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HyperX's first standalone microphone is built for game streamers
HyperX is taking on the likes of Blue and Razer with its first standalone microphone for the game streaming set. The "Quadcast" is aimed at aspirational streamers and influencers alike, claims the company. It comes complete with an anti-vibration shock mount and a 3-metre cable with a headphone jack connection, allowing you to hook it up to your platform of choice (be that a PC, console, or Mac).
Facebook Gaming launches charity livestreams
Just in time for Giving Tuesday, Facebook is introducing new features for charity livestreaming on its Facebook Gaming platform. Gamers who broadcast on Facebook Gaming will be able to set up fundraising programs to raise money for a variety of worthwhile causes. A handful of popular streamers will be using the feature today, and Facebook will make it available to gaming creators in the near future.
Microsoft’s Mixer game streaming service adds new ways to interact
Microsoft's game streaming service and Twitch competitor, Mixer, is entering its second season, and with it comes a slew of new features to help fans engage and allow streamers to make more money. The first addition is Skills, which will let viewers send animated stickers and GIFs, launch effects like fireworks and laser shows or keep digital beach balls bouncing. Skills can be bought, and using it will help streamers financially. But for users that don't want to drop cash, they can use Sparks (new, earnable tokens) instead. Sparks can be earned by watching streams, and those Sparks can then purchase Skills.
The next generation of streaming video games is on its way
There's a specific kind of frustration associated with crappy game-streaming services. It's all about the buildup: You find a game, whether it's something brand new or a long-lost childhood favorite, and boot it up. It takes forever to load. The title screen stutters and your heart drops, but it's easy to convince yourself it was just a bout of preliminary jitters. And then the game begins. And stops. And starts up again. And stops. The dialogue is chopped, animations are disconnected and any type of action scene is impossible to control. Your character is killed five times in 10 minutes, and you're simultaneously filled with rage and an acute sense of loss. You exit out of the streaming service and spend the night playing Fortnite again.
PlayStation Now users can download certain PS4 and PS2 games
The biggest hindrance to Sony's PlayStation Now streaming service is lag. Because the game isn't stored locally, whatever device you're playing on has to send your button mashing back to Sony's servers to process the input and then feed it back to your TV screen. That's changing. PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 2 games remastered for PS4 on the service will be downloadable as well as streamable starting today, according to the PlayStation Blog.
Sony adds 'Bloodborne' to PlayStation Now's game streaming lineup
Sony's PlayStation Now game streaming service is adding perhaps its highest-profile PS4 title to date in Bloodborne. The infamously difficult action RPG from Dark Souls developer FromSoftware racked up a litany of awards and nominations after it was released in 2015. It's available on PS Now starting today.
Shadow's latest game streaming box is sleeker, quieter and wireless
Blade's Shadow game streaming service is still young, but it's already getting a hardware upgrade. The company has unveiled a Shadow Ghost device that promises to deliver more flexibility and power than the Shadow Box. The curvy new design is slicker-looking, but also smaller, lighter and quieter -- Blade envisions taking it with you to a friend's place. It also includes Bluetooth and WiFi, so you don't have to string Ethernet cables or plug in wired peripherals. And if performance matters, HDMI 2.0 both enables 144Hz refresh rates and opens the door to gameplay on more screens.
Valve quietly unveils streaming platform Steam TV
Valve seems to have unveiled a Twitch competitor with nary a peep of fanfare. A few hours after Steam Database founder Pavel Djundik discovered that the company registered the domain steam.tv, the website started live streaming The International 2018, Valve's Dota 2 esports tournament. The stream is no longer available, but CNET was able to try it out before it went offline. Based on what the publication saw, its features are still quite limited: it was able to stream the tournament, but it had no option to broadcast your own gameplay.
GameFly will shut down its game streaming service August 31st
GameFly is set to shut down its game streaming service at the end of this month. According to Variety, GameFly made the call to go the way of OnLive before EA acquired the company's cloud gaming assets and development team in May.
'Shadow' PC game streaming service is headed to US coasts
We were impressed by Shadow, the game streaming service from the French startup Blade, when it launched in California earlier this year. In a nutshell, it lets you play PC games on practically any device with a screen -- be it a smartphone, computer or TV -- by accessing the virtual equivalent of a $2,000 gaming rig. And on August 9th, gamers across the East and West Coasts will finally have a chance to try it out for themselves. With that expansion, Shadow will be available across 19 states. The company plans to reach nation-wide coverage in October.
