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  TERA Online‘s Massive Monsters Make a 2012 Play Date

  You know that action MMO TERA Online I can’t stop talking about? You’re going to have to deal with it for at least another seven months, as En Masse Entertainment opens up a Spring 2012 release window. I played TERA Online at GamesCom 2010, and it will be playable again at GamesCom 2011, but not…

  By Mike Fahey Published August 3, 2011
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  Confessions of a Beta Testing Addict

  Commenter gametr4x loves hunting for bugs in PC games so much, he’s got multiple email accounts set up so he can apply to beta tests to his heart’s content, but it only took one account to be featured in today’s Speak Up on Kotaku. Does anybody else here apply to beta programs a lot? I…

  By Mike Fahey Published August 3, 2011
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  One More Reason to Go To Gamescom, PAX: Borderlands 2

  Perhaps lost this morning amidst the excitement of confirmation that Gearbox is indeed making a new Borderlands, is that the role-playing shooter will be shown off at Gamescom and PAX Prime later this month. We’ll be there. Will you?

  By Brian Crecente Published August 3, 2011
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  Talk Amongst Yourselves

  In case your summer goals included becoming a Pokemon master, you’re running out of time to catch ’em all!! Hurry! Special thanks to TAY contributor buckyboy2009 for today’s TAYpic (second time’s the charm!) Submit your images to #TAYpics, and please keep submitting until you’re out of good ideas, at which time, we recommend you keep…

  By Jen Schiller Published August 3, 2011
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  An Argument For Video Games That Don’t Waste Our Time

  In a very real way, games play us. We may hold the controller, but often it feels as though the games—through their systems, design, and pacing—hold most of the cards. And as game developers cotton to the specific design elements that compel us to play (and keep playing), many of them are reaping financial gains…

  By Kirk Hamilton Published August 3, 2011
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  Requiem For An iPhone Game

  Free running through a dream, leaping over crates, running along walls, dashing through gaps, Requiem is a slightly marred look at what Mirror’s Edge could have been on the iPhone. In Requiem you play a boy lost in a nightmare world chased by a raging bull, collecting stars on his way to a pegasus read…

  By Brian Crecente Published August 3, 2011
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  It’s a Fashion Show, a Cosplay One

  Tera Firma | TOKYO, JAPAN: Cosplay show at a recent Tera event. (Photo: アキバブログ) Borderlands 2 Is Official. Borderlands 2 Is Coming. Post-apocalyptic shooter Borderlands is getting a sequel. It’s called Borderlands 2 The Sweeping Video Game Art of Nicolas Bouvier Frenchman Nicolas Bouvier has been drawing pretty pictures for the video game industry since…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published August 3, 2011
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  Boy, This Lady Loves The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

  When nerd heroine Shoko Nakagawa isn’t appearing in Pokémon movies, she’s putting molted bug shells in her hair. And when she’s not doing that, she’s doing other things, like appearing in commercials! Such as a series of spots for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, a game that she was extremely excited to…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published August 3, 2011
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  Borderlands 2 Is Official. Borderlands 2 Is Coming.

  Post-apocalyptic shooter Borderlands is getting a sequel. It’s called Borderlands 2 Currently in development, the title is being created by Gearbox Software, who developed the first title (above). Like the previous title, the game is slated for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. “Combining invention and evolution, Borderlands 2 features all-new characters, skills, environments, enemies,…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published August 3, 2011
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  So What Was One Inspiration for Star Fox?

