GamesBeat weekly roundup: Fez II cancelled, Nintendo reports profit despite poor Wii U sales

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, Polytron founder Phil Fish cancels Fez II after a massive fight on Twitter, Nintendo sells 5 million copies of Animal Crossing: New Leaf world wide, and GamesBeat writer Mike Minotti compares DOTA 2, League of Legends, and Heroes of Newerth.

You’ll also find reviews for Dragon’s Crown, Pikmin 3, and the Nvidia Shield as well as previews for Total War: Rome II, Skylanders Swapforce, and Batman: Arkham Origins.

News:

• The DeanBeat: Casual Connect reveals a scary and hopeful gaming business
• Microsoft’s ‘red rings of death’ to be ‘very unlikely’ with the Xbox One
• Xbox One is always running matchmaking in the background
• Microsoft increases Xbox One’s GPU clock speed as it finalizes console hardware
• Our next slate of GamesBeat 2013 speakers
• Former EA CEO Riccitiello on the big chance to create lasting value in gaming (full transcript)
• Blizzard CEO: Titan ‘unlikely’ a ‘subscription-based MMORPG’
• Ouya gets its first MMORPG: Gameloft’s Order & Chaos Online
• Major League Gaming introduces Pro Points player-ranking system
• Electronic Arts teams up with Tokyo’s G-cluster to provide games over the cloud (exclusive)
• Capcom’s next-gen dungeon-crawler Deep Down is online-only
• TowerFall developer promises single-player campaign for ‘massive’ PC release
• RealNetworks’ Rob Glaser rolls the dice on sweepstakes contest in social casino game
• Activision plans to debut Call of Duty: Ghosts multiplayer Aug. 14
• Game publisher tells developers why they don’t need publishers
• Irrational Games is taking players back to Rapture in BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea expansion
• Our next slate of GamesBeat 2013 speakers
• Nintendo offering 3 rare Shiny Pokémon at U.S. GameStop stores
• Cowen report shows Call of Duty: Ghosts leads preorder sales heading into fall
• Phil Fish cancels Fez II and announces his industry exit

Above: Capcom’s latest Breath of Fire for mobile devices and web browsers.

Image Credit: Capcom

Mobile news:

• Mobile giant DeNA opens a new chapter in tablet games with The Drowning
• Capcom announces Breath of Fire 6 exclusively for mobile devices and browsers
• Street Fighter X All Capcom is the publisher’s latest mobile game
• South Korea’s Kakao has become the ‘new El Dorado’ of mobile games
• App Annie releases mobile apps to deliver analytics on the go
• Sprint will adopt PlayPhone’s mobile-social games portal
• Take-Two: XCOM proves a premium price can work on iOS
• PlayHaven’s latest tool helps studios push marketing notifications to your phone
• Zynga’s hold slips as Facebook launches mobile games publishing initiative
• Arkadium reports strong growth for its Windows 8 mobile and PC games

All this funding:

• SnowFury Studios reveals gigantic MMORPG for mobile; asking for $500K on Kickstarter
• Finland’s Grand Cru raises $11M in financing as it shows off its first game: Supernauts
• Mobile gaming startup Kiwi raises $9M from Sequoia
• Canadian gaming incubator offers $150K ‘loan’ program to help studios launch

Microsoft:

• Xbox One is always running matchmaking in the background
• Microsoft’s ‘red rings of death’ to be very unlikely with the Xbox One
• Microsoft bumps Xbox One’s GPU clock speed from 800 MHz to 853 MHz
• Earn loot by reporting trolls in Xbox Live’s new community programs

Acquisitions incorporated:

• Asia and tech titans keep game acquisitions alive in 2013
• RealNetworks buys Slingo for $15.6M as it doubles down on social casino games
• Westward bound: Asia’s Nexon takes a stake in game maker Rumble Entertainment

Earnings:

• Activision beats earnings expectations despite bleeding World of Warcraft subscribers
• Nintendo sells 5 million copies of Animal Crossing: New Leaf worldwide
• Nintendo swings back to net profit, but it sold only 160K Wii U consoles in past quarter
• Take-Two raises full-year guidance after strong quarter
• Google trumpets early success of Play game services on Android

Tech:

• Check out this Game Boy emulator running on a Google Chromecast

Trailer hoedown:

• Japanese Pokémon X and Y reveals new tree-like character in action

Bad news:

• Court rules against EA in NCAA-athlete lawsuit

Reviews:

• Dragon’s Crown’s action outpunches its controversial art (review)
• Joyful exploration and intense fights make Pikmin 3 the best Wii U game yet (review)
• Nvidia Shield is a game geek’s dream device (hands-on review)

Previews:

• Total War: Rome II has mind-boggling, epic combat (hands-on preview)
• Playing good vs. playing evil in Batman: Arkham Origins’ asymmetrical multiplayer
• Skylanders: Swap Force has lots of variety … and repetition (hands-on preview)

Interviews:

• How Oculus VR faced tragedy amid virtual reality’s great moment (interview part two)
• How Oculus VR resuscitated virtual reality for games (interview part 1)
• EA’s top geek Scott Cronce steers us through gaming’s future technology (interview)
• Sportvision wants to let you virtually hit a real Major League pitch (interview)

Pieces of flair: 

• How to register your digital copy of Fire Emblem: Awakening after linking your Club Nintendo account (eShop)
• The disasters and deal killers that can happen when selling your game company
• 11 fresh Grand Theft Auto V screenshots reveal planes, boats, and automobiles
• Comparing MOBAs: Dota 2 vs. League of Legends vs. Heroes of Newerth