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“Gfycat integrates user-generated GIFs on Tango, Messenger, and Viber” plus 23 more VentureBeat

“Gfycat integrates user-generated GIFs on Tango, Messenger, and Viber” plus 23 more VentureBeat

Gfycat integrates user-generated GIFs on Tango, Messenger, and Viber

Posted: 19 Jan 2018 12:00 PM PST

EXCLUSIVE:

Gfycat has integrated its user-generated GIF platform across three different messaging platforms. It now supports Viber, Tango, and Facebook — all in the name of enabling us to share silly images with our friends.

The integrations have brought Gfycat’s content to millions of new users. The company sees the move as a way to turn consumers into creators. GIFs are those silly animated images associated with internet memes and recorded in graphics interchange format, or GIF. Gfycat supports more than 100 languages and 135 countries. It remembers the country where a GIF is created and saves the language settings of the creator, so users will see custom content that is relevant to their region.

With Viber, Gfycat has focused on the speed and high-quality nature of the platform. So Gfycat has enabled HD GIFs, with video quality of millions of colors and speeds that are 10 times to 20 times faster than traditional GIFs. Messenger platforms have improved color fidelity from the old days of SMS. Users expect better quality content on their newest iPhone X, Samsung 8, or Pixel 2 phones and yet expect their messages, whether text or media, to be delivered in near real time. Gfycat’s HD GIFs help them achieve both of these objectives.

“There is tremendous value in having Gfycat’s visual images included in chat where users can share GIFs at the touch of a button, and have an extensive selection of GIFs at their disposal,” said Cristina Constandache, vice president of global partnerships at Viber, in a statement. “It’s a very fun and inclusive way to engage others within chat that works incredibly well on Viber.”

Above: Gfycat

Image Credit: Gfycat

On Tango, the retention of GIF senders is 30 percent higher than that of the average existing user. GIF senders send 2.5 times more messages daily than an average message sender, including, on average, 2.6 GIFs per day. More than 5 million GIFs are being viewed every day.

Tango CEO Eric Setton said in a statement, “This is a great opportunity both for our users to express themselves using Gfycat’s fun, viral content and for content owners to expose their GIFs to Tango’s users.”

For Facebook, Gfycat’s integration is aimed at casual or first-time GIF creators.

In the early days of Facebook desktop, one of the site’s most popular apps was a Doodle app. For Facebook Messenger, Gfycat wanted to build on this history and bring the ability to create GIFs to Messenger’s 1.3 billion users. In the Messenger chat extension, the user is presented with a white canvas. What they draw with their finger, they can message their friends directly in chat. The doodle is then reproduced visually in a GIF just as it was drawn. So far, Gfycat has seen more than 250,000 GIFs created monthly on Messenger.

More than half of the Facebook extension users create content, and they send on average one GIF every time they open Gfycat.

In the future, Gfycat expects to provide additional features for messenger platforms. “We’re excited to see Gfycat work with messengers and redefine how we share GIFs today,” said Ernestine Fu, partner at Alsop Louie Partners and Gfycat board director.

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds esports grows with Global Loot League’s $50,000 event

Posted: 19 Jan 2018 11:45 AM PST

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds has left the Early Access program for unfinished games on Steam, and now esports organizations want to see if they can make it into a major draw. Global Loot League is leading that charge with a PUBG season that comes with $50,000 in prize money. That is one of the larger prize pools from a third-party league running the last-player-standing shooter.

GLL’s PUBG league kicks off with qualifiers February 2. This event is open to anyone who wants to test their abilities and thinks they can make the cut in the 80-team league. Of course, you may have some competition considering that PUBG has 30 million players worldwide on PC.

GLL’s preseason is on right now, and it usually has more than 500 people watching at one time. It is working in a space alongside other esports organizations running the game, like PUBGOnline.

This isn’t GLL’s first attempt at a PUBG league. The company experimented with it last year with invitational events. Now, it is taking what it learned and applying that to something bigger.

“We saw the potential with the early adopters, quickly realizing this game had a clear potential to become one of the biggest esports titles in the world,” GLL esports boss Simon Sundén said. “It turns out we were right about that.”

