Twitch makes cheering exchange rate clear: one penny per bit for streamers

 Twitch announced Monday that users would soon be able to “cheer” their favorite streamers — in the form of expendable emoji purchasable with real-world money. Details were rather scarce so I pressed them — and then, almost certainly unrelated to that, the company provided more details. (It’s a penny per bit.) Read More

Glu debuts new Dash game with Gordon Ramsay

 These days, if a celebrity launches their own game, it is likely with Glu Mobile. Known for their free-to-play mobile games, the publicly traded company lists more than 100 games, including Sonic the Hedgehog, Transformers, Guitar Hero and Deer Hunter. But since late 2014, the team has moved away from building known gaming titles to new personalized star-focused franchises. After topping… Read More

AutoLotto launches its mobile Powerball app

 Purchasing a lottery ticket is usually a simple thing. Maybe too simple. But holding onto tickets long enough to check the numbers and redeem any winners requires more effort than many would prefer. That’s where AutoLotto comes in. The startup has created a mobile app that lets users buy, play and redeem lottery tickets all on their smartphones. More than 166,000 users have signed up on… Read More

The Nintendo 64 turns 20 today

 It was on June 23, 1996 that the Nintendo 64 made its debut — in Japan, that is. We wouldn’t see it on this side of the Pacific for another three months. But today is its proper birthday, and 20 years is a significant enough anniversary that we should probably just take a moment to remember just how awesome this console was — and is. Read More

Oculus removes hardware DRM that locked games onto its headset

 An Oculus update posted today quietly removes a feature that blocked Oculus software from being played on other headsets — something that the community has been up in arms about for a month. The removal is essentially a mea culpa from Oculus, which over the last few weeks has faced hard questions from press and users about its strategy in locking down content to its own platform. Read More

Swarm launches Perks so you can get real-world rewards

 For the last year, the team at Foursquare has been working relentlessly to turn Swarm into something fun. In many respects, checking in on Swarm is playing a game, and now the company is ready to reward you for your gameplay. Today the company launched Swarm Perks and Swarm Challenges, both of which are meant to offer real-world rewards to users. Let’s start with Perks. Swarm Perks is… Read More

Slither.io is snaking its way on to homescreens

 Slither.io is not new, but it is crazy popular. The game has been sitting at number one on the iOS gaming charts for some time. Slither.io has been available for just over three months now and, according to the most recent ranking, the game still holds the number one game, action game, and simulation game spots in the U.S. Apple App Store. It’s also the number six free app overall,… Read More

Facebook Live attacks Twitch with game streaming

 If people spend a lot of time doing something on the Internet, you can bet Facebook wants a piece. Its latest conquest attempt is the video game streaming business ruled by Twitch and YouTube. Today, Facebook announced its working with World Of Warcraft maker Blizzard to build social login and Facebook Live video streaming into their games, starting with its new blockbuster Overwatch.… Read More

HTC exec: exclusives are a bad idea for VR

 Last week at E3, we had a chance to speak with some of the biggest names in VR, from Oculus to Sony — but that list that wouldn’t be complete without some input from HTC. The smartphone maker was, perhaps, something of a dark horse in the space, but its Vive headset has scored high rankings among industry stalwarts, positioning the Taiwanese for something of a renaissance at the… Read More

Tencent confirms deal to buy majority stake in Supercell from SoftBank for $8.6B

 It is finally confirmed: Tencent has announced that it has acquired a majority ownership of Supercell, the Finnish firm behind hit game Clash Of Clans, for around $8.6 billion. Read More

My Eye Spy brings every parents’ favorite car game to a phone near you

 I spy with my little eye… Something beginning with F! Is it Flowers? No. Fish finger sandwiches? No. A Fantastic Feast of Fun? Well, no, not quite, but almost. My Eye Spy launches today; it’s a new iOS app which brings every parents’ favorite child-distraction game to the iOS platform, making it possible to play with your friends, or random strangers on the internet. Read More

The Basslet wearable subwoofer delivers beats and basslines directly to your body

 I first tried on a prototype of the Basslet wearable subwoofer at SXSW 2016. Built by a Berlin startup called Lofelt and headed by CEO/cofounder Daniel Büttner and CTO/cofounder Gwydion ap Dafydd (ex-Ableton and Native Instruments leaders respectively) the Basslet has a strange appeal that I didn’t expect I would like and that I recognized as missing the minute I took it off. Read More

