Category Archives: News

YouTube Gaming’s Science Fiction Game ‘Halo 5: Live’ Launches Worldwide With A Global Celebration

“Halo 5: Guardians,” launched worldwide. In Celebration, Fans tuned into YouTube Gaming to take part in “Halo 5: Live,” a one-of-a-kind live broadcast celebration spanning multiple continents with exclusive gameplay reveals, celebrity appearances, international events and more.

The six-hour event drew views worldwide, as fans came together to experience what makes “Halo” truly special.

“‘Halo 5: Guardians’ is the culmination of more than three years of hard work, passion, and dedication, and we could not be more excited to celebrate with our fans,” said Bonnie Ross, corporate vice president, head of 343 Industries.

“Last night, Halo Nation came together from around the world like never before, and we are thrilled to see fans jumping into the most ambitious game we’ve ever launched.”

“Halo 5: Guardians” is the latest addition to Microsoft’s $4.6 billion “Halo” sci-fi franchise.

The excitement reached a fever pitch last night as #Halo5Live was shared by fans around the world on Twitter. Some of the most-watched moments of the “Halo 5: Live” broadcast, as well as other key celebrations, included the world premiere of “Halo: The Fall of Reach,” a new animated series centered on the dramatic origin story of the SPARTAN program.

There was also an Xbox roundtable with actor Nathan Fillion, the voice of Spartan Buck, and the creative minds at 343 Industries.

“Halo 5: Guardians” is available now for $59.99 (ERP) at more than 110 Microsoft stores in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico, microsoftstore.com, as well as other major U.S. retailers and via digital download. A sample list of participating retailers can be found at http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/halo-5-guardians/buy-now.

Fans can watch video on demand of “Halo 5: Live” through YouTube at http://www.xbox.com/Halo5Live. Photos and video from global launch events can be viewed at http://news.xbox.com/media.

Originally posted on kpopstarz

Celebrate Bob Ross with all 403 ‘Joy of Painting’ episodes on Twitch

Beloved painter and TV host Bob Ross died 20 years ago. But Oct. 29 is his birthday, and the Internet is celebrating it in the most unusual of places: Twitch.

The social video platform secured the rights to all 404 episodes of Ross’s art-focused TV series, The Joy of Painting, and they’re all set to be broadcast at twitch.tv/bobross between Oct. 29 and Nov. 6. The event coincides with the launch of the new Twitch Creative channel.

“The Creative community was born from the gaming community on Twitch, as top broadcasters began broadcasting creation of fan art during gameplay down time,” Twitch Creative boss Bill Morrier said in a statement. “This attracted more broadcasters to the platform whose primary focus was on artistic endeavors. With their passion, variety, camaraderie, and sheer organic growth, they inspired us to put a much larger spotlight on their community.”

Known for his soft-spoken demeanor and absurdly impressive perm, Ross used the Joy of Painting series to help viewers find a simple, accessible entry point into artistic endeavors. He had a particular way of narrating his creative process that made the show feel welcoming, and he stuck with simple, inexpensive materials that would encourage viewers to paint along with him.

Ross was also a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, having enlisted when he was 18. It was during his military service that Ross first encountered The Magic World of Oil Painting, a TV series hosted by German artist Bill Alexander. This led him to study with Alexander, who taught Ross the trademark wet-on-wet oil technique that he was using on his series. Ross eventually left the Air Force when he realized he could make a career out of being an artist.

The Twitch stream doesn’t appear to have started yet, but tune in at the link above to make sure you don’t miss a moment of this unexpected (yet totally welcome) Bob Ross marathon.

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.

Originally posted on mashable

Donation to a Twitch Stream used to notify NCCU Campus of Shooting Incident

On the brink of a shooting incident at the North Carolina Central University at around 11 PM on 25 Oct 2015, an alert was broadcast to fellow campus residents by Redditor “bawkqsz” by making use of Twitch TV donation for Reynad’s Twitch stream.

Redditor “bawkqsz” who is also an NCCU campus resident was following the Reynad’s Twitch stream when the shooting started. Following this, he realized that the since this Reynad’s Twitch stream had close to 20,000 viewers at that time, it was a good idea to notify about the incident there to alert any other NCCU resident to protect themselves.

Redditor bawkqsz’s Twitch donation read:

“there is an active shooter on campus, sorry if I miss the rest of your stream for dying. North Carolina Central University in case anyone is a student and is not aware”.

Other fellow NCCU Redditors did confirm that this message was the first place where they heard about the incident that was broadcast even before the Twitter feed from NCCU tweeted with about the incident. The Tweet from the NCCU Twitter handle @NCCU read

Following this shooting incident, NCCU Campus Police had issued a campus-wide lockdown that was later lifted by 12 AM.