PUBG GLL will have European and North American divisions. Regular season matches will go live every Wednesday from GLL’s Stockholm studio.

"Now anyone, anywhere in the world will have a chance to qualify for the regular season with all the pro teams,” Sundén. “We’re also proud to announce that there will be much more at stake than just the glory.”

The PC Gaming channel is presented by Intel®'s Game Dev program.

Amazon is finally adding Alexa to the Alexa app

Posted: 19 Jan 2018 10:47 AM PST

Alexa is already available in apps, smart speakers, toilets, and showers, but today Amazon announced its AI assistant will soon be available exactly where you’d expect to find it: inside the Alexa smartphone app.

Alexa voice control for the Alexa app will be made available for Android smartphone users in the coming days, while Alexa inside the Alexa app will be coming to iOS soon, an Amazon spokesperson told VentureBeat in an email.

Alexa in the Alexa app will be able to do many of the things it does in other apps and devices, such as control smart home devices, play music, make phone calls, and access more than 25,000 Alexa skills.

Above: Alexa in Alexa Android app

Until today, the Alexa app was only useful to the owners of Echo smart speakers and people who wanted to send messages to other users of the app.

Alexa comes to the mobile app only after being added to a huge variety of other products and services. In addition to more than half a dozen Echo smart speaker devices, Alexa can be found in the Amazon shopping app for Android and iOS smartphones, as well as Amazon Music. The AI assistant is also in a number of home appliances, bathroom fixtures, and later this year Toyota cars.

ProBeat: Google’s Gboard is helping me relearn languages

Posted: 19 Jan 2018 10:30 AM PST

I’m trilingual, or at least that’s what I’ve been telling everyone for the past couple of decades. The truth is that ever since I graduated high school, my French has all but completely deteriorated. My Polish is a bit better, but only because I still use it to communicate with my parents — it has also fallen by the wayside. Enter Gboard.

The poorly named Google app (which replaced Google Keyboard in December 2016) is a virtual keyboard for Android and iOS devices. It has a bunch of built-in features, including Google Search results, predictive answers, GIFs, emojis, voice dictation, and so on.

But the one that I’ve embraced is multilingual language support. Gboard’s predictive typing engine, which uses machine learning to suggest the next word using context, is already good. If you add multiple languages in the app’s settings, however, Gboard becomes wonderful.

The killer feature, if you will, is that you don’t have to switch between languages when you’re typing. Gboard simply detects the tongue you’re writing in and offers suggestions in that language. And because this is a virtual keyboard app, all the functionality works everywhere you type on your device — all first-party and third-party apps that have any sort of input field.

As you can see above, I have English, French, and Polish set up in Gboard. When I communicate in English, it works just like any other virtual keyborad. When I crack a rare joke in French, it corrects me as I write it out. When I’m typing to my parents, it offers suggestions in Polish — accents, correct conjugation, and all.

The beautiful part is that I’m learning from these suggestions. There is a ton of nuance in Polish, from multiple letters that sound identical when pronounced, to completely different letters that sound oh-so-similar. In French, verbs are conjugated. In Polish, every single word can be conjugated. When I’m typing and trying to sound out certain words, Gboard often helps me figure out how a given word is spelled.

Sometimes it’s a quick fix and I simply pick the top suggestion (“yeah, of course, I knew that!”) while other times it takes some trial and error for me to get close enough for Gboard to be able to correct me (“oh. OH!”). But in all cases, I learn the correct spelling, and thus the correct pronunciation.

Gboard isn’t perfect. Sometimes it throws in random suggestions from a different language, just because. But that’s a small price to pay to be able to accurately type in three languages.

Whether you’re fluent in more than one language or are just learning an additional tongue, I highly recommend this method. Of course, it doesn’t have to be Gboard. Just find a keyboard app that has multilingual language support for the languages you’re trying to learn (or re-learn), and off you go.

Let your keyboard do the teaching.

ProBeat is a column in which Emil rants about whatever crosses him that week.

SafeDK: 55% of mobile apps don’t comply with European privacy regulations

Posted: 19 Jan 2018 10:00 AM PST

More than 55 percent of all mobile apps may not comply with the new European privacy regulations and Google Play privacy policies that go into effect this spring, according to a report from SafeDK, a marketplace that monitors the use of software development kits (SDKs) in mobile apps.

