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Hello, and welcome to another GamesBeat weekly roundup! This time, the original StarCraft is now free, we check out Telltale’s new Guardians of the Galaxy series, and we try to figure out why Nintendo is killing the NES Classic Edition.
Enjoy, and have a great weekend!
Pieces of flair and opinion
- The DeanBeat: Console games on the couch and augmented reality entertainment everywhere
- PC Gaming Weekly: Tencent is China’s turf, but Steam is quite safe in the West
- On this 4/20, let’s remember Wiz Khalifa’s #Weed3
- AR/VR Weekly: Can licensed games build a VR empire on PSVR?
- A (Palmer) Luckey’s Tale: Donald Trump, Chrono Trigger, and 100 grand
- Why is Nintendo killing the NES Classic Edition? GamesBeat Decides
- GamesBeat Summit will examine how investors see the startup climate
News
- March 2017 NPD: Zelda and Tom Clancy have a big month
- Assassin’s Creed creator’s new game Ancestors gets a teaser trailer
- Blizzard’s motto for Heroes of the Storm 2.0: free heroes for you, and you, and you!
- Natsume joins other Japanese console studios on PC with Wild Guns Reloaded
- Epic wants to help architects use Unreal Engine
- Call of Duty’s new esports league kicks off Friday
- Only Tencent could bring Rocket League to China
- Paragon’s newest hero is a demonic bounty hunter
- Newzoo: Games will generate $109 billion in 2017
- Adult Swim releases Owlchemy’s Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality
- Swingvy raises $1.1 million to shake up HR in Southeast Asia
- Code Vein is Bandai Namco’s bloodthirsty adventure that takes place in a ‘demented new reality’
- HTC opens up the code for its VR Vive Tracker
- StarCraft is now free as Blizzard rethinks the huge franchise’s future
- Ubisoft opens studios in France and Germany to boost blockbuster game development
- SuperData: Gaming-related videos will earn $4.6 billion this year
- Gambling website finds Evil Geniuses is the top-earning team in esports
- Reservoir Dogs: Bloody Days hits Steam May 18 as film celebrates its 25th anniversary
- Watch Dogs 2 gets the new content you crave … like a tentacle-clad sex robot
- Facebook updates features for Instant Games, Gameroom, and Gaming Video
- This modern take on Ghosts ‘n Goblins raised nearly $160,000 on Kickstarter
- SteelSeries teams up with Evil Geniuses esports team on gaming gear
- Microsoft launches Halo Wars: Definitive Edition on Steam
- Yooka-Laylee PC mod brings the nostalgic game into VR
- Game trade group ESA will give grants for tech-based youth programs
- Horizon: Zero Dawn’s new documentary shows how Guerrilla made such an impactful game
- PSVR X-Wing Mission studio Criterion is working on Star Wars: Battlefront II
- Heroes of the Storm will get a dose of Overwatch with Genji
- Tencent is rebranding its PC digital game store as WeGame (updated)
- Voximplant makes it easy to put voice and video communication in AR/VR apps
Mobile and social
- PokeVS launches its new Pokémon Go scanner to help find creatures
- Crusaders of Light is NetEase’s latest mobile MMO
- DomiNations has bagged $100 million in revenue since its April 2015 mobile launch
- Prison Architect makes a jailbreak from consoles and PC to mobile
- Jam City CEO has high hopes for Snoopy Pop bubble shooter mobile game
- Facebook launches Spaces social virtual reality platform
- Facebook is launching augmented reality game platform later this year
- Jackpot for IGT: DoubleU Games buys its social casino game studio Double Down for $825 million
Previews, reviews, and interviews
- Switch’s Puyo Puyo Tetris hurts my brain so good
- Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War III: Our impressions show strong story but confusing introduction
- Here’s how to barely hold off the Orks in Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War III’s first mission
- Meet the G413: Logitech’s latest Romer-G mechanical keyboard
- Watch us raid The Disney Afternoon Collection’s temple of lost 8-bit treasures
- Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds update: Here’s what’s new and different
- Beamdog ‘spells’ out its biggest hurdle to making Planescape: Torment — Enhanced Edition
- Turtle Beach’s Ear Force 520 and 420X bring simple wireless audio to PC, PS4, and Xbox One
- SteelSeries’s Arctis 3 and Arctis 7 headsets sound great but feel weird on your head
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is Nintendo’s master class on releasing an older game
- The Disney Afternoon Collection is like raiding the temple of lost 8-bit treasures
- Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy: A Telltale Series’ first episode lacks an identity