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, Sony unveils it’s latest home console the PlayStation 4, Ziff Davis Media shuts down 1Up, UGO, and GameSpy, and Electronic Arts and Activision both lay off workers.

You’ll also find reviews for Crysis 3, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, and Serious Sam Double D XXL.

PlayStation 4

• The DeanBeat: Sorting through the significance of Sony’s PlayStation 4 revelation
• The biggest PlayStation 4 disappointments
• Grading the PlayStation 4 rumors
• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is officially a next-gen title for PlayStation 4
• PlayStation 4: Sony impresses analysts — but others are not convinced the next Xbox won’t overshadow it
• Sony ‘not ready to talk about’ The Last Guardian — waiting for the ‘right time’
• Sony’s Shu Yoshida talks PlayStation 4: PS3/PSN compatibility, microtransactions, and more
• PlayStation 4: Reactions from around the Internet
• Used games will work on the PlayStation 4, says Sony
• Everything you need to know about the PlayStation 4 (so far)
• GamesBeat’s complete coverage of Sony’s PlayStation 4 announcement
• Here’s what a chip expert says about the PlayStation 4′s potential
• Ubisoft announces Watch Dogs for the PlayStation 4
• Blizzard announces Diablo III for PlayStation 4 (and PS3)
• Indie darling Jonathan Blow’s The Witness is headed to the PlayStation 4
• Sucker Punch reveals Infamous: Second Son as a PlayStation 4 exclusive
• Sony’s Evolution Studios reveals social racing Drive Club for PlayStation 4
• PlayStation Cloud streaming tech the ‘fastest gaming network in the world’ — and promises PS4 games on Vita
• Sony unveils Killzone: Shadow Fall for the PlayStation 4
• Knack is the first game confirmed for the PlayStation 4 (and it looks like a Pixar movie)
• Sony finally reveals the PlayStation 4 for holiday 2013 — but not the console or price
• A play-by-play of Sony’s big PlayStation 4 reveal

News

• Nevada governor signs online gambling bill into law
• More layoffs: Electronic Arts cuts jobs in L.A. and Montreal
• After buying IGN, Ziff Davis is shutting down UGO, 1UP, and GameSpy
• This week in the Nintendo Download: Monster Hunter, F-Zero, and Etrian Odyssey
• That PlayStation Vita price cut isn’t coming to North America
• King.com localizing 2 of its hugely popular free-to-play games for Japan and Korea
• Thanks for the #PlayStationMemories: The industry tweets Sony’s legacy
• Hey, devs, PaeDae’s Bartr turns advertising into a free service
• 2K Sports is the new publisher of WWE wrestling games — Yuke’s returns to develop
• New Torment game from developer InXile gets a subtitle and official webpage
• Total U.S. game market grew 39 percent in January if you count all segments
• What we can learn from past PlayStation reveals
• PlayStation Meeting: Six disappointing scenarios that aren’t PlayStation 4
• House GOP majority leader Eric Cantor calls publicly funded research into video games a ‘waste’
• Cmune raises funding for first-person shooters on mobile and Facebook
• Ubisoft releasing Rayman Legend’s online challenge mode on Wii U eShop for free this April
• Activision cuts around 30 jobs — expect fewer licensed games for 2013
• Poker Smash developer asking for $7.5K on Kickstarter to release PC version
• Agawi reveals new True Cloud gaming architecture
• Ubisoft welcomes third-party games on its Uplay digital distribution portal
• Fresh Gears of War: Judgment video details the game’s multiplayer modes
• Hotline Miami headed to PlayStation 3 and Vita this spring
• Irrational teases the powerful abilities of BioShock Infinite’s Elizabeth
• Tilera unveils 72-core processor chip for data networks and infrastructure
• Ascension developers might not need all 10 days of this gutsy Kickstarter
• Half the Sky Facebook game to create awareness about sex slave trafficking
• Farewell, rhythm genre: Rock Band downloadable content comes to an end in April
• Sony whacks the price of the PlayStation Vita in Japan
• Destiny revealed: The creators of Halo unveil their newest game
• Analyst: Wii U a ‘mistake’ for Nintendo — what the company needs to do to recover

