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If you follow VentureBeat but don’t regularly check our GamesBeat site, here’s a list of the best video game stories we ran over the last seven days that you may have missed.
This week, Microsoft announces that the Xbox One is now a self-publishing platform, Sony adds Twitch.tv to its streaming services and does not require a PlayStation Plus subscription to use it, and Nintendo returns to profitability but only sold 160,000 Wii U systems last quarter.
You’ll also find reviews for Disney Infinity, The Bureau: XCOM Declassified, the Nvidia Shield, and Dive Kick as well as previews for Fighter Within, The Crew, and Pokémon X and Y.
News:
- The DeanBeat: At Europe’s E3, Microsoft gets a second chance, and Sony gets to tease Microsoft again
- What Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer did for Xbox — and what his retirement means for its future
- Rare will use Kinect ‘where it makes sense’ for potential Perfect Dark, Banjo Kazooie sequels
- Here’s 8 more Grand Theft Auto V screens, because waiting is hard
- A year after its HTML5 games disaster, Goko reboots with a new mobile strategy
- Titanfall does not support cross-platform play between Xbox One, Xbox 360, and PC
- League of Legends Championship Series isn’t profitable — Riot doesn’t care
- This is what a multiplayer battle in Total War: Rome II looks like
- Words With Friends is now fluent in 7 additional languages
- Valve turns to Payelp Global to handle transactions in Eastern Europe
- Microsoft Studios head defends making changes to Xbox One
- Bethesda wants to address Gold/Plus requirement for Elder Scrolls Online on Xbox One, PlayStation 4
- You can still guarantee a launch-day PlayStation 4 or Xbox One from Walmart
- EA’s ex-CEO John Riccitiello to speak at GamesBeat 2013
- The Sims 4 brings more detailed Create-a-Sim tool and rocket-ride innuendos
- Strip Sports Betting gamifies watching sports … and stripping
- Sony releases 12GB PlayStation 3 model in U.S. for $200
Announcements and reveals:
- Medieval multiplayer game Chilvary getting Deadliest Warrior expansion
- Sonic: Lost World’s Wii U surprise — Nights Into Dreams levels
- Nintendo confirms Metroid: Other M stage for next Super Smash Bros.
- Blizzard expanding Diablo III with Reaper of Souls
- The Elder Scrolls Online will have a $15 monthly subscription fee
- XCOM: Enemy Within to debut this fall as new expansion from Firaxis
- Ubisoft shows off World Dance online game play for Just Dance 2014
- CCP Games expands Eve Online’s universe again with virtual reality space sim Eve: Valkyrie
- Xbox One will have 23 games when it launches — here’s the full list
- Microsoft to make Xbox One into an indie self-publishing platform
- Ubisoft orders developer Blue Byte to storm the Web with Panzer General Online
Mobile news:
- This iPad game actually builds your kids’ brains — and tells you how they’re developing
- Among mobile gamers, males are the whales, and women don’t pay to play
- Kamcord crosses 1 billion mobile gameplay video recordings
- BlueStacks signs up mobile devs for its GamePop Android home console
- Hi-Rez teams up with China’s Tencent to publish battle game Smite
- Konami unveils Star Wars card battle game for mobile devices
- Sprint will adopt PlayPhone’s mobile-social games portal
- Zynga’s hold slips as Facebook launches mobile games publishing initiative
Earnings:
- The wait for new PlayStation 4s and Xbox Ones isn’t killing GameStop as it beats earnings estimates
- Nintendo swings back to net profit, but it sold only 160K Wii U consoles in past quarter
Sony at GamesCom:
- Watch PlayStation 4 chief Andrew House talk smack about Xbox One
- Ubisoft announces Watch Dogs film
- Here is your confirmed PlayStation 4 launch lineup (so far)
- Minecraft is a PlayStation 4 launch game
- Sony adds Twitch to PlayStation 4 sharing and streaming options
- Sony reveals Rogue Legacy, Wasteland Kings, and more indie games coming to PlayStation hardware
- LittleBigPlanet Hub coming ‘later this year’
- Sony cuts $50 off price of PlayStation Vita handheld
- Sony announces release date for Gran Turismo 6
EA at GamesCom:
- Plants vs Zombies 2 reaches 16M downloads in five days
- Battlefield 4 Premium members get early access to content and priority server queues
- Peggle 2 is an Xbox One launch game
Ruh-roh:
- Ouya takes flak for vomit ad that it pulled down
- Hacker snatches North American League of Legends player credit card numbers and more
- Big Fish Games lays off staff, shuts Vancouver office, and closes cloud business
Tech:
- Rare producer claims new Kinect can notice nearly imperceptible muscle movements
- Dream Arcades’ Kegerator Pro 60 has 140 arcades games playable on a 60-inch screen, with a beer keg
- How Silicon Studio is making PlayStation 4 and Xbox One games even more beautiful
Trailer hoedown:
- Gamescom: Electronic Arts trailer roundup — Titanfall, Dragon Age 3, and more
- Here’s the latest Titanfall gameplay trailer from EA’s Gamescom presentation
Reviews:
- Nvidia Shield is a game geek’s dream device (hands-on review)
- Divekick’s two-button fighting and in-jokes limit its appeal (review)
- The Bureau: XCOM Declassified is the series’ hyperactive but charming younger sibling (review)
- Disney Infinity is a $100M game full of ambition but is frustrating in execution
Previews:
- Here’s what’s new in The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD
- Fighter Within attempts to correct the mistakes of past motion fighters (preview)
- Ubisoft shows off next installment of Might & Magic role-playing game (hands-on preview)
- Will Ubisoft’s The Crew become the next big racing game franchise? (hands-on preview)
- Pokémon X and Y makes me excited for Pokémon games again (preview)
Interviews:
- False rumors, ugly cities, and sharks: How meticulous research shaped Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag
- Can you stay alive for 30 seconds in Call of Duty: Ghosts multiplayer? (interview)
- Mark Rubin on why Call of Duty finally recognized female players (interview)
- How Zen Studios became a successful indie game studio and cranked out KickBeat (interview)
Pieces of flair: