Welcome to another GamesBeat weekly roundup! This time, we picked the 10 best RPGs of 2015, the PlayStation 4 continues to outsell the Xbox One, and Psychonauts 2 finished its crowdfunding campaign.
Enjoy, and have a great weekend!
Pieces of flair and opinion
- The DeanBeat: Worldwide game revenues weren’t too shabby in 2015
- GamesBeat Summit 2016’s initial speakers include King’s CEO, Google’s chief game designer
- Who wants a gamified and web-connected toothbrush from Kolibree?
- Twitch is playing one of those claw machine games — and it’s so frustrating
- The virtual reality headsets that will rock your 2016 — and beyond
- Porn is already deciding VR’s future
- The 10 best RPGs of 2015: The Witcher 3, Xenoblade Chronicles X, Pillars of Eternity, and more
- Here is 2016’s game release dates schedule
- $599 Oculus Rift headset and 100 games will kickstart VR in 2016
- This mod puts Watch Dog’s hacking inside Grand Theft Auto V
- CleverPet Hub is a $269 video game console for your dog
- Oslo’s City Hall plays Super Mario and Minecraft tunes on the hour
News
- Splatoon’s getting a new weapon tomorrow … and it’ll be the last
- 7 years as king of the hill — Call of Duty is again the top-selling game of the year
- 2015 NPD: The 10 best-selling games of the year
- December 2015 NPD: Call of Duty, Star Wars, Fallout end the year strong
- Super Mario Maker surpasses 1M copies sold in the U.S.
- PlayStation 4 outsold Xbox One in December
- Elite: Dangerous sells 1.4 million copies on Xbox One and PC
- HoloLens video schools developers on what they’ll ‘need to know’
- Ex-Call of Duty developer acquires Denial esports team
- Why ESPN is finally getting serious about esports
- Twitch makes it easier to find Twitch Plays Pokémon-style games
- CEO Lisa Su expects company watchers to say ‘AMD is back’ in 2016
- Wolf Link Amiibo unlocks a new dungeon in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD
- World of Tanks debuts on PS4 next week
- Xbox Live is down for some — and Snoop Dogg is mad as hell about it
- D&D can buy your Dungeon Masters Guild user-generated content for video games
- Twitter Gaming debuts so you can tweet about games in 140 characters
- Activision execs, VR luminaries among gaming’s most influential people during CES
- Final Fantasy’s Lightning did a fashion interview, and yep, it’s weird
- Microsoft open-sources its JavaScript engine Chakra
- Microsoft releases new Windows 10 preview for PCs with ‘structural improvements’ to OneCore
- Even Duke Nukem won’t work with the Republican Party
- Nvidia blames Apple for bug that exposes porn browsing in Chrome’s incognito mode
- Mewtwo and 2 other Pokémon join Pokkén Tournament’s Wii U roster
- Envelop VR adds Google Ventures to $5.5 million round for enterprise virtual reality
- Activision Blizzard names ‘Pulp Fiction’ producer Stacey Sher to co-lead film studio
- Rockstar North boss leaves after 15 years at the Grand Theft Auto studio
- Hulu shares Valve’s sentiments on VR: ‘We just want to learn’
- Amazon Prime members get 20% off games in effort to counter Best Buy, GameStop, and EA Access
- Psychonauts 2 ends crowdfunding campaign with $3.8 million
- EA launches Origin Access today — $5 for its Netflix of games and early trials
- Homefront: The Revolution debuts on May 17, and closed beta test is now live
- The Division’s new trailer leaked by GameStop Italy
- Psychonauts is coming to PlayStation 4
- Pokémon Day and Super Bowl commercial coming as franchise celebrates 20th anniversary
- Oculus founder Palmer Luckey: Virtual reality will drive demand for high-end PCs
- Valve mistakenly posts recap of its winter sale for all to see — and turns out it made money
- Upcoming Xbox One feature shows you who’s in a party
- Gamemakers spent nearly $630M on TV ads in 2015
- Undertale gets snubbed by Writers Guild of America
- EA Sports: ‘We have no new plans’ regarding NCAA Football despite Facebook post
- ‘The Walking Dead’ publisher to adapt emotional Oxenfree game for film and other projects
- HTC Vive VR headset opens for preorders on February 29
Mobille and social
- Ubisoft’s Smurfs Epic Run sprints onto the app stores
- MMA mobile card game secures $1.5 million ahead of global launch
- Southeast Asian kids are 20% more active on mobile than U.S. kids
- iOS 9 is now on 75% of Apple’s mobile devices
Previews and interviews
- The Division: Ubisoft promises solo players won’t be left out
- Tom Clancy’s The Division has an engrossing world that’ll eat up all your free time
- Warhammer 40K makes Talisman: The Horus Heresy a true digital board game
- Winning Putt is Bandai Namco’s free-to-play swing at World Golf Tour, PGA Tour Online
- Plant vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2’s Backyard Battleground isn’t all about shooting up stuff
- Racing legend Michael Andretti gets behind electric vehicle Formula E races
Reviews and impressions