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  Activision’s Next-Gen Soldier Graphics Have Crawled Straight Out Of The Uncanny Valley

  During a talk at GDC earlier today, attended by GameSpot, Activision artists showed off what they think/hope next-gen character models will look like. While stressing that these are just exploratory models, and not in-game assets, the fact this is Activision, and that there’s a soldier there, will still be pointing towards the obvious: your next…

  By Luke Plunkett Published March 27, 2013
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  Bart Simpson Has Lived Through Seven Console Generations. Let’s Take A Look Back At All Of Them.

  Beginning in 1989, and somehow still running, The Simpsons has seen a lot of trends and fads come and go. Video games, however, have been there for the long haul. And so has Bart’s fascination with them. This amazing video from College Humor shows Bart enjoying games across the decades, from humble arcade beginnings to…

  By Luke Plunkett Published March 27, 2013
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  They Want To Let You Smell Your Video Games

  If gamers have a favorite buzzword, I’d say it’s “immersion.” We want to be immersed in the games we play, we want the experience to envelop us as best it can. To that end we’ve had motion controls, virtual reality—things that enhance our experience by involving more of our senses. But smell? Smell is mostly…

  By Patricia Hernandez Published March 27, 2013
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  Metacritic Treats Some Outlets Differently From Others. Here’s How [Update: Metacritic Disputes Findings]

  Industry favourite Metacritic, a site which aggregates review scores, does not simply add up every score it can find and come up with an average. It weights scores, giving some outlets more of a say in the final aggregated tally than others. While the outlet has never publicly disclosed the criteria by which it does…

  By Luke Plunkett Published March 27, 2013
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  The Elder Scrolls Online Isn’t Like Those MMOs You’re Used To

  I’ll admit that I, too, thought The Elder Scrolls Online looked a hell of a lot like World of Warcraft and any other generic MMO when the first few promotional materials and screenshots were released. I was expecting the game to end up feeling a lot like WoW, too. So I was pleasantly surprised when…

  By Tina Amini Published March 27, 2013
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  Maybe Other Publishers Should Start Combining Their Upcoming Games, Too

  Imagine waking up one morning and reading a Kotaku story that reads something like: Following Hideo Kojima’s suit, EA decides to put two of their games together and announces DragonField 4 Hey, sure, why not. You’re a bunch of marines in a first-person shooter game fighting…dragons. And maybe there are a few archers and mages…

  By Tina Amini Published March 27, 2013
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  The Video Game Based On The Fables Comics Stars Badass Bigby Wolf

  In a smart move, Telltale’s video game series based on the Fables comics won’t try and adapt the overall arc of the modern-day epic. Instead, as the developer tells IGN, it’ll focus on one character: Bigby Wolf. Fabletown’s resident detective will be the focus of an episodic series called The Wolf Among Us, and is…

  By Luke Plunkett Published March 27, 2013
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  Metal Gear Solid V Is Official – FOX vs. XOF [UPDATE: Trailer added]

  Just announced at the Game Developers Conference by Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima himself… the next Metal Gear Solid. V: The Phantom Pain The game was officially revealed with an amazing trailer running in realtime on the studio’s new FOX engine. The game was running on a PC build, Kojima said, not saying which…

  By Stephen Totilo Published March 27, 2013
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  A Game Where You’re A Hole In The Ground

  It started as a joke. Ben Esposito’s Kachina began development as part of the MolyJam, an event where developers made games based off of ideas from the Twitter account that parodies Fable creator Peter Molyneux. In the video above, Esposito—who also worked on The Unfinshed Swan—shows the unusual game to Kotaku’s Patricia Hernandez and explains…

  By Evan Narcisse Published March 27, 2013
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  Beloved Solid Snake Voice Actor Says He Wasn’t Asked to Be in Metal Gear Solid V

  We don’t hear from much from Snake in the Metal Gear Solid V videos shown today. But what we have heard from the main character of Hideo Kojima’s fan-favorite series sounded different. There may be a reason for that. It appears that actor/screenwriter David Hayter, who’s done the English language voice for Solid Snake in…

  By Evan Narcisse Published March 27, 2013
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  Four PS4 Controllers, Under Glass, From Almost Every Angle

  We’ve seen leaked images of the PS4 controller. We’ve seen Sony people hold the PS4 controller in their hands. But not until our intrepid Kirk Hamilton hustled into the Sony area of the Game Developers Conference today have we been able to see the PS4 controller… in the wild? Well, it’s in a glass box.…

  By Stephen Totilo Published March 27, 2013
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  Final Fantasy V Comes to iOS Tomorrow, and It Looks… Like This.

