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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, Google held its annual I/O conference in San Francisco, revealing plans for cross-platform Google Play support, Electronic Arts decides to kill its online pass initiative that forced used game players to pay for multiplayer access, and GamesBeat gets an early look at Naughty Dogs’ upcoming project The Last of Us.
You’ll also find a review for Metro Last light and previews for Scribblenauts Unmasked and The Bureau: XCOM Declassified.
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News
- The DeanBeat: Maxthon offers an alternative browser that won’t crash while running multiple games
- DICE L.A. is ’100% focused on Battlefield 4′
- Crytek’s Warface invades Japan under Nexon’s management
- Twisted Metal creator collaborating on new vehicular combat game Autoduel
- EA kills its controversial Online Pass program
- Microsoft phasing out Points system — Xbox market getting real-currency payments
- PlayStation 4 getting Gaijin Entertainment’s military MMO War Thunder
- Trion Worlds’ Rift MMO goes free-to-play in June
- Pokémon X and Y trailer reveals improved visuals and battle animation
- Ace Attorney 5 is coming to the U.S. — but only as a digital download
- Puzzle & Dragons is making $3.75M a day
Google I/O
- 10 Android apps that already use Google Play game services
- ‘Leveling up’ on Google Play Services means enhancing quality and utilizing social networks
- Google Play game services can shut down a pirated Android game
- Why Google Play game services works on iOS
- Google Play game services is a Xbox Live-like mobile network — and offers cross-platform gaming
- Google to launch ‘Google Play Games’ platform services for game developers
Nintendo Direct
- Nintendo brings E3 to the people … well, people who go to Best Buy
- Nintendo dates Platinum Games’ The Wonderful 101
- Nintendo releasing retail version of New Super Luigi U in August
- Mario & Sonic head to Sochi for the Olympics
- New Sonic game is exclusive to Nintendo hardware
- Nintendo of America started localizing Animal Crossing: New Leaf in 2010
Earnings and funding
- April 2013 NPD: Injustice tops software chart as console industry continues to shrink
- Hidden Path finds an angel to finance the final development of Defense Grid 2 (exclusive)
- Ubisoft sales up; plans 5 major games this year including something new
- ‘Video Games: The Movie’ is a feature-length documentary looking for $60K on Kickstarter
- With $1B on the line, Take-Two planning ‘innovative’ marketing for Grand Theft Auto V
- BioShock Infinite sells 3.7 million copies since March launch
- BioShock Infinite and more push Take-Two revenues up 48 percent in fiscal 2013
- Eternal Darkness successor crowdfunding campaign now on Kickstarter
- Cloud-gaming company Ubitus raises $15M to expand its streaming technology
- Japan’s Square Enix loses $134M for fiscal year
New content
- Call of Duty’s Uprising maps storm PlayStation 3 and PC
- Electronic Arts adding amusement parks to SimCity in $10 expansion
Tech
- Razer launching Atrox fighting-game arcade stick this month
- Plantronics blesses e-sports, becomes official sponsor of League of Legends tournament
- Nvidia prices Shield handheld gaming device at $349
Mobile news
- Frostbite Go: EA wants console-grade graphics on your mobile devices
- Tapjoy teams with Kakao Games to provide in-game advertising
- Spair launches testing for its mobile cloud-gaming service
Interviews
- The many paths of survival in The Last of Us (video interview)
- Warframe is the online co-op space ninja game you’ve been waiting for (interview)
- Why The Bureau: XCOM Declassified will be worth the wait (interview)
- Game Horizon’s Will Wright Q&A on the future of games (part two)
- Game Horizon’s Q&A with Will Wright on the future of games
Previews
- Sony reveals more tense moments in The Last of Us (preview)
- The dark, silly, and bizarre influences behind PS3′s Puppeteer (exclusive)
- Scribblenauts Unmasked contains the entire DC Universe (preview)
- The Bureau: XCOM Declassified tactical shooter game will play a lot like Mass Effect (hands-on preview)
Reviews
Strange happenings
- Ubisoft suspends development on 1666 game it acquired from THQ
- Gran Turismo 6 officially headed to PlayStation 3 (not PS4) this year
Pieces of flair
- Similarities between Injustice: Gods Among Us and the Justice League cartoon
- Mad Genius builds prototype similiar to Sony’s break-apart DualShock 3 controller idea (video)
- How Imagineers build engaging stories into Disney theme parks
- Warren Spector wants game designers to work on non-combat A.I.
