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Welcome to another weekly collection of gaming news, previews, reviews, and random, fun things. This week at GamesBeat, we looked at the Wii U’s continuing sales struggles, got our first glimpse of new Pokémon games for the 3DS, and put together some nice collections of gaming art that you can use for your Twitter header.
You’ll find all of that and much more below. Happy reading, and have a nice weekend!
Mobile and social
- The DeanBeat: If you blinked, you don’t know how big the mobile gaming industry has become
- One of this year’s biggest game launches? Machine Zone’s Game of War: Fire Age arrives on Android
- How Facebook is helping to pair up mobile developers with its 375 million gamers
- Zen Studios bets on free-to-play by adapting CastleStorm console game to mobile (case study)
- Tricks and tips for how to get your game featured in the Apple’s App Store
- OnLive makes cloud version of heavy-duty game War Thunder run on tablets
- King beats estimates with revenues of $608 million on continuing Candy Crush Saga dominance
- China’s mobile games market doubling this year to $3B, will surpass U.S. in 2015 (report)
- Unleash the hounds: Hearthstone was the 12th highest-grossing iPad game worldwide in April
- Angry Birds developer gets all Flappy with its latest mobile release
- Former Angry Birds creators raise $3.6M for Boomlagoon game studio
- King’s stock price picks up as underwriters attempt to crush investor concerns
- Deck of Dice combines two casino games into something new (exclusive)
News
- Nintendo turns to toys and China — but these won’t fix what’s wrong
- PlayStation 4, Xbox One versions of The Elder Scrolls Online delayed
- GLAAD to Nintendo: Lack of gay characters in new life sim is ‘hurtful’ and ‘behind the times’
- Epic is making a new, free Unreal Tournament to promote its new developer tools
- The annualization of Pikachu: Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire make 6 Pokémon games in 7 years
- Electronic Arts’ ends trading up 21 percent: Market digging Titanfall and new game info
- New Pokémon coming later this year: Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire hit 3DS in November
- Nintendo loses $229M for its fiscal year as the Wii U’s nosedive continues
- Titanfall’s physical sales were near 1 million in March in the U.S.
- Activision chief on the three things that will make Call of Duty different this year
- World of Warcraft subscriptions numbers bleed again
- Activision says sci-fi shooter Destiny is on track to become next $1B video game franchise
- Call of Duty publisher Activision Blizzard blows past earnings and revenue estimates
- Electronic Arts’ Q4 crushes Wall Street estimates
- Valve drops Early Access game from Steam for an alleged lack of ‘honesty’
- Activision reportedly spending $500 million to launch Destiny
- You can have this sleek, dual NES/Famicom system for the same price as an Xbox One
- Dota 2 grows larger than World of Warcraft, but League of Legends still crushes both
- Harmonix launches Kickstarter for remake of a rhythm-game classic: Amplitude
- Game Informer teases its cover story on Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
- Microsoft partnering with Showtime on live-action Halo TV show
Previews and interviews
- How Insomniac designed the zany ‘awesomepocalypse’ of Sunset Overdrive (hands-on preview)
- How developers created a Nazi record label for Wolfenstein: The New Order
- Facebook’s advice on how to monetize your mobile games may surprise you (interview)
- PlayStation indies draw visual inspiration from the past and look to the future
- How Sony is trying to keep its edge with indie game developers (interview)
- Jonathan Blow wants The Witness to deliver adventure gameplay that doesn’t suck
Reviews
- The Last Tinker adds a much-needed splash of color to modern gaming (review)
- MLB 14 The Show’s next-gen debut is more of a single than a home run (review)
Pieces of flair and opinions
- Gaming art for your new Twitter header: The ’90s (part 2)
- Gaming art for your new Twitter header: The ’90s (part 1)
- Gaming art for your new Twitter header: The ’80s (part 2)
- Gaming art for your new Twitter header: The ’80s (part 1)
- Gaming art for your new Twitter header: The ’70s
- What GamesBeat is hoping for and looking forward to at E3
- The seven user-generated wonders of Trove’s multiverse
- The GamesBeat community picks their favorite Nintendo games
- Just how poorly is the Wii U selling? We’ll show you
- This is the end: Why millions of gamers love to play in the apocalypse
- Uncharted 4 disappears, Nintendo copies Netflix, and other E3 2014 predictions
- Here’s more must-see speakers for GamesBeat 2014: Total World Domination
- How three video game studios address, embrace, and sidestep ‘typecasting’
- Why did Oculus VR join Facebook? Because consoles don’t reach a billion people