Our GamesBeat team is exhausted after five days of covering the biggest show for game developers in San Francisco. Here’s a day-by-day roundup of the major stories that we wrote from the Game Developers Conference this week. We’ve also thrown in stories from Microsoft’s pre-GDC press event. As you can see, it was a busy week for game news.
Here’s the headlines and links to stories in reverse chronological order:
Friday
Microsoft warns that OnLive Desktop’s Office streaming app violates license
Flurry launches AppSpot mobile app ad platform
How Thatgamecompany designed its new game, Journey
The DeanBeat: Tips from Ubisoft on making a happy game industry acquisition
Thursday
See what Tim Schafer is doing with all your (his) money. Kickstarter crowdfunding was a big topic at the GDC.
Konami and others will make games for Zynga.com
Core game sales drop like a rock in February
Electronic Arts reveals new Mass Effect 3 and Star Wars online numbers
Angry Birds Space gets geeky with awesome real-life demo from NASA (video)
Gaikai signs up Warner Bros.’ Lord of the Rings Online game for instant demos
Peter Molyneux departs Lionhead Studios and Microsoft to found 22 Cans
Wednesday
Facebook’s tips for getting your mobile game noticed
Browser-based games get real 3D graphics with latest Unreal Engine and Flash technology
Heyzap launches mobile API to add high-level analytics
Game developers salivate over the new iPad’s specs
EA lines up three Battlefield 3 expansions for 2012
Tuesday
EA to launch Medal of Honor Warfighter on Oct. 23
Google promises a unified social and mobile game platform
EA revives Sim City for 2013 launch — with curvy roads
Nintendo 3DS tops 4.5 million units in US within first year
Halo 4 quotes: The hype, the excitement, and the…huh?
Casino wars: Big Fish Games acquires mobile casino game maker Self Aware Games
Alex St. John’s Magi.com launches social gaming hub (exclusive)
Monday
Zynga reaches beyond Facebook with Zynga.com
Numecent spins out Approxy cloud-gaming startup
Numecent emerges from stealth with “revolutionary cloudpaging technology” for digital delivery
How to design a game for your teenage daughter
Funzio spreads out with games for Google+, Chrome Web Store, and Android
Facebook paid $1.4B to game developers in 2011
6L teams up with 16 mobile game developers and plans big marketing spend per title
Apple’s iOS runs HTML5 games three times faster than Android
Forza Motorsport fans can look forward to Forza Horizon and Porsche expansion
Star Wars Kinect lets you rampage like a monster using gestures (preview)
iSwifter makes iPad game streaming available to all PC game companies (exclusive)
Steel Battalion Heavy Armor combines Kinect and controller commands (hands-on preview)
11 new things we’ve learned about Halo 4 (with video)
How Fable: The Journey will use the Kinect in revolutionary ways (interview with Peter Molyneux)
[Photo credit: Dean Takahashi’s picture of Sony’s Move/virtual reality demo]