Hollywood & Games returns to Los Angeles on December 10, bringing together 250+ executives, founders, investors and decision-makers at the Grammy Museum's Clive Davis Theater. Explore the business of entertainment's biggest partnership through independent, journalist-led conversations on IP, investment, storytelling and new opportunities across gaming and Hollywood. Space is limited. Secure your seat today.
This week, EA announced that it is removing online pass requirements from games currently in stores, Tropes vs. Women creator Anita Sarkeesian overcomes Internet idiocy to get her YouTube show back online, and free-to-play darlings Candy Crush Saga and Puzzle & Dragons continue their revenue dominance on mobile platforms.
You’ll also find reviews for Fuse, Skyward Collapse, and CastleStorm, as well as previews for The Elder Scrolls Online, Rayman Legends, Wolfenstein: The New Order, and Infinite Crisis.
News
- The DeanBeat: Gaming’s biggest ‘suit’ gets ready for the craziness of the E3 trade show
- EA also stripping Online Pass requirements from its existing games
- Multiplayer online squad strategy? Quark Games introduces a new genre with Champs Battlegrounds
- BlueStacks’ GamePop Android console gets $50 worth of free games
- Sonic: Lost World features competitive multiplayer and parkour moves
- Ubisoft plans to show Watch Dogs, Splinter Cell, and more during its E3 presentation
- Blizzard delays unannounced MMO until 2016, resets whole project (exclusive)
- Anita Sarkeesian’s second ‘Tropes vs. Women’ video is back on YouTube
- Ubisoft bringing Rayman Legends to PlayStation Vita with bonus content
- Minecraft developer Mojang unleashing new game next week
- Some independent game stores may not carry used Xbox One games
Mobile news
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic out now for iPad
- Candy Crush Saga and Puzzle & Dragons continue revenue dominance on mobile
- Crazy popular Dots iPhone game moves to the iPad with multiplayer mode
- Why social features are so important to mobile games
Tech
- Razer unveils ‘the world’s thinnest gaming notebook”
- The console alternatives: Everything you need to know about Ouya, GameStick, and Shield
- Researchers bring in graphics supercomputer for a breakthrough in the fight against HIV
- Forget the Xbox One and PS 4 — the most powerful gaming device is your PC
Bad news
PS4 vs Xbox One
- Sony CEO plays down ‘media hub’ and says PlayStation 4 is for gamers
- Who will win the game platform war?
All t his funding
- X-COM plus Game of Thrones equals Double Fine’s turn-based tactical Kickstarter game
- Clip raises $1.5M to fund Square-like mobile payments in Mexico
Interviews
- Former EA/Playfish exec joins board of red-hot mobile gaming startup Supercell (interview)
- Nazi robots in the ’60s: A conversation with Wolfenstein creative director Jens Matthies
- The Evil Within producer: The story is the puzzle (interview)
- Elder Scrolls Online’s game director on lore, combat, giant demon anchors, and dragons (interview)
- Infinite Crisis takes on League of Legends with DC characters (video interview)
- Splinter Cell: Blacklist’s Spies vs. Mercs multiplayer mode delivers exciting squad combat (video interview)
- Will Gran Turismo 6 take Sony to 80M racing games sold? (video interview)
Reviews
- Skyward Collapse truly reinvents the god game (review)
- CastleStorm offers fun, sheep-driven destruction and distracting strategy (review)
- Fuse stylishly hits the target but misses the bull’s-eye (review)
Previews
- Delays helped make Rayman Legends better — and brought some gender balance as well (preview)
- Ninja Theory’s Fightback: A touch-screen brawler that actually kicks ass (preview)
- Resident Evil creator returns to pure survival horror with The Evil Within (preview)
- Wolfenstein: The New Order moves the Nazi revenge fantasy into an alternate universe (hands-on preview)
- The Elder Scrolls Online is Elder Scrolls first, MMO second (preview)
- Infinite Crisis melds MOBA genre with familiar DC heroes (hands-on preview)
Pieces of flair
- Filling World of Warcraft’s boots: Why Blizzard had to delay Titan
- The Entertainment Software Association helped NYPD and Canadian Mounties stop game pirates in 2012
- Why curator Paola Antonelli added video games to the NYC Museum of Modern Art
- If Resident Evil’s Jill Valentine had a dating site profile
- Your lingering BioShock Infinite questions answered (more or less)
- What’s in the cube? The secret behind Peter Molyneux’s ‘Curiosity’ is digital godhood
- Do you deserve forgiveness in Metro: Last Light?