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Hello, and welcome to another GamesBeat weekly roundup! This time, Nintendo wins April, with the Switch hitting the top console spot while Mario Kart 8 Deluxe was the best-selling game. But Persona 5 was right behind it. In fact, it sold more than five times better in the U.S. than Persona 4 did. Also, Ubisoft confirmed that Far Cry 5 is coming, and Sega wants to bring back some of its older franchises.
Enjoy, and have a great weekend!
Pieces of flair and opinion
- The DeanBeat: Destiny 2 is Bungie’s big chance to expand its audience
- PC Gaming Weekly: Sega’s resurgence isn’t happening on consoles
- What should you expect from Microsoft at E3? GamesBeat Decides
- Why user interface designers must take cues from science fiction and games
- Building the virtual reality experiences and worlds of the future
- AR/VR Weekly: Keep your stinkin’ corporate hands off the metaverse
- Injustice 2’s facial animations raise the industry bar
- Gaming the system: Why the military embraced game-based learning and the classroom has not
- 5 Sega franchises we want to see make a comeback
- Rob Reid and Adam Gazzaley on putting the science in sci-fi
- Epic Games’ Tim Sweeney fears the Metaverse will be a proprietary technology
News
- NES Classic Edition outsold PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in April
- April 2017 NPD: Nintendo and Persona dominate gaming with big sales
- Destiny 2’s beta test is coming this summer
- Destiny 2 isn’t coming to Steam — it’s exclusive to Blizzard’s launcher
- Overwatch is adding three new Arena maps for its first anniversary
- Kickstarter rounds up partners to support hardware creators
- Nvidia launches inexpensive GeForce GT 1030 GPU for esports games
- Microsoft and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds join E3’s PC Gaming Show
- Overwatch’s first anniversary event starts May 23
- Gwent: The Witcher Card Game gets public beta for PS4, Xbox One, and PC
- RuneScape maker Jagex and Improbable partner to create massive open world games
- Nintendo Switch was the top U.S. console in April
- Final Fantasy IX PC mod adds high-def background art
- Sea of Thieves is getting a tiny technical alpha test on Windows 10
- AMD sets June launch for Zen-based Naples server chips
- Hearthstone’s next update is about keeping 70 million players happy
- Discord’s voice communications app for gamers quadruples to 45 million users
- Ubisoft: Far Cry 5 is coming
- Ubisoft’s online racer The Crew is getting a sequel
- Oculus is pumping up support for its developer site
- Sonic Forces takes a cue from Deviant Art with user-generated characters
- Intel and AMD reportedly have powerful new multicore CPUs coming
- Sega wants to revitalize its ‘dormant IPs’ while focusing more on PC games
- Pa-Rappa, Gitaroo Man devs put Rap Rabbit rhythm game on Kickstarter
- Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2 is flying to Switch, PS4, Xbox One, and PC
- Aquantia’s chips will enable blazing-fast local area network games
Mobile and social
- Google: Daydream has ‘more than 150 apps’
- Google Daydream’s Star Wars VR experience touts PC-level graphics on mobile
- Google unveils Daydream 2.0 with standalone headset support, Cast, and a VR browser
- Plarium brings Skynet upon us with Terminator Genisys mobile game
- Jeopardy! finally becomes a free-to-play mobile game
- Social Native raises $8 million for user-created advertisements
- Google announces new Daydream VR hardware — no phone required
- Samsung’s Galaxy S8 and LG will support Google’s Daydream VR
- Kongregate and Hyper Hippo go Red with Adventure Communist
- Former Disney leader will guide NBCUniversal into mobile games
- Nintendo is reportedly developing a Zelda smartphone game
Previews, reviews, and interviews
- Destiny 2: Hands-on video capture of a live Strike co-op mission
- Everything we learned about Destiny 2
- Destiny 2 new additions: Clans, more co-op play, and Red War story mode
- Bungie unveils the first gameplay details of sci-fi shooter Destiny 2
- Hands-on with the zany Arms for the Nintendo Switch
- Nintendo reaches for a brand new hit on the Switch with Arms
- Shadow of War gets a new trailer showing the vast open world of Mordor
- Rock Band VR review: It’s neat, but it’s not a breakthrough experience
- Expeditions: Viking makes choice matter through failure