GamesBeat weekly roundup: Football in VR sucks, and Pokémon Go is dethroned

Welcome to another GamesBeat weekly roundup! This time, Blizzard suffers from more DDoS attacks, and we reviewed World of Warcraft’s excellent new expansion, Legion. We also went behind the wheel for Forza Horizon 3, the new racer for Xbox One.

Enjoy, and have a great weekend!

Pieces of flair and opinion

• The DeanBeat: Using creativity to determine your own destiny in games
• See Zelda as a Studio Ghibli film in this fan trailer
• Spotify launches PlayStation 4 podcast support — and it’s spotty
• How corporate strategic investors look at AR/VR deals
• I just watched football in VR — and I hated it

Above: With the sweat of your brow, Aquadome can become your new arena in Rocket League.

Image Credit: Psyonix

News

• The DeanBeat: Using creativity to determine your own destiny in games
• Gamblit takes esports racing game into casinos with G-Sports platform
• Overwatch porn culture peaks with live-action parody film
• Blizzard beefs up support for Heroes of the Storm’s esports league
• Rocket League goes where there’s no accusations, just friendly crustaceans — under the sea
• Minecraft’s Education Edition launches November 1 for $5 a student
• Geoff Keighley and YouTube Gaming stars to do weekly live talk show
• Overwatch World Cup’s 16-nation tourney could make Blizzard’s shooter an esports power
• Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End new multiplayer DLC makes murder photogenic
• Gwent: The Witcher Card Game gets stress tests
• Blizzard is phasing out the ‘Battle.net’ name
• Threewave: Valve’s lost Half-Life multiplayer mod is now playable
• October Xbox Live Games with Gold: Super Mega Baseball, MX vs. ATV: Reflex, and more
• Sonic Mania collector’s edition gets hilarious video teaser
• Blizzard games are suffering from another DDoS attack
• Ark: Survival Evolved has grown since releasing a paid expansion in Early Access
• Capcom aims to keep women employees by improving benefits for new mothers
• Ubisoft: For Honor has biggest closed alpha test in company history
• League of Legends gets a new college event thanks to Riot Games and Yahoo Esports
• Lego Dimensions has its new dream team: the Batmobile and K.I.T.T.
• DDoS cyberattack hits Battle.net: Overwatch, Hearthstone, and World of Warcraft are down

Mobile and social

• Sega unleashes Total War on … Facebook
• Disney Princesses invade iOS and Android with Charmed Adventures
• Mobile app marketers will lose $100 million to fraud this year
• Star Wars Holochess inspires this gorgeous blend of card and monsters
• BlueStacks integrates fully with Facebook Live to bring streaming to 150 million users
• MyVR social virtual reality platform debuts in October
• Google Play starts rolling out to Chrome OS stable
• Supercell buys 51% of Badland game developer Frogmind for $7.8 million
• Pokémon Go is down: Gyms and PokéStops won’t load
• Pokémon Go loses App Store’s top-grossing spot to Clash Royale
• Gamblit will bring The Brookhaven Experiment VR game into casinos
• Canada’s mobile game studio Roadhouse Interactive shuts down
• Pokémon boss says that Pokémon Go could be heading to China and South Korea

Above: Every zone is lovingly designed, but the graphic improvements are just part of the overall polish of Legion.

Image Credit: Heather Newman

Previews, reviews, and interviews

• Watch Dogs 2 hands-on: The hacktivist crusade against the smart city of San Francisco
• Kingston’s HyperX introduces a sub-$50 gaming headset and its first ever keyboard
• Finding thrills in Destiny: Rise of Iron by climbing a hidden mountain
• Star Wars: Battlefront’s Death Star DLC is out — watch us play
• How Call of Duty developer moved from studio chief to a fan
• How developers created the story behind Mafia III and its lead character Lincoln Clay
• Forza Horizon 3
• World of Warcraft: Legion