The Characters of Resident Evil: The Darkside
Chronicles [Clips]

This new look at Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles gives us a better sense of all of the characters appearing in the game.

We also get yet another chance to see how they handi-cam look and feel of the game help to highlight the tension in the game.

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AX 09: West coast videogame cosplay is hot hot
hot!

Dale, Tim Sheehy, and I are here at Anime Expo in Los Angeles. Here at America's largest anime convention, with well over 30,000 people attending, there are plenty of opportunities for some amazing cosplay -- and it doesn't hurt to have Ace0fClub5, one of our community members, taking his professional-grade photography (as he has done in the past).

So what we've got here for you is a teaser of some of the cosplay photos that we've got over on Japanator, with plenty more to come over the next three days. Seeing these Street Fighter cosplayers together (they planned it out as a group, naturally) was really impressive -- there's a lot of attention to detail there that really comes out in these photos. Sirs, I applaud you.

It's a little early to tell which cosplay is going to be overplayed at the con, but right now it's looking like Pyramid Head is itching to be the overplayed costume of the year -- although people are still being inventive with the outfit, so who knows. Anyways, enjoy even more photos over on Japanator!

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Alpha Protocol: The Espionage RPG: The Release
Date

Sega of America has announced the release date for Obsidian's Alpha Protocol, whatever that is. Oh, it's "The Espionage RPG." How helpful! That game will be out on October 6.

In addition to the date announcement, Sega released the North American box art, which can be found in our gallery. We must warn you, however, before rush into the gallery, full of hope for a more exciting, distinctive box art image: it's exactly the same as the UK box art seen yesterday, with the "PAL" label changed to "NTSC" and the PEGI rating box changed to an ESRB box. It's still the same Pseudo-Bourne standing up in front of geography class.

Gallery: Alpha Protocol

Alpha Protocol: The Espionage RPG: The Release Date originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SGC 09: Jim meets a personal hero

Outside the main convention halls, I was hanging out with a few members of Dtoid Austin (after having photos taken with some fans of mine which was great because I could pretend to be famous when I am just a blogger) when a very special guest walked by. I had just missed him at E3 and didn't have my camera when I visited Sega Europe. This time, however, opportunity would not slip past me.

As you can see, I got very excited and kind of look a bit like a mentally impaired. I told Sonic he was my best one out of all the characters what do videogames and that I thought he was awesome in Super Mario Bros. I think he was really impressed by me and that we're now friends. 

Sonic the Hedgehog is now officially the most famous person I know. 

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Review: Mad Dog McCree Gunslinger Pack

FMV-based games with live actors are something of a guilty pleasure for me. There's nothing more overtly kitschy, yet weirdly enjoyable than seeing an underpaid, underenthusiastic actor recite awful dialogue while looking straight into a camera as stuntmen fall exaggeratedly to the ground behind him.

That in mind, I positively jumped at the chance to review the Mad Dog McCree Gunslinger Pack for the Wii. Costing only $20, the single-disc anthology collects Mad Dog McCree, Mad Dog 2: The Lost Gold, and The Last Bounty Hunter and upgrades them with Wiimote IR sensor support.

Finally, gamers can now play the original Mad Dog McCree games just as intended: with a gunlike object in your hand. Granted, you'll also be playing with a decidedly unintended sense of condescending irony, but that's probably beside the point.

If you're ready to experience the most unconventional videogame review of all time, hit the jump for my review.*

*Upon reading that sentence, you may have thought: "Hey, I saw Destructoid's review of Saints Row 2, and that was barely a review at all. Surely, this Mad Dog McCree review couldn't possibly be any more unusual than that. You thought wrong.

Mad Dog McCree Gunslinger Pack (Wii)
Developer: Digital Leisure
Publisher: Majesco
Released: June 16, 2009
MSRP: $19.99

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Battlefield Heroes Review: The Great (Cartoon)
War [Review]

EA have really got behind the whole "free to play" thing of late, announcing it'll form the basis of future Tiger Woods and Need for Speed titles. The first such game to test those waters, however, is Battlefield Heroes.

The premise is simple: take Battlefield, then make it absolutely free to play, by stripping some elements out and reserving them for paying customers, while supporting the whole thing via front-end advertising.

Such a move is like walking a knife's edge. Make too much free and there's no point running it as a product. Make too much paid content and you'll piss people off who want to play for free.

Question is, then, can Battlefield Heroes manage to walk that line?

LOVED
War Is Not Hell, It Is Gorgeous: Battlefield Heroes' design initially drew "TF2 clone" accusations, but those are unfounded. This game has a look all of its own, part Max Headroom, part, well, Wind Waker. It's charming, it's attractive. Even the theme song is catchy, and we haven't stopped whistling it all week long.

Learner's Permit: Being a Battlefield title, vehicular control is a big part of whether the game succeeds or fails, and Battlefield Heroes manages just fine. Land vehicles are quick and responsive (the tank's power has been reduced in exchange for added speed), while planes can even be controlled semi-successfully with a mouse.

Money Can't Buy You?Poisoned Knives: Had EA restricted certain special powers and weapons to paying customers, this game would be an instant failure. Thankfully, that's not the case. Money can only buy you a few things; mostly avatar clothing, along with a few upgrades that do things like level you up faster. Everything else is paid for via XP, gained only through playtime and accomplishing missions, and while paying customers can get access to higher level weapons faster, they're not locked out for those playing for free. If you think that's slightly unfair, remember, you're playing for free.

