3 Valve teases its own VR headset, the Valve Index, for May reveal Valve has shared the first tidbits of information about its long-rumored VR headset.

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1 Video Game Deep Cuts: A is for Apple Arcade, B is for rolling bones? This week's roundup includes a look at the Apple Arcade announcement, an intriguing video on how the Mongolian steppes do gaming, plus pieces on Sekiro, clicker games, AR, video game folklorists.

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  Video: How devs can maintain their sanity for crunch and beyond In this 2018 GDC session, The Deep End Games' Amanda Gardner explains how developers can deal with difficult emotional states on the job.

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  Security researcher pleads guilty to hacking into Nintendo and Microsoft 24 year old security researcher Zammis Clark avoided jail time by pleading guilty to hacking into Microsoft and Nintendo servers and stealing confidential information.

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  The Elder Scrolls Online: Summerset takes home GLAAD award for outstanding video game LGBTQ media advocacy organization GLAAD appointed its inaugural award for Outstanding Video Game to The Elder Scrolls Online: Summerset during the 30th annual GLAAD Media Awards last night. 

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  Why 11 Bit Studios endeavors to put emotion and meaning first in game dev "We didn't want to do this hard mentally tiring game […] so we thought hey maybe we’ll do some 'gamer's game' with a cool idea and cool gameplay. But at the end it just sucked.”

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  FoxNext VP on turning Marvel: Strike Force into the Starbucks of mobile games "If you think about it, say Starbucks; a lot of people spend $15 or $20 a week on Starbucks on coffee and snacks and stuff and that’s a great value for them and they’ll do that forever."

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  Designing for deck-building in video games Gamasutra speaks with designers behind SteamWorld Quest, Hand of Fate, Slay the Spire, and Cultist Simulator to find out tips and methods for card-based design in video games.

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  Twitch Prime users are being gifted a free year of Nintendo Switch Online It's interesting to see Nintendo and Twitch join forces for the promotion, and shows the Japanese console maker is searching for ways to maintain and stoke interest in its fledgling online service.

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  Video: A West of Loathing design postmortem In this 2018 GDC session, Zack Johnson breaks down the tools and technology the Asymmetric Publications team used to make West of Loathing

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  Into the Pixel exhibit calls for submissions of game art The AIAS and ESA announced that the annual "Into the Pixel" video game art exhibit is now accepting submissions for its sixteenth collection.

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  Hyper Light Drifter dev confirms TV series is in the works Hyper Light Drifter is receiving its own animated TV show led by Heart Machine's Alx Preston and producer Adi Shankar, best known for the Netflix adaptations of Castlevania.

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  Tencent opens new cloud streaming platform 'Start' for public testing Tencent has opened up its own cloud gaming platform, "Start", for public testing by users in Shanghai and Guangdong.

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  Get a job: Game Mechanic Studios is hiring a Community Manager The team is looking for someone to lead communications (PR, Social, Community) activities as pertaining to Game Mechanic Studios and its products.

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23 Don't Miss: Streamlining how players deal with death in games Designer Dan Andrei Carp explores different ways that developers have made death less painful for the player across a wide range of games, as a Game Over screen "only serves to add insult to injury."

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1 Risk of Rain 2 is running a buy-one-get-one free launch promo The 3D followup to the 2013 release Risk of Rain is running a limited time promotion to get more eyes on the game and encourage players to team up in its co-op mode.

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  Players' Lounge raises $3M for a wager-based, competitive video game platform It's a hefty investment into a business based around competitive games, and one that has drawn the attention and funds of tech investors and celebrities like Drake.

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  Xsolla introduces new funding opportunity for indie developers Xsolla has announced a new funding opportunity for indie developers with the launch of their investment club, Xsolla Funding Club (XFC). 

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2 Minecraft update removes mentions of creator Notch from splash screens Minecraft custodians Microsoft have removed some mentions of controversial creator Markus "Notch" Persson from the game with a new snapshot update.

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  Sony veteran Kaz Hirai has left the company after 35 years "I have decided to depart from Sony, which has been a part of my life for the past 35 years. I would like to extend my warmest gratitude to all our employees and stakeholders who have supported me."

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2 Blog: 20 Years of retention in EverQuest Ever wonder how EverQuest has stuck around for the last 20 years? This article shares insight into the game's ability to retain players decade after decade.

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  Xenoblade developer Monolith Soft staffing up for Zelda project Xenoblade developer Monolith Soft is hiring developers to work on another entry in The Legend of Zelda series. 

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2 Wash your game's windows: An argument for clean mechanics Independent game dev Lars Doucet (Defender's Quest) says: "Playing a game with unclear mechanics is like peering through a dirty, smudged window. This calls for some Windex!"

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  Video: Systemic AI design in Just Cause 3 In this 2017 GDC session, Avalanche Studios' Robert Meyer discusses the technical designs, interfaces, and methods the studio used to develop a robust AI system that was flexible for level designers.

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  GameStop moving into esports with new events venue GameStop has announced its partnership with esports organization Complexity Gaming to open up the GameStop Performance Center in Frisco, Texas.

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