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  Ditched Splatterhouse Developers Wish Namco “The Best”

  Earlier this week, Namco confirmed to Kotaku that California-based developer BottleRocket Entertainment is no longer working on the upcoming multi-platform Splatterhouse reboot. Namco showed up at the developer’s offices and took back the dev kits and Splatterhouse assets with the intention of having the Afro Samurai team finish the game. Regarding Namco’s decision to take…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published February 12, 2009
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  Harmonix Sues Konami Over Rock Revolution

  Rock Band developer Harmonix is turning the legal tables on Konami, slapping the publisher-developer with a lawsuit of its own. No, not for pain and suffering caused by Rock Revolution, but for patent infringement. Why does this sound eerily familiar? You may recall that Konami, who also developed the rhythm game Guitar Freaks for Japan,…

  By Michael McWhertor Published February 12, 2009
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  Americans Still Buying Wii Fit At Alarming Rates

  As Nintendo president Satoru Iwata already revealed last week, Wii owners in the United States are still buying Wii Fit as fast as their chubby little frames will allow, moving at near holiday sales rates. The fitness software racked up 777,000 sales in January, a 22% drop from its December rate. Wii Fit‘s impressive sales…

  By Michael McWhertor Published February 12, 2009
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  Storytelling

  To: Ash From: Crecente Re: Eatin’ With The In-Laws (No, They’re Not Trying To Kill Me) Last week, while driving Tristan to his Math Club (he’s learning Vedic Math) he asked me to tell him a story. So I told him about Odysseus and the cyclops Polyphemus. I’m not really sure why that popped into…

  By Brian Crecente Published February 12, 2009
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  Nintendo Dominates US Hardware Sales Again With Big, Big January

  No one was expecting Nintendo to sell Wii and Nintendo DS hardware at the record-breaking rate it had in December, but January’s take was no drop in the pond, with the Wii dominating sales charts. Nintendo still managed to move over a million pieces of hardware to U.S. consumers in January, with 679,200 Wiis and…

  By Michael McWhertor Published February 12, 2009
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  PlayStation Store Update: Bloomin’

  Sony kicks off its “Spring Fever” promotion with the arrival of thatgamecompany’s Flower, this week’s most outstanding PlayStation Store addition. But if you don’t feel like opening up the wallet, there are plenty of freebies. Not much that’s playable, mind you, but plenty to download, including a slew of themes for your PlayStation 3 and…

  By Michael McWhertor Published February 12, 2009
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  Snazziest Art To Grace a Game Disc

  Crispy Gamer compiled a short list of what they think is the best art displayed on a gaming disc. The gallery of 20 discs starts with Grand Theft Auto III’s disc and wraps up by naming PaRappa the Rapper’s disc as the best bit of on-disc gaming art. The list certainly missed quite a few…

  By Brian Crecente Published February 12, 2009
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  Guitar Hero Metallica Comes With Slice Of Lemmy

  Metallica announced today that Guitar Hero Metallica will feature Motörhead’s Lemmy Kilmister as a playable character, presumably when one plays the band’s hit “Ace of Spades,” one of many guest tracks in the game. It should be a very profitable year for the English bassist, as he’ll also be appearing in the similarly umlauted Brütal…

  By Michael McWhertor Published February 12, 2009
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  World Of Warcraft Lead Moves To Blizzard’s Next Online Game

  World of Warcraft lead designer Jeffrey Kaplan has announced that he is leaving the team behind the popular massively-multiplayer online game in order to work on Blizzard’s next massively-multiplayer project. In a post on the official World of Warcraft forums, Kaplan, who goes by the forum handle Tigole, thanked the fans and the development team…

  By Mike Fahey Published February 12, 2009
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  Happy Darwin Day From Spore

  Happy Darwin Day! Two hundred years ago evolutionary biologist Charles Dawrin was born. Today Maxis points out that his theories are being put to good use in Spore. More than 35 million creatures are online on Spore’s Sporepedia, which is more than 22 times the current known number of species that existence on the real…

