We're thrilled to announce the return of GamesBeat Next, hosted in San Francisco this October, where we will explore the theme of "Playing the Edge." Apply to speak here and learn more about sponsorship opportunities here. At the event, we will also announce 25 top game startups as the 2024 Game Changers. Apply or nominate today!
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, Kixeye’s chief executive officer calls out Zynga in the midst of an employee theft lawsuit, Microsoft reveals the new Xbox 360 dashboard, and the BioShock Infinite studio loses two more employees.
You’ll also find reviews for Skylanders Giants, the Walking Dead: Episode 4, Unfinished Swan, Happy Wars, Fable: The Journey, and Dance Central 3.
News:
Event
GamesBeat Next 2023
Join the GamesBeat community in San Francisco this October 24-25. You’ll hear from the brightest minds within the gaming industry on latest developments and their take on the future of gaming.
- Nathan Fillion, Wil Wheaton, and more to partake in Firefall live-streaming event
- Preview of Assassin’s Creed III’s soundtrack proves the new composer did just fine
- The Witcher 2 developer’s next role-playing game is Cyberpunk 2077
- Good Old Games adds support for good ol’ Mac OS X
- Wing Commander creator’s new space sim Star Citizen now on Kickstarter
- Epic Games hires Microsoft Game Studios veteran to run Seattle developer
- Big Fish Games launches its first free-to-play game on PCs and Macs
- Twitch helps raise $1.5M from gamers for charity
- Grim but real player stats: 85 percent of social gamers do not return after the first day playing
- Licensed-games publisher Little Orbit lands investment from private equity group
- Forza Horizon to get Rally expansion for $20
- Claritics and Badgeville team up to gamify the enterprise
- Xbox Live members say Obama won second debate
- In midst of employee theft lawsuit, Kixeye CEO takes a blast at Zynga
- Obsidian raises $3.9M on Kickstarter for Project Eternity role-playing game
- Going once; going twice: News Corp. to auction off IGN Entertainment
- Skyrim game files hint at DLC dragon mounts and Morrowind locations
- The 10 most-anticipated games for Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii are all sequels
- Maximize your collections! BankersLab gamifies debt collection (exclusive)
- Beat the GMAT acquired by education giant Hobsons (exclusive)
- New update almost makes the Xbox 360 dashboard useful
- Head-mounted displays are still amazing (and still expensive)
- BioShock Infinite studio loses two more developers
- The Halo 4 leak: Microsoft responds, begins dealing out permanent account bans
- The Walking Dead developer is rumbling about its next comic-book adaptation again
- Call of Duty Elite goes free as Activision charges only for DLC for Call of Duty: Black Ops II
- MHL lets you play a bunch of Android mobile games on your TV (exclusive)
Mobile News:
- Disney’s mobile game star Swampy gets his own animated series
- Nexon partners to take Dungeon Fighter Online to mobile gamers in China
- Striiv launches a free fitness measurement app on the iPhone
Wii U:
- GamePad designer on Wii U motion games: ‘No, please don’t!’
- Nintendo engineers explain the magic of the Wii U GamePad’s video technology
Previews:
Reviews:
- Skylanders Giants is a kinder, gentler Diablo (review)
- Threeview: Dishonored reviewed by a critic, an analyst, and an academic
- RollerCoaster Tycoon 3D is a lazy, featureless shell of its predecessors (review)
- Captain Scarlett and her Pirate’s Booty gives you a reason to return to Borderlands 2 … unless you haven’t left yet (review)
- The Unfinished Swan is wonderfully creative but full of emptiness (review)
- Happy Wars brings free-to-play gaming to Xbox 360, and it’s worth every penny (review)
- Fable: The Journey surprises by smart mix of motion controls and storytelling (review)
- Dance Central 3 hops, shuffles, and body rolls its way to greatness (review)
- The Walking Dead Episode 4: Around Every Corner is big on emotion, small on challenge
Tips and guides:
- 8 tips for saving the world in XCOM: Enemy Unknown
- What is the Wii U? Everything you need to know about Nintendo’s new console
- The XCOM field commander’s tactical guide to Enemy Unknown
Interviews:
- Citadel of Sorcery is the most ambitious game you’ve never heard of (interview)
- Three DigiPen grads are thinking big by producing small (interview)
- Why Activision is making Call of Duty Elite into a free service (interview)
Pieces of flair:
- Don’t shake it! Admire some impressive Etch A Sketch gaming art (gallery)
- ‘Our exit strategy is death’ guides Days of Wonder’s board game philosophy
- GamesBeat’s massive Street Fighter tournament: 32 fighters enter, 16 leave
- 15 Street Fighter III peculiarities you may have overlooked
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