Dean is lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He covers video games, security, chips and a variety of other subjects. Dean previously worked at the San Jose Mercury News, the Wall Street Journal, the Red Herring, the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register and the Dallas Times Herald. He is the author of two books, Opening the Xbox and the Xbox 360 Uncloaked. Follow him on Twitter at @deantak. Here’s our ethics statement.

stories by Dean Takahashi

Beyond: Two Souls takes us on a CIA assassination mission in Somalia — led by a kid (video interview)

The co-CEO of Quantic Dream shows us what happens when the CIA tries to turn a ghost into a weapon.

In Watch Dogs, your friends can hack your character in the single-player game (multiplayer preview)

Your friends can come into your game, hack your character, and steal your data.

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot sees big opportunity in the console transition (interview)

Ubisoft CEO believes good properties -- the games -- are the key to lengevity in the game business.

Company of Heroes 2 emulates the feel of Russian winter and suicide missions (preview)

Relic's developers visited Russia to experience the cold winter for themselves. That shows through in the gameplay.

Konami’s Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 follows the familiar but tedious God of War gameplay (preview)

If you like God of War hack-and-slash games in dreary Gothic castles, this game is for you.

Screw the consoles: After three years of design, Alienware launches a trio of gaming laptops

Alienware's Frank Azor isn't shy about speaking up for the PC, even as new consoles are coming soon.

Follow our Sony E3 press-briefing liveblog right here

Join GamesBeat for a liveblog of Sony's 2013 Electronic Entertainment Expo press conference, and get instant commentary from our staff.

Why Assassin’s Creed IV’s main character is more pirate than assassin (video interview)

We'll learn about the new character Edward Kenway and the privateers of the Caribbean in ACIV.