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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, Valve announced its dedicated Steam operating system, Steam Machines, and a controller to help bring PC gaming into the living room, Electronic Arts’ ongoing struggle with the NCAA leads to no college football game in 2014, and Candy Crush developer King prepares to go public.
You’ll also find an in-depth interview with Blue Manchu, the creator of Card Hunter, about how developers can make free-to-play appeal to gamers.
News:
- Valve reveals the unorthodox Steam Controller: Has touch screens, ditches control sticks for trackpads
- The DeanBeat: Emerging game technologies and the Battle Royal
- EA Sports: No college football game next year (UPDATED)
- Gears of War and BioShock Infinite veteran starts new 2K studio in San Francisco
- Candy Crush Saga publisher hires new chief financial officer
- Jagex wages war against gold farming in RuneScape 3 with Bonds
- Why Schappert’s Shiver Entertainment hired two top game veterans
- Splash Damage founder explains the 3 questions developers should ask themselves to stay in business
- Halo veteran Joe Staten leaves shooter studio Bungie
- EA memo outlines top executive changes
- Microsoft moving into China with new Shanghai-based venture
- NPR talks to women who enjoy Grand Theft Auto V
- World Golf Tour game says virtual golfers have played 10M virtual U.S. Open rounds
- Wargaming’s Austin office doubling in size to focus on analytics
Announcements and reveals:
- Tropico publisher reveals new game under its new ‘digital first’ label Kobalt Games
- Toon Link from Zelda: Wind Waker joins Super Smash Bros. Wii U/3DS roster
- Atlanta-based studio partners with Crytek, AMD to build triple-A RPG Lichdom
- Rockstar reveals new details about Grand Theft Auto Online
- GamesBeat speaker highlight: GameStop boss Tony Bartel on evolving game retail
- Steam Machines: Valve reveals its plans for living-room gaming hardware
- Ubisoft reveals South Park: The Stick of Truth release date and Grand Wizard Edition
- GamesBeat speaker highlight: Kevin Chou on game industry Darwinism
- Nintendo, Sega delay Sonic: Lost World; date new Mario & Sonic Olympics game
- Raptr says Dota 2 was the most popular MOBA in August
- Pokémon X and Y: Nintendo reveals details and evolutions for fossil creatures
Patches, expansions, and DLC:
- Eve Online’s next expansion set for Nov. 19
- German campaign Case Blue add-on content available now for Company of Heroes 2
Mobile news:
- How Kixeye is adapting its social games to mobile
- OpenFeint successor OpenKit goes live with 10 developers building ‘truly social’ games
- Cut the Rope 2 coming this holiday
- PC publisher Stardock announces new mobile branch and three new games
- 12 screenshots of PlayStation 4′s user interface and mobile app
- Fingerprint Digital takes its kids mobile edutainment platform into Malaysia
- Device manufacturer JXD introduces new PlayStation Vita-like Android gaming tablet
Tech:
- Apple announces iOS 7 ‘Tech Talks’ for app and game developers, coming soon to a city near you
- Attack the Death Star in virtual reality with this Oculus Rift demo
- iPhone 5 vs iPhone 5S speed tests: Not much difference for real-world apps (except video)
- Valve’s open SteamOS will challenge the status quo for PCs and consoles
- SteamOS: Valve’s Linux-based operating system for the TV and living room
Trailer hoedown:
Ruh-roh:
- 36 percent of gamers lost the ‘unfailable’ tutorial level in CSR Racing
- Activision appeals to Delaware Supreme Court to lift block on massive Vivendi deal
- Nintendo: EA Sports’ FIFA 14 for 3DS features ‘no updates to gameplay or game modes’
All this funding:
- DDM talent agency pulls strings to make Mighty No. 9′s crowdfunding a success
- Shantae: Half-Genie Hero surpasses crowdfunding goal
Acquisitions incorporated:
Previews:
Interviews:
- Why gamers hate free-to-play, and how developers can work around it (interview)
- Crytek boss talks about closing the gap between cinema and game with Ryse on Xbox One
Pieces of flair:
- Once more with feeling: Watch the alternate ending to The Last of Us
- The GamesBeat community on irredeemable, Grand Theft Auto-style characters
- Pokémon TV will retell the story of Pokémon Red and Blue in 4-episode series
- Here’s how to enter Valve’s Steam Machine beta
- Great tabletop games for video gamers: Puzzle Strike
- 7 crime games you should play right now … that aren’t Grand Theft Auto V
- Here’s a handy timeline of The Walking Dead: 400 Days