DeanBeat Reviews Previews and Interviews Archives

Steve Jobs at a NeXT Computer meeting in June 1988.

Posted inin Business

A $25 million grant will help Stanford Libraries preserve Silicon Valley Archives

Posted byby Dean Takahashi
February 7, 2019
15 min

The famous tech figures of Silicon Valley should meet Henry Lowood, because he can help them clean out their garages. As curator of the...

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15 min

Bloodhound is one of eight Legends in Apex Legends.

Posted inin Gameplay

Mackey McCandlish interview — Why Respawn made battle royale shooter Apex Legends

Posted byby Dean Takahashi
February 4, 2019
14 min

Respawn and Electronic Arts managed to keep Apex Legends a secret for a while. But rumors leaked out in the last few days, and...

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14 min

Vince Zampella is CEO and cofounder of Respawn Entertainment, maker of Apex Legends.

Posted inin Gameplay

Respawn’s Vince Zampella interview — Why you won’t see Titans in Apex Legends

Posted byby Dean Takahashi
February 4, 2019
8 min

Vince Zampella, the CEO of Respawn Entertainment, likes to say that his teams “chase the fun.” And by doing that, the studio was able...

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8 min

Ubisoft's The Division 2 event had a lot of props.

Posted inin Gameplay

The Division 2 interview: how Ubisoft brought the pandemic to D.C.

Posted byby Dean Takahashi
February 4, 2019
6 min

Back in 2016, the original Tom Clancy’s The Division had a rocky start with bugs and lots of player complaints. But Ubisoft’s developers at...

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6 min

Tom Clancys The Division 2 is coming in 2019.

Posted inin Gameplay

The Division 2 hands-on preview — taking D.C. back, one monument at a time

Posted byby Dean Takahashi
February 4, 2019
5 min

French video game publisher Ubisoft showed off hours of content for Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 at a preview event that I attended last week. The game...

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5 min

Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled is coming in June, 2019.

Posted inin Business

Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled hands-on — Like Mario Kart, with Crash Bandicoot

Posted byby Dean Takahashi
February 4, 2019
3 min

I got a first hands-on driving session with Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled, the latest retro game revival from developer Beenox and publisher Activision. Last year’s...

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3 min

Crackdown 3 lets you roam the city as an agent of destruction.

Posted inin Business

Crackdown 3 creative director interview — How Microsoft’s cloud makes the Wrecking Zone so destructible

Posted byby Dean Takahashi
February 1, 2019
9 min

When you play the Wrecking Zone multiplayer mode of Crackdown 3, you’ll notice how completely destructible the environment is. You can shoot out the...