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

How Pixar made Monsters University, its latest technological marvel

Pixar gave a rare look inside the making of Monsters University in visit to the company's campus in Emeryville, Calif.

Bringing characters to life with Pixar’s animator magic (interview)

Even with computers, it still takes weeks to create a few seconds of animation. Monsters are harder to animate than you'd expect.

Creating a creature with 5.5M pieces of animated hair in Pixar’s Monsters University (interview)

Monster's University is a technological marvel that took a room full of computers years to fully animate. A single frame took 29 hours to render.

An indie developer’s strategy to sell games: insult fans and raise prices

Phil Fish calls his critics "ingrates," and then it goes downhill from there.

Nintendo reports a small profit for fiscal year, but Wii U sales slow to a crawl

After two full quarters of sales, the Wii U's worldwide installed base is only 3.45 million units.

AMD launches a screaming-fast graphics card with 8.6B transistors

AMD will bundle eight high-end games with its 7990 graphics card for $999.

Sony launches new digital binoculars that record what you see

Now you can capture cool scenery on video with a 25X-zoom binoculars.

Harmonix lays off small number of staffers

The company is getting itself ready for the next-generation of consoles.

HexBright is a hackable, open-source flashlight that will blind your foes (and friends if you point it at them)

Christian Carlberg raised money for the HexBright on Kickstarter and is now shipping it.

Ratchet and Clank hitting the big screen as an animated feature film

Hollywood rolls the dice again on a beloved video game franchise.

Big Fish Casino game hits the top-grossing list on iOS

Big Fish Games is testing a real-money gambling version with help from Betable.

Chartboost expands mobile game developer cross-promotion business into Europe

The company has grown to more than 16,000 developers in its network in a short time.

AMD launches quad-core embedded chip for smart TVs and set-top boxes

Such chips will eventually enable Surround Computing, where the computer will fade into the background.

No need to get off the couch. Gamers can order Pizza Hut using Xbox Live

You can place your order using Kinect or a game controller, and schedule the arrival of your pizza.

Nordic Games Licensing acquires Red Faction, Darksiders, and other THQ assets for $4.9M

THQ raises$6.55M in final auction.

Gearbox Software wins auction for Homeworld

Classic sci-fi game winds up in the hands of the maker of Borderlands 2.

Animoca launches Thor: Lord of Storms on Android

The title shows that there is life after the App Store for Animoca.

Pong, anyone? Philly skyscraper becomes the world’s largest video game

Big display will kick off Philly Tech Week celebration.