Walk Right In, Sit Right Down: Battlefield Heroes is all about jumping right into the action, and once in, staying there. To play, you just visit the site, login, then hit a giant yellow button that says "PLAY NOW". You'll be automatically whisked away to a server. Then, while in the game, respawn times are kept to an absolute minimum, at most 6-8 seconds, but sometimes only 3-4.

Smooth As Ice: We played Battlefield Heroes for a week, and in that whole time, only once encountered connection or server issues. Considering the game is still technically in beta, that's not too shabby.

Spongeheads: There's only a single one-shot kill in this game, and that's if you're run over by a land vehicle. Everything else, from sniper headshots to grenades to dynamite, only takes off part of a player's health. It means that you're never blindsided, and never killed off instantly because of something you never saw coming.

HATED
Spongeheads: Yet this is a double-edged sword. It's great that you can't instantly be killed by a camping sniper from across the map. But if you're the camping sniper ? or anyone else tricky enough to lay something like an ambush ? it's frustrating as hell. Vehicle damage could also do with a tune-up, as it shouldn't take 3-4 shots from a tank to kill infantry. 2-3 would do just fine.

Matchmaker: Like we said, Battlefield Heroes is all about jumping into the action. Which in some ways is great, but in others, quite frustrating. We only want to play vehicle maps, for example. Just vehicle maps. But there's no way of selecting this. You can prefer to play vehicle maps, but when you hit PLAY NOW, you're automatically taken to a server, and half the time, it's for an infantry map. Nothankyou. Favourite servers can be bookmarked, but we'd love a server list option where we can filter for specific maps, or map types.

Class Warfare: Maybe we've played too much Team Fortress 2 of late, but if a map is stacked with heavies, and we join as a heavy, we'd love to be able to respawn as a commando. Mix things up. But you can't. Because when you create a character, you're bound to that character, as is all the XP you accrue while playing as it. You can create additional characters, sure, but you can only play as one at a time. We know, this is a Battlefield "thing", but since other parts of the game are making a departure from series norms, it'd still be great to be able to swap class.

There's just something about the mix of clean, cartoon visuals and refined multiplayer mechanics that make Battlefield Heroes an absolute blast. The fact you can play it effectively without paying a cent probably helps. Series purists may turn their noses up at the new visual style and slightly more "arcade" feel of the game, but that's fine. For those people, there's alway other Battlefield games. That they have to pay for.

For everyone else, though, Battlefield Heroes is a fun, accessible shooter that retains the best strategic elements of the series while making the game appealing to a broader range of people. If EA can add a few more matchmaking/server options to the game, Battlefield Heroes could be one of the sleeper hits of the year on PC.

Battlefield Heroes was developed by DICE, and published by EA for the PC. Launched on June 25, and is free to play, worldwide. Created two characters, a level 7 Gunner and a level 10 Commando, in the Royal Army.

Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ.

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Talk Amongst Yourselves [Official Kotaku Forum]

Happy Independence Day, my fellow Americans. Happy Friday, everyone else. It's time to talk about video games like you've never talked about them before. 3...2...1... start.

Confused about commenting on Kotaku? Read our FAQ.

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Art Attack Friday: captainosaka

Art Attack Friday is your weekly look at videogame fan art created by a talented artist.

Art Attack Friday is all captainosaka today. Usually I'd wait until the artist pumps out more videogame related art, but I've been waiting to feature captainosaka for a long time now. There's only five pieces in the gallery from him, but they're all pretty amazing. Plus the Super Smash Bros. Brawl one could totally be like three images, man!

I adore his Samus slapping five with Snake. Everything about it is amazing. Plus, they're slapping five in front of an explosion and we all know that explosions make every image better! 

There's also a ton of Gurren Lagann fan art over on captainosaka's deviantART. That has nothing to do with videogames, but it's Gurren Lagann. Best anime ever. SPIN ON!

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SGC 09: Stuff, things, happening, yes

I'm here in bloody hot Dallas where the sun is shining and the aroma of geeky nerds clings to the walls of the Westin Hotel like Tupac fans cling to the notion that he is still alive. It's day one of the ScrewAttack Gaming Convention and already I saw Stuttering Craig walk past me. I think he pretended not to notice me, but I will find him again and make him give me a job as their new Yahtzee. I think it's Yahtzee that does ScrewAttack, right?

Here are some photos from early on today, giving you a brief idea of what things looked like before all the fourteen-year-olds registered and filled the place up with their curly hair and the undeniable stink of wet dreams. There'll be plenty of fun to come from SCG, including our shakily recorded footage of a bit of the cartridge-blowing competition and a photograph of me with a very special celebrity.

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Hey Americans, Why The BBQ Why Why Why [Note]

To: American People
From: Bashcraft

Happy Independence Day! Mrs. Bashcraft wants to know why Americans BBQ or have cook-outs on the Fourth of July. So, why? Is it symbolic?

Side note: OH! One more thing, buddy just informed me that illustrator Chinatsu Kurahana is at the AnimeExpo — she's illustrated several best selling titles from Nitro+ like LAMENTO. Check out her site!

What you missed last night
Korean PC Game Rips-Off Team Fortress 2
GameStop Out Of Its Ducking Mind With New Wii Bundles
How One Man Spent $17,500 On A Video Game
Sony Motion Control Patent Shows Coffee Mug Gaming
Milla Jovovich Confirms "Number Four"

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