  I’m not quite sure how I feel about the look of Final Fantasy V on iOS. I mean, original character designer Kazuko Shibuya returned to polish up her original designs and make everything all pretty for the game’s mobile debut, so in a way this is true to her vision. On the other hand, it…

  By Mike Fahey Published March 27, 2013
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  The PS4’s Camera Can Do Some Cool Tricks

  Today at the Game Developers Conference, Sony senior staff engineer Chris Norden gave a presentation designed to introduce the PlayStation 4 to developers. The talk was mostly technical, but they shared new details about the PS4, including how the augmented reality features will work. The AR will use the PS4’s camera, the PlayStation 4 Eye,…

  By Kirk Hamilton Published March 27, 2013
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  QWOP Creator Ponders: What If A Game Remained Free So Long As You Didn’t Suck At It?

  Sound crazy? The idea comes from the Game Developers Conference, during an “Indie Soapbox” where developers took the stage to talk about indie game development. Ben Foddy, who is behind the ever-ridiculous QWOP, had some out-there ideas about how people pay for games—but that’s what makes them rad. Take the idea of not having to…

  By Patricia Hernandez Published March 27, 2013
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  The Moneysaver: Snag Darksiders and Red Faction for $1

  The THQ/Humble fire sale is back as part of Humble’s new weekly deal. If you missed it last time, you can grab Red Faction: Armageddon and the first Darksiders for $1 right now. Bump your contribution to $6.77 or more to nab Red Faction: Guerrilla and Darksiders 2, which were not included in the previous…

  By Shane Roberts Published March 27, 2013
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  Metal Gear Solid V Is Official – FOX vs. XOF [UPDATE: Trailer added]

  Just announced at the Game Developers Conference by Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima himself… the next Metal Gear Solid. V: The Phantom Pain The game was officially revealed with an amazing trailer running in realtime on the studio’s new FOX engine. The game was running on a PC build, Kojima said, not saying which…

  By Stephen Totilo Published March 27, 2013
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  Spec Ops Writer on Violent Games: ‘We’re Better Than That’

  Walt Williams, lead writer of last year’s subversive (and flawed) shooter Spec Ops: The Line, began his talk at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco with a bit of flair: “It’s going to maybe sound like I’m being critical of violent games,” Williams said, “but I want to say right off the bat that…

  By Kirk Hamilton Published March 27, 2013
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  This Almost Makes Up for Europe Waiting Over a Year for Persona 4 Arena

  Japan was playing the Persona fighting game in March of 2012. In North America we got our chance in August. Europe has to wait until May 10, but if they preorder at Game they’ll score this awesome 12-inch vinyl copy of the arrange soundtrack for their troubles. Man, I would have totally waited until May…

  By Mike Fahey Published March 27, 2013
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  Ghost Recon Breakfast Cereal? An XCOM Switcheroo? Plus: More Gaming Secrets.

  We’ve got an all-new layout, but the same great gaming scoops and rumors from that mysterious figure known as Superannuation. What did Superannuation dig up this time? Tons of things that you’re probably not supposed to know about yet… Two weeks ago, Ubisoft filed a bevy of trademark registrations vis-a-vis “Ghost Recon” and basically every…

  By Superannuation Published March 27, 2013
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  I’d Pay Good Money to Play This Impressive Destruction Demo

  When Nvidia wants crap to break apart, it breaks apart good. This is is a real-time dynamic fracture demo shown at GDC, running at 30 frames-per-second on a single Geforce GTX 680 graphics card. Ever wish you could spend money on a tech demo? [Thanks, Zak!]

  By Mike Fahey Published March 27, 2013