Contact CI’s Exotendon system brings touch to VR

 Sometimes the coolest demos at a convention are tucked away in the back corners, far from the bright lights and big booths industry stalwarts. One of the hidden gems of this year’s E3 arrives courtesy Contact CI. The small Cincinnati-based startup was showing of its developer kit for the first time at the event, featuring a complex glove designed to offer more lifelike VR… Read More

VR skateboarding at E3

 I’ve been skateboarding for longer than I care mention, and I still had to hold onto the damn railings. I’m going to blame it on the screwy sense of orientation one experiences in virtual reality, but it probably owes just as much to my fear of falling off a mechanical skateboard simulator in the middle of the crowded E3 show floor. The exhibit was created by D-Box to promote… Read More

Indie developers ditch controllers for real-life interactions

 If there’s one thing E3 was not short of, it was controllers. Thousands of the things! Xbox controllers, Dual Shock controllers, third party controllers, motion controllers. But at Indiecade, an independent games showcase at the show, developers devised a variety of ways to play with no controller at all, making digital games charmingly analog. Read More

Oculus co-founders Palmer Luckey and Nate Mitchell on the state of VR

 Before Oculus, most casual observers regarded virtual reality as somewhere between science fiction and novelty, fodder for cheesy 1990s films and overpriced, underperforming tech demos. Now it’s immediate and inevitable, and for those walking through the halls of the Los Angeles Convention Center this week, entirely unavoidable. In the space of a few short years, the company has gone… Read More

The PlayStation 4 ‘Neo’ is real, but Sony won’t show it at E3

 In an interview with the Financial Times, Sony Interactive Entertainment president and global chief executive Andrew House confirmed that the PlayStation 4 ‘Neo’ is real. But don’t expect to see it next week at the E3 conference in Los Angeles. House has said Sony doesn’t plan to unveil it at E3. Read More

The gaming industry can become the next big target of cybercrime

 Video-game-related crime is almost as old as the industry itself. But while illegal copies and pirated versions of games were the previous dominant form of illicit activities, recent developments and trends in online gaming platforms have created new possibilities for cybercriminals to swindle huge amounts of money from an industry that is worth nearly $100 billion. And what’s worrisome… Read More

HTC launches a $1,200 business edition of the Vive VR Headset

 Sure, everything will be all fun and games next week at E3, but right now HTC’s talking business. The company’s well-received Vive headset is getting its very own “Business Edition,” the Vive BE, which is targeted at companies interested in harnessing virtual reality for commercial purposes. The hardware, it should be mentioned right off the top, is pretty much the same… Read More

Nintendo talks mobile gaming, VR and its future at E3

 Nintendo has never been afraid to go against the grain of prevailing industry trends. In fact, the refusal to follow the pack has become a defining aspect of the gaming giant’s business strategy during the ascendance of chief console competitors Sony and Microsoft. So it comes as no surprise, really, that it did something markedly different at this year’s E3 show. But just how… Read More

11 of the coolest video game trailers from E3

 We’ve been focused on VR and non-traditional gaming here at E3 this year, but that doesn’t mean we’ve been walking around with our eyes closed. But you might not have been paying close attention, what with having a real job and everything, so I took the liberty of collecting the most interesting trailers from the show in one place. Read More

Razer’s VR headset is designed for developers

 The OSVR HDK2 was arguably Razer’s biggest E3 unveiling this year – but it was also kind of besides the point. Like Google’s Daydream announcement a few weeks back, this is a reference device, a way of showcasing hardware designed specifically to work with the company’s software. OSVR VR is Razer’s attempt to build a hardware ecosystem for virtual reality, away… Read More

Alienware is also working on one of those VR backpacks

 It’ll probably come as no surprise to anyone who’s been following gaming of late, but Alienware’s looking to join the likes of HP and MSI with the release of a VR backpack of its very own. The Dell-owned gaming PC maker wasn’t exactly trumpeting the device at E3, but it did show off a prototype of the proton pack, hung snugly from a mannequin in the company’s… Read More

Zeiss made a really premium Google Cardboard headset

 Google Cardboard’s biggest appeal has always been its accessibility. Heck, they send the headsets out with the newspaper. Zeiss is taking things in a different direction with the One Plus (not to be confused with the less spacey OnePlus), a $129 VR headset for smartphones that features a premium build and, naturally, the company’s high-end optics. The wearable features a tray… Read More

Heads up Twitch, Facebook just hired gamer Snoopeh for its e-sports division

 459,000 years. That’s how long Twitch users spent watching other people play video games last year, and Facebook wants a piece of the pie. It might sound weird, but e-sports are wildly popular, and Facebook is getting serious about owning those video views. A source tipped us off that Facebook has hired e-sports super-connector and former professional gamer Stephen… Read More