Welcome to another GamesBeat weekly roundup! This time, we celebrated the 30th anniversary of Super Mario Bros., Amazon showed off a Fire TV made for gaming, and The Witness finally got a release date.
Enjoy, and have a great weekend!
Pieces of flair and opinion
- The DeanBeat: Wandering around the desert with Mad Max
- Other Nintendo series that need the Super Mario Maker treatment
- This Super Mario Maker stage puts David Cage on blast — and is better than Heavy Rain
- Resolution Games CEO and ex-Candy Crush dev Tommy Palm hits GamesBeat 2015’s stage
- 5 questions I have after beating Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
- We’re giving away a copy of Super Mario Maker and a classic Mario Amiibo on Facebook
- Industry pundit Michael Pachter confirmed as GamesBeat speaker
- Raising the dead: 5 techniques for bringing back inactive players
- Using creativity to make both meaning and money
- China doesn’t want your games
- SGN uses celebrity Ken Jeong of The Hangover in a funny Cookie Jam ad
- Under new president, this is still Satoru Iwata’s Nintendo — and it’s at a crossroads
- Searching for ‘Super Mario Bros.’ on Google reveals new Easter egg
- Read+Watch+Listen: Bonus material for Until Dawn fans
- Super Mario Bros. is 30 years old today and deserves our thanks
- Forget the remote: These controllers should work with the Apple TV
- Disney Infinity 3.0: a Toy Box guide for new players
News
- Rocket League gets more DLC in October
- Star Fox Zero delayed to Q1 2016
- Virtual reality startup Jaunt reportedly raised $50M-plus funding round
- 343 Industries describes the requisitions system for Halo 5: Guardians multiplayer
- New Nintendo patent reveals scroll wheel shoulder buttons
- Microsoft’s HoloLens augmented-reality headset is still half a decade away [update]
- Esports should grow into a $765M business by 2018 as millions tune in for Dota 2, Counter-Strike
- Activision says Destiny: The Taken King sets record for day one PlayStation 4 downloads
- The Witness — Jonathan Blow’s followup to Braid — finally gets a release date
- Amazon announces gaming-focused Fire TV
- Persona 5 delayed to summer 2016
- Amazon updates Fire TV with Alexa and 4K video, Fire TV stick with voice remote; launches Fire TV Gaming Edition
- All post-launch Rainbow Six: Siege maps will be free to download
- World of Warships leaves its beta drydock and officially launches
- Valiant Hearts creator cooks up Lost in Harmony for his next game
- Grand Theft Auto V’s latest PC patch seems to have fixed the framerate stuttering bugs
- IndieCade Festival 2015 reveals its award nominees
- Major League Gaming announces Smash Bros. Melee and Wii U tournaments for its October event
- Telltale’s Minecraft: Story Mode releases first episode on October 13
- World of Tanks is heading to PlayStation 4 — beta test coming by end of year
- Apple TV games must use the remote — no controller-only games allowed
- Hilarious Madden glitch has Arizona and Carolina trying to recover a fumble for 10 minutes
- Shinra expands its cloud gaming to include Verizon fiber customers in Texas
- BBC launches Doctor Who Game Maker to help teach principles of game design
- Resident Evil: Umbrella Corps is Capcom’s new team-based shooter for PlayStation 4 and PC
- Sony renames Project Morpheus as PlayStation VR
- Sony cuts price for the PlayStation 4 in Japan
- Sony launches PlayStation Now game streaming in Japan
- Square Enix shows off World of Final Fantasy
- Bandai Namco shows off One Piece: Burning Blood
- Sony shows off Gravity Daze 2 for the PS4 at Tokyo Game Show
- Sony kicks off TGS with new PS Vita colors and Bloodborne expansion
- Esports tournament site Battlefy reveals what games excite its growing community
- Nintendo’s new president predicted the Wii U would fail
- Elite Chess League makes a game that a billion people know into an esport
- Super Mario Maker debuts at No. 2 in the U.K., behind Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
- Nintendo names Tatsumi Kimishima chief exec following Satoru Iwata’s passing in July
Mobile and social
- Downton Abbey now has its own mobile game
- HonorBound developer JuiceBox thinks it knows how to get us playing mobile role-playing games
- Award-winning South Korean RPG Blade: Sword of Elysion hits iOS in the U.S.
- Even Star Trek has a match-3 puzzle game now
- How big-budget ad campaigns have changed mobile gaming
- Osmo Numbers teaches kids to be more creative with math
- Razer’s $2,400 ultra-HD gaming laptop is even better with Windows 10
- Spacetime Studios’ Call of Champions joins the mobile MOBA fray on iOS
- Golden Tee is coming out of the bars and teeing off on mobile
- Tencent reportedly in talks with Sequoia-backed game streaming service Douyu TV
- 8 ways that iOS 9 improves gaming on iPhone and iPad
- Litesprite uses mobile games to treat chronic stress problems
- Mobilepocalypse: Why mobile-user acquisition costs could double in the next 12 months
- Vungle Premium is a programmatic private market for brands seeking mobile audiences
- GrowMobile offers free trial for new mobile app engagement platform
- Bandura Games aims to create world peace through mobile games
- Zynga buys Rising Tide startup, bringing back one of its former casino game execs
- Mariah Carey commercial debuts for Game of War: Fire Age
- Alien vs. Predator is coming to Facebook thanks to Plarium and Fox
Previews and interviews
- How Thad David went from being a video game-worthy badass to a video game developer
- Kingdom lets you be the king or queen of your own little domain
- Star Stable succeeds with online horse game by ignoring good advice
- The beautiful Dark Souls print that almost never happened (interview)
- How OverClocked ReMix makes a Final Fantasy IX album worthy of the role-playing classic
Reviews and impressions
- Anki Overdrive is a kick — and this racing set shows how video games have changed toys
- Forza Motorsport 6 is the new king of console racing sims
- Getting Total War combat right is tough, but Warhammer: Total War is on the right track
- Mad Max, Jurassic World, and more: Grading this summer’s movie-based games
- Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is stealth perfection that’s light on story
- Nyko’s PlayStation 4 Type Pad works well even with my fat thumbs
- Tearaway Unfolded proves that bigger isn’t always better