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Welcome to another GamesBeat weekly roundup! This time, we checked out an independent game festival Brazil, we played around with PlayerUnkown’s Battleground’s new zombie mode, and Rocket League got a new anniversary update.
Enjoy, and have a great weekend!
Pieces of flair and opinion
- The DeanBeat: 9 industry leaders sound off on the state of gaming in 2017
- PC Gaming Weekly: Strategy’s resurgence is no Paradox
- Why Hearthstone’s Frozen Throne expansion matters to Warcraft fans
- Bluehole built PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds’ for livestream viewers
- Brazil’s Independent Games Festival goes beyond games to business
- Should Nintendo make Zelda’s map DLC a freebie? GamesBeat Decides
- The Future Group changes both game shows and live events with mixed reality
- PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is the most important shooter since Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
- Game investor Phil Harrison sees the broader view of games beyond Sony and Microsoft
- Nintendo’s conundrum: Classic Editions or Virtual Console?

News
- Recoil updates laser tag with a modern Wi-Fi-enabled outdoor battlefield
- Hearthstone’s Knights of the Frozen Throne expansion will launch in August
- Overwatch reveals Doomfist as its 25th hero
- Destiny 2 open beta hits PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on July 21
- Dinosaur shooter Island 359 launches on Oculus VR early access
- PlayStation Now, welcome to 2014: PS4 games coming to Sony’s streaming library
- How Haste reduces lag in League of Legends and Overwatch
- Rocket League’s anniversary update: New arena, animated decals, and customizable trails
- Splatoon 2 is getting its own Nintendo Direct
- The Elder Scrolls Online is giving its premium membership to all players for a week

Mobile and social
- Survey says: Pokémon Go’s loyal fans remain everyday players, even as craze dies down
- Siege: Titan Wars has a new strategy in its cards
- Marvel: Future Fight just got a slew of Spider-Man: Homecoming content
- King brings Candy Crush TV show host Mario Lopez into mobile games
Previews, reviews, and interviews
- Sword Legacy is a Brazilian indie strategy game with global ambitions
- Watch us play Doomfist in Overwatch: Blizzard’s Street Fighter hero
- Minority Media’s Vander Caballero on how to survive the VR desert
- PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds zombies shuffle between boredom and action
- Remedy’s Sam Lake on 21 years of game storytelling and transmedia
- RuneScape developer reflects on 15 years of making games
- Why Pay Day 2 game publisher Starbreeze made its crazy dive into VR hardware