Welcome to another weekly collection of GamesBeat’s news and stories. This time, Borderlands coins the term “presequel,” The Last of Us is finally confirmed for the PlayStation 4, and a new Nintendo Direct gave us info on Super Smash Bros. for the Wii U and 3DS.
You’ll find all of that and more below. Happy reading!
Pieces of flair
- The DeanBeat: Put the gamers in charge of … everything
- Here’s the next batch of game franchises that Disney should rip off next
- Watch Conan O’Brien spam Street Fighter II crotch punches on the world’s largest HD Jumbotron
- The top 10 free-to-play PC games that are best at separating players from their money
- Seth Rogen used True Crime: Streets of L.A. to teach his ‘Superbad’ writing partner how to navigate the city
- Oxford study says frustrating gameplay, not violent content, causes aggression in gamers
- Minecraft and ‘The Simpsons’ — watch Homer and the gang’s blocky couch gag
- Philadelphia plays Tetris on a 29-story skyscraper
News
- Why is Take-Two’s boss so happy? Grand Theft Auto Online is his ‘gift that keeps on giving’
- Kickstarter project Last Life is a murder mystery on Mars — and has Double Fine’s seal of approval
- Titanfall’s ‘no servers found’ issue affecting players — Microsoft is working on a fix (update)
- The next contraption for your makeshift holodeck comes in July: A $500 VR treadmill
- Titanfall patch reduces the Gooser Challenge requirement from 50 to 5 — here’s what else is different
- PS4 has its first big hit of the year — Infamous: Second Son’s sales surpass 1M in 9 days
- Americans love crazy, too: Nintendo bringing life sim where cats marry marine biologists Stateside
- 22% of Steam games go unplayed, but the numbers are misleading
- Busted: Supercell terminates ad partner for sneakily reselling ad impressions
- Forget creepers: ‘Heartbleed’ security flaw is the greatest threat to millions of Minecraft players
- The Last of Us for PS4 is really happening
- A Resident Evil rebirth? New Evil Within trailer reveals eerie imps, blood baths, and more
- Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel isn’t coming to PS4 or Xbox One — but you can finally play ClapTrap
- Pokémon monsters Charizard and Greninja join the cast of Super Smash Bros.
- Super Smash Bros. hits 3DS first — Wii U version debuts this winter
- Who’s designing the next batch of ‘capture’ missions in Grand Theft Auto Online? You are
- Surprise: Marvel superheroes (probably) storming Disney Infinity later this year
- Sign up to test Gears of War developer’s upcoming defense-building shooter Fortnite
- Titanfall is finally out for Xbox 360 — and it doesn’t look that bad
- Why international e-sports teams struggle with Call of Duty’s powerful incumbents
- AMD shanghaied me to show me this insane new graphics card
- Logitech launches a gaming mouse that you can tune for different surfaces
- Pokémon X and Y sales surpass 12 million copies
- Xbox One finally lets you share game clips on YouTube
- Bravely Default developer shows off more of the tech that made Final Fantasy XV’s debut so stunning
- GoPro brings adrenaline-pumping, user-generated sports videos to Xbox 360
- Plex media app is coming to the Xbox One
Mobile and social
- Zynga gets a new chief financial officer — CEO appoints Best Buy financial strategist
- Minecraft: Pocket Edition passes 21 million in sales — far more than on PC or console
- What the deuce? Fox’s copyright club quashes videos and streams of Family Guy mobile game
- Marvel Puzzle Quest’s road to the mythical $1 ARPDAU: Part 1
- Marvel Puzzle Quest’s road to the mythical $1 ARPDAU, Part 2: Cover-store overhaul
- Star Trek: Timelines is the new social role-playing title from the Game of Thrones: Ascent team
- Want people to play your free-to-play game? Don’t be greedy
- Publishers Clearing House branches into digital — it sees apps and games as the new magazines
- Play high-end PC games while waiting for your latte: Nvidia’s Shield can now stream while on the go
Previews and interviews
- NES Remix 2′s Super Luigi Bros. is a speedrunner’s ass-backward nightmare
- The Crew may seem like a role-playing game, but that roar isn’t coming from a dragon (preview)
- ‘Mr. Tetris’ explains why the puzzle game is still popular after three decades (interview)
Reviews