In addition to being the home of video game live streams (and the occasional food channel), Twitch has been gaining a reputation for hosting a number of marathon streams of aging TV shows. There's been one for Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, the Pokemon cartoon, Mystery Science Theater 3000, and even anime. Now the next one has been announced: the '80s arcade game TV show called Starcade.
One by one, these Twitch marathons keep coming. The topic of the next marathon will be anime, with Twitch partnering with Crunchyroll to show 15 seasons of different shows over five days. Unlike the other Twitch marathons, which all have served to launch a new channel or raise money, this new marathon seems to just be a marketing promotion between Twitch and Crunchyroll.
Facebook is once again looking to expand its game streaming efforts, announcing today a new initiative with PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds developer Bluehole. With this new agreement, Facebook will now be the home of exclusive PUBG content each week. This may draw a considerable number of viewers in, given how popular PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is on Twitch.
Summer Games Done Quick 2017 is officially underway! It's a week-long marathon that features some of the best video game speedrunners from around the world. “That's all well and good,” I can hear some of you say, “but what is speedrunning and why should I care about Summer Games Done Quick?” Both of those are excellent questions, and I will answer those and more in this, the Beginner's Guide to Video Game Speedrunning.
Yesterday, Summer Games Done Quick 2017 went live on Twitch, kicking off a week-long marathon of video game speedruns. From now until sometime in the early morning hours of July 9, hundreds of speedrunners from around the world will be attempting to beat their favorite video games as fast as possible. They're not just attending this event to show off their skills (though that's a major part of it), but also to raise money for charity.
Back when Twitch first announced its IRL streaming category, it also revealed plans to update the Twitch app to allow for mobile streaming. It looks like we're getting closer to the launch of that feature, as Twitch has detailed changes coming to its mobile app. This update will add a fair amount of new features, chief among them being functionality that allows for streaming from mobile devices.
It would seem that Twitch marathons of classic shows are the hot new thing. What originally began with a marathon of The Joy of Painting with Bob Ross later led to marathons for both Power Rangers and Mister Roger's Neighborhood. Today Twitch announced its next marathon, and if you happen to be a fan of Mystery Science Theater 3000, this is definitely one you'll want to watch.
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.
