A Great Final Fantasy Artist Draws Final Fantasy XIII

Yoshitaka Amano, known for his Final Fantasy character and logo designs, did not do character designs for FFXII — but did design the game's now iconic title. But if he did draw the characters of FFXIII? [Kotaku]

What The Deuce Is Star Wars: Legends?

There's a listing over on the website of the Australian Classification Board for a game we've never heard of. It's called Star Wars: Legends. And no, before you ask, it hasn't been banned. [Kotaku]

Third Generation Bonds Gets A Hit, And Rob Neyer Turns It Into A Hit Piece

Nikolai Bonds was an omnipresent cheerleader during his father's quest for history. Now he's 19 and arrested for assaulting his mother. They grow up so fast. [Deadspin]

Game Voice Actress Received Death Threats

Yurika Ochiai, a voice actress with credits in visual novel ToHeart2 and Konami's Quiz Magic Academy, has announced on her blog that she is the victim of several death threats against her. [Kotaku]

EA Sports: One Billion Served

EA as a whole may have been having a rough time of it lately, but EA Sports are doing just fine, as evidenced by the number of online matches the brand has played host to in 2009. [Kotaku]

DSi Gets Release Date in China, Packed With Nintendogs

China's iQue, which officially hands Nintendo releases in the territory, will be launching the DSi (iQue DSi) in China on December 15. [Kotaku]

Europe: Army Of Two Was "Ridiculous, Tasteless"

EA Montreal are currently at work on an Army of Two sequel, and as part of that work, have been looking at what was wrong with the first game. Like how Europeans hated it. [Kotaku]

What's More Embarrassing Than Coaching Lingerie Football?

Coaching an LFL expansion team. And applying for said coaching job on a website for startups. That being said, let's all not act like we didn't just check the requirements against our own qualifications. [Startuply] [Deadspin]

Yes, New Resident Evil Movie Is Delayed

Never mind what Milla Jovovich said! It has been confirmed that upcoming 3D Hollywood flick Resident Evil: Afterlife, originally slated for August 27, 2010, will be released on January 14, 2011. [Kotaku]

More Dead Space 2 Art Dug Up From Beneath The Surface

So far, we've seen two Dead Space 2 pics. One piece of stupid marketing, and the cover of a magazine. May as well make it three, with this new piece of concept art. [Kotaku]

How Sixth Graders See Video Games Like Metal Gear And Blazing Angels

Graphic novelist Raina Telgemeier asked the 6th graders in the Afterschool Comics Worship she runs to create a short comic on their favorite video game. The results are amazing. [Kotaku]

Finding Treasure In Trash

See that pile of paper slips on the floor of your local OTB? One man's made it his full-time job to go through every single discarded betting ticket and cash in the winners. He's doing better than you are. [Deadspin]

This is Battletoads?

Machinima just can't help itself. We've seen Castlevania, Mario, Contra, and now here we are with Battletoads as reenacted within Half-Life 2. [Kotaku]

WW2 Games Aren't Dead, They Just Need New Digs

As has been established by science, there are over 100 recent video games set during the Second World War. Yet for a war that literally spanned the globe, we sure do spend a lot of time in, and above, France. [Kotaku]

Trophy List Hints at More DLC Coming for Borderlands

Gearbox creative dude Mikey Neumann twitter-teased some sort of announcement yesterday that had to get pulled back, but it looks like PS3Trophies.org stole the show. Four new trophies tip off some coliseum-based DLC in the works. [Kotaku]

Lance Henriksen Moves Bishop To Aliens Vs. Predator

Sega and Rebellion Entertainment's upcoming Aliens Vs. Predator gets a little more Alien cred in the form of Lance Henriksen. The actor has been tapped to reprise his role as Bishop in voice and face for the forthcoming shooter. [Kotaku]

You Don't Need Gonads To Be A Goon

And here's another heartwarming girls-in-sports story. Pennsylvania high school hockey gives us the rare mixed-gender brawl, spurred by two boys dropping the gloves against one feisty little lady. (Or in the unfortunate parlance of the YouTube poster, "tagteaming" her.) [Deadspin]

Guild Wars 2 "Structured More Like Other MMOs"

Call me crazy, but I always thought a major pull of Guild Wars was that it wasn't like other massively multiplayer online games. [Kotaku]

EA Sports Announcing "New Game" in January

EA Canada's community manager tweeted last night that "execs at EA SPORTS will announce a new game sometime in January. I wonder what it'll be?" Yeah, I wonder, too. Let's wonder together. [Kotaku]

German Artists Send Billboards To Their Doom!

A Tribute to id Software's Doom, as seen on Flickr via Nerdcore. Thanks, teknohed! [Kotaku]

Meet The Cast Of The Saboteur

What with all the talk of nudity, I'd kind of lost track of the fact that The Saboteur has a plot-heavy story with more than one angst-filled character. [Kotaku]

Famitsu: Final Fantasy XIII Misses Perfect Score [Story Spoiler!]

This year, Japanese magazine Famitsu has awarded a perfect 40/40 score to four games: Dragon Quest IX, Monster Hunter 3, Bayonetta and New Super Mario Bros. Years-in-the-making and eagerly-anticipated Final Fantasy XIII did not. [Kotaku]

Pregnant Athlete Doesn't Want To Be Babied By School

A Texas high schooler is filing a Title IX complaint against her school district after her volleyball coach benched her in her first trimester. This sounds like a no-win situation for everyone involved. [Deadspin]

Transformers: The War for Cybertron Puts Autobots In Gears

Activision has an all-new Transformers game on its slate for next year, one that looks like it will be taking gameplay cues from Gears of War. [Kotaku]

Kotaku Programming Reminder: Talk Live With Uncharted 2's Amy Hennig On Wednesday

As noted yesterday, Amy Henning, creative director of PlayStation 3 blockbuster Uncharted 2 will guest-host tomorrow's live Kotaku call-in podcast. Show time's 11am MT, 1pm ET. Call-in and listening details will be live on the site just before show time. [Kotaku]

Valve: Team Fortress 2 Mystery Update 'Not A New Game Mode'

The most recent update to Valve's two-year-old shooter Team Fortress 2 did more than just fix bugs, it added a bunch of new sound files for the game's Announcer, newly referencing friendships, betrayals and mercenaries. So, new game mode? Nope! [Kotaku]

New Yakuza 3 Trailer Is Full Of Hot Yakuza Action

Sega confirmed earlier today that the rumors of Yakuza 3's Western release were true, announcing a March 2010 release date for the PlayStation 3 gangster game. This new trailer, with English peppered throughout, offers further proof. [Kotaku]

Hold That, Tiger

Our friends Toucher and Rich noticed an interesting bit of ink on the lower back region of Joslyn James, that may or may not be a large jungle cat-like thing poised to pounce on anyone who approaches her from behind. [Deadspin]

Speedy Gran Turismo 5 Impressions: Bumper Falls Off, Heads Theoretically Turn

Just got back from a Sony showcase a few blocks from Kotaku's NYC office. Heading back over there post-haste. Had a few minutes to try to wreck a car in Gran Turismo 5 and learn about the game's head-tracking. [Kotaku]