GamesBeat weekly roundup: HoloLens, PS4 in China, and kittens explode on Kickstarter

Welcome to another GamesBeat weekly roundup! This time, Microsoft made plenty of announcements about Windows 10 and holograms, an artificially intelligent Mario learns how to play itself, and The Oatmeal is making a big splash on Kickstarter.

Happy reading, and have a great weekend!

Pieces of flair opinion

• The DeanBeat: The pendulum will swing from consoles to PC games in 2015

• How to get Serperior, Emboar, and Samurott for Pokémon: Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire

• Holograms suddenly make Microsoft cool again

• PlayStation 4 in China: Why Sony is willing to put up with piracy, the gray market, and communist red tape

• Escape from a zombie-infested TV studio in this live Resident Evil adventure

• I tried Minecraft with Microsoft HoloLens, and now I don’t want to work anymore

• ‘Back to the Future II’ predicted we’d get Microsoft’s HoloLens in 2015

• This artificially intelligent Mario learns how to chase coins and navigate the Mushroom Kingdom

Above: Finally coming to consoles.

Image Credit: Bethesda

News

• Dying Light’s ‘Be the Zombie’ multiplayer mode now free to all

• Hollywood star-studded firm William Morris acquires e-sports talent agency

• Minecraft’s Ender Dragon boss gets a makeover for update 1.9

• Ultima Online and Star Wars: Galaxies lead designer joins upcoming MMO Crowfall

• Game of Thrones returns in early February with Episode Two

• Stugan starts taking applications for its game developer incubator in Sweden

• Nvidia targets its next Maxwell-based graphics chips at PC gaming’s sweet spot

• PlayFab rolls out a big update so game developers can launch games more easily

• Minecraft fans, get ready: Mojang COO tweets that MineCon news is coming ‘soon’

• Halo: The Master Chief Collection is getting a big update — and 343 wants your help testing it

• NASCAR game developer sells its stock-car racing assets to DMi

• Everything Microsoft announced at its Windows 10 event, including that crazy HoloLens

• Microsoft: Windows Holographic’s ‘pixie dust’ turns your family room into a game

• Microsoft claims DirectX 12 graphics performance is up to 50% better than DirectX 11

• Xbox One games can stream to any Windows 10 PC or tablet

• Xbox app comes to Windows 10

• Windows 10’s universal apps will work on Xbox One

• Elder Scrolls Online ditches mandatory subscriptions and announces console launch date

• Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor originally featured a giant, climbable beast

• Game company exits topped $24B in 2014

• Look out, ‘brain games’ — the Federal Trade Commission is cracking down

• Former Xbox entertainment boss and ‘The Oatmeal’ co-create hilarious Exploding Kittens card game

• Nival launches a VR game demo that shows you what your brain looks like

• This game uses Twitter to make unique dungeons every time you play

• Valve’s looking into file-erasing Steam bug on Linux

• Borderlands 2 and Pre-sequel get bundled for PS4, Xbox One release

• New digital library will preserve video game journalism for future generations

• Nintendo warns it will discontinue Club Nintendo Rewards

• You have 3 days to use Sony’s ‘we’re sorry’ discount for the PSN outage

• Virtual reality market growing? One store has 150K downloads for VR games

• Gaming Live launches game-streaming platform to compete with Twitch

• Sid Meier’s Starships goes beyond Civilization: Beyond Earth

• Free Driveclub update live — adds five new Japanese tracks, rainbows, and heat haze

• This startup wants to turn your League of Legends’ e-sports fandom into cash

Mobile and social

• Cut the Rope creator Zeptolab shoots for midcore audience with King of Thieves

• EA’s NCAA Football is dead — here’s a real-money mobile game trying to fill the void

• Summoners War developer turns to Vine stars and street art to break through to mobile gamers in the U.S.

• Sony Music Entertainment launches mobile music game Rockin’ Goat

• Warner Bros. pieces together The Lego Movie Videogame for iOS devices

• Big Data and mobile analytics: Ready to rule 2015

• PlayPhone uses deal with GungHo to expand its mobile game network to Asia

• App Annie: Older games with a modern twist dominated mobile in December

• Storm8 lands Zynga’s former vice president of product

• Wooga makes its next big bet on hidden-object mobile game Agent Alice (exclusive)

• IGT’s DoubleDown Casino launches Wheel of Fortune Extra Spin mobile slots game

• Mobile app analytics: What winning mobile developers use (webinar)

• Most new Android users are coming from Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe, AppFlood says

• Forge of Empires studio InnoGames has a new boss overseeing development

• Bounden developer Game Oven closes in April

• Candy Crush Saga mobile mastermind Tommy Palm leaves King for a new startup (exclusive)

• LTV, not just CPI: Why mobile marketers need to move beyond cost per install

• Zynga cofounder’s Greedy Goblins ‘strategic runner’ debuts on the iPhone

• WGT scores 3M downloads as it shifts its golf simulation to mobile

• Swedish puzzle game maker Mag Interactive invests in new U.K. game studio

• Ndreams raises $2.75M to fuel its virtual-reality games

Above: Exploding Kittens.

Image Credit: Elan Lee

Previews and interviews

• Exploding Kittens shows us the keys to Kickstarter records: Cute cats and The Oatmeal

• Blitzkrieg 3 lets you attack or defend in asynchronous multiplayer (hands-on preview)

Reviews

• Citizens of Earth is as charming and manipulative as the politics it mocks (review)

• Resident Evil HD Remaster reminds us what survival-horror really is about (review)

• Gat Out of Hell turns Saints Row IV into a Broadway musical

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