2016-04-15



Welcome to another GamesBeat weekly roundup! This time, the PlayStation 4 outsells the Xbox One (again), someone puts Flappy Bird on an e-cigarette, and we review anticipated games like Dark Souls 3 and Bravely Second: End Layer.

Happy reading, and have a great weekend!

Pieces of flair and opinion

The DeanBeat: The narrative of the underdog in the gaming industry

Bravely Second: End Layer tips and tricks to grind out success

GamesBeat Summit will examine what investors seek from game startups

Watch Flappy Bird played on an e-cigarette

How to get in the Overwatch, Battleborn, Doom, and Gears of War 4 open betas

Naughty America tries to get VR porn just right

Twitch’s Kathy Astromoff will share developer success strategies at GamesBeat Summit 2016

The timeline of Grand Theft Auto director Leslie Benzies vs. Rockstar Games

What we want from Titanfall 2



Above: Vivi is looking better than ever on Steam.

Image Credit: Steam

News

March 2016 NPD: Ubisoft, Nintendo shake up sales chart with The Division, Zelda

PlayStation 4 outsells Xbox One in March

Magic Leap acquires Israeli security firm NorthBit

Outlyer Technologies’ Advrtas brings ads to virtual reality

Final Fantasy IX is now available on Steam

Microsoft to open Minecraft education edition for all schools in June, free on the early access program

Loook studio will make mixed reality apps for Microsoft HoloLens

Kangaroo Pro is a $199 Windows 10 PC with a little less portability, a lot more ports

Naked Labs’ home fitness scanner captures your entire body in 3D

Blizzard is fending off a potential Lizard Squad cyberattack that’s affecting Battle.net

Stardew Valley is one of the best-selling PC games of the year as it surpasses 1M copies sold

Star Wars: Battlefront’s next expansion adds Cloud City and Lando

Microsoft on causing Oculus Rift delays: ‘This is false’

Consortium: The Tower reaches Fig funding goal in 6 days

Quantum Break developer Remedy promises fixes for Windows 10 version

Virtual reality justifies those ludicrous 17-inch ‘portable desktops’

Grand Theft Auto studio says former director’s lawsuit is ‘without merit’ and ‘downright bizarre’

GTA: Online ‘has generated at least $500M in revenue’

Destiny fans want better matchmaking, so they’re making it themselves

Grand Theft Auto producer’s camp fires back at Take-Two countersuit: It’s ‘sparse’

Ubisoft’s The Division spent more on ads than any other game in March

Azubu’s new esports viewer offers higher resolution than Twitch

The Division’s free Incursion update is now available

Call of Duty World League champions look back on a year of Black Ops III esports

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive takes out another esports viewership record

Gartner: Global PC shipments fell 9.6% in Q1 2016, the first quarter below 65 million units since 2007

Koi is China’s first PlayStation 4 game for the West, and it debuts April 19

Gaming legend John Carmack: A strong team can take any crazy vision and turn it into reality

Violent 2D beat-’em-up hopes to get made via Square Enix’s Collective platform

CastAR shows how it will turn your tabletop into an animated gaming world

Codemasters snares Sony’s Evolution Studios and speeds into racing games’ fast lane

Titanfall 2 brings mech fights to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC

Gears of War 4’s new trailer is the franchise’s latest marketing home run

Deluxe VR offers creative services for virtual reality productions

Mobile and social

Apple App Store and Google Play downloads grew 8.2% in Q1 thanks to games

War Dragons launches on Android with new ad from Beavis and Butt-head animator

Supercell’s Clash Royale on pace for $1B year after $110M debut last month

Facebook wants to make social VR indistinguishable from real life

Facebook demos taking selfies in VR

Minecraft: Pocket Edition gets Mojang’s Realms online multiplayer service

Japan’s Gree creates a $12M virtual reality investment fund

Lucid VR raises $2.1M for 180-degree virtual reality camera

This flying saucer is Facebook’s virtual reality 360-degree camera

Zuckerberg: Future VR and AR gadgets will look like ordinary glasses

Like father, like son: A second-generation game developer launches Plight mobile game

Appnext grows by recommending the right experiences for people in the app-store jungle



Above: Bravely Second is out now.

Image Credit: MyNintendoNews

Previews, reviews, and interviews

Dark Souls 3 is the zenith of the Souls brand of ruthless action

This Monster Hunter Generations newb is as clumsy as he is stupid

Star Ocean reminds us that Final Fantasy and Persona aren’t the last big-budget JRPGs

Bravely Second: End Layer shows Square Enix still has its old-school juice

Hover Junkers is virtual reality’s best multiplayer game

How Remedy’s Sam Lake stepped up the ambition and creativity of Quantum Break

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