The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation goes into effect in Europe on May 25, and it strengthens the rights of individuals to control the use of their personal data. SafeDK’s latest report found that more than half of the hundreds of thousands of Android apps in the study used at least one SDK that accessed users’ private data. The most commonly accessed private data was a user’s location (26 percent), and the second was data about the apps installed on the user’s device (40 percent). Nearly 30 percent of the apps used an SDK that accessed a user’s contacts.

Herzliya, Israel-based SafeDK studied the apps and matched their use of more than 1,000 SDKs. More than 58 percent of ad network SDKs also accessed a user’s location. SafeDK said these mobile app companies will have to make code changes in the near future to comply with both the GDPR and Google Play requirements. They will also need to evaluate and monitor their third-party SDKs.

Above: Private data access is common with mobile app SDKs.

Image Credit: SafeDK

The average number of SDKs per mobile app is 18.5. Sports, dating, and shopping apps have been particularly busy adding more SDKs in the past quarter.

SafeDK said that integrating SDKs is important for mobile app companies. But those SDKs are often “black boxes” of third-party code that app publishers integrated into their apps. In the past few months, integrated SDKs have been sources of lawsuits about the collection of private user data from underage users.

And after May 25, the EU will require that users must be made aware that the information is taken or passed to third parties, they have the right to be “forgotten” (having all personal details deleted from servers), and more. Any violation could result in extremely high fines. Google also said it will start enforcing stricter regulations about private user data access. Starting in February, apps must only access information integral to their core functionality or provide information about the data being taken.

One of the examples Google gives of unnecessary private user data being accessed (and soon to be verboten) is access to the list of installed apps on a user’s device. This information is not guarded by any permission that user can grant or revoke, but is rather up for grabs, SafeDK said. The intention was to check for installed apps so they can communicate with one another whenever possible. However, it appears this information is being accessed for other purposes and far too often for Google’s liking.

Entrepreneurs and politicians need to stop getting in each other’s way

Posted: 19 Jan 2018 09:40 AM PST

GUEST:

Entrepreneurs are the beating heart of the American economy. Yet despite an uptick in recent years, startup formation has been in a decades-long decline that has affected every state in the country.

That’s a problem because startups are responsible for nearly all net new job creation. Even if you aren’t an entrepreneur or don’t work at a startup, fewer entrepreneurs means a lower quality of life for all Americans.

VentureBeat’s Heartland Tech channel invites you to join us and other senior business leaders at BLUEPRINT in Reno on March 5-7. Learn how to expand jobs to Middle America, lower costs, and boost profits. Click here to request an invite and be a part of the conversation. 

This trend must be reversed if all Americans are to prosper. We need to remove the barriers that are stopping entrepreneurial dreams in their tracks so that everyone with an idea can bring their vision to life in the form of a business.

Breaking down barriers requires improvements in entrepreneurial education and training, enhanced knowledge about the best ways to support entrepreneurs, inclusive communities that help all entrepreneurs reach their potential, and strong public policy.

Unfortunately, on this last point, there’s a lot of work to do.

Many entrepreneurs are either too busy building their businesses to devote much time to public policy, or have insufficient financial resources to pay an organization to represent their interests before policymakers. For their part, policymakers are pulled in many directions and often respond first to concerns that are brought to them.

When entrepreneurs and policymakers don't connect, the results aren’t pretty. Policymakers have little understanding of entrepreneurs’ needs, and entrepreneurs encounter an increasing number of barriers.

We need to bridge this divide. It starts by better connecting entrepreneurs and policymakers.

In the past year, the Kauffman Foundation has put together a comprehensive approach that makes it easier for entrepreneurs and policymakers to come together. This policy strategy is part of the Kauffman Foundation’s Zero Barriers movement to identify and remove barriers to new business creation.

To foster connections at the local level, we brought more than 100 entrepreneurs and mayors together at the Mayors Conference on Entrepreneurship in Oakland, California last fall, with a focus on increasing collaboration between city leaders and entrepreneurs.

