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  Ubisoft Launches its Own Movies & TV Division

  Publisher Ubisoft, no stranger to the world of adaptations after last year’s Prince of Persia movie, has established a new division called Ubisoft Motion Pictures, which is aimed at turning the company’s properties into movies and TV shows. [Variety]

  By Luke Plunkett Published May 3, 2011
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  Bishoujo Booth Babes. More Cosplayers. Some Dudes.

  Thought you’d seen all the dress up action this year’s Tokyo Dream Party had to offer? Wrong! Website Asagawo Blog is cataloguing the show’s cosplayers and booth companions. Dream Party is a biannual convention that specializes in “bishoujo” or “beautiful young girl” games. Dream Party booth companions dress up as characters from the bishoujo games…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published May 3, 2011
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  Build Your Own Lawn with These “Real” Minecraft Grass Cubes

  If you’ve never played it, indie darling Minecraft takes place in a world made of blocks. So if you were going to build your own little Minecraft world, well, you’d need some blocks, wouldn’t you! Etsy user Laketide is selling these replica dirt-and-grass cubes to help get your collection (or horribly expensive world-building) started. Available…

  By Luke Plunkett Published May 3, 2011
• CultureTotal Recall

  The Father Of Video Games Fled The Nazis, Fought Them Then Took All Their Guns

  Ralph Baer is widely acknowledged to be the “father of video games”, thanks to his work in the 1960’s pioneering the device that would become the Magnavox Odyssey, the world’s first ever video game console. Unlike most men and women in the industry today, though, his background is not that of a comfortable middle-class kid.…

  By Luke Plunkett Published May 3, 2011
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  Sony’s Shittiest Golden Week Ever

  This week in Japan is “Golden Week”, a consecutive string of national holidays. While companies and the stock markets are closed, the entire country is on vacation. Everyone, it seems, except Sony. Popular Golden Week destinations traditionally include Hawaii, Okinawa or Guam, or at hotspots across the country. This year, with the Japanese economy in…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published May 3, 2011
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  Buy a WoW Pet to Help Japan’s Earthquake Victims

  Between now and July 31, anyone purchasing the latest in-game World of Warcraft pet will see 100% of their proceeds donated to the Red Cross’ Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami relief effort. The Cenarion Hatchling is “the twin of the rare Hippogryph Hatchling”, which was available as part of a World of Warcraft trading card…

  By Luke Plunkett Published May 3, 2011
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  Three Men Arrested after Fisticuffs at Nerd Convention

  Shinboku-con 2011 was held in Westlake, Ohio over the weekend, and was a festival aimed at showcasing and celebrating anime and video games. Maybe they should add pugilism to the bill. At 7:15pm on April 30, two men (both attendees at the show) were arrested after getting into a disagreement over how one of the…

  By Luke Plunkett Published May 3, 2011
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  Getting Records in the Mail

  You got something you want to talk about that doesn’t even come close to being video game related? Here you go. This is the open thread reserved for that kind of discussion. Welcome back to the work week, Kotaku open thread readers! I was pleasantly surprised to receive my copy of Jim Guthrie’s Sword &…

  By Michael McWhertor Published May 2, 2011
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  Red Faction: Origins Trailer Transports Us to Made-For-TV Mars

  THQ and SyFy have teamed up to produce Red Faction: Origins, a made for television movie that spans the time period between 2009’s Red Faction: Guerrilla and 2011’s Red Faction: Armageddon No longer do you have to settle for simple stills of this Red Faction origin story, as THQ released the trailer for the June-due…

  By Michael McWhertor Published May 2, 2011
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  And So We Enter the Wii Budget Age with the Arrival of ‘Nintendo Selects’ [Updated]

  Nintendo will drop the price of the Wii to $149 in North America this month, according to details forwarded to Kotaku by retail sources. That price drop, first reported in April, will also coincide with a new budget friendly line of Wii software dubbed “Nintendo Selects.” Update: The official name of that budget line is…

  By Michael McWhertor Published May 2, 2011
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  This Military Simulator is a Match Made in Heavy Metal Heaven

  Brothers Ondrej and Marek Spanel—who spent their childhood in communist Czechoslovakia playing Atari games “bought on the black market”—are the surprising originators behind a military-training game employed by the governments of at least five major nations. Among the brothers’ sources of inspiration: heavy metal music. According to the New York Times, the Spanels endured a…

  By Drew Cohen Published May 2, 2011
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  Does the Green Lantern movie introduce too many zany creatures?

