Remember the glory days of TwitchPlaysPokemon? Twitch chat was working toward a common goal - beating Pokemon Red and Blue using only chat commands - and for that initial run, it was an incredible sight to see. Now, one Twitch streamer is giving us an evolution of the TwitchPlaysPokemon idea, but there's more at stake than just beating a video game this time around.
Starting on the 15th of May, 2017, the original Mister Rogers Neighborhood will be streamed in its entirety, all 886 episodes, via Twitch. The entire marathon of this PBS KIDS show, from The Fred Rogers Company, will take place starting on May 15th at NOON Pacific Time (that's 3PM Eastern Time) and last until June the 3rd. This marathon will have not only episodes available online already, but some "that have only aired once and are unavailable elsewhere online."
When you're just starting out as a streamer, making money on Twitch can be kind of difficult. As it is, you pretty much need to rely on donations from viewers to make any cash until you grow your viewer base large enough to be admitted into Twitch's partner program. That's all about to change, with Twitch introducing a new system to allow even up-and-coming streamers to generate income while using the platform.
As announced back in February, you can now purchase video games as you watch them on Twitch. With so many different digital channels for buying PC games, though, why would you want to buy through Twitch? There are a few reasons, but a lot of them rely on the notion that you're a frequent Twitch user.
Live streaming is quickly becoming not just the latest new trend but also the hottest new monetization source (read: ads). And while there are a lot of new live streaming platforms popping up, Twitch.tv is still considered to be the granddaddy of such services. It is only appropriate, then, that the now Amazon-owned company is initiating a new thrust that will push the quality of live streaming forward. And it is doing so by finally making streaming at a higher quality of 1080p available to the masses, just in time for the entertainment industry's push for even more insane 4K resolutions.
Soon you'll be able to experience Twitch from a native desktop app rather than a browser window. The game broadcasting/streaming platform has announced it's launching the aptly titled Twitch Desktop App, allowing users to access the service's core features and more, including watching streams, participating in chats, and private messaging. This comes just days after Twitch unveiled Pulse, its own take on a Twitter-like feed of updates.
It's hard to escape The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild at the moment, but if you can't play it, why not watch someone stream it? Zelda Williams - daughter of the late Robin Williams - has announced that she'll be streaming Breath of the Wild later today. As if that weren't cool enough, she's doing the stream for charity, so watching helps promote a good cause too.
It seems that Twitch is really out to expand its territory, or at least keep everything withing the confines f its kingdom. After the revelation that Twitch will be going after Steam by selling games itself, it is now taking on Twitter and Facebook with a social feed of its own. Called Pulse, the feature aggregates posts from all the Twitch broadcasters you follow into one single place, inside Twitch, of course, so you won’t have to wait for their next juicy update on Twitter or Facebook.
With all of the changes Twitch has been making recently, you'd be forgiven if you thought it was beginning to move away from video games as its main focus. Not only does a social eating category exist, but the IRL channel - which allows content creators to stream pretty much whatever they want - has gained a lot of traction since it was first introduced. Despite those, the focus is back on gaming today, with Twitch announcing that you'll soon be able to use the streams you watch as a sort of marketplace.
Last summer, Microsoft acquired livestreaming service Beam as part of its plans to further integrate its Xbox gaming platform with Windows 10, and now it appears it's ready to start positioning Beam as a serious rival to Twitch. The company has announced that a new Beam app is coming to the Xbox One, with select Xbox Insider Program members getting early access starting this weekend.
Awesome Games Done Quick 2017 wrapped up over the weekend, but not before smashing donation records set by previous marathons. In all, AGDQ 2017 raised over $2.2 million for the Prevent Cancer Foundation, surpassing the previous record of $1.5 million set during AGDQ 2015. What's even more impressive is that more than $1 million was raised during a single day at AGDQ 2017, with donations flooding in during the last day of the marathon.
One of the year's largest gaming marathons, Awesome Games Done Quick 2017, is set to begin this Sunday. The event will last nearly a full week, kicking off at 11:30 AM Eastern on January 8 and then wrapping up in the wee hours of the morning on Sunday, January 15. In between those beginning and end times, speed runners from all around the world will run their favorite games in front of a live audience.