Mobile News

• 2012 a very good year for casual game developer Wooga: It’s finally profitable
• Dedicated handheld consoles took a beating from iOS and Android during Q4 2012
• User acquisition may not be sexy, but it’s critical in mobile games (part 2)
• Shufflepix creator goes from zero to published iOS game in nine months
• Nvidia announces Tegra 4i with integrated LTE, enabling awesome smartphones
• User acquisition may not be sexy, but it’s critical in mobile games (part 1)

Reviews

• Crysis 3 is a thrilling hunt through the ravaged streets of New York (review)
• Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance unsheathes an action-packed, yet imperfect, experience (review)
• Serious Sam Double D XXL is an old-school concept full of newfangled ideas (review)

Pieces of Flair

• Aliens, Prometheus, and even Spaceballs: Spot the references in Colonial Marines
• If Luigi had a dating site profile
• This 13-year-old boy runs his own mobile game startup
• 20 Dead Space 3 details you may have missed (gallery)

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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!

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Sony revealed many of the details about its next-gen PlayStation 4 console at an event in New York City today. We saw the new controller, some cloud functionality, and a bunch of other features. But what about the games, man? Well, I’ve got you covered there.

We went to Sony and the third-party publishers and asserted our dominance until they forked over their highest-def trailers for all the new PlayStation 4 games. Let’s check ‘em out:

Destiny

Watch Dogs

Killzone: Shadow Fall

Infamous: Second Son

Knack

The Witness

Drive Club

Deep Down

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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!

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It’s official: The PlayStation 4 is coming out this fall.

Sony announced its latest gaming hardware at an event in New York tonight, but if you weren’t around to see it, we have you covered. The GamesBeat staff has spent the past couple days writing up the big reveal, and we’re collecting all of our stories here. And we’re still working, so be sure to check back for the latest news about Sony’s big night.

Speculation, part one

Ever since that frustratingly vague video came out last month, the gaming world has wondered what Sony was planning to show at tonight’s event. We were all pretty sure from the start that it was the PlayStation 4, but beyond that, we only had rumors and wishful thinking to point us anywhere. But those things aren’t really news, so we passed the time getting nostalgic and trying to see what the past could teach us.

Here’s what we expect from Sony’s Wednesday event

Rumor: PlayStation 4 will launch in November and comes with a PlayStation Eye camera

PlayStation Meeting: Six disappointing scenarios that aren’t PlayStation 4

What we can learn from past PlayStation reveals

Thanks for the #PlayStationMemories: The industry tweets Sony’s legacy

The system

Finally, it was time to see which of those speculations, if any, were correct. Over a two-hour press briefing, Sony made its announcement, had some developers come out, and showed off some games — all without ever actually telling us what the console is going to look like.

Everything you need to know about the PlayStation 4 (so far)

A play-by-play of Sony’s big PlayStation 4 reveal

Sony finally reveals the PlayStation 4 for holiday 2013 — but not the console or price

PlayStation Cloud streaming tech the ‘fastest gaming network in the world’ — and promises PS4 games on Vita

Used games will work on the PlayStation 4, says Sony

Good news: Move controllers work on PlayStation 4. Bad news: DualShock 3 doesn’t

The games

Here’s a look at what you’ll be playing when the PS4 launches late in 2013.

PlayStation 4 video trailer roundup

Knack is the first game confirmed for the PlayStation 4 (and it looks like a Pixar movie)

Sony unveils Killzone: Shadow Fall for the PlayStation 4

Sony’s Evolution Studios reveals social racing Drive Club for PlayStation 4

Sucker Punch reveals Infamous: Second Son as a PlayStation 4 exclusive

Indie darling Jonathan Blow’s The Witness is headed to the PlayStation 4

Blizzard announces Diablo III for PlayStation 4 (and PS3)

Ubisoft announces Watch Dogs for the PlayStation 4

Sony closes PS4 event with a trailer for Bungie’s Destiny

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is officially a next-gen title for PlayStation 4

Speculation, part two

Now that we know that the PS4 is coming, where do we go from here? It’s time for another round of analysis and speculation, but now we have way more confirmed information to work from. Here’s what people are talking about now that the briefing is over.

