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  Happy 20th Anniversary, Bungie, This is Your Life

  The folks at Bungie are celebrating 20 years of doing whatever it is Bungie does… make games, I think! Halo, Marathon, mystery projects for Activision and stuff. They’ve created a nearly one-hour long documentary about themselves, promising never-before-seen material. They’re calling it “O Brave New World”. Official description: “…a feast of infotainment sure to satisfy…

  By Stephen Totilo Published August 4, 2011
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  They Don’t Even Bother Coloring WiiWare Games Anymore

  I can understand leaving Mario Picross for the original Game Boy in black and white, but in this day and age a WiiWare game needs to be completely filled with vibrant splashes of color. Shame on you, Monochrome Racing I suppose it’s okay to make your game mostly black and white when it’s a design…

  By Mike Fahey Published August 4, 2011
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  What Makes Guild Wars 2 Sound So Good?

  The answer to the question posed in the headline is a simple one: the Guild Wars 2 sound team. It’s how they do it that’s a little tricky. I’m not going to say that creating the sounds for a regular game isn’t a daunting task. It’s just that normal console and PC games have a…

  By Mike Fahey Published August 4, 2011
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  In our WikiLeaks, Cyber-Hacking Era, a Time Travel Video Game May Be a New Line of Defense

  I was already interested in Dr. Chris Hazard’s complex time travel war video game when he mentioned the military was interested in it as well. The military cares about a time travel game? Sure, Hazard told me. He mentioned that he’s been talking to three and four-star generals lately at military conferences. “They are very…

  By Stephen Totilo Published August 4, 2011
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  Rise of Immortals Will Have 3D Support and Give Away 3D Prizes

  Rise of Immortals is a free-to-play Multiplayer Online Battle Arena game currently in open beta. The game’s full release will hit this summer, and developers Petroglyph games announced today that when it does, it will have full NVIDIA 3D Vision support. What’s that? You don’t like 3D gaming? Perhaps that’s because you don’t have the…

  By Joshua Rivera Published August 4, 2011
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  Nintendo’s Problem Isn’t Hardware — They Stopped Making Killer Bongo Games

  Yesterday Stephen Totilo posited that Nintendo’s problems stem from a lack of killer games. In today’s Speak Up on Kotaku, commenter GeshGav agrees, though his idea of killer games is a little bit different. If I’m known for anything (gaming-wise) in my circle of friends, it’s that I’m a rabid fan of Donkey Konga. The…

  By Mike Fahey Published August 4, 2011
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  A Diesel-Punk Shoot’em Up? Sure, Why Not.

  Sine Mora is an upcoming shmup from No More Heroes developer Grasshopper Manufacture and Imperium Galactica studio Digital Reality. It’s an unlikely couple, but as Grasshopper honcho Goichi Suda said last August, “We think we can strongly benefit from having an ally such as Digital Reality in the digital publishing realm, who can provide long…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published August 4, 2011
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  One of the iPhone’s Biggest Games Slices Out a Sequel

  There are a handful of iPhone games that pretty much everyone who owns an iPhone has. Cut the Rope is one of them. And it’s getting a sequel. Cut the Rope: Experiments follows that little green monster Om Nom as he’s discovered by a scientist, eager to study the critter’s love of candy. The game…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published August 4, 2011
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  Talk Amongst Yourselves

  It’s a beautiful day outside Kotaku Tower today, and I sincerely hope it is wherever you are as well. And if it isn’t, make it one by meeting up with your fellow gamers here and talking about video games. Because that’s what we’re here for. And kyosen, we all here are indebted to you, for…

  By Joshua Rivera Published August 4, 2011
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  How to Build Your Own Angry Birds Cake

  Bakers have worked to capture the beauty of our favorite video games in cake form since the dawn of time. From amateur bakers to world famous chefs, video game cakes are a staple of any cook worth their weight in fondant. Now it’s your time to get your hands sticky and create your own masterpiece.…

