

  By Owen Good Published March 18, 2012