Here’s what a chip expert says about the PlayStation 4′s potential

PlayStation 4: Reactions from around the Internet

Sony’s Shu Yoshida talks PlayStation 4: PS3/PSN compatibility, microtransactions, and more

PlayStation 4: Sony impresses analysts — others not convinced the next Xbox won’t overshadow it

Grading the PlayStation 4 rumors

The biggest PlayStation 4 disappointments

The DeanBeat: Sorting through the significance of Sony’s PlayStation 4 revelation

Killzone: Shadow Fall demo reveals that Jimmy Fallon isn’t good at first-person shooters

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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!

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Follow our PlayStation 4 coverage

The maker of Braid didn’t bring any explosions, but he did bring an interesting new title for PlayStation 4.

Braid developer Jonathan Blow took the stage today at Sony’s PlayStation Meeting for its new hardware. Blow spoke about The Witness, his first game since the breakout hit Braid. It’s an open-world puzzle game where every puzzle contains some sort of deeper meaning — and it’s set to debut on the PlayStation 4.

“In most games with open worlds, the developers try to make them as big as possible so you’ll be impressed by the scale. In The Witness, we compress everything so you’ll always be finding new things,” Blow said in his stage presentation. “Every puzzle has an idea in it. On the design side, we worked very hard to convey — in a nonverbal way — the essence of each puzzle.”

Blow said PlayStation 4 is the only console that The Witness will hit at launch. It is also scheduled for iOS and PC.

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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!

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I can, at any given moment, tell you how long before BioShock Infinite releases in months, hours, and minutes. I keep that figure in my head at all times.

No lie, people in the gaming industry get to see and play some of the coolest, most anticipated games long before anyone else does, but generally speaking, that really only applies to the games they’re working on. Unless their desk is in the same building as the development team — and sometimes not even then — they have to sit around and wait just like everybody else.

So we polled a few famous names in the game industry and asked what they were waiting for. Specifically, we asked this: Aside from any project you’re involved in, what game are you looking forward to the most in 2013 and why?

Edmund McMillen, Team Meat (Super Meat Boy, Mew-Genics)

I’m most looking forward to playing The Witness. I was part of beta testing early on and actually asked to no longer be a part because I really wanted to experience the game how it was meant to be played.

Andy Gavin, author (Untimed) and retired cofounder, Naughty Dog (Jak and Daxter)

The Last of Us. I’m not personally involved, but call me twisted — the idea of a teen girl in a postapocalyptic world is pretty cool. And I’m not just talking sticking a girl in there gratuitously; Naughty Dog can be counted on to write a good story and actually deal with the visceral/emotional experience.

Dan “Shoe” Hsu, editor-in-chief, GamesBeat

BioShock Infinite, no doubt. Anyone who picks anything else for 2013 is simply crazy — don’t listen to any of the nonsense coming out of their mouths, ever. The original BioShock is one of the best games of all time, and I can’t wait to be immersed in another imaginative, dreamy (or nightmarish) world by the same developers.

Randy Pitchford, CEO, Gearbox Software (Borderlands 2, Aliens: Colonial Marines)

In just a few days, Ni no Kuni comes out, and I can’t wait! [Hey, Randy, it's out! --Ed.]

Jenova Chen, cofounder, Thatgamecompany (Journey)

I’m mostly looking forward to Grand Theft Auto V. I’ve seen some online in-game footage that really makes me fantasize about the things you can do in the game. I hope it delivers the fantasy.

Yoshinori Ono, producer, Capcom (Street Fighter IV)

I would have to go with Pikmin 3 for the Wii U! There hasn’t been a new release for this series in a while, so even if there aren’t many changes since the previous iteration, I am definitely looking forward to playing it. Nintendo must have some innovative ways to utilize the Wii U GamePad up their sleeves as well, so that is another thing I will be watching out for.

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