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  Halo 3 ODST Writer: “Put That in Your Speculation Pipe and Smoke It!”

  In a new interivew with GamePro, Halo 3: ODST writer and creative director Joseph Staten talks plot, gameplay and design choices for the upcoming Halo 3 expansion. Among the many things the guy has to say, I’m most intrigued by the stuff about the Rookie’s place in the overall Halo story. Halo 3: ODST is…

  By AJ Glasser Published January 20, 2009
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  Sony Gives Us A Peek At God of War III In February

  You thought that brief glimpse of God Of War III from the Spike TV VGAs was all you’d see of Kratos for a while? Nope. Sony will be showing the game off in mere weeks. We just got the invite to check out Kratos’ “final mission in his war with the Gods,” an appointment just…

  By Michael McWhertor Published January 20, 2009
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  Rumor: More EA Job Cuts, This Time At Madden’s House

  EA are cutting 1000 jobs, and they’re cutting them from everywhere. We’ve already seen, or heard of job losses at Blackbox and Mythic, but are now hearing of more at Tiburon Studios. Tiburon are most famous for being the developers behind the cash-conjuring Madden series, but they’re also responsible for the Tiger Woods and NCAA…

  By Luke Plunkett Published January 20, 2009
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  PlayStation Dominates Street Fighter Club Round 3

  The third installment of the Fight Club-themed Street Fighter community events went down in a semi-seedy building next to the James Lick freeway in downtown San Francisco last Friday. Stations were set up for games journos, community members and industry insiders to go head to head in Street Fighter IV. The layout included six arcade…

  By AJ Glasser Published January 20, 2009
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  Marketing Gone Wild: Tits, Ass & Tenchu: Shadow Assassins

  I swear to God this “review” of Ubisoft’s Tenchu: Shadow Assassins from Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis is real. A heady blend of flesh, gameplay and tiger growls makes it 2009’s best video. And by “best,” I might actually mean the most confounding, flagrant display of “college girls” wearing nothing but Tenchu logos and…

  By Michael McWhertor Published January 20, 2009
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  Podcast Guest Editor

  To: Ash From: Crecente Re: “Happy Inauguration” We just finished recording the month’s video podcast. This time inside Grand Theft Auto IV. Our special guest this month around was the winner of the year-end Be a Kotaku Editor for a Day contest. Kinda fun, mostly because we drove around shooting each other. Adam, apparently, has…

  By Brian Crecente Published January 20, 2009
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  Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children PS3 Now Yours For The Importing

  Want to get your hands on the Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete branded PlayStation 3? That fancy decoration is going to cost you if you plan on importing. So… how much? Importer National Console Support is first out of the gate on pre-orders for the “limited” edition version, offering the complete package — one…

  By Michael McWhertor Published January 20, 2009
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  Rock Band Wii Gets New (Old) Tracks

  The Wii version of Rock Band is slowly catching up to its peers, with Harmonix releasing six familiar tracks via the Rock Band 2 in-game music store. Ready the Wii Points! Now available to Wii owners are tracks from Nine Inch Nails, The Ramones, The Clash and Jimmy Buffet. Cost to you? A standard 200…

  By Michael McWhertor Published January 20, 2009
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  EA CEO: Are Games Important? Duh!

  Don’t ask John Riccitiello if video games are “important.” That’s the kind of question that went out of fashion with the Generra sweater and Z Cavaricci slacks. Of course they’re important! EA’s head honcho says that questioning the validity of the medium is so last decade. “That’s the kind of question people used to ask…

  By Michael McWhertor Published January 20, 2009
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  Rumor: SEGA of America Starts Scaling Back, Lays Off Thirty

  IGN is reporting today that SEGA is the latest publisher to start cutting costs, laying off 30 employees from its American subsidiary. No word on where exactly the cuts are coming from, however. The report from IGN cites unnamed inside sources at SEGA of America, noting that the company had not yet commented on the…

  By Michael McWhertor Published January 20, 2009
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  From 1,000 Machines to Zero: Death of Another Arcade

  The Big Easy isn’t immune to the same issues that arcade machine vendors across the country face. A shift in culture, a spike in home consoles and arcades, once the bastion for gaming culture, go up in smoke. The latest victim: New Orleans Novelty. After more than 30 years running arcades and placing gaming machines…

  By Brian Crecente Published January 20, 2009
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  Now, The Real List Of 2008’s Bestselling Games

  The answer to the question “What was 2008’s bestselling game in the U.S.?” is “Wii Play.” Or is it? What about all those multi-platform, multi-SKU releases like Madden and Call of Duty: World at War? Turns out the answer is still Wii Play, with almost all things considered. MTV Multiplayer got the NPD Group to…

  By Michael McWhertor Published January 20, 2009
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  You Got Plot In My Street Fighter

  .html Yes, I know there’s a wonderful tradition of storytelling behind the Street Fighter series. But still, I don’t play this game because I care about the inner turmoil that haunts its fighters. That’s what College Humor is for.

  By Brian Crecente Published January 20, 2009
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  Canadian Game Sales Crack $2 Billion

  Our neighbors to the north are spending more on video games than ever, according to the NPD Group, over $2 billion in Canadian dollars last year. Even compared to our $21.33 billion it’s still impressive. NPD pegs Canadian console sales at 1.9 million for the year, with 1.2 million portable gaming machines snapped up by…

  By Michael McWhertor Published January 20, 2009
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  WoW Patch 3.0.8 Brings Important Changes To Clams

  The first patch since The Wrath of the Lich King has just hit Blizzard’s World of Warcraft, bringing fixes, class changes, and perhaps most importantly – a complete revamp of the clam system. While the ability to create a Death Knight on any server is nice, and the fact that damage over time spells that…

  By Mike Fahey Published January 20, 2009
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  Microsoft Cuts Likely to Focus More on Buildings Than People

  Still no word on when or if those rumored major cuts will be hitting Sony in the next month, but the Seattle Post-Intelligencer is reporting that Microsoft’s cuts will be laid out later this week. The cuts will be detailed during the company’s second-quarter earnings report on Thursday, the P-I reports, but no word yet…

  By Brian Crecente Published January 20, 2009
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  New PlayStation 3 Firmware Adds Photo Gallery, Smile Sorting, More DivX Support

  Your PlayStation 3 is about to graduate to version 2.60, as new firmware for the console is coming soon (read: actually really soon). What’s it add? New multimedia features and “guest access.” That guest access is limited to the PlayStation Store, designed for those fearful of joining the 17 million-strong PlayStation Network. Yes, you can…

  By Michael McWhertor Published January 20, 2009
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  Class Of Heroes In Session This April

  Dungeons? Alchemy? Catacombs? PSP? Yes, it’s a new title from the folks at Atlus! They’ve just announced portable dungeon crawler Class of Heroes, coming this April to the PSP. 80 hours of dungeon crawling await you in Class of Heroes, an action RPG from Japan that manages to combine together all of the usual elements…

  By Mike Fahey Published January 20, 2009
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  Welcome to Gaming From Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo

  Back in December I contacted Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony to ask if they would be willing to participate in an experiment. I wanted an executive from each company to write an open letter welcoming new gamers to their specific platform. The idea, I thought, was to serve two purposes. First it seemed like it would…

  By Brian Crecente Published January 20, 2009
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  Launch your creative career and Get into the Game!

  Our unique program is your first step toward becoming an artist and designer in the multi-billion-dollar game design industry. Details after the jump. You’ll learn how to design game play and background, create characters and their environments, and apply your knowledge of video and computer games to evaluate products. You will also learn to plan…

  By Chrissie Lamond Published January 20, 2009