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  iTunes Chart Toppers: Meet the iPad

  We’ve decided to rework our weekly charts and in so doing reset the numbers as well. Starting this week we will be running two charts, one for the iPhone and one for the iPad. Here’s the full list of games for both platforms: iPhone Position Title Price Weeks Last Week 1 ZombieSmash (gamedoctors) $0.99 1…

  By Brian Crecente Published April 19, 2010
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  Please Sing Us A Modern Warfare Song

  On Friday, amidst much commentary and schadenfreude about the troubled state of Modern Warfare development studio Infinity Ward there was one attempt to turn the drama into song. Now, we just need someone to sing it. Lyrics by Kotaku commenter Blood Eden Step One you hold our royalties We ask and beg on broken knees…

  By Stephen Totilo Published April 19, 2010
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  Talk Amongst Yourselves

  Be healthy and talk here about video games. Confused about commenting on Kotaku? Read our FAQ

  By Stephen Totilo Published April 19, 2010
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  Do Video Games Shape Who We Are?

  Can video games have a Western canon? It’s a question I’ve been pondering since hearing that classic 90s strategy computer game X-COM is being remade as a first-person shooter For gamers of my generation, last week’s news of a new X-COM was akin to hearing that Tom Sawyer was being remade as a cop buddy…

  By Brian Crecente Published April 19, 2010
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  Writers Trashing Each Other

  To: Crecente From: Bashcraft J.K. Rowling, according to Harold Bloom (2000) “How to read ‘Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone’? Why, very quickly, to begin with, and perhaps also to make an end. Why read it? Presumably, if you cannot be persuaded to read anything better, Rowling will have to do.” James Joyce’s Ulysses, according…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published April 19, 2010
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  Call of Duty Series to “Broaden” Its Audience

  Video game publisher Activision released Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 last year. It made over a billion dollars. Now Activision has decide it will make the series more accessible. Because over a billion dollars is not accessible. And not enough people read Harry Potter books. Have you ever seen Star Wars? Thomas Tippl, Activision’s…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published April 19, 2010
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  PSP Store Display Invites Upskirts

  You got to give it to Japanese marketing people. For better or worse, they know how to do attention grabbing in-store displays. This one for PSP brawler Ikki Tousen Xross Imapct is no exception. The display features schoolgirl Ikki Tousen schoolgirl characters Ryofu Housen and Sonsaku Hakufu and their skirts, which patrons are invited to…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published April 19, 2010
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  This Is A Nice, Nice Xbox 360

  When a Hollywood special effects master sits down and whips up a custom Xbox 360 console, this is the end result. Designed by Richard Taylor from WETA Workshop (ie the Lord of the Rings special effects guys, who were also down to work on the aborted Halo movie), the one-of-a-kind console – which is part…

  By Luke Plunkett Published April 19, 2010
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  The McDonalds Nintendo DSi

  A few weeks ago, I showed you every Nintendo DS that had ever been released. Turns out I missed one: the official McDonalds Japan DSi console! While we knew that staff in Japanese McDonalds restaurants were being trained on Nintendo’s handhelds, we had no idea they were being trained on official, company-branded consoles. And tastefully-branded…

  By Luke Plunkett Published April 19, 2010
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  No Star Fox? Nintendo, You Have A Volunteer

  There has not been a new Star Fox game, recently. The sci-fi adventure series debuted in 1993 and saw a Nintendo DS title in 2006. It’s now 2010, and where’s a new Star Fox game? When game site GamesTM told series creator Shigeru Miyamoto that it would like to see a new Star Fox game,…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published April 19, 2010
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  What Gets You Banned From Xbox Live Until The Year 9999?

  A concerned parent has apparently taken to the official 360 forums, looking for an explanation as to why his son had been banned from Xbox Live until the Year of our Lord, 9999. Microsoft was only too happy to oblige. “Would be helpful if someone could enlighten me as to why he has been suspended…

  By Luke Plunkett Published April 19, 2010
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  Why Is Japan So Behind?

  Once upon a time, Japanese games eclipsed Western ones. They looked better, were more fun and were just better. Those days have passed. At last year’s Tokyo Game Show, Mega-Man designer Keiji Inafune said that the Japanese game industry was “finished”. Inafune, it seems, was speaking in hyperbole. The Japan industry is not finished —…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published April 19, 2010
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  If Mega Man Was A Hollywood Cartoon, It Would Look A Lot Like This [Update]

  Last year, Hong Kong animation house Imagi brought Astro Boy, a beloved Japanese character, to the big screen in a computer-animated film. Astro Boy is great and all, but…what about Mega Man? Artist David Espinoza must have been wondering the exact same thing, because he’s done a number of stunning works showing Mega Man characters…

  By Luke Plunkett Published April 19, 2010
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  Japan’s Biggest Cosplay Event Looks Like This

  Cure Cosplay Festival 2, The Land of the Rising Sun’s largest cosplay event, was held over the weekend in Yokohama, Japan. Cue the impressive costumes, dynamic poses and gravity-defying hair gel! Video game, manga and anime characters were represented via the cosplayers. How many can you name? Click through the gallery. More images in the…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published April 19, 2010
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  Demon’s Souls PAL Release Has Fan-Made Strategy Guide

  There’s a feel-good story to be had behind the PAL release of role-playing game Demon’s Souls: not just the fact it’s on its way to Europe and Australia, but that the accompanying strategy guide has been written by fans Yes, when Namco Bandai said the strategy guide was all-new, it wasn’t kidding, having enlisted the…

  By Luke Plunkett Published April 19, 2010
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  A Look At Pokemon Black & White Walking Gameplay

  Pokémon Black & White is the completely new Pocket Monster series that will be out later this year. We have already seen the first screenshots. But screenshots don’t move. Gameplay does. Japan’s Sunday morning kiddy show Pokémon Sunday provided the first look (and super brief look) at gameplay. And by gameplay, we mean walking through…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published April 19, 2010
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  X-Com Homage On Intercept Course With iPhone

  If there’s one thing 2K’s announcement of a shooter-focused XCOM remake has done, it’s open the door to a slew of games cashing in on the company’s seeming abandonment of the series’ turn-based roots. Games like this iPhone title! Much like Xenonauts, which we saw last week, Isochron is a game that sets out to…

  By Luke Plunkett Published April 19, 2010
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  An Open Letter To Roger Ebert

  Dear Mr. Ebert, I’m writing regarding your recent post “Video games can never be art”. This of course is ground you have touched upon before. Your site is currently being inundated with comments from those eager to defend video games as art. I am not interested in defending video games as an art form. Ironic,…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published April 19, 2010
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  Crazy Taxi, Sonic, SNK Classics & Quake, Coming Soon To Xbox Live Arcade

  If some screenshots are to be believed, a number of classic Dreamcast and PC titles are about to be released on Microsoft’s Xbox Live Arcade service for the 360. The screens, captured by MasterChief over on the Digiex forums, reportedly show a number of pre-release screenshots for Xbox Live Arcade verisons of Crazy taxi and…

  By Luke Plunkett Published April 19, 2010
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  Losing the Triple Crown

  To: Luke From: Owen Re: Hawaii My cousin and his wife just had their first baby this week, a tiny little guy who looks uncommonly serene in all the pictures of him so far. My cousin and I share the same middle name, which is also Mom’s middle name. The coincidence there was that we…

  By Owen Good Published April 18, 2010