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  What’s Going on with Metal Gear: Rising? Is It Okay?

  This past August, I asked a very simple question: Where the hell is Metal Gear: Rising? It’s now mid-November, and the game surfaced briefly, with a teaser trailer hinting at some sort of Rising announcement at the Spike VGAs. Oddly, it was revealed this week that the game’s producer, Shigenobu Matsuyama, was dumped. Metal Gear…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published November 17, 2011
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  Make a Live-Action Ni No Kuni Movie, Please?

  Considering how game developer Level-5 collaborated with anime studio Studio Ghibli, I guess the logical thing would be to ask for an animated Ni No Kuni. Screw that. A new series of Ni No Kuni commercials starring child star Mana Ashida hint at just how stunning a live-action feature, one that mixes people and animation,…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published November 17, 2011
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  Even the Guts and Skeleton of a LEGO Figure Looks Cute

  Artist Jason Freeny, who you may have seen here once or twice before, shows the world what the inside of a LEGO Minifig looks like. Rather than being a small collection of horrors, it is predictably adorable, everything clean and smooth, everything in its place. Kinda freaky teeth, though. That’s a lot of them for…

  By Luke Plunkett Published November 17, 2011
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  Nintendo-Branded SD Cards? You Got It

  Over the years, Nintendo has been in a bunch of businesses: From playing cards to love hotels, from LEGO rip-offs to, now, video games. The Kyoto-base game maker is now releasing Nintendo-branded SD cards. The high-capacity SDHC memory cards come in 8GB and 16GB and are for use with the Nintendo 3DS. Nintendo’s 3DS is…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published November 17, 2011
• Culture

  The Game May Be Dead, But the Awesome Helicopter-Fighting Art Lives On

  Tae Young Choi used to work at Midway Games. Before Midway went belly-up, they were working on an open-world superhero game called Hero Choi did some amazing pieces for that game, and as you’ll see in this gallery, also worked on Midway games like Stranglehold and Area 51 While both Stranglehold and Area 51 were…OK,…

  By Luke Plunkett Published November 17, 2011
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  Brink Devs Making a Marvel Game?

  A major report on British developers from IndustryGamers has thown up a surprising piece of information: that Brink developers Splash Damage are probably working on a new Marvel game. The report says that the studio is working on an “unannounced project for a major entertainment brand”, which is “based on one of the biggest American…

  By Luke Plunkett Published November 17, 2011
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  This Isn’t Okami Papercraft. It’s Something Better.

  Paper sculpture? That’ll do. Built from paper and glue, Aussie artist Richi89’s take on Amaterasu, the star of Capcom’s Okami games is quite the sight. At around 23cm long, Amaterasu was made with a skeleton built from scrunched paper, on top of which the outer layers were laid like panels, then glued together. If you’re…

  By Luke Plunkett Published November 17, 2011
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  DLC Isn’t a Rip-Off, It’s a Fight Against Used Games (Says Epic)

  There’s an argument, a very good argument, that whenever a game launches with downloadable content alongside it, that’s a bad thing, because that content could either have gone into the game itself or the energy spent making it could have been used making the game better. Epic Games, developers of Gears of War 3, say…

  By Luke Plunkett Published November 17, 2011
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  Elite Taiwan University Overrun by Cosplayers in Skimpy Costumes

  National Taiwan University is the country’s most prestigious institute of higher learning. The country’s first Nobel prize laureate is an alum. It’s where the best of the best get educated. And four times a year, the elite university is crawling with cosplayers. The two-day Petite Fancy expo attracts over 40,000 visitors, keen to check out…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published November 17, 2011
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  The PlayStation Vita’s Case is Surprisingly Kick-Ass

  This is an eight-minute video, featuring Sony engineer Atsushi Watanabe, about the official carry-case for the PlayStation Vita. Eight minutes! What’s surprising is not the length, but the fact it’s actually worth watching. The case looks classy. It’s no hard plastic shell; instead it’s a soft flip-around thing with some neat touches like the fact…

