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.
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We’ve also got a lot of previews for you, including Splinter Cell: Blacklist, Deadpool, and Watch Dogs, and reviews of Star Trek and Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move.
News
- The DeanBeat: Why Nintendo should have bought Ouya and other might-have-beens
- Brenda Romero’s Train board game will make you ponder the Holocaust
- Warner Bros. gets a new digital games chief
- Battlefield 3 servers under DDoS attack; DICE ‘working around the clock’
- Sony insists the PlayStation 4 won’t kill its bottom line as the PS3 did
- Death by dubstep: Saints Row IV demo reveals gameplay and weapons
- Assassin’s Creed mastermind Patrice Désilets claims Ubisoft fired him
- After 1,000 layoffs, EA could find itself short-handed for Star Wars games (analysis)
- Xseed Games unites with Marvelous U.S.A. for bigger mobile and online presence
- Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon director already considering the sequel
Mobile news
- Mobile game Airport Scanner helping TSA officers screen luggage more accurately
- BlueStacks steps into gaming with Gamepop — a Netflix for mobile games
- Beware the Angry Bulls: Zynga launches Running With Friends
- Amazon Appstore invades China, beats Google itself to paid apps
- PlayScape partners with Amazon for custom content on the Appstore
Tech
- With $3.2M in funding, Dekko unveils a clever tech to insert animations into the real world
- Sony to begin making PlayStation 3 in Brazil
- Sims creator Will Wright: Next consoles can become ‘connective tissue’ between games & entertainment
- Ouya spills its guts for repair firm iFixit
Strange happenings
- Download version of Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D requires at least a 4GB SD card
- Humble Bundle now accepts the Bitcoin digital currency
- World of Warcraft loses 1.3 million subscribers
- Diablo III patch glitch results in gold duping that breaks auction house (UPDATED)
- Dota 2 replaces World of Warcraft as Raptr’s third most-played game
- SimCity moves 1.6 million copies despite troubled launch
- Star Wars: Battlefront III footage leaks online
Fighting words
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Fund it
- Crowdfunding for Eternal Darkness successor off to sluggish start
- Cryptozoic launches Kickstarter for Hex: Shards of Fate online trading card game
Earnings
- Not all game companies are hurting: Nexon posts strong Q1 results
- PlayStation a nonfactor in Sony’s first profit in 5 years
- Activision Blizzard says Call of Duty: Ghosts will be a huge launch, but stock falls on weak Warcraft numbers
- Activision blows away first quarter earnings targets, raises estimates for year
- EA misses slightly on revised earnings but hits its revenue targets
Safeguarding the future
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- Activision ups marketing over fears of Battlefield 4, Disney Infinity, and Dota 2
- Sony teases something new for Gran Turismo; reveal coming May 15
- EA scores a licensing agreement to lock up FIFA brand until 2022
- EA has 11 big titles, 15 mobile games coming in the next year (but no Star Wars)
Previews
- Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs highlights the down side of smart cities (preview)
- Watch Dogs creates an open-world morality (preview)
- Katanas, daggers, and guns are no match for Deadpool’s mouth (preview)
- Splinter Cell: Blacklist’s co-op mission feels more like a solo op (Preview)
- Splinter Cell: Blacklist sneaks in new and classic Spies vs. Mercs modes (Preview)
Reviews
- Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move is a puzzler with delightful variety (review)
- The crew of the Enterprise finds an unremarkable shooter in Star Trek (review)
Interviews
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Pieces of flair