At the national level, we were the anchor investor in the Center for American Entrepreneurship, an organization focused on developing a comprehensive policy agenda in D.C. and across the nation to support new business formation, survival, and growth.

And, just last week, we announced six entrepreneur support organizations as grant recipients to form the first-ever Entrepreneurs’ Policy Network, an alliance of organizations that will bring the voices of entrepreneurs directly to policy debates at the state level.

Members of the Entrepreneurs’ Policy Network are committed to expanding the ways in which they serve entrepreneurs. In addition to delivering key services like mentoring, training, and connections to capital, these organizations will also create opportunities for entrepreneurs to educate policymakers.

This approach will provide policymakers with better facts about entrepreneurship and forge relationships with real entrepreneurs struggling to overcome barriers and create value. The combination of data and entrepreneurs’ personal journeys will support accelerated changes to policies, regulations, and procedures that inhibit entrepreneurship.

Starting a relationship with a policymaker is easy.  It starts with an introduction and the entrepreneurs’ story.  Next month, the Kauffman Foundation will launch a nationwide campaign to facilitate entrepreneur-policymaker relationships. All entrepreneurs, in all parts of the country, can join.

We envision a future where there will be many more entrepreneurs advocating for pro-entrepreneur policy, where entrepreneurs will have increased understanding of how public policy affects them and their companies, and where policymakers are better informed about issues affecting entrepreneurs.

Most importantly, the future we want to build with our partners is one where the best policy ideas are shared and lead to action, helping us to collectively reverse the long-term decline of entrepreneurship in America.

Jason Wiens is the policy director at the Kauffman Foundation. 

Mutant Football League launches on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One

Posted: 19 Jan 2018 08:34 AM PST

The new Mutant Football League is now available for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. It costs $20 on their digital stores.

Mutant Football League received $138,092 in crowdfunding on Kickstarter in March 2017. It launched for PC via Steam in October 2017, but releasing console versions could introduce the game to a larger audience.

The original Mutant League Football came out for the Sega Genesis in 1993. It was a violent, over-the-top arcade style sports game at a time when most titles in the genre were more realistic

“This game delivers a new experience of fun, arcade style football action for a new generation of gamers, while retaining the spirit of the original game,” said Michael Mendheim, Mutant League Football creative director, in a press release sent to GamesBeat.

The DeanBeat: Publisher shakeups, Overwatch League debut, and crypto madness — gaming’s crazy week

Posted: 19 Jan 2018 08:00 AM PST

It was another momentous week for games as I traveled to Disneyland for the Casual Connect USA 2018 event, which drew 1,400 attendees to Anaheim, California. While I was listening to talks on subjects including diversity and blockchain, the game industry decided to play musical chairs with some of its most important leaders.

Above: Matt Booty is the corporate vice president in charge of games at Xbox at Microsoft.

Image Credit: Dean Takahashi

Phil Spencer, Microsoft’s head of games, kicked himself upstairs and promoted a replacement, Matt Booty, who is now responsible for game software. Judging by the response on social media, gamers want Booty to commission more blockbuster exclusive games, as Microsoft has lagged behind Sony in this generation. I would say that his should be his top task.

Above: Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing, is bringing back Call of Duty XP.

Image Credit: Activision

Then Eric Hirshberg announced that he was leaving the top job of Activision Publishing in March. He’s going out on a high note after big success with Call of Duty: WWII and Destiny 2. Over eight years, he has had an epic ride in shepherding the biggest of the industry’s billion-dollar franchises. Activision is in good shape, though it saw weakness in the rise and fall of its Skylanders property. In my opinion, Activision has to experiment more and turn more small ideas into the next big games. At the same time, it shouldn’t screw up its existing mega games.

In smaller news, we got the scoop on Florian Hunziker leaving the top job at Sony for courting third-party developers for the PlayStation 4. Hunziker was on the job for a year, and he followed the charismatic predecessor Adam Boyes. The change follows other departures, including Andrew House’s resignation from the top game job at Sony. All of these changes mean that the game industry is about to press reset and embark on a new journey to deliver the next big thing for gamers.

Above: Geoff Keighley interviews Mike Sepso of Activision’s MLG at Casual Connect.