NCCU officials have confirmed that the shooting incident occurred off Lawson Street closer to Alston Avenue. One student was injured in the incident with an injury to his eye, who was immediately shifted to the local hospital and is said to be in stable condition now.

Unconfirmed reports suggest that there was a total of 5 suspects dressed in black clothing with hoodies and was last seen running north away from the campus towards Dupree Street, but we are yet to be confirmed on this.

NCCU Police is further looking for more information on the suspect and has appealed the public to provide with any additional information they have on the suspect by contacting the NCCU Police Department on 919-530-6106

 

Originally posted on new yorker daily

Competitive Call of Duty Star Says – Leaving Twitch Is His “Biggest Regret”

A year ago, Matthew “NaDeSHoT” Haag announced that he would be streaming Call of Duty on competitive gaming site MLG.TV exclusively in a deal that the New York Times once called “lucrative.” Last weekend, the former top player looked back on that decision—and came pretty close to calling it a mistake.

Haag, who has over two million subscribers on YouTube and is the co-owner of the top Call of Duty group named Team OpTic, recently did a fan Q&A vlog. In it, he answers the question “What is your biggest regret?” The section starts around the 1:58 mark below if you’d like to watch it.

Immediately, without even stopping to think about it, Haag answers:

“Honestly, my biggest regret is leaving Twitch TV to go stream for another platform.”

Nadeshot clarifies that while he has no issues with the MLG platform or the people who work there, the consequences of leaving Twitch still weigh heavily on him.

“I just feel very responsible for the decline in viewership in competitive Call of Duty. When I left Twitch, I was really at the forefront of competitive Call of Duty. The viewership was thriving, other e-sports and the players and the casters and the analysts were giving our game more respect than we had in previous times,” – Haag said.

This recognition felt huge to Haag—he described a time during which competitive Call of Duty was considered a joke, thanks in large part to the immature stigma that the series carries. But the sheer size of the audience meant that people had to take the competitive scene seriously anyway.

“We had strength in numbers. People were watching our streams. We had thousands of people showing up to our tournaments, and we were just in the best position that competitive Call of Duty has ever been [in],” Haag recalls.

Though he’s vague on numbers, Haag says that the viewership on Twitch didn’t jump ship for MLG with the pro players.

“And then, in one day, flip of the switch, I go and stream on another website—and basically it caused all the other pro players to go and sign on and stream on MLG TV. And it basically alienated competitive Call of Duty away from all the other e-Sports when we were trying to climb out of that hole in the first place.”

For Haag, the regret isn’t related to money—last year, he was reported to make nearly a million dollars a year playing Call of Duty. In this video, he calls his financial situation “very comfortable.” But he thinks that his financial gain came “at a cost to a community that I loved, and still do love.” Still, he’s optimistic about the situation. His hope is that, with time, players can build the competitive side of Call of Duty once more.

Haag’s frankness here is a very interesting light of the recent rivalry between Twitch and YouTube Gaming. Twitch is in a good place right now, at least in terms of numbers—it’s one of the top websites in the world, and most of the top gaming streams have a home there. Plenty of folks make a living off of Twitch, too. But with streaming competitors popping up, up-and-coming Twitch streamers are faced with a choice: do they stick around at Twitch, where the features may be wonky but streaming is always growing and booming, or do they leave and pursue other platforms that may offer them a better deal? Meanwhile, already-established streamers on Twitch are often are locked into a contract with an exclusivity clause that doesn’t allow them to leave Twitch in the first place.

Streaming is in a very cutthroat place right now, and I imagine that the choice between leaving and staying at Twitch is only further complicated when streamers know that their audiences may not follow them wherever they go.

This man was arrested and robbed on a Twitch live stream

A Twitch streamer named Mr. Big had a very bad night. After 12 hours of live-streamed gaming, Big got a noise complaint from his neighbors that would escalate into two different arrests and one low-level robbery — most of which was caught on tape.

The complaint began with a friendly knock on the door, visible at 13:43. Big responded erratically, saying, “I will scream freedom all night long.” After the conversation finishes, he kicks his door shut, slamming it. The police arrive an hour later, at 14:44, in apparent response to the noise complaint, although audio is silenced until 14:47. Asked for his name, he responds, “my last name is America” and refuses to give his name. He also informs the police that they’re visible on Twitch, with 65 viewers watching their interactions. After another 10 minutes talking with the police, he’s arrested, with police closing the door behind him — but the action isn’t quite over. At 14:59, Big’s neighbor can be seen entering the unlocked apartment and stealing Big’s shoes, headphones, cellphone, lighter, and wallet.

“Thankfully he was caught on my live stream and my mods called the police,” Big wrote on YouTube after the event.

“Now he is in jail on felony charges. My property was returned to me and I’m currently fighting for my erroneous charges to be dismissed.”

Note: The video is only accessible on his YouTube channel.
mr-big-video

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