2015-04-24



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Welcome to another GamesBeat weekly roundup! This time, a mother reviews Mortal Kombat X, Blizzard’s anticipated online strategy game Heroes of the Storm gets an official release date, and we looked at Riot Games’ new campus.

Enjoy, and have a great weekend!

Pieces of flair and opinion

The DeanBeat: Germany is still on the cusp of gaming greatness

The top 8 Apple Watch games at launch

NoScope takes on Gunnar with gamer glasses that work with your prescription specs

Gamers react to paying for mods on Steam

Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft Blackrock Mountain guide — how to beat Blackwing Lair

My mom reviews Mortal Kombat X

The house that League of Legends built: a look inside Riot Games’ new campus



Above: Rock Band 4.

Image Credit: Harmonix

News

Resident Evil HD Remastered sells 1M digital copies

Zynga’s No. 2 exec Clive Downie joins Unity Technologies as chief marketing officer

Xbox revenues down 24% for Microsoft’s third quarter largely due to the Xbox One price cut

Steam introduces a way for you to buy mods for games like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft’s fourth Blackrock Mountain wing — Blackwing Lair — is live

China’s digital games market growth is 5 times bigger than the rest of Asia’s in 2015

New Bloodborne update improves loading times

How to install Grand Theft Auto V mods on PC

ESPN2 will air a live e-sports match this Sunday for the first time ever

Konami’s Star Wars: Force Collection gets a Contra-style minigame starring Chewbacca

Latest Xbox One update delivers on Microsoft’s promise to highlight power options during startup

World of Warcraft’s lead designer joins Unity as creative adviser — and kicks off a world tour

The Earth will spend $91.5B on video games this year

BBC’s Grand Theft Auto ‘factual drama’ stars Daniel Radcliffe and Bill Paxton

Microsoft is making HoloLens games — and attacking virtual reality’s momentum

iHeartRadio comes to Xbox One and Xbox 360 with a motion and voice-sensing app

Rock Band 4 lets the roadie Mad Catz join the tour

Gears of War’s cinematics director leaves Epic to join Microsoft

Gaming’s top 25 public companies generated $54.1B in revenue last year

Phil Harrison is using top-secret Microsoft tech at his new startup

Blizzard’s Heroes of the Storm online strategy game officially launches June 2

Valve limits Steam features for users who’ve spent less than $5

Mobile and social

Wooga unleashes Toby, a free Apple Watch virtual pet game

Publishers Clearing House acquires LiveToWin mobile app to reach young people

Here’s what those free apps with ad support really cost you: 79% more data use

Pioneering social music app maker Smule raises $38 million

Ghostbusters mobile game’s sexualized women contradict the new film’s female-friendly approach

Samsung Gear VR headset for Galaxy S6 opens for preorders in the U.S. on April 24 at Best Buy

Expansion is coming: Game of Thrones’ social game is getting Season 5 content

Was that Kate Upton Super Bowl ad worth it? AppsFlyer could tell you

A quick survey of virtual reality apps beyond gaming

Demographics Pro lets marketers zero in on ‘influencers’

Vungle launches its creative labs to help craft better mobile-app ads

Trivia Crack is coming to Apple Watch

This game thinks it’s worth $28 on mobile

UFC is the latest EA Sports game to go mobile

Rovio’s Angry Birds: Stella hits 30M downloads — and is a hit with millennial women

Kabam restructures to focus only on the biggest mobile game hits

Steve Jobs used LSD and pot, but you can only play this marijuana-growing game on Android

HomeLabs looks to brain games to raise awareness for Parkinson’s Disease



Above: Charnel House Trilogy begins in Alex’s apartment before moving onto a train.

Image Credit: Owl Cave Games

Previews and interviews

Running with nostalgia: How Disney and G.I. Joe inspired a speedy pair of platformers

Garfield creator Jim Davis on his Zelda diet and mobile feast

Charnel House’s true horrors are ordinary people

Reviews

I think Crypt of the NecroDancer hates me, but I still love it

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