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Left 4 Dead: The Movie Is A Dominican Republic Exclusive

Reader Miguel, from the Dominican Republic, was at work the other day when he was confronted by a man selling pirated movies. Normally, no big deal, Miguel says, happens all the time. But this time was special. “The guy told me it’s a cool movie”, he says, showing us the film’s cover, which is a…

NSFW: Phantasy Star Portable 2 Character Designs Are “Detailed”

When a bunch of Phantasy Star Portable 2 panty shots appeared online, I thought, surely the game developers don’t design the characters down to their underwear. Turns out I was wrong. They do. The game’s “making of” type book shows original art of the characters and just how much planning goes into their design. Yes,…

Forza 3 Sells 2 Million, Celebrates With New Track DLC

To celebrate the fact the game has now sold over two million copies, Microsoft and Turn 10 today announced a new range of downloadable content for Forza 3, focusing again on the world’s most iconic race track, the Nürburgring. What some may know as one of the greatest race courses in the world, others may…

Report: US Army Tried To Buy 360s For Training, Was Turned Down

Back in 2006, the US Army approached Microsoft with a lucrative contract offer: supply a ton of Xbox 360 consoles to the Army for the purposes of training soldiers. Microsoft’s answer? No, thank you. Roger Smith, the man responsible for buying the Army’s training gear, says that four years ago – despite the promise of…

Kotaku Off Topic: At the End of the Day

Good evening, everyone. Thanks for joining us for this Kotaku Off Topic meeting, where we have some non-video game related synergizing and knowledge transfer to do. Let’s exercise best practices and think outside the box tonight. Tonight’s off topic strategic initiative, at the end of the day, is about facilitating and leveraging my distaste for…

Electronic Arts Scaling Back Third Party Distribution Plans

Top-flight titles like Rock Band and Left 4 Dead are distributed by Electronic Arts but the association doesn’t mean as much to the company’s bottom line. The publisher will be moving away from distributing third-party titles in the coming year. “While we have great relationships with our partners we are modeling a reduction in our…

Mass Effect 2 Predicts Super Bowl Winner — in 2185

No word on how Madden is doing with its predictions 175 years from now, but Mass Effect 2, via Cerberus Daily News, says the New York Giants, with a Krogan quarterback (pictured), beat the Beijing Dragons in Super Bowl CCXIX. The news item, as reported by the Mass Effect Wiki: “Earth nations gathered around their…

Final Fantasy XIII Gets An Xbox 360 Bundle In North America

Square Enix has been surprisingly mum on plans to bring a limited edition of Final Fantasy XIII to North America. Japan gets one, as does Europe. What do we get? At the very least, an Xbox 360 “special edition” bundle. According to a recent retail listing, Microsoft will be backing the role-playing game’s launch with…

Tecmo Recreates Super Bowl XLIV’s Clinching Play

Operation Sports’ Mr. NFL provides this recreation of the clinching play in Super Bowl XLIV – Tracy Porter’s pick-six interception of Peyton Manning in the fourth quarter – complete with CBS commentary. This is a modded Tecmo Super Bowl SNES ROM for 2009. You can see Reggie Wayne just telegraph that short in-route, and then…

Dragon Quest, White Knight Chronicles Devs Level-5 Have More PS3, Wii Projects

Level-5, superdevelopers of Professor Layton, White Knight Chronicles, Dark Cloud and recent Dragon Quest games, already have plenty on their plate. But CEO Akihiro Hino says the Japanese role-playing game experts have unannounced PlayStation 3 and Wii on the way. According to a report from Japanese news outlet Dengeki by way of Andriasang, Hino said…

EA Working Up Penalty for FIFA Quitters

Ragequitting has been a strong topic of discussion as EA Sports Canada looks to FIFA 11’s development, with the studio envisioning a system of reward and penalty for those who complete matches versus those who quit from a losing position. In an interview with Eurogamer, the 2010 FIFA World Cup producer Simon Humber said the…

Xbox Live Marketplace Schedule Dates Cheap Battlefield 1943, New Games On Demand

Your Xbox Live Arcade and Games on Demand budgeting for February can begin, thanks to Microsoft’s schedule for the month’s new digital releases and deals, including a more affordable version of Battlefield 1943 for Xbox Live Arcade. A handful of new games are also planned for “on demand” releases, including Street Fighter IV, Resident Evil…

Ghost Recon: Future Soldier Teased Right Here, Right Now

Ubisoft’s just announced Ghost Recon: Future Soldier gets its first trailer, a teaser if we’ve ever seen one. Don’t expect gameplay as you hit the play button, but prepare for radical invisibility cloaks! Ghost Recon: Future Soldier is coming to the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC, PSP, Nintendo DS and Wii this fall, with an…

Game-Inspired Lawsuit No Longer About Video Games

A lawsuit filed against the NCAA’s licensing authority by Ed O’Bannon (pictured), the former member of UCLA’s 1995 national championship team, will be allowed to go forward, but it’s already had its effect on college sports simulations. O’Bannon’s suit against the Collegiate Licensing Company, whose exclusive agreement with EA Sports makes that studio the only…

Toy Fair

To: Ash From: Crecente Re: Canceling eBay Purchase? Guess what Totilo will be checking in on next week? Toy Fair 2010! See what you miss when you don’t live in New York. I’ve never been, but it sounds like it could be super cool. I wonder if the only snacks you can buy are made…

Blizzard Offers An Updated Look At The New Battle.net

Big changes are coming to Blizzard’s multiplayer service Battle.net, as the StarCraft II beta test and release date edge ever closer. While you wait for Activision Blizzard to bring good news, get caught up to speed on Battle.net’s massive overhaul. Blizzard’s official preview covers much of what we already knew about the revamped Battle.net, including…

Video Blog Hints at Player Ratings, New Features in Madden 11

EA Sports published a behind-the-scenes video blog at halftime of Sunday’s Super Bowl and, while it didn’t discuss specific details or features of Madden NFL 11, some screengrabs show what the team could be pondering. A forum post at ncaaStrategies has several frames, with annotations, showing whiteboards with the Madden gang’s brainstorming. Fight songs such…

Star Trek MMO Log, Stardate 2010.09

Join us for the second installment of my weekly Star Trek MMO log, in which we explore the depths of unknown space and gain a taste for blood as the fiery Orion battle maiden, Verdania. In last week’s Star Trek MMO log, I started my Federation character Qix, raising him to the rank of Lieutenant…

Uncharted 2 Score Now Available On Something Called A “CD”

Kotaku’s game of the year, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, has spawned an official soundtrack which you can now purchase in physical form at your local record store on a “compact disc.” Fascinating! Greg Edmonson’s score for the PlayStation 3 action-adventure has been—as Naughty Dog points out on the PlayStation.blog—available on iTunes for some time. The…

Ron (can I call you Ron? You can call me Dan. Nice to meet you!) as a gamer and a parent myself, I have to agree with you that violence in video games is glorified, but it also glorified in movies, comic books, and animation. Then again, sex is also glorified in these businesses. It…