Eric David
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Microsoft teams up with ESL to launch esports tournament platform for Xbox Live
Microsoft and the Electronic Sports League (ESL) have announced a new partnership aimed at integrating esports tournaments directly into Xbox Live, allowing developers to create consistent tournament experiences for players and fans. The partnership will make it easier for developers to optimize their games for major tournaments, specifically by using integrations provided by ESL. “The tournament ...
Oculus Rift launch titles revealed along with ratings for “comfort”
Today, Oculus VR revealed the official launch lineup for the Rift virtual reality headset, which arrives on March 28. The list includes 30 titles that will release alongside Oculus Rift, including highly anticipated games like Eve: Valkyrie, Lucky’s Tale, and ADR1FT. “This incredible lineup represents years of work from a global community of developers who are ...
PlayStation VR release date and price confirmed, arrives in October at $399
Sony Corp has finally revealed the price and projected launch of PlayStation VR, and it looks like the virtual reality device may finally bridge the enormous gap between cheap, low performance VR like Google Cardboard and expensive, high performance VR like Oculus Rift or HTC Vive. “Ever since we unveiled PS VR during the 2014 Game ...
Twitch’s “Stream First” program builds games with livestreaming in mind
Twitch has announced the launch of Stream First, a program aimed at guiding developers through the process of building games with the livestreaming experience in mind, both for broadcasters and for viewers. On the Stream First website, Twitch explains that the program’s purpose is to create games “designed around the relationship broadcasters have with their viewers.” “In the last few years, ...
Google’s AlphaGo AI wins astounding 4-1 victory against Lee Sedol
Google has accomplished what many artificial intelligence researchers had thought was still years or even decades away, as AlphaGo, an AI developed by Google’s DeepMind project, has successfully defeated legendary Go player Lee Sedol. “I’m kind of speechless,” DeepMind founder Demis Hassabis said in a post-game press conference. “It’s kind of the most mind-blowing kind of game experience ...
Twitch kicks off new Food category with Julia Child marathon
When Twitch launched its Creative livestreaming category by airing a week-long marathon of The Joy of Painting, the livestreaming platform likely had no idea how incredibly successful it would be, but now Twitch looks like it is trying to recapture that magic by kicking of a new Food subcategory with a marathon of Julia Child’s The ...
Microsoft opens up Xbox multiplayer to support PC and other consoles
Multiplayer on console game systems has almost always been a walled garden throughout the history of gaming, but now Microsoft has extended an invitation to developers to allow cross-platform play with Xbox One. “In addition to natively supporting cross-platform play between Xbox One and Windows 10 games that use Xbox Live, we’re enabling developers to support cross-network ...
Microsoft’s Project AIX trains AI to play Minecraft
Perhaps taking a cue from Google’s AlphaGo, Microsoft has launched a new project that will train new artificial intelligence programs by having them play Minecraft. According to Microsoft, the project challenges AI with the seemingly simple in-game task of climbing a hill while avoiding obstacles. What makes this task difficult is the fact that the AI is ...
Hearthstone’s ‘Whispers of the Old Gods’ Expansion adds 134 cards of tentacled goodness
While the news had already been leaked multiple times over the last few weeks, Blizzard Entertainment Inc has finally made its official announcement for the next expansion for its incredibly popular digital collectible card game, Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft. The new expansion, Whispers of the Old Gods, delves once again into the lore of the world of Warcraft (pun 100 ...
Blizzard updates 15-year-old ‘Diablo II’ to make it play nice with modern PCs
While Blizzard Entertainment Inc has plenty of shiny new games like Overwatch to occupy its attention, the study has not forgotten its classics, and today Blizzard released a new update for Diablo II to resolve issues the now 15-year-old game has when playing on modern hardware. “It’s been a long time coming, but today we’re releasing 1.14a ...
