GamesBeat weekly roundup: Minecraft gets educational, and Exploding Kittens hits mobile

Welcome to another GamesBeat weekly roundup! This time, a prototype for a different take on Star Wars: Battlefront III leaks, we see what Metal Gear Solid looks like in Unreal Engine 4, and Waluigi tries on some underwear. Also, Minecraft porn is apparently becoming a thing.

Enjoy, and have a great weekend!

Pieces of flair and opinion

• The DeanBeat: My rank is 3,440,250 in Call of Duty: Black Ops III multiplayer
• The Witness developer tweets what looks like a piss jug — the Internet handles it well
• DICE Summit will dive into games for cars, VR, film, and storytelling
• Heroes of the Storm’s Greymane straddles the ideal line between creative and intricate
• The original Metal Gear Solid looks gorgeous in this Unreal Engine 4 remake
• It’s too early for HTC to put all its eggs in one virtual basket
• Look out, Lightning — Waluigi is Calvin Kleins’ new underwear model

Above: Bravely Second is coming to the U.S. soon.

Image Credit: MyNintendoNews

News

• Elite: Dangerous doesn’t officially support Oculus Rift, focuses on SteamVR instead
• HTC Vive gets VR game from ‘Rick and Morty’ creator and The Stanley Parable designer
• Fire Emblem Fates’ Western localization edits out ‘gay conversion’ and ‘drugging’ scene
• Super Mario Bros. 3’s Game Boy Advance port is now on Wii U
• Heroes of the Storm gets new Diablo characters — including an old favorite
• Xbox One Elite controller now works on Steam Machines and Steam Link
• Microsoft releases new Windows 10 preview for PCs with a quick history menu in Edge
• Sega 3D Classics Collection is a disc version of the publisher’s excellent 3DS digital remasters
• The Witcher 2 highlights 10 new Xbox 360 backward compatible games for Xbox One
• Steam is down for maintenance
• Supposed Star Wars: Battlefront III prototype leaks online — playable on modded Xbox 360s
• Warner Bros. disappoints PC players again with Mortal Kombat X DLC characters
• Marmalade Technologies raises $5M to introduce more developers to its game-making platform
• D.I.C.E. is going to be Epic thanks to sponsorship
• Mortal Kombat XL includes every DLC character from last year’s gory fighter
• GDC: 16% of game developers are working on VR, up from 7% a year ago
• Bravely Second launches April 15 in the West on Nintendo 3DS
• AMD CEO says buzz and interest in VR could boost PC market in 2016
• Oculus VR founder Palmer Luckey must face breach-of-contract lawsuit, judge rules
• Valve on virtual reality: ‘We want to make sure that developers don’t get burned’
• Xbox One update adds requested features — here’s what’s different
• Investors threw $686 million at virtual and augmented reality in 2015
• Ubisoft teams with Amazon Prime and YouTube stars to create live-action short film for The Division
• Hero’s Song RPG is the first game from ex-Sony Online chief John Smedley’s startup
• Punch Club makes $1M in 10 days after its experimental Twitch Plays launch
• Intel reboots Intel Inside brand strategy with ‘amazing experiences outside’
• Microsoft acquires MinecraftEdu, announces a new Minecraft edition for schools
• ‘Minecraft’ is one of Pornhub’s fastest-growing search terms
• Facebook is opening an Oculus research office in Pittsburgh
• Telltale’s Minecraft: Story Mode is coming to Wii U
• Tokyo VR Startups sets up an incubator and funding for Japanese virtual reality
• The Witness ESRB rating points to Xbox One release
• Oculus and Alienware cofounders geek out about taking VR to the masses
• Microsoft’s HoloLens will be ‘totally wireless’ with up to 5.5 hours of battery life

Above: Exploding Kittens.

Image Credit: Elan Lee

Mobile and social

• GetSocial raises $2.5M to boost engagement in mobile games
• The Oatmeal’s wacky Exploding Kittens debuts on mobile with iOS game
• How League of Legends players went from hating Facebook to happily using it to find friends
• Fuel Ignite enables game developers to run live operations without a ton of money
• VC Mobile unveils Creature Quest mobile game from Might & Magic creator
• Glu announces $7.5M investment in QuizUp developer ahead of TV show, may lead to a full acquisition
• Skillz launches crossplatform tournament system for mobile esports
• App Annie 2015: Google Play saw 100% more downloads than the iOS App Store, but Apple generated 75% more revenue
• South Korea’s Netmarble finally brings its near-$1B mobile gaming business to the U.S.
• Gordon Ramsay joins Kim Kardashian in Glu Mobile’s gaming stable
• Funimation has new partners to bring more anime-based games to mobile and browsers
• Metal band Iron Maiden is making a mobile game
• Spicy Horse Games launches free-to-play mobile title Critter Academy
• Pollen VC launches user acquisition service for mobile game and app makers
• War Dragons companion novel features the mobile game’s players

Reviews, previews, and interviews

• Star Trek: Timelines is the best Trek game in years
• The Deadly Tower of Monsters is an imperfect love letter to B movies
• Resident Evil Zero HD is a fun — but flawed — piece of old-school horror gaming
• How Wargaming decides what platform World of Tanks should invade next