Image Credit: Dean Takahashi

Will esports be that next big thing? Blizzard’s Overwatch League took off with a blast. Executives such as Peter Levin of Lionsgate, Mike Sepso of Activision, and Kevin Chou of KSV Esports were ecstatic over the viewership numbers for the league’s first week, with more than 10 million people watching. It also drew new sponsors such as Toyota. And that Overwatch League audience isn’t just in esports-crazed places like China.

“It blew way past my expectations for the opening,” Sepso said in a session at Casual Connect. “I think we’ll be surprised at how big the domestic audience is.”

Meanwhile, Chris Hewish, executive vice president at Skydance Media, told me in a session that he was bullish on the long-term potential of virtual reality. I tried out the Star Wars VR experience at Beyond the Void in the Disney District. It was tantalizing, but not quite as thrilling as I had hoped (I’ll have more to say about that later). I’m not sure I share his enthusiasm that VR will climb out of its current lull, but I think it makes sense for Skydance to stay out of the PC and console fray and try to establish itself in one of gaming’s emerging sectors.

Above: Disney senior vice president Kyle Laughlin at Casual Connect USA.

Image Credit: Dean Takahashi

Disney came back to the gaming fold after staging a huge retreat. Disney executive Kyle Laughlin announced his company had licensed its properties to four mobile game companies — Ludia, Glu, Gameloft, and PerBlue. Instead of making its own games, Disney will rely on outside parties to make games, and it looks like it isn’t going to be shy about bringing on new partners for new games.

I was happy to watch talks on diversity, accessibility, and Muslim representations in games. The speakers delivered eloquent words on what it means to be inclusive and how that will help broaden the game industry’s reach. Megan Gaiser of Contagious Creativity symbolically passed me the Compassion Games torch for my own work in promoting diversity at our events. That was quite an honor, but I was also disappointed that the Casual Connect diversity sessions didn’t have bigger audiences.

Above: Crypto panel at Casual Connect. Marcus Andrade of AML Bitcoin (center), said he would put all of his money into cryptocurrency if he could.

Image Credit: Dean Takahashi

Instead, the shiny new thing at Casual Connect was blockchain and cryptocurrency. While the Bitcoin cryptocurrency has seen its spectacular rise and scary collapse, entrepreneurs are creating potentially game-changing enterprises using cryptocurrency tokens and blockchain ledger technology. The Casual Connect sessions that focused on these innovations were very well attended, reflecting the hype around the opportunity to catch a ride on the next big thing.

Above: Mark Caldwell (CTO, left) and Brian Fargo (founder, right) of Robot Cache.

Image Credit: Dean Takahashi

I was fascinated to see Brian Fargo, CEO of InXile and a 30-year veteran of games, dive into a blockchain startup to disrupt app stores such as Steam on the PC. Instead of taking 30 percent of every game sale, Fargo’s Robot Cache will only take 5 percent. It will share 95 percent with game publishers and developers, and it will pay them nearly immediately, in contrast to 60 days for current app stores. Robot Cache will also embrace the resale of digital games to consumers. The consumer keeps 25 percent of that sale, Fargo keeps 5 percent, and the developers and publishers make 70 percent, which means they make the same percentage on a used game’s sale as on a brand new game sale on Steam.

Fargo’s Initial Coin Offering (ICO) of the Iron currency certainly sounds disruptive, but it is a long shot. Some people wondered if Fargo could get the biggest publishers to defect from the Steam store and embrace his own app store, or if the publishers would be scattered among dozens of alternative app stores. Fargo thinks he has some tricks to draw traffic to Robot Cache. That may sound like the overconfidence of the bubble-crazed cryptocurrency types. But if anyone has the right connections to get the developers, publishers, and gamers on board, it’s someone like Fargo.

The events of this week were quite exciting and gratifying, and they remind me why I’ve spent my life in game journalism.

Disclosure: The organizers of Casual Connect paid my way to Anaheim. Our coverage remains objective.

The PC Gaming channel is presented by Intel®'s Game Dev program.

