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AI-powered Elmo and Cookie Monster are shilling $25 video messages on Cameo
Cameo has added a pair of superstars to its stable of celebrities available for personalized video greetings. AI-powered Cookie Monster and Elmo, who may or may not have fallen on hard times, will shamelessly plug their services on the six-year-old platform, offering to count to your kid’s age or rattle off words that start with the same letter as your child’s name for $25 a pop.
Cameo now lets you buy 10-minute video calls with celebrities
You can invite up to nine friends to take part in a Cameo Live chat with your favorite star.
Cameo lays off almost a quarter of its staff, including executives
Cameo, the startup behind the video app that allows users to pay celebrities for short personalized greetings, has laid off a significant chunk of its workforce.
Cameo CEO favorably compares Web3 boom to the colonization of the Americas
When constructing a metaphor about scooping up a good opportunity, perhaps it's unwise to invoke historical events inextricably linked with genocide.
TikTok tests a Cameo-like option that lets users pay for custom creator videos
TikTok is reportedly testing a Cameo-style feature that lets users pay creators for custom videos.
Snapchat's Cameo test slips your face into GIFs
GIFs are great for conveying your reactions, but they're not usually very personal -- and recording yourself probably won't be that exciting. Snap might have found a way to bridge those two worlds. The company has confirmed to TechCrunch that it's testing a Cameo feature which inserts your face into a selection of (currently pre-made) GIFs. You just take a selfie, pick a generic body type and your face will animate as if it were you, including mouth movements. Think of it like a deepfake, but this time friendly instead of creepy.
Racists use app to trick celebrities into endorsing anti-Semitic views
White supremacists have been using mobile apps to trick stars into spreading hate speech online. BuzzFeed News has learned that two racist YouTubers have used Cameo, an app that lets you pay for personalized celebrity messages, to make NFL legend Brett Favre, rapper Soulja Boy and actor Andy Dick unwittingly record anti-Semitic messages that were promptly used for hateful videos. The duo paid significant sums (as much as $500 for Favre) and used coded language that sounded benign on the surface, but included coded language that anti-Jewish groups would immediately recognize.
Livestream your GoPro adventures with Meerkat
In its ongoing war with Periscope for the hearts and screens of mobile users, Meerkat announced a new feature on Thursday. Users can now livestream their adventures from select GoPro cameras. Right now, only GoPro Hero3's offer the feature. Users will also need an iPhone with a wireless connection to the camera in order for everything to work. Meerkat is reportedly working to add support for both the Hero4 camera series and the Android platform in the near future. This announcement follows the recent Meerkat additions of the "cameo" feature that allows your friends to hop onto broadcasts with you and an embeddable web player.
Your pals can broadcast during your Meerkat streams, if you let them
To let viewers feel like they're part of the action, Meerkat announced a new feature that lets you ask for some crowd participation. The video-streaming app now has a Cameo tool that'll allow broadcasters to hand the reins over to viewers for up to a minute. "It's a simple yet powerful way to create a deeper human connection with people — going from 'broadcasting to' towards 'broadcasting with,'" the company said in a blog post. The ability to highjack streams popped up back in March and was quickly nixed. Now, it's an actual feature, which makes me wonder if someone flipped the switch a little early.
Vimeo completely revamps its iPhone video editing app
Vimeo has just released a redesigned Cameo video app, more than a year since it purchased the startup. According to the company, it rebuilt the app "from the ground up starting from scratch," though it retains its core feature: the ability to create, edit and share video clips. The team made editing a lot simpler and video rendering a lot faster; they also added a bunch of new themes, fonts and soundtracks for background music that you can use. You can easily import straight from Vimeo or your iPhone camera roll, as well, without having to worry about file size and length. And, as you'd expect, the redesigned app makes it simpler to upload clips to Vimeo, where your stuff might get featured in the new "Best of Cameo" channel. The new Cameo's now out on iTunes (or it will soon be, if you don't see it yet) and remains separate from its parent company's application.
Holy cameo, Batman: Adam West as himself in Lego Batman 3
The official Lego Batman Twitter accounted posted the above image this week, while the San Diego Comic Con Lego Batman 3 panel features one Adam West as a special guest star. Furthermore, the Lego Batman account retweeted this mysterious message from the user @warhev: "Adam West plays himself in Lego Batman 3?! Day one purchase, lol!" But what could this riddle mean...? Lego Batman 3... if you take the L away from Lego, you get ego... or "I." I Batman 3... or, maybe... I'm Batman No. 3. The third Batman... would be Adam West. Ergo, Adam West must play himself in Lego Batman 3! Quick, to the Joymobile! Is the TV show's superheroic actor truly in Traveller's Tales' new Lego adventure? Find out this fall on all bat-channels, namely Xbox 360, Xbox One, Vita, PS3, PS4, PC, Wii U and 3DS. [Image: Warner Bros.]