  Green Lantern isn’t just the story of an ordinary run-of-the-mill fighter pilot who gets a magic ring from space. It’s also the saga of a whole army of aliens, each with his/her/its own magic ring. The footage we saw at Wondercon laid the early fears of cheap, crappy CG work to rest. (Mostly. There’s still…

  By Charlie Jane Anders Published May 2, 2011
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  Of Course Japan Would Pioneer the Kissing Controller

  Not content with cruder simulations of physical affection like the love pillow or mousepads with soft, wrist-comforting cleavage, researchers at Tokyo’s Kajimoto Laboratory at the University of Electro-Communications have developed a kissing transmitter that aims to deliver the sensation of making out with someone over the internet. Or, at least, making out with the business…

  By Michael McWhertor Published May 2, 2011
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  Portal 2‘s GLaDOS Takes On Her Slinky, Creepy Lady Form

  GLaDOS gets a new human form to pester Chell in thanks to artist Heather Campbell and her awesome Portal themed illustration. You Win by Heather Campbell / makani (deviantART) Need your daily fill of geek eye candy? If so, head over to Justin Page’s Rampaged Reality and get your fix. Republished with permission.

  By Michael McWhertor Published May 2, 2011
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  It’s Time for Chrono Trigger to Join the Wii’s Virtual Console

  Looks like the original SNES version of Square Enix’s seminal role-playing game Chrono Trigger is bound for the Wii’s Virtual Console service. The ESRB recently rated Chrono Trigger for Nintendo’s platform, so expect the 16-bit version of that JRPG favorite to show up on a Wii Shop Channel near you. (The PlayStation port is also…

  By Michael McWhertor Published May 2, 2011
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  Osama Osama Osama

  OSAMAS | The many caricatures of Osama Bin Laden as seen on Newgrounds. (Newgrounds) More Than 12,700 Credit Cards Stolen from Sony Online Entertainment Sony’s security problems continue to mount, as the intrusion that brought down Sony Online Entertainment this morning is linked to the theft of more than ten thousand customer credit card numbers.…

  By Brian Crecente Published May 2, 2011
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  Get Your First Taste of Resistance 3 with the Battle Los Angeles Blu-ray

  Resistance fans, you’ll be able to get your hands on this—the flooded town of Wrightsburg, Missouri—next month, when the first single-player demo for Resistance 3 goes public. It’ll do so in the upcoming Blu-ray release of 2011 explosion-fest Battle: Los Angeles Insomniac Games revealed via G4 that a playable version of the boat level from…

  By Michael McWhertor Published May 2, 2011
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  The 10 Game Deaths of Osama bin Laden

  The world was informed the Osama bin Laden was killed on Sunday evening. Now that the story of his life has come to a close, we’re taking a moment to look back how Osama influenced the world of video games. As you might’ve guessed, he mostly got shot and killed. Well, actually that’s all he…

  By Mike Epstein Published May 2, 2011
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  President Obama and Staff Watching Osama bin Laden Mission in Real-Time

  The line between gaming and reality blurs as the President and members of his security team watch the hunt for Osama reach its long-awaited conclusion. President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, along with members of the national security team, receive an update on the mission against Osama bin Laden in the Situation Room…

  By Mike Epstein Published May 2, 2011
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  More Than 12,700 Credit Cards Stolen from Sony Online Entertainment

  Sony’s security problems continue to mount, as Sony Online Entertainment reveals that the personal information of 24.6 million SOE accounts and more than 12,700 credit card numbers may have been compromised in the massive attack that brought down the PlayStation Network late last month. According to a Sony Online Entertainment statement, the company believes the…

  By Mike Fahey Published May 2, 2011