GamesBeat weekly roundup: Picking our games of the year

Welcome to another GamesBeat weekly roundup! As 2017 approaches, it’s time for us to pick our favorite games of the year. You can find our individual lists and our video podcast choosing GamesBeat’s overall pick for 2016’s best game below.

Have a happy New Year, everyone! We’ll see you in 2017!

Pieces of flair and opinion

• The DeanBeat: What to expect from the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show
• What was the best gaming company in 2016? GamesBeat Decides
• How I became a Pirate Warrior scumbag in Hearthstone
• GamesBeat managing editor Jason Wilson’s top 10 games of 2016
• What was the best new gaming universe in 2016? GamesBeat Decides
• 5 of the coolest cards from Hearthstone: Mean Streets of Gadgetzan
• GamesBeat reporter Jeff Grubb’s top 10 games of 2016
• The top 5 mobile games in 2016
• 2016 was the year of lootboxes in video games
• Watch a historical rundown of the Super Game Boy
• GamesBeat’s top 10 AR and VR stories of the year: Pikachu and porn
• Halo 5 player re-creates the Enterprise D from ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’
• The history and little-known facts of Pokémon Stadium
• 2016’s most overlooked games
• GamesBeat community manager Mike Minotti’s top 10 games of 2016
• GamesBeat Rewind 2016: The GamesBeat Decides podcast awards
• 10 virtual reality projects that show off the wonders of 360-degree video
• Retro gaming’s biggest events of 2016
• Oculus’s Jason Rubin on VR: ‘The next 12 to 24 months are where the real creativity is going to happen’
• Pocket Strafe has a different solution to moving around in VR
• 5 lessons from the $15 billion virtual goods economy
• Insomniac’s The Unspoken once had a different name and direction
• GamesBeat’s 10 biggest stories of the year

Above: Days of our lives.

Image Credit: Double Fine

News

• Accenture’s top 5 predictions for what will be hot at CES 2017
• Mario Kart 64 drifts into Wii U’s Virtual Console store
• Windows 10 could get a ‘Game Mode’ that focuses your rig’s processing resources on gaming
• Blizzard will celebrate Diablo’s 20th anniversary with new goodies in its games
• PS Plus games January 2017: Day of the Tentacle, This War of Mine, and more
• PC classic X-Wing looks gorgeous when remade with Unity
• YouTube’s biggest stars saw their numbers plummet this year
• Former Sony Online Entertainment boss’s Pixelmage Games studio shuts down
• Gravity Rush anime on YouTube prepares you for the sequel
• PlayStation 4 and Xbox One grab the TV eyeballs as Christmas approaches

Mobile and social

• Super Mario Run for Android is coming soon — you can pre-register now on the Play Store
• Chinese mobile games are spreading around the globe
• Why Kixeye took its time making War Commander: Rogue Assault
• 11 Android and iOS games for your new phone or tablet