  Well, there was a fox temple Star Fox developer Dylan Cuthbert told Kotaku about. But that’s not all. The game was also inspired by British television. In a recent Nintendo interview, both company president Satoru Iwata and Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto professed their love for 1960s British puppet show Thunderbirds Miyamoto admitted that licensing Thunderbirds…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published August 3, 2011
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  How One of Gaming’s Coolest Studios Helped a Dude Get Married

  There have been gamers who’ve hacked games to ask their special someone to take the plunge, but how many game studios have decided to lend a hand in popping the question? Q-Games is the Kyoto-based studio behind a whole host of wonderful titles, such as the PixelJunk series. It doesn’t only make video games, it…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published August 3, 2011
• Culture

  The Sweeping Video Game Art of Nicolas “Sparth” Bouvier

  Frenchman Nicolas “Sparth” Bouvier has been drawing pretty pictures for the video game industry since 1996, in a career that’s taken him from Darkworks (Cold Fear) to Ubisoft to id Software and now to Microsoft, where he’s working on the upcoming Halo 4 In that time his art helped shape the vision of games like…

  By Luke Plunkett Published August 3, 2011
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  Why the Hell Does DirectX Install Every Time I Buy a Game off Steam?

  It’s a trivial question most PC gamers will have pondered at one time or another, as upon booting up a new (or, more importantly, old) game bought from Steam, they have to wait while DirectX installs. Again. For, like, the 100th time Turns out it’s not a Steam error. It’s just the price you pay…

  By Luke Plunkett Published August 3, 2011
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  Twenty-Five Years of Dragon Quest Deserves an Exhibition

  To mark Dragon Quest‘s big anniversary, Square Enix is holding an exhibit of 25 years of DQ at the Mori Arts Center in Mori Tower in Roppongi Hills from October 8 to December 4. If you’re in Tokyo, check it out. 勇者の数だけ冒険がある！　”誕生25周年記念 ドラゴンクエスト展”開催決定 [ファミ通.com] You can contact Brian Ashcraft, the author of this post, at…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published August 3, 2011
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  Ocarina of Time Is a Beautiful Children’s Story

  Well, the game is, I guess, in a fairy tale kind of sense, but this wonderful art from Vikki Chu is as children’s story as you can get. Done a couple of years ago as a project, it doesn’t try and tell the entire story of the classic Nintendo adventure, instead recreating the earlier section…

  By Luke Plunkett Published August 3, 2011
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  The Far Cry Games We Never Got

  Far Cry 2 is a high-powered shooter for the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC. That’s not all, apparently! According to the resume of Ubisoft’s Philippe Baude, there was a version of Far Cry 2 in the works for the PSP and the Wii in late 2006 and early 2007, but the games were cancelled. Far…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published August 3, 2011
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  Is World of Warcraft Taking Giant Man-Pandas a Little More Seriously?

  With Blizzcon only a few months away, a trademark filing has surfaced hinting at what could be one of the last big hurrahs for the ageing MMO. Dated from last week in the US, it’s for something called Mists of Pandaria, and in one of two “class status” descriptions is listed as: Computer game software;…

  By Luke Plunkett Published August 3, 2011
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  PS3 and PSP Versions of Japanese Adult Game Canned

  First released on the PC in 2008, Fortune Arterial is an 18-years-old-and-up visual novel. There’s been anime and manga versions, and there was supposed to be a PS3 and PSP port. Supposed to be. The game’s PS3 and PSP versions, which would not have been adults only, have been cancelled. Visual novel studio August is…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published August 3, 2011
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  Just How Many Game Studios Does Sony Own, Anyway?

  The company doesn’t often get much credit for this, but one of the biggest reasons for Sony’s success in the video game industry is not its hardware, but in the breadth and scope of its first-party studios. Neither Microsoft nor Nintendo, or most third party publishers for that matter, have managed to establish successful studios…

  By Luke Plunkett Published August 3, 2011
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  Neon Genesis Fried Chicken

  Colonel Sanders gives Neon Genesis Evangelion a makeover to the bewilderment and delight of Japanese netizens. Neon Genesis Evangelion is a Japanese staple that encompasses an array of mediums, perhaps most notably anime Kentucky Fried Chicken is also a Japanese staple that has been synonymous with Christmas since the early 1970s (more here). Turkey is…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published August 3, 2011