Welcome to another GamesBeat weekly roundup! This time, we look at the history of Alien games and Halo’s developers pick their favorite maps of all time, and we’re helping our readers get into the Evolve alpha.
Happy reading, and have a great weekend!
Pieces of flair and opinion
DeanBeat: Months after the Facebook-Oculus deal, virtual reality meetups have become the new rage
Why I left the games business for the enterprise cloud
How one person collected more than 5,000 games — and why he’s selling them
Super Smash Bros. for 3DS: Tips for playing the new characters
Skylanders: Trap Team vs. Disney Infinity 2.0: A guide for your kid’s toy box
Games of the Alien series, Part 2: The ‘must play’ edition
This video argues that Super Smash Bros. exists entirely in an autistic child’s mind
Halo: The Master Chief Collection developers and execs pick their favorite Halo maps of all time
Games of the Alien franchise, Part 1: The bad, the canceled, and the weirdly cool
How Square Enix learned to embrace crowdfunding
10 interactive loading screens that actually don’t suck
10 of the best console games you’ll probably never get to play (gallery)
News
Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire let you fly on the backs of pocket monsters
GameStop is pushing its credit card with ‘preapproved’ email offers and in-store associates
Ubisoft elaborates on Assassin’s Creed: Unity’s recent resolution controversy
Minecraft comes to PlayStation Vita next week (at least in Europe)
This video argues that Destiny’s Iron Banner mode is a lie
Brad Pitt’s Fury blasts onto World of Tanks today as premium paid content
Evolve alpha starts this month: Want in? Use our code
Arena shooter Reflex pulled from Kickstarter — will reboot as Early Access project
Sleepy Giant suffers layoffs as it ends work on Disney Infinity, Elder Scrolls Online, and more
Chipmaker AMD taps Lisa Su as its first female CEO
Driveclub PlayStation Plus edition held back as online servers struggle
Wii U’s GameCube controller will support more than just Smash Bros. [updated]
Consumer Oculus Rift is ‘more than a few months’ out as designers make it more comfy
Valve spinoff Technical Illusions shows off its Google Glass competitor (interview)
Nvidia’s Maxwell graphics chips for laptops can beat some powerful gaming desktops
This video argues that Super Smash Bros. exists entirely in an autistic child’s mind
Cyan cuts deal with Legendary to create a TV series based on Myst
Microsoft formally launches Project Spark so players can create their own games
Ubisoft: ‘We did not lower the specs for Assassin’s Creed: Unity’ on PS4 because of Xbox One
Nvidia wins first round in move to block Samsung mobile devices from entering U.S.
Assassin’s Creed: Unity is 900p and 30 fps on PS4 and Xbox One to ‘avoid all the debates’
Plex app for Xbox One lets you stream your own videos
Microsoft’s RoomAlive turns your living room into a giant interactive game
Xbox One has already sold more in China than in Japan
Mobile and social
Can 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick outrun the Seahawks’ in Temple Run 2?
Kim Kardashian: Hollywood publisher releases the first free-to-play Diner Dash
After 6 months of testing, Zynga finally launches its critical mobile game New Words with Friends
With Best Fiends, another new Finnish developer hopes to ride lovable characters to success
Mobile developer Storm8 picks up two of Zynga’s top creative minds
Native ads in mobile games can work … if developers play ball
Cloudcade raises $1.55M for mid-core mobile game studio with a global focus
Candy Crush Saga, not PS4 or Xbox One, dominates ads on the airwaves
Get Visa mobile game will teach you about the crazy immigration system
SGN unveils official mobile game for The Book of Life animated film
Kim Kardashian: Hollywood’s leap to Facebook puts it in front of the right audience
Previews
Chaos and density reign in Assassin’s Creed Unity (preview)
Reviews
Driveclub is fast, finicky, and difficult — and it’s the best racer for PlayStation 4 (review)