Welcome to another GamesBeat weekly roundup! This time, we look ahead to 2017’s game release dates, Mega Man goes to mobile, and XCOM 2 is getting new content thanks to an upcoming mod.
Enjoy, and have a great weekend!
Pieces of flair and opinion
- The DeanBeat: Great gadgets, moments, and trends at CES 2017
- How French studio DotEmu specializes in resurrecting lost classics like Windjammers
- 2017 game release-date calendar
- What are the best-looking video game consoles of all time? GamesBeat Decides
- Ganondorf’s weakness to fishing poles and other Zelda trivia
- AMD debuts Radeon FreeSync 2 for gaming displays with stunning image quality
- GamesBeat’s games of the year — staff lists and our overall picks
News
- Professional Esports Association cancels Counter-Strike league after team drama
- Focus Home Interactive enlists Asobo Studio for its mysterious Plague
- Pro athletes will compete in EA Sports games during Super Bowl week
- XCOM 2 is getting a sequel to the series’ popular Long War mod
- Nintendo will talk Switch games on January 13
- Paragon’s newest hero fights with the light and darkness
- Smite Tactics enters its closed beta test on PC
- Pico Technology reveals untethered virtual reality headset
- AMD unwraps its Vega graphics architecture with promise of rich, lavish virtual worlds
- Lumus unveils AR displays for smartglasses with wide field of view
- Ambarella unveils 4K and 8K imaging chips for cars, drones, VR, and sports cameras
- Nvidia announces GeForce Now cloud gaming for PCs
- Nvidia connects the GeForce Experience game capture to Facebook Live
- Intel demos untethered Project Alloy virtual reality multiplayer experience
- Sony sells 6.2 million PlayStation 4s during holiday season
- Intel holds its CES press event inside virtual reality
- Heroes of the Storm trolls its players with its latest hero, Warcraft’s Zul’jin
- Violent hack-‘n’-slash game Let It Die passes 1 million downloads
- ‘Brooklyn 99’ star Terry Crews wants to voice an Overwatch character
- Little Bug seeks funding on Fig to bring a cute platformer to life
- Mass Effect: Andromeda gets March 21 launch date for PS4, Xbox One, and PC
- Beautiful indie game Firewatch passes 1 million copies sold
- Linden Lab debuts marketplace for Sansar VR world
- Merge VR shows off Holo Cube holographic toy
- Peloton launches immersive fitness bike for commercial gyms
- Vuze, an $800 VR camera for consumers, is shipping in March 2017 with support for 3D audio
- Leading Heroes of the Storm esports squad resigns with Team Dignitas
- Overwatch’s new Oasis map is now out
- PlayStation Plus free games for January are now live: Day of the Tentacle and 5 more
- Windows 10 adoption passes 50% on Steam
Mobile and social
- Mega Man’s 6 NES games are now out on iOS and Android
- Smite’s new game takes the MOBA to the digital card game arena
- Samsung confirms it sold 5 million Gear VR mobile headsets
- Changhong’s H2 smartphone lets you scan objects for molecular authenticity
- 4 mobile gaming predictions for 2017 — like esports on national TV
- Wonder is an enigmatic mobile hardware company with a VR twist and a focus on gamers
Previews, reviews, and interviews
- AMD’s leaders believe that hardware is hot again
- Insta360 Pro is an 8K 360-degree virtual reality camera
- Nvidia CEO says graphics chips and deep learning are driving huge innovations
- HyperX reveals Cloud Revolver S headset with plug-and-play Dolby Surround Sound
- 3dRudder Wireless lets you control VR games — with your feet