Welcome to another GamesBeat weekly roundup! This time, Nintendo reveals the New 2DS XL, the PlayStation 4 hits 60 million sold, and Star Wars gets a match-3 puzzle game.
Enjoy, and have a great weekend!
Pieces of flair and opinion
- The DeanBeat: How Anita Sarkeesian’s Feminist Frequency changed games
- PC Gaming Weekly: Why we think PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is special
- Watch VR horror game Wilson’s Heart disappoint Conan with its lack of sex
- How Bravely Default’s epic soundtrack empowers players
- AR/VR Weekly: These are the voyages of the Starship Virtual Reality
- Watch our PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds team-building exercise fall apart
- What should you expect from EA at E3? GamesBeat Decides
- Grand Theft Auto V vs. Google Earth reveals Rockstar’s attention to detail
- Final GamesBeat Summit 2017 agenda: Inspiration for sci-fi, tech, and games
- Watch us try to do a perfect run in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe’s 200cc mode
- A trio of visionaries will explore the future of augmented reality
News
- Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS passes 2 million sales
- Sony sold 60 million PS4s to date, including 20 million in past year
- Nintendo to launch new 2DS XL handheld on July 28
- Bluehole updates PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds to fix loot balance
- SuperData: Digital gaming brought in $8 billion in March
- Intel CEO says higher-than-expected prices helped drive Q1 profit growth
- Microsoft’s Xbox gaming division generated $1.9 billion last quarter
- Intel slightly beats analyst expectations with revenue of $14.8 billion and earnings of $3.2 billion
- Razer says its wireless Lancehead mouse is reliable enough for esports
- AMD’s Radeon software adds Quake Champions promo link to your PC’s desktop
- Nintendo’s hardware chief Genyo Takeda is retiring after 45 years
- For Honor’s second season adds new heroes and maps
- Bitkraft Esports Ventures will invest in esports startups
- Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Nintendo Switch sell more than 2.7 million units
- Stardock plans Crusade update for Galactic Civilizations III on May 4
- Jet Set Radio’s beloved street skating comes back in Hover: Revolt of Gamers
- Call of Duty: WWII’s beta test is a preorder bonus
- Team Liquid renews its Twitch partnership
- Your Hot Wheels toys are taking on Forza Horizon 3 in a new expansion
- Danger Zone wants to bring back the joy of Burnout’s car crashing
- AMD’s latest $1,000 Radeon Pro Duo puts 2 Polaris GPUs into one card
- Heroes of the Storm 2.0 is live with its free heroes and new loot chests
- Overwatch’s D.Va joins Heroes of the Storm
- Night Trap, the cheesy FMV horror game that riled Congress, is back
- Paragon’s new update drops just as Blizzard preps Heroes of the Storm relaunch
- AMD debuts a VR experience around big India movie release
- Inspired by X-COM, Snapshot Games is creating Phoenix Point for fall 2018
- Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite launches September 19 and shows off its story mode
- MarcoPolo Learning raises $8.5 million and cuts deal with Boat Rocker Media
- GameInfluencer raises funding for influencer marketing platform
- Bravely Default developer Silicon Studio moves into game engines with open-source Xenko platform
- Vanquish tease hidden in Bayonetta’s PC update
- Nintendo’s Zelda: Breath of the Wild prototype gets a fan remake
- Elite: Dangerous and Planet Coaster parley digital success into retail game releases
- Mad Max developer Avalanche scores $10 million from Nordic film giant
- Digital Domain releases camera and tools to create virtual reality experiences
- HP moves into VR and AR with investment in Venture Reality Fund
Mobile and social
- Star Wars: Puzzle Droids is the match-3 mobile game we were all expecting
- Pine Street Codeworks makes a prize-winning game out of matching soap bubbles
- Pictionary’s first mobile app lets you sketch on the go
- Classic game Riven follows Myst onto Android smartphones
- GSN chief to step down after a decade making games and TV shows
- Newzoo: Mobile game revenue will grow 66% from $38 billion in 2016 to $65 billion in 2020
- How Jam City CEO Chris DeWolfe sees the freakin’ mobile game world
- Jam City launches another freakin’ Family Guy match-3 mobile game
Previews, reviews, and interviews
- Animating the faces of fear and courage in Call of Duty: WWII
- How Sledgehammer Games re-created the sounds of war for Call of Duty: WWII
- Ophelia tries to save Hamlet in the alternate universe of Elsinore
- Sledgehammer grapples with playing the Germans in Call of Duty: WWII
- Call of Duty: WWII’s story will show the honest side of heroism
- Call of Duty: WWII — punch (or shoot or blow up) these Nazi zombies
- Call of Duty: WWII’s trailer gives the Fighting First a starring role
- Why Sledgehammer’s founders wanted to take Call of Duty back to World War II
- Sledgehammer’s Call of Duty: WWII will be an unflinching and respectful combat experience
- The HyperX Pulserfire is a comfortable plug-and-play gaming mouse
- How Ubisoft crafted Star Trek: Bridge Crew into a multiplayer VR game
- Star Trek: Bridge Crew makes zapping Klingons in VR a hoot
- MSI’s latest gaming laptop with Kaby Lake is a multitasking beast