I learned today that there is a site called "Hackerone" that connects companies with users who like to hack and tinker with websites, apps, and other pieces of software. These individuals can then submit exploits and hacks to companies privately, and in exchange they are frequently compensated with a fair amount of money. This is precisely what happened earlier this week when a user called Drbrix found an exploit on Valve's Steam app. The Steam wallet exploit discovered by Drbrix would hav...
Discord has been testing the feature out on Twitter for the last few months or so, but was finally ready to launch its new "threads" feature yesterday. Threads has been a highly-requested update to the chat server, with its community of users looking for a way to make conversations in bustling servers easier to follow. Any server with "community" features enabled will be able to transform messages into threaded conversations on both mobile and desktop. Threads can be designated with their own...
Have you ever been hit with a copyright strike on Twitch over the music you were playing on your stream? Even if you haven't been there personally, you've probably heard the discussions that have been floating around for over a year now. Recently, a developer has come up with a clever workaround for gamers who want to play copyrighted music while they stream. The SpotifySynchronizer extension, created by Twitch developer Peter Frydenlund Madsen (AKA Peueno0) does pretty much exactly as its...
Amazon Prime Day is coming up and Amazon has decided to offer free 7 day trials to its game streaming service, Luna, to Prime members in the mainland US. Until now, the only way to test Luna was to request early access or sign up from supported Fire TV devices. The Luna service is available on Windows PC, Mac, Fire TV, and via the web on your iPhone, iPad, and certain Android phones. The regular price for Luna is $5.99 a month and grants you access to games like GRID, Metro Exo...
You know what I miss? Conventions. Things obviously ground to a halt last year as COVID made its rounds across the world, shutting down big events and huge gatherings of people. Many of the larger conventions like San Diego Comic Con, New York Comic Con, E3, and others, turned to an online format in order to try and salvage at least some of their events. It doesn't beat being there in person, but hey - at least it's something! Me at the Star Control: Origins booth, E3 2018 Now, thing...
Twitch found themselves in some hot water (hah! See what I did there?) with their streaming community recently when they demonetized the channel of popular hot tub streamer Amouranth. Now, you may have the same question that I had when all of this first came to my attention: What the heck is a hot tub stream? Hot tub streams started as a way to adhere to (or circumvent, depending on your perspective) Twitch's terms of service regarding swimwear, which was only acceptable if the streamer wa...
Twitch has announced a big change to their subscription prices for several countries outside of the U.S. In an effort to boost subscription rates for streamers, Twitch is adjusting to a localized price model starting with Turkey and Mexico on May 20th. Lower prices will mean less money for streamers at first, but Twitch seems to believe that they'll translate to more subscribers and higher earnings in the long run. In case you're unfamiliar with how Twitch works, streamers can accumulate both...
2020 was a challenging year for the console and PC industry, and it seems like 2021 isn't shaping up to be much different either. Worldwide shortages of parts, exacerbated by the Coronavirus pandemic, have made it difficult for many companies to keep up with demands for their products. Just as chip shortages have affected AMD and intel, similar shortages have impacted Sony and its PlayStation 5, which released last Christmas. A recent briefing with Hiroki Totoki, the Chief Financial Officer o...
In an article from Bloomberg released last Saturday, Jason Schrier reports that Amazon's video game division canceled the development of an online MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) based on the fantasy series Lord of the Rings . Amazon announced the game back in 2019 to loads of fan excitement, but apparently one does not simply create a hit MMORPG. A photo from Steve Jackson's Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring The developers at Amazon Game Studios...
This is really interesting documentary broken up into bite sized chunks. It deals with the transition in games journalism that we saw starting around 2010 with the changes to the underlying business models of the media and in particular the games media. Here is part 1:
Let's talk about what games we are currently playing!
Google's streaming game platform, Stadia, has been having a rough time this past year. From Take 2's CEO publicly calling them out to the recent Terraria debacle coming right after Google's decision to close their first-party studios, it's not looking too promising for Stadia these days. The tech Stadia is run on is good. We were deeply involved during the Yeti project and were very impressed with the potential. We ported our engine over to Yeti and were ready to move our g...
If you're the kind of person who can't wait to get your hands on the newest gaming systems when they release, then you're no stranger to holiday shortages and online scalpers. Big name systems are almost always released a month or two before the holiday season, prompting rushes to buy them up as presents for loved ones. This past holiday season was no exception, but not for the usual reasons. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has caused supply issues for many industries: auto, mobile phones...
I am really, really enjoying CK3. These days, I generally prefer to stick to playing games that I would never want to make. So games like Civilization VI or even Stellaris are games that I play but I don't enjoy because they feel like work (this isn't the game's fault, it's because my brain goes into analyst mode when I play them). But CK3? There's nothing else really like it and I love it.
Happy New Year! Hopefully all of you have had a safe and restful holiday season. It's back to work for all of us here at Stardock, but believe me: I got quite a lot of playtime in during my break! My backlog of games is such that I didn't buy too much during the sale, but I still snagged a few things at some pretty great prices. I finally picked up Star Wars Battlefront II and, although I'm not such a great shot (at least I'm true to Stormtrooper lore when playing as an Imperial!) ...