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The Advertising Standards Authority hasonce again reared its ugly headto bar yet another videogame ad campaign. BothBurnoutandStrangleholdadvertising has previously been suppressed in Britain following complaints from easily offended busybodies, and now it’s the turn ofKane & Lynchto bite the dust. The ASA used its old standby reasoning, accusing Eidos’ press and TV ads as “likely to be seen as condoning and glorifying real violence” and that they were “likely to cause serious or widespread offence....

Xbox 360 and PC owners have known for awhile what PlayStation 3 owners will shortly find out —Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Islesis a killer expansion pack. Announced today for the PS3, this standalone disc will be available at retail, and will require gamers to already have a copy ofElder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Originally released in March of this year for the Xbox 360 and PC (alongside the launch ofOblivionfor the PS3),Shivering Islesexpands on the game’s universe by giving gamers an entirely new realm to explore....

Maybe they’re not anywhere near in the lead over in Japan, but that’s not stopping Microsoft from hosting the keynote at this year’s Tokyo Game Show 2008. The keynote will be hosted by Microsoft Corporate Vice President of LIVE, Software and Sales, John Schappert on Thursday, October 9 at noon. Called “A Canvas for the World,” Schappert will focus “at how Xbox 360 will bring more people together than ever before to enjoy the next wave of interactive entertainment experiences....

Reserve bonus alert: GameStop is offering an ultra-mega-super-exclusive bonus for Airtight Games’Dark Void. According to official release, those who pre-order the shooter from, seemingly, the only videogame retailer on the planet, will receive a ticket for a downloadable andgoldenjetpack. Nice, right? Right. But it’s more than justArmy of Twobro-gold. This jetpack gives players “unlimited boosting ability,” meaning that catching dudes and evading gunfire will become much easierin this topsy-turvy game....

As you may have noticed from the Community Blogs and Forums, today is Destructoid’s fourth birthday. It’s hard to believe we’ve been around for four years already and it feels like time has just flown by. I remember whenGorillaMaskandDoubleViking, two comedy portals I used to frequent a lotback in 2006, linked to Destructoid the day it was born. I was hooked the second I visited, largely in part thanks to Niero’s writing style....

First thing’s first —Zipper Interactivehas announced that its beta program for the massive online PlayStation 3 exclusive shooterMAGhas been extended. It was originally scheduled to end on November 23, but that’s solast week. “MAGBeta 4 program” will continue this week, and the next phase — “MAGBeta 4.5″ — will re-launch on November 24 with another small download. What that means exactly is unclear, but if you’ve already pre-orderedMAGwith GameStop, you should have received a beta key that will work throughout the beta....

You’ve gotta loveCooking Mama. Sure,she’s got a dark side, but who doesn’t? At her heart, Mama is a good-hearted woman who only wants to help you become the great chef she knows you can be. She invited you into the hallowed sanctuary of her kitchen and never once lost faith in your potential, no matter how bad youscrewed up. Purchase of the above set of peripherals, however, is an offense I doubt even Mama’s forgiving soul would be able to pardon you for....

Surprise! WithSaint’s Row 2garnering more attention than its prequel, it hasfinally been noticedby reactionaries and critics. Bet you never saw that one coming! A police union is the root of the issue, attackingSaint’s Row 2for encouraging depravity and immorality while throwing around that ever-popular buzzword, “desensitize.” “These horrible and violent video games desensitize young people to violence while encouraging depravity, immorality while glorifying criminal behavior,” whines NYPD boss Patrick Lynch....

According to aBloomberg report, President Satoru Iwata revealed today that Nintendo is currently developing 45 new Wii titles (as well as 79 Nintendo DS games!) that will start shipping in the summer of this year. And doth mine eyes deceive me? It looks like it will all be first-party stuff. Could this really be true? If so, wow. Personally, I have not really cared that Nintendo and Sony have been trickling out the new releases in the last few months; using the word “drought” never seemed right....

Criterion, developer ofBurnout Paradise, recently gavetheir official websitea big facelift. In addition to the cosmetic changes, they also put down some new information regarding future updates toBurnout Paradise. Four mysterious future updates are listed on the website, all of which will be revealed over the next four Fridays. As far as timing goes, the only thing Criterion has listed is Spring 2009. Which really is incredible if one considers the massive amount of free content that the developer has tossed out since the release of the game back in January....

Reverie World Studios has revealed some more details on its upcoming MMORTSDawn of Fantasy.A “Kingdom Wars” world offers singleplayer fans to build their economy, train their armies, and switch between a strategic overview and a tactical view for fighting out battles. Two additional singleplayer modes offer players to train how to do siege attacks in “Lay Siege” or how to defend from siege attacks in “Defend Castle.” The meat of the game comes from its “Online Kingdom” world, however, which takes the mechanics existing in the singleplayer world and lets players trade, form guilds, and wage war in a persistent online world....

I’m not sure exactly what it is about Japan, but it seems that everybody there wishes they could solve all the problems in the world with a children’s card game. Virtual card battles seem to drive Japanese gamers mental, so it should be no surprise that the PSP is home to a few of them. Neverland Card Battlesdefinitely capitalizes on this curiously Eastern trend, and it makes its target demographic blatantly obvious with its anime art style, nonsensical plot and mish-mash of traditionally Japanese gameplay elements....

That’s right, folks. Another one of Mr. Destructoid’s long lost cousins was spotted today, this time on one of eBay’s holiday commercials. Cousin “It” looks to have gained a few pounds and looks to sport a new paint job that would make Diddy proud. Upon receiving his gift, this metal-assed Blingbot refuses to share with little Billy Bob or even let the little snot touch his precious “it.” We should all take a page from this green and gold cyborg and keep everything to ourselves this holiday season....