Sniper Elite 3 will give UK satirist chance to snipe himself
When most people really, really like a game, they might display it prominently via posters, collectibles or even a stand for the game itself. When British satirist and former games journalist Charlie Brooker really likes a game - in this case, the Sniper Elite series - he gets invited to appear in Sniper Elite 3 by developer Rebellion. Before you get too jealous, it sounds like Brooker's cameo will be as an NPC, and Brooker will more likely be a snipe-ee than a sniper. Rebellion founder Jason Kingsley spoke highly of Brooker in an associated press release, and said his inclusion will be a way to thank Brooker for being such a vocal fan. "At one stage it seemed like Charlie mentioned Sniper Elite every few weeks in his Guardian columns and we're incredibly grateful for his support, so this seemed like the perfect way to say 'thanks,'" Kingsley said. "We really appreciate Charlie championing a British-made game series." Lest that sound like celebrity endorsement money talking, Kingsley was quick to downplay such corporate motivations. "You can buy endorsement all you want, but gamers can tell the difference between a genuine fan and a celeb that is happy to get a payday." [Image: Rebellion]
Play as Sackboy and Tearaway's heroes in Joe Danger 2 for Vita
Hello Games revealed plans to bring Joe Danger and Joe Danger 2: The Movie to PS Vita in August, and now it is offering more details on the games' portable versions. Namely, Joe Danger 2 will include cameos in the form of three playable characters courtesy of Media Molecule. Sometime this year, players will be able to perform tricks on Joe's motorcycle using Sackboy from the LittleBigPlanet series as well as Atoi and Iota from Media Molecule's latest game, Tearaway. Joe Danger 2 will include the 15 levels originally added to the game's PS3 version in the Undead Movie Pack DLC in October 2013. Additionally, both games will include online leaderboards and will automatically download ghost racer data for players to compete with asynchronously. Joe Danger first arrived on PSN in June 2010 and both games landed on Steam in June 2013. [Image: Hello Games]
Indie devs battle starvation, each other in Dyscourse bonus scenario
Who would be better-equipped to survive a week on a desert island: Double Fine head honcho Tim Schafer or Super Meat Boy developer Edmund McMillen? Would Vlambeer's Rami Ismail emerge as a better spear fisherman than Canabalt creator Adam Saltsman? Snuggle Truck developer Owlchemy Labs aims to answer these burning questions with "Indie Plane Crash," a recently announced bonus scenario for its Kickstarter-funded PC survival game Dyscourse. Indie Plane Crash finds out what happens when indie devs stop being polite and start getting real over the course of an extended stay on a deserted island. Starring cast members include Tim Schafer, Edmund McMillen, Octodad's Phil Tibitoski, Antichamber creator Alexander Bruce, World of Goo developer Ron Carmel, Journey producer Robin Hunicke, Dejobaan Games' Ichiro Lambe, Auditorium's Will Stallwood, Adam Saltsman, and Rami Ismail. Odds are good that some of these indies won't survive long enough to be rescued. As in Dyscourse's main story mode, players must make decisions and form alliances among fellow survivors in order to hunt, eat, and address emergent story details that unfold throughout. Dyscourse has 18 days left in its ongoing Kickstarter campaign, and has earned over $13,000 toward its funding goal of $40,000.
Cameo enters the social video world with a clever and powerful app
Cameo is a new free social video app that aims to compete with the likes of Vine and Instagram. The app sports some powerful features and has enough advantages that people who love to share videos will want to give it a shake. The app allows you to take as many videos as you want. All the videos are rendered in the cloud at 720p, and a copy is saved to your iPhone so it can be uploaded to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter or Tumblr. One clever feature is the ability to share videos in real time with friends, so if, for example, you're both in different places at a sporting event, you can share each other's clips and build them into your own video creation. Like Vine, clips are limited to six seconds, but you can combine those clips into a video that lasts as long as two minutes. As you shoot new clips, new ones are being rendered in the cloud, so you are not waiting for things to finish. When all your clips are done, you can select music, either from your own library or from clips provided by Cameo. You can title your video, and choose a theme. Then the video is rendered on the Cameo servers, which is pretty quick, and then you can share. I gave the app a try and found it very well thought out. A novice can get a great-looking video the first time out without ever consulting a help file. You can comment on friends videos, or follow what they are doing. I found the six-second clip limit restrictive, but once I got into the rhythm of the app, I was less bothered by it. The themes are very well done, and don't feel like simple filters thrown on top of video. The themes are sort of all or nothing. You pick a theme and go with it. You don't get to fiddle with transitions and effects. There are a lot of iPhone owners who never touch the video feature they have, but Cameo could give them a good reason to explore video as a creative and social outlet that isn't complicated to use. Like all apps, Cameo will mutate and improve, but it is already a strong contender and everyone who uses video on their iPhone, and those who don't, but are thinking about it, owe Cameo a look. Cameo requires iOS 7, and it's not universal. Your best bet is an iPhone, which is what it is really designed for.
Bayonetta making a cameo in Anarchy Reigns
Bayonetta may not be getting a big sequel to her high-kicking 2010 debut just yet, but she will be making a cameo appearance in this year's Platinum Games console release, Anarchy Reigns. Famitsu has the exclusive reveal of Bayonetta's guest appearance in the game, alongside ... pretty much zero other news about her inclusion in the game.Given the inclusion of MadWorld's Jack Cayman as a playable character, we're taking a wild guess that Bayonetta will take the same route. We've reached out to Sega in the meantime for more info.