NTT Docomo taps Nokia for Japan’s 5G launch in 2020

Posted: 19 Jan 2018 07:06 AM PST

Japan’s largest mobile operator, NTT Docomo, has chosen Nokia to supply key hardware for a 2020 rollout of 5G cellular services in the country, the companies announced in a joint press release today. Though the release correctly notes that Japan has “a long and proud history of technological achievements and early technology adoption,” it places the country’s largest carrier a year behind 5G deployment timelines in the United States.

5G cellular technology promises speeds up to 100 times greater than 4G/LTE, with dramatically lower latency, higher security, and the ability to integrate into vehicular and manufacturing infrastructures. Tests of 5G in Japan have included broadcasts of 4K video and the safe remote control of construction machines, neither of which is practically feasible on 4G networks. The Japanese government has notably been pushing carriers for a 2020 5G rollout since 2014, hoping to beat other countries to the punch.

The agreement anticipates that Nokia will support NTT Docomo’s network evolution from 4G to 5G, using technology that meets the semi-finalized 3GPP 5G New Radio (5G NR) standard. Specifically, Nokia will provide new 5G baseband units (BBUs) and integrate 5G AirScale hardware within the existing NTT Docomo network. In a footnote, Nokia added that the 5G standard is presently unfinished but that Nokia 5G hardware is currently undergoing over 50 customer tests around the world, with the expectation of 2019-2020 commercial launches.

While the agreement is significant both in establishing a timeline for Japan’s rollout of 5G services and Nokia’s place as a supplier of 5G hardware, it isn’t a complete surprise. In fact, NTT Docomo has previously purchased Nokia hardware for 3G and 4G/LTE rollouts, and the companies have worked together to test 5G for deployment in Japan. NTT Docomo notes that Nokia’s support formalizes the carrier’s intention to launch 5G by 2020 and will “accelerate co-creation of new services and businesses with vertical industry partners.”

Alpha Beat Cancer aims to teach young kids about cancer

Posted: 19 Jan 2018 06:15 AM PST

Alpha Beat Cancer took the top honors at the Indie Prize Awards at the Casual Connect USA 2018 game event in Anaheim, California. The game beat out 60 other finalists in the 21st indie competition to win the best of the show, as chosen by the audience.

The iOS and Android game is a collaboration of nonprofit Beaba and Mukutu Games, which are both based in Sao Paolo, Brazil. The team that made the game included cancer survivors, and it consulted with patients and doctors to try to get the facts about cancer and its treatment right. The title is a collection of 20-minute games.

Above: Alpha Beat Cancer

Image Credit: Beaba

The original title came out in Portuguese in December 2016, said Gica Yabu, adviser for the nonprofit Beaba, in an interview. It is targeted at kids ages three to six years old, to help them try to understand and cope with cancer.

“Everything  is approved by doctors and we follow medical protocols,” said Yabu. “We made this game to help with kids with cancer. Grown-ups just cannot tell the truth about it. As a nonprofit, we provide clear and optimistic information about the disease and its treatment.”

Above: Indie Prize Award contestants.

Image Credit: Dean Takahashi

In one part of the game, patients are taken into the tomography room. You have to hold the patient down on the table to make sure the body is still enough to create a good image.

Other games about cancer include That Dragon, Cancer, which is about coping with a child dying of cancer, and Re-Mission, which has similar aims but is aimed at older kids, said Simone Mozzilli, CEO of Beaba.

“It’s a great way to start a conversation about cancer with a child,” Mozzilli said. “The difference is we are creating content for really young kids. We try to make it fun, graphic, and simple.”

The Portuguese version of the game was funded in part by the game studio and by a government grant. The team gathered a lot of research, and then it made the game. It has cartoon-style art, and it goes through all of the steps in the process, from diagnosis to advanced treatment. The game is targeted at the kids with cancer, as well as their siblings.

The creators are trying to get additional funding for an English version.