  By Brian Crecente Published February 12, 2009
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  Tales Still Has The Sales To Rank #1 In Japan

  A batch of new software debuts couldn’t unseat Namco Bandai’s Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2 as Japan’s bestselling game, including a better than expected showing of the PlayStation 3 exclusive Demon’s Souls. The continued impressive sales of the latest Tales role-playing game and Konami’s World Soccer Winning Eleven 2009 gave the PlayStation family…

  By Michael McWhertor Published February 12, 2009
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  How 50 Cent: Blood On The Sand Works

  In the latest developer diary for 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand, members of the development team explain how the hardcore rapper and his crew take on a fictional Middle Eastern country. The video takes us through most if not all of the gameplay mechanics for the new 50 Cent game, covering weapons, vehicle combat,…

  By Mike Fahey Published February 12, 2009
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  Majesco Urges Families To Go Play Lumberjax

  It’s okay to work all night and sleep all day with Go Play Lumberjax, the first game in Majesco’s new line of family friendly games for the Nintendo Wii. Go Play Lumberjax is the first in the new Go Play line of games from New Jersey-based developer and publisher Majesco. According to Majesco VP of…

  By Mike Fahey Published February 12, 2009
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  Namco Bandai Plans Buyout Of D3

  First Square Enix announces its bid for Eidos, and now Namco Bandai reveals its intentions to purchase Japanese publisher D3, the parent company of Puzzle Quest’s D3 Publisher. According to a press release issued today by Namco Bandai, the company seeks to turn D3 into a full subsidiary, with agreements already having been reached with…

  By Mike Fahey Published February 12, 2009
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  Rumor: Midway’s Wheelman Is Now Ubisoft’s Wheelman [Update]

  Wheelman, the open world Vin Diesel racer, may be the first title to be properly reorganized under Midway’s chapter 11 bankruptcy, as Kotaku has heard that the game has found a new home at Ubisoft. We’d learned from a source last week that the game was planned to change publishers, with an announcement from Ubisoft…

  By Michael McWhertor Published February 12, 2009
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  Giratina Origin Forme Figure Up Close and Personal

  Remember that free Pokemon figure you can get if you preorder Pokemon Platinum Edition? One just landed on my doorstep. Take a gander.

  By Brian Crecente Published February 12, 2009
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  The House Of The Dead: Overkill Tastefully Launched

  The grindhouse-flavored prequel to the original zombie shooter, The House of the Dead: Overkill hits stores this week. Here’s the official launch trailer to help you determine if it’s your kind of tasteless. The trailer is chock full of jazzy music and gore, along with quotes from various publications heralding the disgusting fun to be…

  By Mike Fahey Published February 12, 2009
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  New Sacred 2 Screens Show Off Console Co-op

  The cooperative multiplayer fun of the PC version of CDV’s action role-playing game Sacred 2: Fallen Angel is alive and well in the upcoming console versions, and we’ve got the screenshots to prove it. This latest set of screens for the Xbox 360 version of Sacred 2: Fallen Angel show off the Diablo-esque co-op gameplay…

  By Mike Fahey Published February 12, 2009
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  BioWare Reveals Six Beginnings For Dragon Age: Origins

  BioWare pulls back on the curtains of the origins portion of their upcoming PC role-playing game Dragon Age: Origins, revealing the six different roles players can take on as they start their adventure. Players will begin their adventure in Dragon Age: Origin by selecting one of six different characters, each with different stories, backgrounds, and…

  By Mike Fahey Published February 12, 2009
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  New Lost and Damned Trailer Has A Little Wild Side

  In anticipation of next week’s launch of the first downloadable episode for Grand Theft Auto IV, The Lost and Damned, Rockstar Games has unleashed a bigger, more leathery taste of the expansion’s motley crew. The trailer not only features some fantastic metal flashbacks, but also a few guest appearances from familiar GTA IV faces, including…

  By Michael McWhertor Published February 12, 2009