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Welcome to another GamesBeat weekly roundup!
This time, Call of Duty: Black Ops III reveals its zombie mode, the original Baldur’s Gate is getting a new expansion, and we help Heroes of the Storm players learn the newest character, The Butcher.
Enjoye, and have a great weekend!
Pieces of flair
- The DeanBeat: Gaming technology is still blowing my mind
- It’s Friday, here’s a cartoon of Link murdering Tingle
- 7 factors that will make virtual reality and augmented reality worth $150B
- Learn how to carve up enemies as The Butcher in this Heroes of the Storm guide
- PewDiePie is only a small piece of the $3.8B gaming-video market
- Rock band Wavves’ latest music video is shot entirely inside Grand Theft Auto V
- GamesBeat giveaway: Splatoon and an Inkling Boy Amiibo
News
- Capcom shares footage of Resident Evil 0’s unreleased N64 prototype
- Baldur’s Gate is getting Siege of Dragonspear expansion nearly 17 years after game’s original 1998 release
- Sony responds to fans calling for a #BetterPSN
- Lizard Squad lashes out after Daybreak Games CEO threatens cyberattacker group
- A new Street Fighter V character? Let’s see who lurks at the end of the Ken trailer
- Call of Duty: Black Ops III reveals its noir-themed zombie mode
- Ubisoft explains why digital game prices stay so high for so long on consoles
- Disney will mentor new startups in second Accelerator program
- PlayStation 4 makes way more money for Ubisoft than Xbox One
- Ubisoft’s lighter release schedule still beat earnings expectations for its fiscal Q1
- PlayStation Network down again, according to Sony
- Marmalade game-development tool gets $2M in funding
- Grand Theft Auto V’s latest patch has players complaining about performance problems
- PlayStation 4’s Call of Duty: Black Ops III beta test begins Aug. 19
- MOBA Smite’s Xbox One version enters open beta
- The Walking Dead goes 8-bit as it teams with indie hit The Escapists
- Amazon now lets you create customized 3D printed figures of video game characters
- Xbox Live, PlayStation Network holiday cyberattacker convicted of 50K criminal charges
- Xbox boss explains why he respects PlayStation’s development chief Shu Yoshida so much
- Fallout 4 and Uncharted 4 are the big winners of E3 critic awards
- A pair of Chinese developers may end up in court over a copycat game
- Upcoming marketplace won’t require downloads or plugins to play games
- Soccer fans petition EA to put World Cup champion U.S. women’s team on FIFA 16’s cover
- Ark: Survival Evolved hits 1M downloads and announces Unreal Engine 4 modding
- Journey comes to PS4 on July 21 and supports PS3 cross-buy
- Sega CEO admits a betrayal of trust; studio now aiming to build high-quality console games again
- Hearthstone developer is not ‘planning on any new classes at this time’
- Here’s what’s different in The Witcher 3’s upcoming patch
- Star Citizen loses its executive producer; founder Chris Roberts’ brother takes over role
- Already reached the Splatoon level cap? Then Nintendo is worried about your social life
- Esports documentary will debut with live StarCraft competition
- Head-tracking virtual reality headset raises $480,650 on Kickstarter
- WWE 2K16 cover star Steve Austin shows that 2K sees profits in the past
- Star Citizen maker Cloud Imperium Games sets up a new studio in Germany
- Square Enix pulls Mac version of Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward from sale, offers refunds
- Minecon 2015: Mojang and Minecraft trying to live, and thrive, with the corporate creepers
- Coming to Minecraft: New Ender Dragon, dual-wielding, redstone for Pocket Edition, Windows 10 beta
- Minecon 2015: Telltale and Mojang drop first ‘Minecraft: Story Mode’ trailer and cast details
Mobile and social
- GSN Games goes worldwide with new social casino game
- Facebook’s controversial user-data change sparks debate about attribution: Learn more at MobileBeat
- Facebook’s planned customer-data change called ‘land grab’ by publishers
- App Annie launches in-app analytics for app developers and publishers
- Kentucky’s Hitcents wants to fire your imagination with Draw a Stickman: Epic 2
- 1010 sequel 1010 World is on iOS today
- Skillz introduces platform to enable gamers to quickly organize and host esports events
- Lionsgate further embraces games — working on ‘Expendables’ mobile adaptation
- Nintendo working on 5 mobile games, according to DeNA
- Magic: The Gathering takes cues from Hearthstone for new mobile game Magic Duels
- Marvel’s Future Fight passes 20 million downloads — brands matter in mobile gaming
- 5 lessons from Fingerprint on kids’ educational games for iOS and Android
- Ijji launches Gameflip mobile marketplace for gamers
- Programmatic ad buying continues its march to premium mobile video inventory
- Twitch can finally broadcast any smartphone game — but only on Sony handsets
- EA appoints WB vet Samantha Ryan as head of EA Mobile
- This new Android malware looks like a classic Nintendo game
- Making Fun launches expansion for mobile role-playing game Mage and Minions
- Rayman Adventures returns Ubisoft’s mascot to mobile — with console-quality HD graphics
- Just Cause maker Avalanche Studios moves into mobile with Rumble City — it’s like ‘biker chess’
- Wozlla raises $2M to expand its HTML5 games beyond China
- Japan’s Gree invests in Indonesian mobile game startup Touchten
- China’s Ourpalm invests $2.3M in Garfield game maker Animoca Brands
Previews and impressions