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Nintendo ends 'Creators' program that restricted video sharing
In response to the popularity of shared game clips, Let's Play videos and live streams, Nintendo launched a Creators Program that aimed to take a cut of the profits when people made content featuring its games. The policy started in 2013 with Content ID Match claims on YouTube before the program officially launched in 2015. Tonight Nintendo announced the program will close at the end of this year, and said "We're making it easier for creative fans to show their love for Nintendo and monetize videos that include Nintendo game content." What does that mean in practice? A simple set of guidelines that more closely match the approach of Sony and Microsoft. While it's not exactly a free for all -- Nintendo specifically said it still can and will take down videos that it believes break these guidelines -- content creators who monetize their videos on platforms like YouTube, Twitch, Facebook, NicoNico Live or Twitter can go ahead and post videos of games. The caveat is that unless they're made using the system's sharing features, then they should "include your creative input and commentary" instead of just raw video and nothing else. It also excludes content from pirated games, or games that haven't been officially released yet (Super Smash Brothers Ultimate we're looking at you).
Watch the first 10 minutes of Fullbright's 'Tacoma'
Tacoma feels a lot like its predecessor, Gone Home, even though its environments couldn't be more different. Rather than leading players on an emotional journey through an abandoned family house, Tacoma places players on an abandoned space station. The feeling of familiarity comes from the game's design and mechanics: Players are encouraged to explore all the nooks, crannies, notes and recordings scattered around the station, while the layout of the winding metal hallways and air locks quietly guides them through a mysterious, dangerous storyline.
Let's play 'Horizon Zero Dawn'
This is the strangest death I've suffered in Horizon Zero Dawn. I can handle taking a laser beam to the face from a gigantic metal bobcat or being knocked to the ground by an overzealous robot velociraptor, but this? What a way to go.
PewDiePie's Twitter temporarily suspended after ISIS joke
Yesterday, popular YouTube personality PewDiePie made minor headlines for losing his Twitter verification checkmark. Today, he was briefly suspended for the service. "I did this yesterday as a joke," he explained on Youtube, teasing users who view Twitter verification as a status symbol. "But then America woke up and that's when shit got stupid." Overnight, Kjellberg says an account parodying Sky News posted a fake news story claiming he lost his verification status for having "suspected relations with ISIS." Later, the YouTuber referenced the article on Twitter, joking that both he and JackSepticEye had joined the terrorist organization. Later, his account Twitter account was suspended.
Sony is trying to trademark 'Let's Play' videos
You've heard of a "Let's Play" video, right? That's a common term for YouTube videos featuring video game commentary and gameplay. People have built careers out of this kind of content (folks like Pewdiepie, Game Grumps, Markiplier and others) and it's a fairly ubiquitous term -- which makes it all the more weird that Sony is apparently trying to trademark it. Really.
Play a game about YouTube stars in 'PewDiePie: Legend of the Brofist'
The gaming stars of YouTube were recently turned into physical action figures, but their next big feat takes them back to the digital realm. PewDiePie: Legend of the Brofist is a pixelated action game for iOS and Android starring YouTube sensation Felix "PewDiePie" Kjellberg and a host of his fellow online entertainers, including Marzia, CinnamonToastKen, JackSepticEye, Cryaotic and Markiplier. Legend of the Brofist features a mix of platforming, bullet hell and and sidescrolling action genres, and it comes courtesy of retro-focused Canadian studio Outerminds. It's $5 on the App Store and Google Play.
YouTube's PewDiePie is (definitely not) starring in a TV show
Let's start this off with a disclaimer: PewDiePie is a massively popular YouTube personality who reacts in funny ways while playing video games. He has more than 39 million subscribers, he's been spoofed on South Park and he makes millions each year. He's successful at being silly -- which is serious business, as Twitch's $1 billion price tag, YouTube's new Gaming section and its coming Subscription services demonstrate. A lot of people enjoy PewDiePie and a lot of people don't. Either way, his success and impact on the live-streaming industry is uncontested. That's why he's newsworthy. Now, on to the news. Felix Kjellberg, known on YouTube as PewDiePie, is in Los Angeles right now to work on something that sounds a lot like a TV show.
YouTube millionaire PewDiePie responds to his haters
Felix Kjellberg, better known as PewDiePie, made a lot of money last year. His company, PewDiePie Productions, brought in about $7 million in revenue, mainly off of Kjellberg's YouTube videos where he plays video games and reacts in silly ways. With those videos, he's also raised more than $1 million for charity over the years. Kjellberg has 37.7 million subscribers on YouTube and about 9 billion views overall -- considering that he receives ad revenue based on the number of views his videos get, it's not surprising that he's making serious bank. However, When news of Kjellberg's revenue hit the 'net, quite a few people responded with anger, outrage or thinly veiled jealousy, as they do any time that PewDiePie's revenue goes public. This year, Kjellberg made a video addressing the money issue, including a brief description of his not-so-glamorous life before YouTube.
YouTube star PewDiePie made $7 million in 2014
Last year around this time, word got out that Felix Kjellberg, a 24-year-old Swedish bro known online as PewDiePie, made $4 million a year by playing video games, recording his reactions and uploading the resulting videos to YouTube. At the time, he had 27 million YouTube subscribers. Today, Kjellberg has 37.7 million subscribers on YouTube and his company, PewDiePie Productions, pulled in roughly $7.4 million in revenue in 2014, according to Swedish newspaper Expressen. It looks like this whole "watch people play video games on the internet" craze is here to stay.
