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Adios, Zune: Friendly reminder that, as of Aug. 22, the Zune Marketplace will shut down on Xbox Live, as part of the conversion from Microsoft points to local currency. If you’ve got Microsoft points, they won’t be usable there anymore, in other words. More information is in this FAQ.

Infinite Possibility: Luke Ritson, the guy behind impressive alternative trailers for The Walking Dead and Halo 4, now brings us this—a hype reel for BioShock Infinite if 2K Games was willing to pay the freight for a Johnny Cash song. The usual spoiler alerts are in force for those who haven’t completed the game.

12GB PS3: Best Buy, in the U.S., is now listing a 12GB configuration for the PlayStation 3. This model appeared about a year ago in PAL territories in lieu of a 250GB version under the console’s latest design. It’s going for $199.99. [Update: It has an official page.]

EA Sports’ College Game May Come Back, but Time is Running Out

We’ll soon learn which lone university will bail on EA Sports’ college football video game, ending an 18-year run in which the series featured all of the more than 100 major-division teams every season—a bedrock expectation of any “it’s in the game” claim. The good news is the announcement of who’s in and who’s out…

The Week in Games: Help is on the Way

Finally, we crawl out of the doldrums of mid-summer to three full-scale triple-A releases on Tuesday—and that does not count the launch of Disney Infinity today. Saints Row IV, The Bureau: XCOM Declassified and Splinter Cell: Blacklist all launch this week. Today • Disney Infinity (360, PS3, Wii U, Wii, 3DS, PC) Monday • Sir,…

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Psyduck Kid

Last week I thought I had a timely exploitable with the Watermelon Warriors but noooo, y’all wanted Psyduck Kid, the lead image from our Pokémon World Championships roundup. Grievances were lodged; snide, dismissive responses were given and suddenly I was being threatened like I was a games developer or something. Well, OK, here you go.…

Here’s the Roster for ’30 Years of Wrestlemania’ in WWE 2K14

When it announced a special campaign mode this week, WWE 2K14 hinted the game’s roster would be the largest ever by virtue of the fact more than 45 classic bouts would be featured in “30 Years of Wrestlemania.” The question was how many wrestlers would be making repeat appearances to fill out that card. Ten…

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Watermelon Warriors: The Winners

China’s latest fashion trend is dressing toddlers in watermelon rinds, a novel way to both cool and protect your little fruit warrior. We’ve got 20 up-armored finalists in this week’s roundup, plus overall winner toolsoldier! Note: Yes, we will be doing Psyduck kid tomorrow. I suppose that spoils the post theme, but you still need…

How Much Is Disney Infinity Going To Cost You?

Disney’s collectible toy video game platform launches tomorrow, which means parents and fans will be raiding video game aisles across the country to score the initial wave of toys and playsets. How much money should they bring? All of it. First thing you’re going to need, whether you’re a curious gamer or a haggard parent,…

Square Enix Puts 3D-Printed Final Fantasy Figures Out of Business

Square Enix consistently protects its trademarks and copyrights. And still people consistently use them without permission. So it’s perhaps not a surprise that an artist selling a Final Fantasy action figure series was shut down when Square’s lawyers told his 3D printer to cease and, yes, desist. CNET has the full story, but what happened…

Free Games: For Xbox Live Gold subscribers, 2010’s Dead Rising 2 and its DLC prequel Case Zero are both free, under the Games With Gold promotion. They’ll be available until the end of the month.

How Times Change: ‘EA Didn’t Give a S–t About FIFA‘ 20 Years Ago

Today, EA Sports’ FIFA series is critically acclaimed and globally dominant. Internally, football means football, not American football as played in Madden. Twenty years ago, though, the publisher wanted nothing to do with it, according to this retrospective by MCV “EA didn’t give a shit about FIFA,” says the person who was EA’s European marketing…

EA Ends First Amendment Claim to Use Real-World Helicopters in Games

Electronic Arts and the makers of Bell Helicopter, have settled a lawsuit concerning the use of real-world aircraft in Battlefield 3, for which EA did not have permission. The publisher had asked a judge to rule it had a right to the depictions because they were part of a creative work protected by the First…

Gay Wrestler to Make His Video Game Debut in WWE 2K14

In about three hours, 2K Sports will reveal the roster for the “30 Years of Wrestlemania” mode in WWE 2K14. The main roster hasn’t been revealed yet, but 2K has said it will include Darren Young, the openly gay wrestler who this week had one of the most understated coming-outs, especially for a sports figure.…

Minecraft Creator Shelves His Space Game, but Fans Want to Revive It [Corrected]

0x10c (often pronounced “ten to the c”) was for a time the next big thing from Mojang and Markus “Notch” Persson, creator of Minecraft. It was to be a sprawling sandbox space adventure, but Persson put the project on hold back in April, citing creative difficulties, and then this week said he’d shelved it altogether.…

The Best Of Kotaku, The Week Of August 12

So many reviews this week! Tons of games are out/are coming out to defeat the end of the summer in gaming style. Head on over to Kotaku Selects to read our reviews and other hand-picked articles from the week. The image above is called, “Mario Killed My Friend With My Own House.” 🙁 It’s by…

Mysterious Pokemon Image Might Be Teasing Something. But What? [UPDATE]

Today, the Pokemon Game Show in Japanrevealed a few things,like a new Pokemon anime that follows Pokemon Red and Green. You can watch the trailer for that above. And, according to Serebii, at the end of a different retrospective trailer aired during the show, the following mysterious image of a battle was showcased: Blurry, but…

It’s A Real Gun. A Real Halo-Themed Gun, That Is.

This is nothing like those branded Halo bullets we covered a while back: ucfnate‘s Halo Beretta M9A1 is custom. While I’m not into real-life guns myself, dang if this isn’t well-made.Not only are the grips UNSC, but they also glow in the dark. The grips cost 120 dollars, and they were made by DS Grips.…

Minecraft Creator’s Latest Is…A Zombie Game (And It’s Free)

Game jams are fantastic for short, focused games. Couple that with Notch’s ability to make polished gems for jams, and what you get is Shambles—an FPS zombie game developed for the 7DFPS challenge. Yeah, another zombie game. Fortunately, this one is pretty good! You can play it in your browser here, or download it here.…

Siri Isn’t Happy About Those Sexts You Send

It’s 2013. Some people send sexts; the practice is not abnormal. But if Siri could talk freely, like she does in this sketch by Slacktory, I doubt that she’d be very happy about what people send as attachments in texts, or in Snapchats. With good reason! Welp. You could always play Dungeons and Dragons with…