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Microsoft Acquires Beam Game Streaming Service, Embracing Alternative To Amazon's Twitch (geekwire.com)
An anonymous reader shares a GeekWire report: Microsoft's Xbox group announced Thursday that it has acquired Seattle-based interactive game streaming service Beam, bringing the Redmond, Wash.-based tech giant into an arena dominated by Amazon's Twitch. Microsoft said in a blog post the deal will help make Xbox more social and interactive. Beam launched in January, with a goal of giving people watching gamers the ability to participate in the experience. Viewers can affect gameplay by presenting new challenges and quests using visual controls.
Go with us as a refreshing alternative. We are just as big nasty. But it is an alternative.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Somehow I can't believe an antisocial company can pull something like this off.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Purchasing a competing version of everything that already exists sounds more like IBM in its doldrums than Microsoft in its heyday. They'd be best served by choosing a core competency and sticking to it.
Microsoft today is more evil than when Ballmer was running things into the ground.
HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
remove Twitch from the Xbox
Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
Beam has already made a news in the game streaming community, for one reason and one reason only. Stream latency, beam had negligible latency of pushing the stream from ingest servers through their network and back out to the streaming clients, This is why interactivity works better on beam (it exists on twitch too, see "twitch plays Pokémon") . Unfortunately there is an issue with this, the low latency is due to low throughout compared to twitch which at any one time is handling thousands of streams to tens of thousands of clients.
If Google / YouTube can't make a dent in Twitch what's Microsoft gonna do?
To be honest, and not saying MS will succeed here, but Google has been half-assing new products for a few years now. It's like they have a severe case of corporate ADHD. I don't think we can use Google failing at something as a valid comparison anymore. They are not the Google they were in the early 2000's.
I browse on +1 so AC's need not respond, I won't see it.
In-app streaming is garbage, get an AVerMedia Gamer Portable
The first thing on the product description page is a boxed, all-caps notice:
Because video games are audiovisual works, their output is protected by copyright. Nintendo used copyright against MLG in 2010, and other publishers have the right to use it again in the future. Even with publishers that are willing to license their games for streaming, such as Nintendo nowadays, a royalty for the game itself is a cost that esport leagues have and physical sport leagues do not.
Further down on the page is
Do the major video game consoles use HDCP on their output? I know OUYA does, and in my opinion, inability to share gameplay videos was a significant part of what caused OUYA to fizzle out.
Then they can make some copyright / eula / dmca claims.
BEAM = Beam Envies Amazon Market
This message brought to you by the "Bing Is Not Google" department.
Virtually every single major streamer that streams from XB One or PS4 (or other consoles) does so using a capture card. Most use OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) to overlay other stuff onto the stream. Often a webcam view, alerts when they get new subs or donations, and other miscellaneous stuff.
Very few of the well-viewed streamers stream directly from the console.
"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
Yes, but really, YouTube Live truly isn't that bad as a delivery platform. As a matter of fact - it seems to be catching on relatively well EXCEPT for video game streaming. People are just used to going to Twitch for that.
"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
A better summary from The Next Web (No affiliate)
Microsoft is getting into the livestreaming game with its latest purchase. The company has picked up Beam, a six-month-old service that competes with Twitch and YouTube gaming.
Beam’s key advantage over the big players is its super low-latencyvideos, allowing users to interact with streamers in something that approaches real time (instead of the usual 10 second delay). That makes streaming more of an active back-and-forth with broadcasters, adding an interactive element that Twitch and YouTube gamers can’t quite achieve
For example, you could be playingCounter Strike, and get instant suggestions from your streamers as to how to strategize. In Minecraft, you could get advice on where to place your next set of blocks. Or maybe you just need some help getting through a Halo mission – that’s a lot more useful without the delay.
The purchase is specifically focused on Xbox, so we wouldn’t be surprised to see live-streaming become a native feature for the next iteration of the console – or perhaps even in the current one.
In the meantime, Beam says nothing will change for current users; the Microsoft purchase will simply pour more resources into the company – and scale more quickly – than it might have otherwise.
http://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2016/08/11/microsoft-just-bought-livestream-service-thats-faster-twitch-youtube/
Yes, but really, YouTube Live truly isn't that bad as a delivery platform. As a matter of fact - it seems to be catching on relatively well EXCEPT for video game streaming. People are just used to going to Twitch for that.
Youtube Live isn't bad but they did that half-hearted game streaming launch last year (gaming.youtube.com) and it so far has been a huge flop. They just kind of threw it out there and forgot about it. Twitch needs a real competitor. Google fumbled it. Microsoft is really about the last hope for one now. God help us all.
I browse on +1 so AC's need not respond, I won't see it.
Do the major video game consoles use HDCP on their output?
Yes, but you can disable it for games, why did you not know this already? Do you not know how to google?
http://manuals.playstation.net...
I know OUYA does, and in my opinion, inability to share gameplay videos was a significant part of what caused OUYA to fizzle out.
Significant? In what fantasy world do you live in. The real reason Ouya failed is that the masses don't want a microconsole to play sucky android games and emulators.
I stream but rarely, but when I do, I tend to stream to Google. Why?
The streams are archived youtube style. Twitch deletes videos after 14 days for free users.