  By Sam Winstrom Published August 4, 2011
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  In Bit Pilot, You Actually Are Going In To an Asteroid Field

  Explore your passive side with Bit Pilot, an iOS game that looks a lot like a blend of Asteroids and Geometry Wars 2‘s Pacifist mode. Bit Pilot is an arcade shooter, minus the bullets, built on replayability and high score pursuits. (Bit Pilot is not a new game. It was released last year on iTunes…

  By Michael McWhertor Published August 4, 2011
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  Your Face Here

  Bath Time | NAGANO, JAPAN: Capcom and Shibu Hot Springs collaborate for a Monster Hunter promotion. (Photo: Game Watch Impress) League of Legends Gets New Fast-Paced Game Mode, Map The Defense of the Ancients genre seems to be heating up. Last week Heroes of Newerth went free to play. Earlier this week we learned that…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published August 4, 2011
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  League of Legends Gets New Fast-Paced Game Mode, Map

  The Defense of the Ancients genre seems to be heating up. Last week Heroes of Newerth went free to play. Earlier this week we learned that Valve’s DOTA 2 will be playable at Gamescom and now comes news from League of Legends Unveiled this morning, Riot Games’ League of Legends is getting a new game…

  By Brian Crecente Published August 4, 2011
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  Silly Excuses for Pikachu Ripoff

  Remember that city in Japan that created a Pikachu ripoff? Sure you do! Kotaku posted about it yesterday. The character Eco-chan opened an environmental center in Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and was supposed to be used in green publicity campaigns. According to Japanese news reports, it was only after the character’s costume was complete that a…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published August 4, 2011
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  The History of Nintendo in an Easy Timeline

  Sure, the timeline leaves out the gangsters and the love hotels (and even the Kamen Rider blocks), but it does hit Nintendo’s gaming high points from the late 19th century to 2011. In that time, Nintendo’s gone from a small company that made playing cards to a high tech international powerhouse. But one thing hasn’t…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published August 4, 2011
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  Culture

  The Sexy, Scribbly Art of Valkyria Chronicles

  You wouldn’t think a turn-based strategy game would be the type of thing you could call “beautiful”, but that’s exactly what cult 2008 PS3 title Valkyria Chronicles was. Every aspect of the game’s visual design, from intricate vehicles to a unique “pencilled” graphics filter to some wonderful costumes was a feast for the eyes, and…

  By Luke Plunkett Published August 4, 2011
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  This iPhone Game Makes Horse Armor Look Like a Great Deal

  Glu Mobile has a game on the iPhone called Gun Bros. It’s an arcade shooter, I’ve played it, it’s pretty fun. It’s also, sadly, one of a litany of games that are free to download then gimped so you have to pay/play for weeks for the upgrades necessary to advance. Which is fine if you…

  By Luke Plunkett Published August 4, 2011
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  Your Xbox 360s Just Got a Lot Less Shiny

  The new Xbox 360 S model has always been available in two finishes: a glossy, reflective surface on the “big” consoles and a dull, matte finish on the smaller 4GB version. This Fall, that distinction gets a little less clear. You’ll soon be able to have the option of getting the larger 250GB version of…

  By Luke Plunkett Published August 4, 2011
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  PlayStation Vita Won’t Launch In the West Until 2012

  Sony warned you this might happen. That the PlayStation Vita would only begin its global release rollout in 2011, not that it would be out everywhere in 2011. Hope you kept that in mind! PlayStation boss Kaz Hirai has revealed today that the PlayStation Vita will only be released in Japan in 2011. It’ll be…

  By Luke Plunkett Published August 4, 2011
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  So, Just What Is “Hype”?

  The word “hype”, in this business at least, in most cases refers to the buzz surrounding an upcoming video game. For fighting game fans, though, it has a very different and not-so-specific meaning. Which this classy little clip, put together at the weekend’s EVO 2011 tournament in Las Vegas, does a very good job of…

  By Luke Plunkett Published August 4, 2011