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, Bethesda finally announces The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim expansions for the PlayStation 3, Disney shuts down Epic Mickey developer Junction Point Studios, and Rock Star pushes the Grand Theft Auto V release date to Sept. 17.
You’ll also find reviews for Antichamber, Omerta: City of Gangsters, Fire Emblem: Awakening, and Skulls of the Shogun as well as previews for Tearaway, Splinter Cell: Blacklist, Injustice: Gods Among Us, and Serious Sam Double D XXL.
News:
- The DeanBeat: Does it make sense for game developers to publish on the doomed BlackBerry?
- Former chief game designer Brian Reynolds: On Zynga, games, and the future
- Bethesda announces dates for PlayStation 3 Skyrim expansions
- Ubisoft creative director discusses hooking fans again with Splinter Cell: Blacklist (video)
- Sony invites the world to see the future of PlayStation on Feb. 20
- Drone pilots stationed in Afghanistan talk video games in a Reddit AMA
- Splinter Cell’s creative director has the best Minecraft story ever
- Chartboost invites international developers to experience Silicon Valley
- This week in the Nintendo Download: Fire Emblem, Puddle, and The Cave
- Brain-training service Lumosity hits 35M users and is now adding 100K users a day
- Grand Theft Auto V release date delayed to Sept. 17
- Nintendo president: No price cut for Wii U
- EA’s top executives paint the game industry’s grim picture — and how new consoles will change it
- EA’s CEO makes a passionate response on game violence controversy question
- Dishonorable discharge? EA removing Medal of Honor from release rotation
- Electronic Arts delays Insomniac’s Fuse beyond April
- Origin has 39 million users (and 4 other surprising numbers about EA)
- U.S. senator: ‘I think video games [are] a bigger problem than guns’ — and other out-of-touch old dudes
- EA narrowly beats expectations for holiday game sales
- Anti-censorship group: Massachusetts removing games from rest stops is ‘constitutionally problematic’
- Splinter Cell: Blacklist has side missions and may ship without a main menu
- Black Ops II’s in-game live-streaming feature adds support for Twitch
- FanDuel raises $11M for daily fantasy sports contests
- Nintendo reports a thin third-fiscal-quarter profit and sells 3M Wii U consoles in first season
- Zynga’s chief game designer, Brian Reynolds, resigns
- Sony harnesses the power of the Internet to promote Planetside 2
- Aksys Games to release HD version of Muramasa: The Demon Blade for PlayStation Vita
- EA DICE is porting Frostbite engine to Mac (Update)
- League of Legends Season 3: Taking the ‘e’ out of e-sports
- Disney closes Epic Mickey developer Junction Point Studios (updated with comments from Warren Spector)
- Crytek picks up some former Darksiders developers for a new Austin-based studio
- Experience earned in Gears of War: Judgment demo carries over to final game
- DICE Summit to open with J.J. Abrams and Gabe Newell
Mobile News:
- Open-source social-mobile games platform OpenKit goes into closed-beta test
- Temple Run 2 hits 50 million downloads in 2 weeks
- Memorabilia company Steiner Sports partners with SportsPicker to gamify its marketing
- PlayPhone signs up more developers for its mobile social gaming network
- Layoffs at Disney-owned studios could signal increased focus on mobile and social
- Mobile game monetization startup PlayHaven’s new COO: ‘There is life after Google’
- Google Play revenue growing 10X faster than Apple’s iOS app store
- Google Play and Apple app store sales increasingly dominated by Japan, Korea, and China
- Epic Games finally releases Epic Citadel on Android
Interviews:
- How Ubisoft’s designers transformed Sam Fisher into a ‘panther’ and a leader in Splinter Cell: Blacklist (interview)
- The Final Fantasy franchise’s future hinges on Lightning Returns (interview)
- Why developer teamPixel is making a bid for the Homeworld series (interview)
- Gearbox CEO: ‘Invoking the legacy’ for Aliens: Colonial Marines
- From the ashes of THQ: Left 4 Dead developer ‘super excited’ to work with 2K Games (exclusive interview)
- Life after Epic: Getting to know Cliff Bleszinski (exclusive interview, part three: his opinions on shooters)
- Former KingsIsle VP and creative director Todd Coleman on what’s next for him (exclusive interview)
Previews:
- Tearaway is a digital love letter to physical paper (hands-on preview)
- Splinter Cell: Blacklist lets you play like a ghost, a gunman, or a panther (preview)
- Injustice: Gods Among Us is not a reskinned Mortal Kombat (hands-on preview)
- Serious Sam Double D XXL’s multiplayer is like insane sour cream on crazy-ass nachos (hands-on preview)
Reviews:
- Calling all game developers: You need to play and learn from Antichamber (review)
- Omerta: City of Gangsters brings an authentic yet rough mobster experience (review)
- Fire Emblem: Awakening is one of the deepest and best 3DS games (review)
- Skulls of the Shogun is a balanced turn-based tactics game with clever writing (review)
Community Spotlight:
- Cubicle culture and the potential of indie games to tell stories differently
- Developer responsibility: What’s missing from video game violence
- Should Wii U owners demand more GamePad-friendly ports?
- The extremes people go to when hunting down Achievement points
Pieces of Flair:
- Required listening: Ni no Kuni, Anarchy Reigns, and an interview with Aliens: Colonial Marines composer Kevin Riepl
- Evoland shows how action-adventure games have matured, without the boring history lesson
- Dude blasts through Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 in about 4 minutes
- Surgeon Simulator 2013 shows the frightening real-world discrepancy between knowledge and experience
- This is what a 2,800-strong space battle in Eve Online looks like (gallery)