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, we looked at the best side-quests in Fallout, a dead Star Wars game might get a new life, and Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness turned 20 years old.
Happy reading, and have a great weekend. Also, yay, Star Wars: The Force Awakens comes out next week!
Pieces of flair and opinion
- The DeanBeat: For Microsoft, it’s time to worry about the console war
- Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft — The League of Explorers guide: How to beat The Hall of Explorers
- What game publishers can learn from sports broadcasting
- The top 10 Fallout side-quests from Bethesda and Obsidian
- Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness is 20 years old today
- This is how Nathan Drake celebrates the holidays — it’s so beautiful
- Our favorite scenes from The PlayStation Experience
- Sony focuses on the joy of gaming at PlayStation Experience
News
- You gotta believe! PaRappa the Rapper 2 is coming to PlayStation 4
- Back in Black (Ops): Call of Duty sales rebound in a big way
- November 2015 NPD: Call of Duty outsells Fallout 4 as PlayStation 4 takes November
- Patent reveals a potential new Nintendo controller
- PlayStation 4 outsold Xbox One in November
- Electronic Arts announces esports division, with Peter Moore as ‘chief competition officer’
- Square Enix: Final Fantasy VII Remake is ‘multipart’ because that’s the only way to ‘fit everything’
- Billion dollar game Cross Fire finally gets 2.0 update in North America
- Hearthstone’s final League of Explorers adventure wing is now live
- Ark: Survival Evolved stomps onto Xbox One preview program on December 16
- League of Legends studio is only game developer on Glassdoor’s ‘Best Places to Work’ list
- 77,000 Steam accounts get hijacked every month, so Valve’s getting tough with traders
- The Game Awards hits 2.3M viewers and 279K tweets
- The dead Star Wars: 1313 game ‘may’ get new life with Disney
- Microsoft warns that hackers could spoof Xbox Live site using leaked security certificate (updated)
- Sony wants PlayStation VR to push the limits of virtual reality gaming
- Azubu raises $59M in debt to create an esports rival to Twitch
- SteamVR-powered HTC Vive isn’t coming out until April
- MGM bets on tech startup Interlude to bring game-like interactivity to film
- Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS gets one last Nintendo Direct on December 15
- Fallout 4’s success leads publisher Bethesda to open Montreal office
- Popular Fallout 4 modding site NexusMods reports that it was hacked
- Tera’s Brawler class-adding update is out now
- Teaser points to System Shock 3 announcement
- Here’s what Fallout 4 would look like with the original’s isometric camera
- Fallout 4 ads ran nearly 800 times as console games dominated TV ad share in November
- Fallout 4 gets its first major patch — here’s what’s different
- Square confirms Final Fantasy VII Remake will be bigger than the original game
- The zany Tim Schafer has gone psycho with five games in the works
- Final Fantasy VII Remake uses Unreal Engine 4 instead of an in-house tool
- Minecraft is finally coming to Nintendo Wii U
- Final Fantasy VII Remake is multi-part to avoid cutting content, says director
Mobile and social
- New York judge orders fantasy sports firms FanDuel and DraftKings to stop operating in the state
- PlayFab offers its backend game service for free and launches third-party marketplace
- Microsoft asks fans to vote on its next casual game
- Why does Magic Leap need another $827M?
- Force abilities awaken for Star Wars: Uprising players
- Magic: The Gathering — Puzzle Quest launches on iOS and Android
- Farmville, HTC Vive creators behind new $10M seed fund for virtual reality
- Medal of Honor vets debut Fantastic Plastic Squad for Apple TV and iOS
- Enlight and Lara Croft GO win Apple’s ‘Best of 2015’ app and game on iPhone (Updated)
- Cookie Jam maker SGN snags two mobile game studios in quest to unseat rivals
- 8i’s new 3D virtual reality video tech lets you see people from any direction
- How to do mobile gaming PR right in 2016
- Minecraft: Pocket Edition trailer reminds fans how far the game has come
- Flickr launches virtual reality 360-degree photo app for Samsung Gear VR
- Angry Birds’ maker Rovio announces new CEO as company awaits release of feature movie in 2016
- Christmas yes, Hanukkah & Kwanzaa no as 50% fewer apps released last week
- Scientific Revenue and China’s Chukong team up to help mobile game developers make more money
- N3twork launches Mafia Watch, a gangster online role-playing game for Apple Watch
- Facebook names Clash of Kings as its 2015 Game of the Year
- Exvision’s Zkoo is a mini-Kinect for your Android and Windows devices
- Liam Neeson’s Clash of Clans commercial leads the top trending gaming videos of 2015
- Clash of Clans’s newest commercial gives you a virtual reality tour of the battleground
- DeltaDNA offers game developers ad monetization tips for free-to-play
Previews and interviews
- How Ubisoft will turn you into an eagle over Paris in its first VR game
- What Remains of Edith Fitch creators don’t know the destination for their ‘sublime horror’ game
- Disney Infinity’s ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ lets John Boyega play with himself
- Lego Marvel’s Avengers works hard for the limelight alongside Lego Dimensions
- Lego Marvel’s Avengers is loaded with superheroes, villians, cities, and open-world gameplay
- Watch us play the Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End beta
- Ex-Halo creators want Golem to be a flagship game for PlayStation VR
Reviews and impressions