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  Vintage Computing Identifies First Black Character In Gaming

  Barack Obama will be inaugurated as President of the United States tomorrow, the first black man to take the nation’s highest office. Obviously, that begs the question: Who was the first black video game character? Vintage Computing and Gaming’s Benj Edwards thinks he’s found the man, the “Jackie Robinson of video games,” in Atari’s Basketball…

  By Michael McWhertor Published January 19, 2009
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  Massive Wii Game Sales Driven By Only A Handful Of Wii Games

  Pareto’s Principle says 80% of effects are brought about by only 20% of causes. It’s a handy rule, and one the NPD Group are busting out to try and explain 2008’s year in software sales. See, over the last few years, video game sales have held true to Pareto’s Principle. In that 20% of games…

  By Luke Plunkett Published January 19, 2009
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  Midway’s Wheelman Gets Screens, Release Date, Demo

  Seems Wheelman has hit some traffic on the way to store shelves. The Vin Diesel vehicle won’t make its previously scheduled February release date, but is now locked in for a March 20th arrival. The better news for fans of Mr. Diesel and open-world driving games is that a pre-release demo of Wheelman will be…

  By Michael McWhertor Published January 19, 2009
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  WipEout Pulse Pegged For PS2 Port, Fat Princess For March

  Sony may be planning at least one more PSP to PlayStation 2 port, if a Q1 European release list is accurate. Do you best not to get too excited about the prospect, please. Last year’s Wipeout Pulse may be the latest to jump from the PSP’s wee screen to whatever the PlayStation 2 may be…

  By Michael McWhertor Published January 19, 2009
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  The House Of The Dead Overkill Gets A Hand Cannon

  When the Wii Zapper simply isn’t hand cannon enough, turn to Sega’s semi-official Wii… Hand Cannon. Released in conjunction with The House of the Dead Overkill, it turns Wii Remotes into something far manlier. The Hand Cannon attachment, from peripheral maker Venom, is available for pre-order for UK customers via retailer Amazon. It looks like…

  By Michael McWhertor Published January 19, 2009
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  Max Payne: The Movie Inflicts Viewer Pain On DVD, Blu-ray Tomorrow

  If you missed the theatrical release of Mark Wahlberg’s go as Max Payne in Max Payne, you can catch it on DVD and Blu-ray starting tomorrow in one of three flavors. All three editions of Max Payne sport an unrated version of the film not shown in theaters, as well as the theatrical cut. The…

  By Michael McWhertor Published January 19, 2009
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  Not A Pretty Day Note

  To: Ash From: Crecente Re: Man, it’s been a really bad couple of days. Yesterday we had to rush our greyhound to the emergency vet because she was dripping blood out of places, well places you normally don’t see blood dripping from. They treated her, to the tune of $500, and then sent her home.…

  By Brian Crecente Published January 19, 2009
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  Midway Goes A Little iPhone Crazy

  You’ve probably heard that Midway’s in a bit of a financial bind right now, a bit hungry for cash. How can they turn it around? Maybe with an iPhone game? Maybe with five of ’em? Well, the Chicago-based developer/publisher is giving it a go, announcing a quintet of iPhone and iPod Touch-bound games for later…

  By Michael McWhertor Published January 19, 2009
• 

  Culture

  Best. Marble. Madness. Player. Ever. Period.

  On my very best day, I can maybe beat the second level of Marble Madness. But to blaze through the entire arcade game in under two minutes, thirty seconds? Just shy of impossible, personally. Not for the subject of the above video, lifted from Japanese video sharing site Nico Nico Douga, making it presumably of…

  By Michael McWhertor Published January 19, 2009
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  Welcome To the Family: A Letter From Nintendo’s Cammie Dunaway

  Welcome to the Family is a series of three letters that will run this week from the heads of Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo. We asked each of the companies to write up a welcome letter to new owners of their consoles. They did the rest. We are running them in the order they were received.…

  By Brian Crecente Published January 19, 2009
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  US Airways Hudson Crash Recreated In Flight Sim

  Bad-ass US Airways pilot Chesley Sullenberger recently completed the first successful water landing of a commercial aircraft in 45 years, touching down on the Hudson River. Now, you can relive the magic, via flight sim. The BBC’s recent report on the amazing, everybody-unbelievably-survived landing recreated the ditching of the Airbus 320 with the help of…

  By Michael McWhertor Published January 19, 2009
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  Lights, Camera, Stoked Screens

  This latest batch of screenshots from Destineer’s Stoked highlight what goes on behind the camera and in the editing booth once you’ve finished carving your name in the side of a mountain. The whole point of Stoked is to get yourself fame points in order to appear in snowboarding films and magazines, and these screenshots…

  By Mike Fahey Published January 19, 2009
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  Need for Speed Undercover Patch Coming Soon

  Inside sources tell us that Black Box is nearing completion on a patch for Need For Speed Undercover, despite rumors that the franchise faces the chopping block. The patch, which we’re told will be finalized in a few weeks, will be coming to all three platforms and address gameplay and performance issues as well as…

  By Brian Crecente Published January 19, 2009
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  Dragonball: The Movie: The Game: The Screen Shots

  Dragonball’s anime to silver screen transition looks… rough. Not that the source material was that spectacular to begin with, but it’s sure to send fans into a frenzy. How bout the movie-based video game? The good news is that the PSP-bound video game based on Dragonball Evolution looks yards better than the game based on…

  By Michael McWhertor Published January 19, 2009
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  Mini Ninjas Make Happy Pandas

  IO Interactive takes a step away from their popular Hitman franchise to introduce us to an all-new, all-tiny brand of hero, with the announcement of Mini Ninjas. Mini Ninjas tells the story of Hiro, a tiny little ninja killing machine on a quest to restore harmony to the world by battling the Evil Samurai Warlord…

  By Mike Fahey Published January 19, 2009
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  Mega64 Nails EGM/UGO Deal (Hint: It Involves Dog Killing)

  The only thing better than a dog-killing metaphor is beating the shit out of said metaphor until it’s painfully, painfully, painfully obvious what Exactly you’re talkinG about.. M.

  By Brian Crecente Published January 19, 2009
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  13 Months Of Xbox Live For $30? Two, Please!

  Time to load up on pre-paid Xbox Live Gold membership cards. Amazon’s giving you a chance to upgrade that Silver status for 13 months for just thirty bucks. That’s a considerable savings from the $49.99 USD asking price and works out to something like $2.30 a month. Not too shabby! Keep in mind this Xbox…

  By Michael McWhertor Published January 19, 2009
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  Marble Saga: Kororinpa Trailer Ups The Ant

  Hudson rolls out a teaser trailer to the follow-up to Kororinpa: Marble Mania, Marble Saga: Kororinpa, which adds a story and balance board support to the marble madness of the original. Marble Saga: Kororinpa has the players helping Anthony the Ant as he rolls about in his ball on a journey to reach the Golden…

  By Mike Fahey Published January 19, 2009
• Reviews

  The Lord of the Rings: Conquest Review: Not So Much

  When we first heard that Pandemic Studios was working on an action game based on The Lord of the Rings, we weren’t just excited, we were a bit giddy. The idea seemed like a good one: Give the people who made Star Wars: Battlefront the license to create a similar game using The Lord of…

  By Brian Crecente Published January 19, 2009
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  How To Throw a Gamer Party

  Believe it or not, you can play games with other people. Like people in the same room as you. All it takes to throw a party centered on the greatest thing in entertainment since Pictionary is a bit of effort and a little planning. Before The Party: Day Before – Pick out what games to…

  By AJ Glasser Published January 19, 2009