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  These Final Fantasy Ladies Look Ready For A Fight

  Watch, as Final Fantasy XIII comes to life before your very eyes. This pair were snapped by Belgian cosplay photographer kn8e at the Anime Conji 2011 get-together, which was held last weekend in San Diego. There’s some great work in those costumes, from the boots to the sword, but it’s the hair colour I like…

  By Luke Plunkett Published April 1, 2011
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  The Complete History Of An Under-Appreciated Games Developer

  You may know Volition as the developers behind the Saints Row and Red Faction games. But its history is actually a lot longer, and more illustrious, than that. A film crew from Game Informer has, during the course of some studio visits, got a little sidetracked and catalogued the entire history of the developer, from…

  By Luke Plunkett Published April 1, 2011
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  Japan’s Biggest Amateur Pin-Up Brings This Adult Game To Life

  Ushijima Ii Niku (Ushijima “Good Meat”) is Japan’s biggest amateur pin-up. And this summer, she’s coming to a theater near you. That is, if you live near Akihabara. Upcoming adult computer game Djibril The Angel Of The Warring States is getting a “live action” incarnation, starring Ushijima. Or is it? The movie tentatively has a…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published April 1, 2011
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  Help Save An Awesome-Looking Indie Game

  The Iconoclast, that amazing 2D platformer we showed you yesterday, is in limbo. Want to see it get made? Here’s how you can help

  By Luke Plunkett Published April 1, 2011
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  The Wii Controller That’s Powered By Sweat

  Got a bunch of Wii games? Want to exercise? Go outside and run around. But if you’re interested in ponying up cash for a peripheral… The U-Move controller is a fully functioning Nunchuck controller with an on-board pedometer that displays the number of steps players make and the amount of calories burned. It requires players…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published April 1, 2011
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  The Ultimate Field Guide For LEGO Nerds [Update]

  I like LEGO. Do you like LEGO? Bet you do. So let’s all wish we could find a way to justify spending $80 on this glorious hardcover book and…wait a minute. $80 isn’t so bad! This is LEGO Collector – 2. Premium Edition, which is a very fancy way of saying it’s a catalogue depicting…

  By Luke Plunkett Published April 1, 2011
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  This Morrigan Painting Could Have Beaten The Nazis

  Darkstalker’s Morrigan goes all classic 1940’s pin-up in this amazing piece by Kazeki. Normally, the fighting game’s most iconic character is shown as being a little, well, slutty. Thankfully, that’s definitely not the case here. Succubus by Kazeki

  By Luke Plunkett Published April 1, 2011
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  How’s Dragon Quest X Coming Along?

  Back in 2008, Square Enix said it was working on Dragon Quest X for the Nintendo Wii. Then…silence Fastforward to 2011, and Square Enix is talking about the game. Well, kinda. “The next Dragon Quest game, Dragon Quest X, will actually be released on Wii,” Dragon Quest Yuji Hori tells Nintendo Power. “I feel that…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published April 1, 2011
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  Fukushima Nuclear Plant Recreated In Fallout 3

  Over on a Fallout 3 mod and community site are images of the Fukushima nuclear plant, recreated by a 25-year-old via a Fallout 3 mod for PCs. The reaction online in Japan is varied: from impressed to disgusted and everywhere in between. Some even thought these images were from upcoming downloadable content, unaware that they…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published April 1, 2011
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  An Old Game About Fighting Robots Makes A Comeback

  In 1996, brilliant British developers The Bitmap Brothers released “Z”, a real-time strategy game that featured drunken, belligerent robots shooting the crap out of each other. It was, I remember, tough to control, but it was also funny as hell. At least, I remember my 16 year-old self thinking it was funny as hell. How…

  By Luke Plunkett Published April 1, 2011
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  3 Year-Old Killed By Mother For Throwing Away Game Console

  On the night of March 30, little Shizuku Tanaka was murdered in Osaka. Her feet and hands were bound by tape, and she was stuffed in a garbage bag. The bag was tied shut, and the three year-old is now dead. Her mother, 26-year-old Yui Tanaka, later told investigators, “Shizuku was being fussy and noisy…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published April 1, 2011
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  Sometimes, Kinect Just Wants To Make Things Look Pretty

  Microsoft’s Kinect is normally spoken of in terms of its practical applications. Let’s take a break from that, and use its “thousand points of light” as the basis for a beautiful photographic exhibit. Photographer Audrey Penven has put together a collection called “Dancing with Invisible Light”, which drops a number of her subjects in the…

  By Luke Plunkett Published April 1, 2011
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  It’s Mirror’s Edge Meets Mario

  If you’ve ever wanted to practice jumping off walls and swinging from poles, there’s the place for you: the street. But if you’d like to do it in a relatively controlled (and safe?) environment, try Tempest Freerunning Academy. It purports to be California’s first indoor facility dedicated to freerunning and parkour. And it’s got blocks…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published April 1, 2011
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  The Crazy World Of NSFW In-Store Displays

  Forget commercials. Forget print ads. What might make a sale in Japan is more than hype. It’s the presentation, namely of the in-store variety. In-store displays play an important part in sales – not just in Japan, but pretty much everywhere. Take JB Hi-Fi, Australia’s largest home entertainment retailer, which has a policy of using…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published April 1, 2011
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  WARNING: It’s April 1

  Good morning, Kotaku. It’s April 1. April Fools Day. A day when the internet becomes a wasteland of bad jokes and annoying fake news. So wherever you tread today, be cautious. And if it’s any consolation, we won’t be trying to trick you. Seriously.

  By Luke Plunkett Published April 1, 2011
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  Could You Play Street Fighter IV With Your Face? And Win?

  Mike “Broly” Begum is a Street Fighter IV player from Texas. And he’s pretty damn good. What makes Mike’s success notable, though, is the fact he’s so good despite having to play the game with his face Begum was born with arthrogryposis, which has left him with only partial use of one arm. While this…

  By Luke Plunkett Published April 1, 2011
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  This Is Major League Gaming

  Major League Gaming is the world’s premier professional console league. As the team embarks on a new season, with a new game in Halo: Reach, we spoke to some of the top players, and the CEO of the league itself to get an insight into competitive gaming’s exploding popularity, and what it takes to become…

  Mark Serrels Published April 1, 2011
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  CultureTotal Recall

  This Nintendo Was Inside A Television Set

  I don’t know what it is about old Nintendo hardware that makes it so interesting. Maybe it’s because, outside of Nintendo’s home run successes, there are a lot of straight-up strange devices in the company’s history as well. Not weird in a bad way, mind you. Just in a “well, it’s awesome somebody thought this…

  By Luke Plunkett Published April 1, 2011
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  Pixel The Earth

  Ladies and gents, we’re on the cusp of knocking out one more workweek. Congratulations. Let’s make it go by even faster with some off topic conversation. You got an open thread here, so let’s use it. Did anyone partake in Major League Baseball’s opening day? The only game I watched was me farming some stones…

  By Michael McWhertor Published March 31, 2011
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  Million-Dollar Perfect Game Contest Kicks Off Tomorrow

  2K Sports has laid another seven-figure bounty on a perfect game thrown in its Major League Baseball game. Players have had about a month to practice with MLB 2K11’s pitching and fielding; the chase for 27 straight outs officially begins at noon EDT tomorrow. It’s a simple proposition: Pitch a perfect game using a single…

  By Owen Good Published March 31, 2011