GamesBeat weekly roundup: GDC 2013, BioShock Infinite, Battlefield 4, and women in games

If you follow VentureBeat but don’t regularly check our GamesBeat site, here’s a list of the best video game stories we ran over the last seven days that you may have missed.

This week, GamesBeat was at the 2013 Game Developer’s Conference, bringing you previews and interviews. Harmonix announced that it is working on three new games. And legendary developer Brenda Romero (formerly Brathwaite) quits the International Games Development Association after the organization threw a party with hired female dancers.

You’ll also find reviews for BioShock Infinite and The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct as well as previews for the Ouya console, Dive Kick, Battlefield 4, Infinite Crisis, and Space Hulk.

Game Developer’s Conference 2013

• In a ‘love letter to gamers,’ Ouya launches its console at a crowded GDC event (video)
• Game designer Brenda Romero quits IGDA following party with hired female dancers
• Women bring down the house at GDC
• YetiZen explains hiring of gamer models, not dancers, for its GDC party
• California’s second lady: Games need to ‘think bigger’ about portrayals of women
• Free-to-play publishers & game developers throw down at GDC

News

• The DeanBeat: Will Battlefield 4 or Puzzle & Dragons reach $1B in revenues?
• Epic launches new content and a title update for Gears of War: Judgment
• Intel in talks to acquire gesture control firm Omek Interactive
• ‘Programmers loathe’ developing games for Android, says Geomeric founder
• Marketing, reviews, and mobile may all determine if your game is a hit or a flop
• Total War series gets a League of Legends-style spin-off
• Playdek nails down $3.8M in funding for more digital board games
• Lab Zero Games ends Skullgirls crowdfunding campaign with $830K
• GameStop: One-third of BioShock Infinite buyers also purchased a Season Pass
• GameStop profits up despite dipping revenues, expects a ‘challenging’ 2013
• 505 Games shoveling Terraria to PlayStation Vita this summer
• A winning wager? Experts see a $20B market for gambling in games
• The Rock Band played on: Harmonix working on 3 new games
• Japanese telecom buys majority stake in Puzzle & Dragons developer GungHo
• Surprise! The Phantom Pain is actually Metal Gear Solid V
• Nintendo demos improvements due in April Wii U update
• Tecmo Koei slices off a few new details about Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z
• EA has a lot riding on Battlefield 4, and it’s stepping up its investment in a big way
• In Africa, devs struggle to create modern games for 3K cultures
• EA sets the stage for Battlefield 4 launch
• Minecraft developer chipping away at April release for Scrolls beta
• Facebook tells developers how to win at games in 2013
• King.com saw its Facebook desktop player numbers blossom after Candy Crush Saga’s mobile launch
• Unity Technologies forms alliance to create better games on Facebook
• Plants vs. Zombies shuffles to Facebook; sequel due in summer
• Sony steps up for indies with funding for PlayStation games
• Kuato teaches kids to code via Hakitzu educational game
• It’s a final fantasy for Square Enix president after restructuring
• Square Enix restructures and sells four free-to-play titles to Sleepy Giant (exclusive)
• PlayStation 3′s Rain may be the next Journey
• EA squashes potential Origin exploit
• Zynga chief information officer takes top job at cloud-storage company
• How The Unfinished Swan moved from student project to PS3 downloadable game
• Game retailers better than movie theaters at enforcing age restrictions
• Zynga flexes its marketing muscle to support third-party partner games
• Facebook updates developers on local currency pricing
• Roku should worry: GameStick adding XBMC media support
• Turbine working with DC Comics on League of Legends-style game
• Epic Games’ alliance with Oculus VR means virtual reality gaming will be coming to you
• Kickstarter campaign begins for a spiritual successor to Ecco the Dolphin (exclusive)
• EA and Insomniac Games will launch Fuse on May 28

Mobile news

• Clash of Clans mobile gamemaker Supercell is raising more than $100M at an $800M valuation
• Casual-game developer Big Fish celebrates 10 years and 2 billion downloads
• App marketing costs fall back to Earth after holiday highs
• Candy Crush Saga developer reveals two new Facebook games
• Fish Out Of Water! is the next mobile addiction from Fruit Ninja’s developers
• The future of mobile graphics: Better, faster, cheaper, & way more 3D
• Fetch wants to help smartphone users find games that they love
• Prepare your panzer: Wargaming is taking World of Tanks mobile
• App Annie reveals massive success for GungHo’s Puzzle & Dragons
• Verizon launches games portal using PlayPhone technology
• Joyride’s voice-activated mobile apps ‘turn cars into starships’
• Com2Us rides the Kakao mobile games wave and expands to the U.S.

Previews

• Ouya looks pretty but lacks killer games so far (preview)
• Space Hulk translates the board game to digital … with changes (preview)
• Infinite Crisis proves that superhuman brawls never get old (preview)
• Battlefield 4 goes for a human feel in the middle of its incredible carnage (preview)
• Divekick and Sportsfriends turn friends and strangers into rivals on the PlayStation 3 (preview)
• Everybody was kung-fu fighting: Age of Wushu comes to America (preview)

Reviews

• BioShock Infinite’s a fascinating ‘what if’ tale of American conservatism with a few flaws (review)
• The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct leaves you feeling empty (review)

Interviews

• Ahoy, transmedia! Warner Bros. sails into digital games (interview)
• Jade Raymond’s growing empire at Ubisoft (interview)
• David Ko sees mobile as critical for Zynga’s comeback in 2013 (interview)

Pieces of Flair

• 10 new Grand Theft Auto V screenshots (gallery)
• Battlefield 4: Check out the first screenshots
• BioShock Infinite guide: The best Vigors and Gear to make Columbia burn
• HarmoKnight: Finding the 5 ‘pinklefs’ and unlocking the secret world