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This week, GamesBeat prepares for the Wii U launch Sunday with all the guides and reviews you’ll ever need, Call of Duty: Black Ops II goes on sale and gets reviewed, and Xbox Live turns 10.
You’ll also find reviews for When Vikings Attack, Angry Birds Star Wars, and a Threeview of Halo 4.
News:
- Sony’s PlayStation 3 hits 70M sold, good enough for third place
- YouTube rolls out new Wii app just in time for the Wii U launch
- Second Quest raises $70K to reimagine Zelda and games through art
- Gogamingo’s startup idea: Compete in tournaments, win real stuff
- Console-quality gaming without the console: OnLive is live in some LG TVs
- Valve cofounder Gabe Newell going to be a hall of famer
- This week in the Nintendo Download: Epic Mickey, Myst, and Hotel Transylvania
- Over 1 million players completed Halo 4′s campaign in the first five days
- Badgeville simplifies gamification for developers
- Rumble Entertainment seeks triple-A quality with Nightmare Guardians tablet game
- After a decade of service, Xbox Live usage hits an all-time high
- ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ Bane signs on as Sam Fisher in Splinter Cell film
- Major League Gaming: Serving 11.7 million viewers in 2012
- ChangYou new free-to-play portal targets midcore and hardcore gamers
- New Grand Theft Auto V trailer balances comedy, drama, and skydiving out of jeeps (video)
- THQ says it is in talks about extending its credit line with bank
- Zynga juggles leadership team as CFO departs for Facebook
- Star Citizen Kickstarter reveals early piloting gameplay
- Sony launches ‘augmented reality’ title Wonderbook: Book of Spells from Harry Potter author
- No second chances: Treyarch will ban anyone caught hacking Call of Duty: Black Ops II
- Here’s what a $99.99 box of Tomb Raider stuff looks like
- PlayStation Plus launches on PS Vita next week
- Call of Duty: Black Ops II’s unlikely cameo: Former CIA chief David Petraeus
- Halo 4 sold a record-breaking $220M in its first 24 hours
- BioWare Montreal using the Battlefield 3 engine for the next Mass Effect
- Notch: Minecraft PC sales just passed 8 million
Mobile news:
- Glu Mobile lays off employees at two offices, closes a third
- Zynga brings its match-three gem game to mobile
- Mobile developer Intellijoy partners with YogiPlay to improve its educational apps (exclusive)
- Mobile game startup Pocket Gems appoints No. 2 exec as CEO
- After 400 million downloads, Storm8 releases new puzzle game to continue customer engagement
- Kixeye: Zynga is ‘desperate’ to get hands on its secrets
- New Kiip expands beyond mobile game rewards to other apps and platforms
- PlayHaven rounds up $8 million to finance international expansion
- Tapjoy runs into new drama over its app download incentives
- Time to get a bit fit: Fitbit One activity tracker now shipping
- Mobile-and-social app analytics firm Swrve raises $6.25M (exclusive)
Wii U:
- 10 things you don’t know about the Nintendo Wii U
- Wii U players could get an unfair advantage in Call of Duty: Black Ops II multiplayer
- Wii U shortage will be severe during holidays, but new console may not outsell Wii in long run
- GamesBeat’s Wii U roundup: Everything you ever wanted to know
- Here is the Wii U menu music (and more)
- Nintendo’s Scott Moffitt gives us the latest on the Wii U launch (interview)
Reviews:
- Donuts and penguins are weapons of war When Vikings Attack (review)
- Nintendo Land: Where the amusement sometimes ends (review)
- New Super Mario Bros. U is far from new (review)
- What’s in the Box?! Call of Duty: Black Ops II Care Package edition (review)
- Breaking down the four different games in Call of Duty: Black Ops II (review)
- Threeview: Halo 4 reviewed by a critic, an analyst, and an academic
- Angry Birds Star Wars plays off of both franchise’s strengths (review)
Pieces of flair:
- New Skyrim: Dragonborn screens reveal expansion’s inner Morrowind (gallery)
- If Halo’s Master Chief had a dating site profile
- Call of Duty: Black Ops II debuts at midnight openings around the world (photo gallery)
- Call of Duty: Black Ops II multiplayer unlock guide
- 2D game characters break into the real world