GamesBeat weekly roundup: Sound Shapes, Penny Arcade, and Mists of Pandaria

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, Telltale revealed that the majority of The Walking Dead players try to do the right thing, legendary game artist Paul Steed passed away, and GameStop beat Wall Street’s low second quarter expectations.

You’ll also find reviews of Persona 4 Arena, Sleeping Dogs,  and Darksiders II, as well as previews for Forge and Black Ops II.

News

• The DeanBeat: What’s next for Zynga as its ‘happily ever after’ fairy tale ends?
• Confirmed: OnLive’s assets sold to another company
• Portal 2 puzzle editor pops in co-op support
• Sega’s new publishing initiative helps indie developers and supernatural lumberjacks
• The Nintendo Download for August 16: You don’t even need to leave the house to buy New Super Mario Bros. 2 this week
• Betable hooks a deal with Big Fish for real-money gambling in casino games
• GameStop: ‘We have to be pragmatic’ about the launch of Nintendo’s Wii U
• Penny Arcade’s Kickstarter hits one-third of its goals
• The makers of Scott Pilgrim and Wizorb join forces for Mercenary Kings, a modern Metal Slug
• EA boosts its digital gambit with free-to-play Command & Conquer with high-end graphics
• Telltale Games: The majority of The Walking Dead players try to do the right thing
• Asus and Wikipad join Playstation Mobile, widening the reach of Sony games to more devices
• NASA scientists drive Mars rover Curiosity as if playing a 3D game
• Legendary and controversial video game artist Paul Steed passes away
• 14-year-old programmer creates iPhone game to help predict the 2012 election
• Wikipad: The company (and tablet) that is bringing console gaming to Android part 2 (exclusive)
• Alleged Xbox 720 dev kit sold for $20K on eBay (UPDATED)

Game guides

• Sleeping Dogs game guide: unlocks, collectibles, and easy money

MMO news

• World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria intro brings the focus back to orcs vs. humans…and pandas
• Vanguard: Saga of Heroes joins the ever-growing legion of free-to-play MMOs

Financial news

• EA’s stock price rises 5 percent on buyout rumor
• Gree grows North American mobile game revenue by 38% in Q2
• GameStop beats Wall Street’s low expectations for second-quarter earnings
• NaturalMotion’s iOS racing game generates $12M in revenue in first month

Gaming gear

• Nvidia unleashes new weapon of choice for PC gamers
• Maingear launches gaming PCs that won’t break the bank
• Plantronics dives into professional gaming with a headset for cyber athletes
• Sony introduces Cross Buy, offers free Vita cross-play titles for PS3 purchases

Interviews

• ShootMania isn’t out yet and it already has 20,000 different levels (interview)
• China’s Perfect World quietly becomes a North American powerhouse in online games (interview)
• Assassin’s Creed III lead designer talks maxing out hardware, making waves, and feudal Japan (interview)
• The Walking Dead developer discusses the advantages and challenges of a multiplatform zombie apocalypse (interview)

Reviews

• Persona 4 Arena proves that role-playing games and arcade fighters can mix (review)
• In Darksiders II, Death overstays his welcome, but he can still wield a scythe with style (review)
• Papo & Yo creates a toybox of a city with a fractured foundation (review)
• The gloriously flawed Sleeping Dogs is an interactive Hong Kong action flick (review)
• Hybrid is a fast-paced but thoughtful shooter that suffers from some technical hiccups (review)
• Dust: An Elysian Tail is beautiful but drowns in repetition (review)
• Sounds Shapes lets you create and share your own musical worlds (review)

Previews

• District 187: Sin Streets enlists you to fight in a constantly evolving gang war (preview)
• Black Ops II multiplayer is all about change (hands-on preview)
• Forge ditches the level grind in favor of skill-based fantasy combat (hands-on preview)