GamesBeat weekly roundup: Pokémon Go is getting a big update, and Nintendo goes to The Tonight Show
Welcome to another GamesBeat weekly roundup! This time, we review The Last Guardian, look at Japan’s arcade industry, and PewDiePie is threatening to delete his giant YouTube channel.
Enjoy, and have a great weekend!
Opinions and pieces of flair
The DeanBeat: Epic graphics guru Tim Sweeney foretells how we can create the open Metaverse
Watch Nintendo mastermind Shigeru Miyamoto play Mario’s theme with The Roots
Why Japan’s arcades are its game industry’s cutting-edge labs
Inside Square Enix’s Tokyo HQ: the house that Final Fantasy built
Above: Paladins.
Image Credit: Hi-Rez Studios
News
Paladins hits 5 million registered players as it competes against Overwatch
PlayStation 4 Pro helps Sony’s console outsell Xbox One in November in the U.S.
Obsidian lays off undisclosed number of its Armored Warfare staff
Heroes of the Storm’s game director leaves for unknown Blizzard project
Discord hits 25 million users and releases GameBridge SDK for voice chat
AMD’s Radeon Software graphics driver update includes gameplay capture
Nintendo surprises The Tonight Show with a playable Nintendo Switch and Zelda
HTC shows off 20 virtual reality startups at its Vive X accelerator
YouTube’s top-10 most-viewed game trailers of 2016: Pokémon, Overwatch, and more
Despite slow 2016, VR is still forecast to hit $14 billion in consumer software sales in 2020
Oculus, Sony, Google, and more launch virtual reality advocacy group
Ubisoft is taking Assassin’s Creed and Just Dance to the world’s largest indoor theme park
PlayStation 4 sales pass 50 million consoles after the brand’s strongest Black Friday ever
Virtuix’s Kickstarters won’t be running on the Omni VR treadmill outside the U.S.
NES Classic Edition tease: Amazon says it has ‘exciting announcements’ coming soon
The Duke returns? Xbox One could get the original Xbox’s gargantuan controller
Battlerite’s winter patch will add a new champion and cosmetics on December 14
Overwatch winter event begins December 13 for an a-Mei-zing Christmas time
Paragon’s Monolith update speeds up the PlayStation 4 and PC MOBA
Visbit raises $3.2 million for mobile virtual reality streaming service
Blizzard releases Ragnaros on Heroes of the Storm’s test server
Steam is where you should build your VR game library — even if you own an Oculus Rift
THQ Nordic acquires more franchises to prepare for the Nintendo Switch
Former White House games adviser joins board of Games for Change
Above: I’ve always wanted to collect and battle with Ivan Drago.
Image Credit: Tapinator
Mobile and social
Pokémon Go was the third most discussed topic on Facebook in 2016. The first? You’ll never guess…
Zynga finally releases its epic action strategy mobile game Dawn of Titans
Super Mario Run gets a live-action trailer and a new informational video
Pokémon Go update finally lets you transfer multiple monsters to Professor Willow at once
MobilityWare acquires mobile game developer Critical Hit Software
Pokémon Go is getting new Pokémon, info coming on December 12
SafeDK sorts through the maze of mobile software developer kits
Pokémon Go snubbed: Apple chooses Clash Royale as its iPhone Game of the Year
Sprint is making an ‘exclusive’ Pokémon Go announcement on Wednesday morning
Pokémon Go Gen 2 sweet, frozen, caffeinated rumor: More monsters and Starbucks promo
Case revived over Zynga leaders allegedly using inside information to dump stock in 2012
Previews, reviews, and interviews
Surgeon Simulator for PlayStation VR controls like a drunk doc — but not for much longer
Watch us play with Oculus Touch — the Rift’s motion controllers
After a decade of waiting, you can watch the opening moments of The Last Guardian
Oculus Rift owners need to get Touch — but the motion controllers need more games
The Last Guardian straddles the line between feeling old and feeling timeless