Hello, and welcome to another GamesBeat weekly roundup! This time, we played some of the most anticipated games for the rest year: Middle-earth: Shadow of War (which has you killing things in an open-world Mordor) and Assassin’s Creed: Origins (which has you killing things in an open-world ancient Egypt). Also, Neill Blomkamp plans to make sci-fi short films with Unity, and the indie farming simulator Stardew Valley arrived on the Switch.
Enjoy, and have a great weekend!
Pieces of flair and opinion
- The DeanBeat: Middle-earth: Shadow of War is the revenge of the nerds
- PC Gaming Weekly: Early Access success for Fornite and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds
- AR/VR Weekly: Microsoft charges in
- Forza Motorsport 7: Comparing the Mazda MX-5 Miata with its video game counterpart
- Golf Story is proof that Japanese-style RPGs can ‘fore’-go fantasy
News
- SpecialEffect raises $391,470 for gamers with physical disabilities
- Relic Hunters Legend seeks Kickstarter treasure for its shooter RPG
- Eleague is hosting the next Counter-Strike: Global Offensive major championship
- Ubisoft is buying back up to 4 million shares in Vivendi battle
- Fashion brand ULT rolls out apparel for pro Madden team Versus
- Level Ex raises $11 million for a real surgeon simulator
- Overwatch’s Halloween Terror event returns October 10 with new content
- Microsoft rescues AltspaceVR, announces Samsung VR headset and SteamVR preview
- Europa Universalis IV’s new expansion adds Muslim empires to the strategy game
- PlayStation 4’s newest system update: better parental options, messaging, and friend lists
- Former Intel CEO Paul Otellini passes away at 66
- District 9 director Neill Blomkamp makes two sci-fi film shorts with Unity
- Immersion will add touch feedback to Unity game engine
- Sony’s game chief Andrew House steps down after putting PlayStation back on top
- Nielsen: Esports fans follow an average of 5.7 games
- Stardew Valley sprouts its Switch version on October 5
- Amazon’s Twitch opens official online merchandise store
- Nioh brings its punishing samurai-vs-monsters action to PC on November 7
- My Time at Portia marks Team17’s first-ever partnership with a Chinese developer
- HTC will bundle Fallout 4 VR with the Vive headset
Mobile and social
- Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes will gets its first The Last Jedi character in December
- Kongregate acquires War Metal: Tyrant creator Synapse Games
- The International Mobile Gaming Awards removed — then restored — Iranian games
- Google reveals new Daydream View VR headset for $99
- Wooga’s June’s Journey hidden-object game features ambitious weekly updates
- Microsoft resuscitates AltspaceVR for social mixed reality
- Lumos Labs expands from brain-training games to educational math titles
- Bend the knee to the new mobile Game of Thrones: Conquest
- Middle East and North Africa take their turn in this set of mobile gaming award nominations
- Marvel Puzzle Quest turns 4, celebrates the o-cajun with Gambit
- Bidalgo targets $250 million in 2017 revenue for AI-based mobile advertising platform
Previews, reviews, and interviews
- Sunken is the hidden object VR game that takes you under the sea
- Star Wars: Battlefront II is a mature adult compared to the first’s awkward childhood
- Middle-earth: Shadow of War — the first half hour has some big story twists
- Heat Signature is about the stories you come back with when everything goes wrong
- Golf Story review — Nintendo Switch’s hole-in-one blend of RPG and links
- Assassin’s Creed Origins game director: The vast open world of Egypt is a stage for franchise rebirth
- Assassin’s Creed Origins hands-on: Clearing out the Romans with stealth
- Dual Universe is a massive online game that’s one world — and the players create it
- ‘Don’t Die’ is one author’s spotlight on gaming’s underrepresented people and views
- Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime is the latest indie to warp to Nintendo’s Switch
- Total War: Warhammer II review — strategy game brings the Warhammer universe to life
- Batman: The Enemy Within Episode Two review — the rogues bring better twists and turns