Here’s a list of the other winners and nominees:

  • Best Game Audio
    Winner: Floor Kids (MERJ Media, Canada)
    Stack & Crack (Jambav, India)
    Orbit – Playing With Gravity (HIGHKEY Games, USA)
    Rumble League (Lorraine Studio, USA)
  • Best Game Design
    Winner: Molecats (Vidroid, Ukraine)
    SIMULACRA (Kaigan Games, Malaysia)
    AntVentor (LoopyMood, Ukraine)
    The Raven and Orion (Always Player 2 Studios, USA)
  • Best Game Art
    Winner: AntVentor (LoopyMood, Ukraine)
    Past Cure (Phantom 8 Studio, Germany)
    Brave Hand (Heart Shaped Games, USA)
    Molecats (Vidroid, Ukraine)
  • Best Game Animation
    Winner: Bushy Tail (Fuero Games, Poland)
    Floor Kids (MERJ Media, Canada)
    Zebrainy ABCs (Zebrainy, Malta)
    World Creator! (Lionbird Limited, Hong Kong)
  • Best Game Narrative
    Winner: Bushy Tail (Fuero Games, Poland)
    Simulacra (Kaigan Games, Malaysia)
    Past Cure (Phantom 8 Studio, Germany)
    Skye (Puny Astronaut, Scotland)
  • Best Multiplayer Game
    Winner: King of the Hat (Hyroglyphik Games, Canada)
    Massive Warfare: Rush (TinyBytes, Chile)
    Kluno: Hero Battle (Gameka, Malaysia)
    Imposter Drawster (Up at Night, USA)
  • Best Kids & Family Game
    Winner: Zebrainy ABCs (Zebrainy, Malta)
    Pets Race (Kooapps, USA)
    Drawing for Kids (Bini Bambini, Ukraine)
    Skye (Puny Astronaut, Scotland)
  • Best Mobile Game
    Winner: Simulacra (Kaigan Games, Malaysia)
    Corecraft (Retro Principles, Malta)
    Warhammer: Doomwheel (Katsu Entertainment, USA)
    Grapple Gum (Ali Mehrez, Tunisia)
  • Most Innovative Game
    Winner: Molecats (Vidroid, Ukraine)
    Simulacra (Kaigan Games, Malaysia)
    Floor Kids (MERJ Media, Canada)
    Vocaline (Flatgames, Turkey)

Disclosure: The organizers of Casual Connect paid my way to Anaheim. Our coverage remains objective.

Iris Automation raises $8 million to help autonomous flying machines avoid collisions

Posted: 19 Jan 2018 04:06 AM PST

Iris Automation, a San Francisco-based startup that’s building collision avoidance systems for industrial drones and other autonomous flying machines, has closed an $8 million Series A round of funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation from Bee Partners.

Founded in 2015, Y Combinator alum Iris Automation claims a team of tech minds from the likes of NASA and Boeing and is one of a number of computer vision startups building technology that gives “eyesight” to autonomous vehicles.

Though regulation has eased in some areas of the drone realm, when it comes to autonomous flying, every drone operator needs the onboard smarts to be able to navigate their environment safely and adjust their course if they encounter unexpected obstacles.

This is what Iris Automation is setting out to build — a “situational awareness” platform that can guide drones and other forms of autonomous air transport safely from A to B.

Above: Iris Automation

Image Credit: Iris Automation

Autonomous drone delivery services are already beginning to roll out in commercial use cases, and we’ve seen a number of drone companies come forward to help transport medical supplies, survey industrial sites, and more. At CES 2018 in Las Vegas, a number of companies showcased early-stage air taxi services, so it’s clear that there will be growing demand for Iris Automation’s smarts.

The company’s core customer base is likely to be hardware makers who are not prepared to dedicate the resources necessary to build their own collision avoidance software systems in-house. Safety will be — or at least should be — the number one concern for any operator sending an unmanned vehicle into the skies.

“Iris Automation's approach to sensing is unlike anything ever attempted in the autonomous vehicle space,” said Iris Automation CEO Alexander Harmsen. “Our team of experts in computer vision, machine learning, and traditional aviation have built a product that will provide the level of safety necessary for pushing the boundaries of what is possible with drones, at a size factor and price point unheard of in the world of aviation.”

We’re seeing a similar uptick in computer vision-focused investment in the autonomous car sphere too, with Intel coughing up more than $15 billion to acquire computer vision company Mobileye, GM snapping up lidar startup Strobe, and countless computer visions startups raising big VC money.

