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  In Japan, Being Different Is Hard

  To: Crecente From: Bashcraft RE: DOOOOOOOOTA I’m not Japanese. So going in, Japanese people tend to know what they are getting in to: a foreigner. My sons, though, they are Japanese. My oldest son, Mini-Bash, is seven. He doesn’t really look foreign per se, but he does look slightly different from everyone else. His hair…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published October 14, 2010
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  Halo: Reach Gets Its First Map Pack Next Month

  Xbox 360 space marine shooter Halo: Reach gets its first map pack on Nov. 30, according to Microsoft. The Noble Map Pack will include three new maps and new Achievements worth an extra 250 Gamescore points. It will cost 800 Microsoft Points, or about $10. Here’s a run down from Microsoft of the three maps,…

  By Brian Crecente Published October 14, 2010
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  NetFlix Streamers Get a Surround Sound Update Starting With the PS3

  Starting next week PS3 owners will be the first Netflix customer to be able to stream their movies with 5.1-channel surround sound. The improved audio will come via the use of Dolby Digital Plus, according to Netflix which plans to add more device support over time. “Netflix is committed to delivering an unparalleled experience to…

  By Brian Crecente Published October 14, 2010
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  Nothing Says Rescued Chilean Miners Like Mr. Driller

  After 69 days of being trapped over 2,000 feet underground, the thirty-three Chilean miners have been rescued. Namco Bandai is marking the historic occasion with, yes, Mr. Driller. Mr. Driller, which is an updated version of classic Dig Dug, first debuted in Japanese arcades in 1999 and has starred in a handful of games. The…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published October 14, 2010
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  Wolf Link Is Looking Good In 2010

  People always ask why there hasn’t been a Zelda movie. I always wonder why there hasn’t been a Zelda cartoon. That looks like this. By Genzoman, via Rampaged Reality

  By Luke Plunkett Published October 14, 2010
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  Test Drive Unlimited 2 Enjoys A Shiny Ferrari Or Two

  Ah, driving games. They all end up feeling so similar, and increasingly boring to many, but the graphics, they just keep getting prettier. There’s so much shiny metal in this trailer for Test Drive Unlimited 2 that you could blind someone with it, which would be a problem were the rest of the clip not…

  By Luke Plunkett Published October 14, 2010
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  New Court Ruling Could Affect Used Game Business

  If it’s not the advent of digital game that could kill bricks-and-mortar game retailers, it might be the law. A recent Federal appeals court ruling could impact how used games are bought and sold. The Dallas Morning News reports that the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided that a software publisher can stop buyers…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published October 14, 2010
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  A Celebration Of Low-Resolution Game Heroes

  Deciding to see how minimalist he could get before iconic video game characters became unrecognisable, artist Alexander Shen limited himself to a 5×5 pixel block. As you can see, even at such low resolution, you can still pick ’em. Street Fighter, Mario, Sonic, they all shine through (though at first glance I’ll admit I thought…

  By Luke Plunkett Published October 14, 2010
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  No More Heroes Developer Gets More Heroes

  Earlier this year, Tokyo-based Grasshopper Manufacture snagged Akira Yamaoka of Silent Hill fame from Konami. This month, it also signed two more “name” developers. Yasuhiro Wada, creator of farming sim Harvest Moon, has joined Grasshopper as the company’s new Chief Operating Officer. Yoshiro Kimura, who designed the role-playing game Little King’s Story, will be Grasshopper’s…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published October 14, 2010
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  Play As A Panda, Kill All The Humans

  As a kid, I loved pandas. My teddy bear was a panda. I thought they were adorable. It’s not until I got older that I found out they can be mean Panda Rampage plays to that fact, putting you in control of China’s fearsome killing machine as it goes on a rampage through London’s Hyde…

  By Luke Plunkett Published October 14, 2010
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  Hollywood And Video Games Should Break Up Pronto

  In July 1937, author F. Scott Fitzgerald arrived in Hollywood, California. Fitzgerald was at the tail-end of his writing career and hoped to pick up some extra scratch penning screenplays. He didn’t exactly set the town on fire. He wrote a few original scripts and did a re-write on Gone With The Wind, but only…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published October 14, 2010
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  The 24-Hour Gran Turismo Race

  Toyota’s stand at this year’s Australian International Motor Show in Sydney will be playing host to a 24-hour race of Gran Turismo 5, beginning at 3pm next Tuesday, October 19, and running until 3pm the following day. Sadly, while the race will be taking place on GT5’s rendition of Germany’s famous Nürburgring Nordschleife, that’s about…

  By Luke Plunkett Published October 14, 2010
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  Pokemon Black And White Rampage Continues In Japan

  On September 18, Pokemon: Black and White went on sale in Japan. Even in October, the game continues to barrel through the sales charts. Hot cakes, folks, hot cakes! In the past four weeks, the game has sold over 4 million copies in The Land of the Rising Sun. This is the fastest-selling Pocket Monster…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published October 14, 2010
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  Awesome Things I Learned How To Do From Playing Video Games

  Most video games, even the craziest ones, are about very real things. Driving. Shooting. Flying. And the more you play these games, you more you learn about those things. I’ve been playing games for 26 years now, and in that time, have flown countless aircraft, countless spacecraft, fired off millions upon millions of rounds of…

  By Luke Plunkett Published October 14, 2010
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  NSFW: This Humping Peripheral Is So Laggy

  Motion-sensing peripherals are all the rage. This year, both Microsoft and Sony are releasing new motion-sensing devices that put players in the game. But what about when the game is an erotic game? Japanese adult game maker Illusion Soft is working on tech that puts players in the game by having them stick their wang…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published October 14, 2010
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  Duke Nukem Remake Receives Official Blessing From Duke’s Developers

  Duke Nukem: Next-Gen, that ambitious attempt to remake the original Duke Nukem 3D using the Unreal Engine, has been granted a “personal non-commercial license” by Gearbox Studios. Meaning it may actually be released. The license means it’s completely cool for the project to not only remake the original game, but to use the Duke Nukem…

  By Luke Plunkett Published October 14, 2010
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  Gran Turismo Creator Explains Delay

  Driving simulator Gran Turismo 5 was penciled in for a November 2 release. Good thing that was pencil. The game has been delayed, and its creator has taken to Twitter to explain why. “Apologies for the delay,” Yamauchi tweeted. “It’s because time and labor were spent ironing the kinks out of [the game’s] complex system.…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published October 14, 2010
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  The Prince Of Persia Movie Could Have Been Like This

  The Prince of Persia movie, which was great by virtue of not sucking, could have been a little better had the production team stuck to the original script handed in by the game’s original creator, Jordan Mechner. Mechner has posted what he calls his “final draft” of the screenplay, which he pitched to Disney and…

  By Luke Plunkett Published October 14, 2010
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  Drug Dealer Gets Three Years In Wii Bowling Case

  A Florida man whose home was notoriously raided by undercover detectives who stopped to play Wii bowling has agreed to a plea bargain that will send him to prison for three years. Michael Difalco, of Lakeland, Fla. was sentenced on Tuesday to three years in the state pen and surrendered a ton of property under…

  By Owen Good Published October 14, 2010
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  Big Fixes Coming For Civilization V

  I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Civilization V, but like any game, it wasn’t perfect. It was a little buggy, and there were some AI missteps. Hopefully, those two issues will be fixed in the game’s first major patch. A “laundry list” of tweaks, additions, fixes and upgrades has been posted online by developers Firaxis,…

  By Luke Plunkett Published October 14, 2010