How Tim Schafer ended up as a main voice in upcoming Kinect XBLA game Haunt
In Haunt, Parappa the Rapper developer Nana-OnSha's upcoming Xbox Live Arcade game, players will use Kinect to direct a main NPC voiced by Tim Schafer around a spooky, and somewhat goofy, haunted house -- that much we knew. And in a recent interview with Gamasutra, executive producer Masaya Matsuura and producer Dewi Tanner revealed how the main character came to be voiced by the Double Fine head and well-known goofy gentleman. "He's very, very interesting for it," Masaya said when asked about Schafer's participation. Apparently the main character's voice had already been recorded, but after hearing Schafer's speech at a GDC "Choice Awards" ceremony, the Nana-OnSha folks reconsidered. "We talked about 'maybe something is missed,' still," Matsuura said. "And one day you told me about how Tim would be a good voiceover actor," he added to Tanner. Tanner said that Tim's time was understandably constrained, being the head of another game studio and all, but the team "managed to squeeze him in nonetheless ... a couple of afternoons and we were pretty much done." Tanner also pointed out that Haunt isn't exactly a serious endeavor, and Schafer's "passé humor" was perfect for the role. The game is still absent a solid launch date, but it's probably safe to say it's gonna miss its previously scheduled 2011 release window. Tanner teased in the interview that, "We're just winding up the game right now; things are looking clean right now, so it should be a smooth submission." So, uh, soon-ish! Update: This piece originally listed Tim Schafer as the main character in Haunt, rather than the main NPC. It also listed Masaya Matsuura as the creative lead, rather than executive producer. Our apologies! [Image credit: 'skwathill']
Death Rally gets big multiplayer update
Death Rally is a great iOS title from Remedy Entertainment, the makers of the Alan Wake game for the Xbox 360 a little while back. (Quick disclaimer: I, Mike Schramm, actually have a cameo in the game, for turning in a solid time at a press event. But I wasn't paid at all for my appearance, and I don't make anything from sales of the game. I legitimately think it's a great title, though.) The game has just gotten a big update that adds something players might be surprised by: multiplayer. Up to four people can now load up the game, and race against each other using the Shrieker car, on up to six different maps, including Eureka, which was previously only available via in-app purchase. The update also adds a new weapon, the flamethrower, available from an in-app purchase reward pack, as well as a new paint job for one of the cars, and some enhanced graphics on the iPad 2. I have to say, iOS 5 support would have been nice (it's kind of a pain to have to re-do the game on the iPad if you've already played on the iPhone), but considering the update is completely free, I can't complain too much. If you haven't picked up the game yet, it's available for just 99 cents as a universal version right now. Good luck trying to blow me up in the game -- you'll get an achievement for it if you do.
Screen Grabs: Engadget makes its prime time TV debut on XIII
Screen Grabs chronicles the uses (and misuses) of real-world gadgets in today's movies and TV. Send in your sightings (with screen grab!) to screengrabs at engadget dot com. It's been a long time coming but after years of cataloging various gadgets in TV and movies, we finally got our own starring role on the small screen. Our HTML code stood in for the usual computer gibberish pretending to be a dangerous hacking program on an episode of the French / Canadian TV series XIII and was spotted by a keen-eyed (and HDTV-equipped) reader as seen above. US viewers might recognize the title since it was also the source of a videogame in 2003 and a miniseries that aired on NBC in 2009; in its current iteration, the tale of a conspiracy in the US government airs strictly outside our borders. A clip of the scene is included after the break, check for the "5 years old, highly encrypted source code" at about 1:29. Nice job Prodigy Pictures but next time we expect a speaking role, two scenes with co-star Aisha Tyler, a trailer and a bowl of M&Ms -- but only the green ones. Have your people talk to our people, we've been looking for a new career. [Thanks, Dennis] %Gallery-127870%
GDC 2011: Remedy brings Death Rally to iOS
Finnish developer Remedy Entertainment is known for making full-fledged console titles like Max Payne and Alan Wake, but it's stepping into the iOS arena with a touch-based remake of its old racing combat game Death Rally, originally released back in 1996. I got to see the game in action at GDC in San Francisco last week, and I liked it a lot. While it does make use of a virtual joystick (something that Graeme Devine had railed at in his panel earlier in the day), this one's done very well, providing both direction and acceleration to your little car as you race around the game's various tracks. Remedy worked with developer Mountain Sheep (makers of Minigore) on this one, and the polish and experience on the platform shows. The textures are clear and bright, and the gameplay is very solid. There are five cars to start (with possibly more coming later), and each of them handles differently, from a huge van down to a muscle car. The weapons are also very different, and all of them are upgradeable. Spending money earned after every race can be used to improve your car's stats or push your weapons up to the next level. As you race, you also unlock various challenges, like racing against just one opponent or going around a reversed track, that mix up the gameplay. %Gallery-118560%
