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Welcome to another GamesBeat weekly roundup! This time, a prototype for a different take on Star Wars: Battlefront III leaks, we see what Metal Gear Solid looks like in Unreal Engine 4, and Waluigi tries on some underwear. Also, Minecraft porn is apparently becoming a thing.
Enjoy, and have a great weekend!
Pieces of flair and opinion
- The DeanBeat: My rank is 3,440,250 in Call of Duty: Black Ops III multiplayer
- The Witness developer tweets what looks like a piss jug — the Internet handles it well
- DICE Summit will dive into games for cars, VR, film, and storytelling
- Heroes of the Storm’s Greymane straddles the ideal line between creative and intricate
- The original Metal Gear Solid looks gorgeous in this Unreal Engine 4 remake
- It’s too early for HTC to put all its eggs in one virtual basket
- Look out, Lightning — Waluigi is Calvin Kleins’ new underwear model
News
- Elite: Dangerous doesn’t officially support Oculus Rift, focuses on SteamVR instead
- HTC Vive gets VR game from ‘Rick and Morty’ creator and The Stanley Parable designer
- Fire Emblem Fates’ Western localization edits out ‘gay conversion’ and ‘drugging’ scene
- Super Mario Bros. 3’s Game Boy Advance port is now on Wii U
- Heroes of the Storm gets new Diablo characters — including an old favorite
- Xbox One Elite controller now works on Steam Machines and Steam Link
- Microsoft releases new Windows 10 preview for PCs with a quick history menu in Edge
- Sega 3D Classics Collection is a disc version of the publisher’s excellent 3DS digital remasters
- The Witcher 2 highlights 10 new Xbox 360 backward compatible games for Xbox One
- Steam is down for maintenance
- Supposed Star Wars: Battlefront III prototype leaks online — playable on modded Xbox 360s
- Warner Bros. disappoints PC players again with Mortal Kombat X DLC characters
- Marmalade Technologies raises $5M to introduce more developers to its game-making platform
- D.I.C.E. is going to be Epic thanks to sponsorship
- Mortal Kombat XL includes every DLC character from last year’s gory fighter
- GDC: 16% of game developers are working on VR, up from 7% a year ago
- Bravely Second launches April 15 in the West on Nintendo 3DS
- AMD CEO says buzz and interest in VR could boost PC market in 2016
- Oculus VR founder Palmer Luckey must face breach-of-contract lawsuit, judge rules
- Valve on virtual reality: ‘We want to make sure that developers don’t get burned’
- Xbox One update adds requested features — here’s what’s different
- Investors threw $686 million at virtual and augmented reality in 2015
- Ubisoft teams with Amazon Prime and YouTube stars to create live-action short film for The Division
- Hero’s Song RPG is the first game from ex-Sony Online chief John Smedley’s startup
- Punch Club makes $1M in 10 days after its experimental Twitch Plays launch
- Intel reboots Intel Inside brand strategy with ‘amazing experiences outside’
- Microsoft acquires MinecraftEdu, announces a new Minecraft edition for schools
- ‘Minecraft’ is one of Pornhub’s fastest-growing search terms
- Facebook is opening an Oculus research office in Pittsburgh
- Telltale’s Minecraft: Story Mode is coming to Wii U
- Tokyo VR Startups sets up an incubator and funding for Japanese virtual reality
- The Witness ESRB rating points to Xbox One release
- Oculus and Alienware cofounders geek out about taking VR to the masses
- Microsoft’s HoloLens will be ‘totally wireless’ with up to 5.5 hours of battery life
Mobile and social
- GetSocial raises $2.5M to boost engagement in mobile games
- The Oatmeal’s wacky Exploding Kittens debuts on mobile with iOS game
- How League of Legends players went from hating Facebook to happily using it to find friends
- Fuel Ignite enables game developers to run live operations without a ton of money
- VC Mobile unveils Creature Quest mobile game from Might & Magic creator
- Glu announces $7.5M investment in QuizUp developer ahead of TV show, may lead to a full acquisition
- Skillz launches crossplatform tournament system for mobile esports
- App Annie 2015: Google Play saw 100% more downloads than the iOS App Store, but Apple generated 75% more revenue
- South Korea’s Netmarble finally brings its near-$1B mobile gaming business to the U.S.
- Gordon Ramsay joins Kim Kardashian in Glu Mobile’s gaming stable
- Funimation has new partners to bring more anime-based games to mobile and browsers
- Metal band Iron Maiden is making a mobile game
- Spicy Horse Games launches free-to-play mobile title Critter Academy
- Pollen VC launches user acquisition service for mobile game and app makers
- War Dragons companion novel features the mobile game’s players
Reviews, previews, and interviews