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Update: Microsoft released an official statement regarding the demo shown in New York. Here's what they had to say:

The proof of concept "Project Natal" demo shown in New York last week was not new, nor was it intended to show incremental progress. We wanted to share the same E3 experience with those who weren’t able to experience “Project Natal” in June. However, the “Project Natal” development team has been hard at work perfecting the technology over the past eight months and will continue to do so. When "Project Natal" launches this holiday, the experiences will be in keeping with Xbox 360 standards of performance and will transform living room entertainment.

Original Story: Microsoft was showing off Project Natal last week in New York. It was nothing new, just the familiar hand ball game that was demoed at E3 last year, but it did give me an opportunity to get a closer look at the progress that's been made since last summer. Specifically just how close the motion capture is to real life (which is something that Kotaku discussed today). I brought with me a trusty stop watch so you can get an idea as to how long it takes for your movement to be recreated on-screen.

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Tags microsoft, project natal

No bile-belching zombies, no Ned, no loot box, no problem. The third "Bordlerlands" add-on, "The Secret Armory of General Knoxx" doesn't build on the two previous pieces of content. Rather, it focuses on what makes "Borderlands" great: the items, the grind, and remarkable locations and foes. So, yeah, I liked it.

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Tags 2k games, borderlands, gearbox, the secret armory of general knoxx

A year after Microsoft released their Xbox 360 on the gaming world, Eidos published an open-world action romp from developer Avalanche Studios called "Just Cause." There were some great ideas at work, many of them revolving protagonist Rico Rodriguez's deploy-anywhere parachute and associated stunt work, but the experience was marred by unwieldy gameplay, lackluster visuals and experience-ruining bugs.

Now Rico is preparing to return, bringing his brand of CIA justice to an entirely new part of the world. The Caribbean-set Banana republic is replaced in "Just Cause 2" by a fictional island in Southeast Asia's Malay Archipelago. And if the preview we tooled around for an hour-plus with is any indication, the previous game's Suck is replaced by generous helpings of sweet, delicious Win.

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Tags eidos, just cause, Just Cause 2

Fans of "Sonic the Hedgehog" are a salty bunch. After seeing some leaked footage of "Sonic 4" hit the internet a couple of weeks ago, fans were displeased, and are voicing their displeasure with a boycott. But this is no ordinary boycott. Brace yourself:

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Tags sega, sonic the hedgehog, sonic the hedgehog 4

Now that the "StarCraft 2" beta has been officially released into the wild, I'll bet you're all wondering just when the final version will start appearing on store shelves, thus continuing Blizzard's meglomaniacal reign. According to the latest Blizzard podcast, the plan is to remain in beta for about three to five months, which would place the release of "StarCraft 2" somewhere in the June to August timeframe.

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Tags blizzard, starcraft, starcraft 2

BioWare promised us that we'd be getting a lot of post-launch DLC for "Mass Effect 2," and it looks like they're true to their word. Apart from ides, March will bring with it the "Firewalker" DLC pack, which focuses on a vehicle known as the Hammerhead hover tank. Fancy! Here's hoping it doesn't control like the MAKO tank from "Mass Effect 1"!

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Tags bioware, ea, mass effect, mass effect 2

Apple brought the hammer down on App Store titles deemed to be too sexually explicit in February, and the decision renewed curiosity about why the company hasn't joined other mainstream entertainment channels and flat out created an adult category for developers. The iPhone and iPod touch could be closer to hosting such apps than previously believed, though, as the App Store's submission software reportedly contained an "Explicit" option for a brief spell.

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Tags apple

PopCap Games' decision to bring "Plants vs. Zombies" to the iPhone just resulted in a lot of green for the "Bejeweled" and "Peggle" makers. After a modest nine days on Apple's App Store, the company claims the lawn defense title grossed more than $1 million, which will buy many, many extra slots, seeds and upgrades.

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Tags plants vs. zombies, popcap games

Mr. Game & Watch was sort of like the one-man Three Stooges team of LCD gaming in his day, appearing in Bollywood-caliber numbers of productions and varied roles, and his latest revival appears to be taking place on keychains. Unlike his recent Nintendo-sanctioned DSiWare and and DS cart releases, a new solar-powered product from TakaraTomy just features a dummy screen with an alarm clock to wake you up and remind you to toss your sausages and avoid octopus tentacles, but for the true Game & Watch enthusiast, it's a scaled-down homage to a gaming legend.

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Tags game and watch, nintendo

Keiji Inafune is one of the top creative minds at Capcom and has shepherded many of the company's greatest franchises over the years. "Mega Man" is obviously one of the biggies, and with the success of the downloadable release of "Mega Man 9" and the upcoming release of "Mega Man 10" next month, Capcom opened the fan floodgates for an online Q&A with Inafune-san.

In one of the questions, a fan asked Inafune what he thought about reviving the 16-bit style of "Mega Man" games. His response was pretty positive on the prospect:

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Tags capcom, Mega Man, mega man 10, mega man 9