  By Luke Plunkett Published November 17, 2011
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  Female Link Rocks Out Zelda on Her Fiddle

  Violinist Lindsey Stirling has a whole bunch of YouTube videos in which she “rocks out” on her violin. She does that on her latest video, but this time she’s dressed as Link and playing Zelda music. There’s a horse and, um, crane shots, and a dungeon, some fire, picturesque settings, and snow. It’s all so…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published November 17, 2011
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  If You Like He-Man, TMNT or Dark Souls, You Need to see These Amazing Paintings

  If ever you were going to get a man to do the paintings that would cover the house of your dreams, artist Dave Rapoza is your man. In the gallery above you’ll see a selection of his best works, covering subjects like Dark Souls, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Akira, He-Man and other things people aged…

  By Luke Plunkett Published November 17, 2011
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  If Only Xbox Japan Was as Popular as This Girl

  Rena Matsui isn’t the one percent. She’s the less than one percent. As far as idols go, she’s quickly shot to the top of the group she belongs to, SKE48. No wonder Microsoft roped her into promote Kinect in Japan. Shame that didn’t exactly work out. SKE48 is a Nagoya-based spin-off of AKB48, Japan’s most…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published November 17, 2011
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  You’ve Got a Date for Next Valentine’s Day

  Nintendo 3DS title New Love Plus, Konami’s latest dating sim, won’t be out Dec. 8 in Japan. Instead it will be released Feb. 14, giving the developers extra time to finish the game. Valentine’s Day—how fitting! [Kotaku Japan]

  By Brian Ashcraft Published November 17, 2011
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  This Lady’s ’71 Camaro is now In Gran Turismo

  Mary Pozzi owns a sweet 1971 Camaro. It’s so sweet, in fact, that Gran Turismo 5 developers Polyphony Digital have decided to put it in their video game. She was given that honour as part of the annual Gran Turismo Awards, held last week in Las Vegas, which are part-giant party, part-car show where auto…

  By Luke Plunkett Published November 17, 2011
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  Belgian Lolitas Dancing. Belgians Wearing Funny Costumes. Belgians Kicking Ass

  The Japan Expo Belgium 2011 was held in Belgium, with folks dressing up like Japanese anime and game characters. And other people beating the crap out of each other. In the above video, Belgian Lolitas play Just Dance. In the other clips, folks cosplay. Not all their costumes are based on Japanese created characters, which…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published November 17, 2011
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  These Parents Actually Named Their Kid Dovahkiin / Dragonborn

  Look, I’m all for people being really into games. But as with everything in life, there is a line, and naming your son after a fantasy video game character is, well, yeah. To win a competition held by Skyrim developers Bethesda (the same one reader Spenny was denied entry), Megan and Eric Kellermeyer named their…

  By Luke Plunkett Published November 17, 2011
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  Next Xbox Due In 2012, Ubisoft, EA Already Working On It

  According to Edge, Ubisoft’s Montreal studio is already working with “target boxes” based on the design of the next Xbox console, and “all signs point to” this machine going on sale in late 2012. A target box, basically a PC built to the expected specs of the console in question, is something studios can use…

  By Luke Plunkett Published November 17, 2011
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  Your Guide to Getting Skyrim Looking, And Playing, Better

  If you’ve got the 360 or PS3 versions of Skyrim, you’ve got a very fine game on your hands. If you’ve got the PC version, though, the game you’ve got is just the beginning. In the years to come there will be mods, tweaks and cheats you can use to dramatically transform the game, Bethesda’s…

  By Luke Plunkett Published November 17, 2011
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  Guillermo del Toro Says His Video Game is Still ‘Two-and-a-Half or Three Years Away’

  Director Guillermo del Toro vows that production on his video game trilogy inSane continues apace even with the attention required for Pacific Rim, his next big cinematic effort. “Up until the end of pre-production on Pacific Rim, we were still going up to Chicago, to Champaign, Illinois, to work with the developer,” Del Toro tells…

  By Owen Good Published November 16, 2011