If you follow VentureBeat but don’t regularly check our GamesBeat site, here’s a list of the best video game stories we ran over the last seven days that you may have missed.

This week, Disney announced its version of a Skylanders-like game featuring characters from the company’s various intellectual properties, President Barack Obama urged Congress to research the effects of violent video games on children, and the Internet takes Dead Island: Riptide to task over a controversial preorder bonus.

News:

• The DeanBeat: Disney starts a cross-platform toy war with Activision
• Kingdom Conquest II primer: How to protect yourself and dominate your enemies
• Rumor: The next PlayStation is more powerful than the next Xbox
• WGT partners with NBC’s Golf Channel for online golf game
• Déjà vu: New bill would give ESRB video game ratings the force of law
• Diablo III’s director is moving on (but is staying at Blizzard)
• Animal Crossing: New Leaf and more missing from Nintendo’s Q1 release list
• Disney Infinity: Made possible because Disney owns all of this
• Chartboost shines a light on holiday app performance (infographic)
• Gamewise connects gamers with a social experience and a reference tool
• German Facebook page leaks possible Star Wars 1313 release info (UPDATED)
• This week in the Nintendo Download: Fire Emblem, Crash Mobs, and Kirby
• Poll: Tell us what you want in a next-gen console
• Fallout: Coming soon to a TV near you?
• Ubisoft and New Regency team up again for the Splinter Cell movie
• Coming in October: GamesBeat 2013 — ‘The Battle Royal in Gaming’
• Sony exec confirms a new PlayStation announcement could come this spring
• Xseed completes Operation Rainfall trilogy with Pandora’s Tower this spring (updated)
• Obama: ‘Congress should fund research into the effects violent video games have on young minds’
• World of Tanks introduces Chinese armor with newest update
• Watch the Disney Infinity figures wiggle in 3D
• Nintendo to merge console and handheld divisions
• PlayStation Vita’s Wake-up Club is your new social alarm clock
• Dead Island Riptide developer apologizes for special edition’s severed torso statue
• BioShock Infinite on PC scales down to run on integrated graphics cards
• Apple: ‘Want to criticize religion? Write a book’ — don’t make a game
• Game acquisitions set new record at $4B in 2012, but investments tumble 57 percent
• Imprisoned Arma III devs free on bail
• We should inspire game developers to create alternatives to violent entertainment
• Homosexuality in Star Wars: The Old Republic is separate but unequal

 Mobile News:

• Match wits with Mike Tyson and other celebrities in interactive game-show app Braindex
  
• King.com’s Candy Crush Saga beats Zynga with top social-mobile game
• NRA pulls bait-and-switch with iOS shooting app
• Ad giant Interpublic invests in mobile-rewards startup Kiip
• The spendy social gamers of Anchorage (and other facts about mobile gaming habits)
• Mobile-app advertising platform SponsorPay doubles revenue in 2012
• Kabam acquires Vancouver studio Exploding Barrel Games

Interviews:

• How Rick Thompson became the über investor for gaming (interview)
• Tomb Raider’s multiplayer takes a different direction (video interview)

Reviews:

• Temple Run 2 prefers sure footing to leaps of faith (review)
• Earth Defense Force 2017 Portable brings B-movie fun to the Vita (review)
• Offensive Combat pumps out laughs and bullets in equal measure (review)
• DmC: Devil May Cry brings the sexy back to demon killing (review)

Previews:

• Oculus Rift is virtual reality that won’t make you barf (hands-on preview)

Community Spotlight:

• The Dead Island: Riptide reaction was an equality fail
  
• The backlog blues: What happens when you can play it all
• Milkshake Resolved: A Dead Island Riptide poem
• Dishonored’s use of tired storytelling devices shows that game narratives are stale
• Cyberpunk’s old-school order: The history and future of the tabletop games
• The most popular video games are also the most violent
• Honoring your game characters’ deaths is about respecting yourself
• Memorable quotes from video game history
• The future of gaming: What gun violence means to the industry
• Second glance: Investigating the creation and failure of Damnation with lead designer Jacob Minkoff
• 4 things we may never see again in video games

Pieces of Flair: 

• Video games and libraries are a good mix, say librarians
• The funniest Achievements and Trophies ever, part four: I see what you did there
• The funniest Achievements and Trophies ever, part three: That’s so meta
• The funniest Achievements and Trophies ever, part two: Murder is fun(?)
• The funniest Achievements and Trophies ever, part one: Failures
• GamesBeat’s PlayStation 2 memories
• The Kickstarter Hall of Shame: Crazy gaming gadgets
• The ideal Mega Man vs. Street Fighter game would look like this (gallery)

---

GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

---