Become a member of GB MAX to gain exclusive access to the industry and to the most influential global B2B leadership community in the business of gaming, entertainment, and tech. Join now and also get a VIP ticket to GamesBeat Next (Nov 2-3, SF).
Welcome to another GamesBeat weekly roundup! This time, a mother reviews Mortal Kombat X, Blizzard’s anticipated online strategy game Heroes of the Storm gets an official release date, and we looked at Riot Games’ new campus.
Enjoy, and have a great weekend!
Pieces of flair and opinion
- The DeanBeat: Germany is still on the cusp of gaming greatness
- The top 8 Apple Watch games at launch
- NoScope takes on Gunnar with gamer glasses that work with your prescription specs
- Gamers react to paying for mods on Steam
- Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft Blackrock Mountain guide — how to beat Blackwing Lair
- My mom reviews Mortal Kombat X
- The house that League of Legends built: a look inside Riot Games’ new campus

News
- Resident Evil HD Remastered sells 1M digital copies
- Zynga’s No. 2 exec Clive Downie joins Unity Technologies as chief marketing officer
- Xbox revenues down 24% for Microsoft’s third quarter largely due to the Xbox One price cut
- Steam introduces a way for you to buy mods for games like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
- Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft’s fourth Blackrock Mountain wing — Blackwing Lair — is live
- China’s digital games market growth is 5 times bigger than the rest of Asia’s in 2015
- New Bloodborne update improves loading times
- How to install Grand Theft Auto V mods on PC
- ESPN2 will air a live e-sports match this Sunday for the first time ever
- Konami’s Star Wars: Force Collection gets a Contra-style minigame starring Chewbacca
- Latest Xbox One update delivers on Microsoft’s promise to highlight power options during startup
- World of Warcraft’s lead designer joins Unity as creative adviser — and kicks off a world tour
- The Earth will spend $91.5B on video games this year
- BBC’s Grand Theft Auto ‘factual drama’ stars Daniel Radcliffe and Bill Paxton
- Microsoft is making HoloLens games — and attacking virtual reality’s momentum
- iHeartRadio comes to Xbox One and Xbox 360 with a motion and voice-sensing app
- Rock Band 4 lets the roadie Mad Catz join the tour
- Gears of War’s cinematics director leaves Epic to join Microsoft
- Gaming’s top 25 public companies generated $54.1B in revenue last year
- Phil Harrison is using top-secret Microsoft tech at his new startup
- Blizzard’s Heroes of the Storm online strategy game officially launches June 2
- Valve limits Steam features for users who’ve spent less than $5
Mobile and social
- Wooga unleashes Toby, a free Apple Watch virtual pet game
- Publishers Clearing House acquires LiveToWin mobile app to reach young people
- Here’s what those free apps with ad support really cost you: 79% more data use
- Pioneering social music app maker Smule raises $38 million
- Ghostbusters mobile game’s sexualized women contradict the new film’s female-friendly approach
- Samsung Gear VR headset for Galaxy S6 opens for preorders in the U.S. on April 24 at Best Buy
- Expansion is coming: Game of Thrones’ social game is getting Season 5 content
- Was that Kate Upton Super Bowl ad worth it? AppsFlyer could tell you
- A quick survey of virtual reality apps beyond gaming
- Demographics Pro lets marketers zero in on ‘influencers’
- Vungle launches its creative labs to help craft better mobile-app ads
- Trivia Crack is coming to Apple Watch
- This game thinks it’s worth $28 on mobile
- UFC is the latest EA Sports game to go mobile
- Rovio’s Angry Birds: Stella hits 30M downloads — and is a hit with millennial women
- Kabam restructures to focus only on the biggest mobile game hits
- Steve Jobs used LSD and pot, but you can only play this marijuana-growing game on Android
- HomeLabs looks to brain games to raise awareness for Parkinson’s Disease

Previews and interviews
- Running with nostalgia: How Disney and G.I. Joe inspired a speedy pair of platformers
- Garfield creator Jim Davis on his Zelda diet and mobile feast
- Charnel House’s true horrors are ordinary people
Reviews