Microsoft is working on its own game streaming service
Microsoft isn't going to let Sony's PlayStation Now go unanswered. The company has announced that it's developing its own game streaming service, which promises "console-quality gaming on any device." In other words, expect Xbox-level visuals and gameplay on everything from your laptop to your phone. It'll take advantage of the company's experience with AI to achieve that goal. There's no mention of a release date or even a name, but it's on the way -- and that's all that matters right now.
Apple leaves door open for Steam Link's release on iOS
Just because Apple rejected Steam Link for iOS doesn't mean your dreams of PC-to-iPhone game streaming are finished. Apple senior VP Phil Schiller has been emailing Steam users with word that it will "continue to work with" Valve on developing a Steam Link version that follows the App Store's rules. That's not a guarantee that you'll be streaming games in the near future, but it does leave a door open.
Microsoft marks Mixer's first year with improved eSports streams
In the past year since changing names from Beam to Mixer, Microsoft's game-broadcasting app has gone through a slew of updates and brought forth a number of innovations. Redmond says last December, the app had over 10 million active monthly users, and that the service keeps growing. The next year promises even more.
Apple blocks Steam Link on iOS for 'business conflicts'
Valve's Steam Link was on course to come to mobile this week. While the beta version arrived on Google Play just fine, the iOS app appears to have hit an unexpected roadblock. Valve said in a statement that Apple approved then withdrew it from the App Store:
Sony adds a slew of PS2 games to PlayStation Now
Sony's PlayStation Now hasn't been of much use for nostalgia trips unless most of your memories revolve around the PS3, but that's about to change: the first wave of PS2 titles is available through the game streaming service. They're not must-have blockbusters, but they're definitely titles you'll recognize, including Ape Escape 2, Dark Cloud 2 and Hot Shots Tennis. And importantly, these aren't straight content dumps -- each of these games plays in HD (no 4K, alas) with trophy support.
Microsoft forms a new cloud gaming division
With little fanfare, Microsoft has announced that it's launching a new gaming cloud division, a move that would set the company up to enter the world of game streaming. As The Verge reports, it's something Microsoft been building up for a while with the acquisition of small companies like PlayFab, which is focused on game development in the cloud. The company also has the basic structure of what a cloud streaming offering could look like with Xbox Game Pass, its subscription service that gives players access to large library of games for $10 a month.
A cloud service for mobile gaming isn't as dumb as it sounds
We're reached a point where cloud gaming finally makes sense. The technology that exists now is beyond what was available to famous failures like OnLive and many others you could say were ahead of their time. Servers, the consoles and computers we have in our homes, and the speedy internet connections that feed them are now capable of mimicking the experience of playing a game stored on your local machine. Big companies like Sony and NVIDIA have gotten involved over the past few years for just this reason, and one upstart believes it's spotted an unfilled niche in the market. What Spotify has done for music and Netflix for TV, Hatch wants to do for mobile gaming.
Xbox One tests spring update with controller sharing via Mixer
The next big Xbox One software update is closing in, and as Microsoft rolled it out to Preview Update testers, the company also explained what to expect. Once the Spring update arrives, gamers can check out a new 1440p option that fits in between 1080p and 4K displays to make it just right for anyone using a quad HD monitor. It's also adding an algorithmic "What's Hot" feed for club posts that should make things more like Reddit (or Facebook), and a Top Posts option that shows which ones are the most popular of all time.
Google is reportedly working on a video game streaming service
It sounds like Google might be working on a game streaming service. According to a report from The Information, the tech juggernaut has been floating the idea for a streaming service (like PlayStation Now or NVIDIA's GeForce Now) for around two years. The service is codenamed "Yeti" and Google is apparently even testing hardware for it as well. The Information's sources say that the service might stream to a Chromecast, and that hiring Phil Harrison last month as VP of hardware -- formerly of Microsoft and Sony's gaming divisions -- could point toward a standalone gaming console.
NVIDIA proves the cloud can replace a high-end gaming rig
A year ago, NVIDIA's GeForce Now game-streaming service let me play The Witcher 3, a notoriously demanding PC-only title, on a MacBook Air. This year, NVIDIA finally unveiled the Windows version of the service, and it was even more impressive. I was able to play Rainbow Six: Siege and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds on underpowered PCs that sell for $200 to $300. If NVIDIA's Mac demo was a revelation, playing high-end PC games on discount hardware felt like a miracle. Now, after testing the GeForce Now beta release on PCs for a week, I'm even more intrigued by the possibilities of game streaming.