Iris Automation had raised around $2 million before now and with its latest cash injection said it plans to focus on “rapidly expanding its team of top-notch engineers” in its San Francisco and Reno-Tahoe hubs, as well as preparing its technology to participate in the Trump administration’s recently announced UAS Integration Pilot Projects.

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U.S. Senate passes bill to renew NSA warrantless internet surveillance

Posted: 18 Jan 2018 09:40 PM PST

(Reuters) — The U.S. Senate on Thursday passed a bill to renew the National Security Agency's warrantless internet surveillance program for six years with minimal changes, overcoming objections from civil liberties advocates that it undermined the privacy of Americans.

The legislation, which easily passed the House of Representatives last week, is expected to be signed into law by President Donald Trump by Friday.

Thursday's 65-34 passage in the Senate was largely a foregone conclusion, after senators earlier this week cleared a 60-vote procedural hurdle, which split party lines and came within one vote of failing.

Passage of the legislation marked a disappointing end to a years-long effort by a coalition of liberal Democrats and libertarian-leaning Republicans to redefine the scope of U.S. intelligence collection following the 2013 disclosures of classified surveillance secrets by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

The bill reauthorizes what is known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which gathers information from foreigners overseas but incidentally collects an unknown amount of communications belonging to Americans.

Under Section 702, the NSA is empowered to eavesdrop on vast amounts of digital communications via American companies like Facebook Inc, Verizon Communications Inc and Alphabet Inc's Google.

But the program also incidentally scoops up Americans' communications, including when they communicate with a foreign target living overseas. Intelligence analysts can then search those messages without a warrant.

The White House, U.S. intelligence agencies and congressional Republican leaders said the program is indispensable to national security.

Opponents of the program said it allows the NSA and other intelligence agencies to grab data belonging to Americans in a way that represents an affront to the U.S. Constitution.

The bill passed by Congress does add a narrow warrant requirement for cases where the Federal Bureau of Investigation seeks emails related to an existing criminal investigation that has no relevance to national security. Privacy advocates said that essentially gave more protections to criminal suspects than ordinary Americans caught up in the program's surveillance.

Genderwrecked review — soul-searching in a postapocalyptic wasteland

Posted: 18 Jan 2018 06:47 PM PST

REVIEW:

In most postapocalyptic games, you’re struggling to survive. But in Genderwrecked’s world, you don’t face zombies or scrounge for supplies. Your mission sends you on an urgent search for meaning and certainty. You’re seeking a different kind of survival, one of emotional importance that will help you understand yourself and how you relate to others.

Developers Heather Robertson and Ryan Rose Aceae’s visual novel is a journey through a desolate landscape filled with monsters, all grappling with loneliness, self-esteem, insecurities, and that ineffable thing called gender. It’s humorous, defiant in its glibness, and moving in its sincerity. It’s out now on Windows, Mac, and Linux, and even if you’ve never contended with your own gender, it’s a touching story that’s a joy to experience.

Check out our Reviews Vault for past game reviews.

What you’ll like

Emotional roller coaster

Above: Lucy and Maggie, two girlfriends who support each other.

Image Credit: GamesBeat

Genderwrecked has a very cyberspace sense of humor. It speaks a digital parlance that’s born straight out of the mesmerizing garbage fire of social media sites like Twitter. It’s quick with its jokes, which punctuate the dialogue like sharp jabs meant to both tickle your funny bone and to keep you from getting too close. The humor seems at times like a coping mechanism as well as a genuine effort at connection. But when it stops joking around and slows down so you have a moment to listen to the characters’ stories — that’s when the magic really happens.

At the outset, you embark on a quest to learn about gender. Some of the folks you encounter on your journey are willfully obscure, speaking (sometimes literally) in riddles and referencing interstitial space-time and the gravitational pull of heavenly bodies. Their emotions are shrouded in metaphors, allusions, and stream-of-conscious philosophizing that suggest that maybe they’ve been alone for far too long. Despite all this, you’ll always get a glimpse of what they’re going through — sometimes loneliness, an urge to connect with people yet an aversion to vulnerability and the compromises that accompany messy, human relationships.

Because the dialogue is generous with humor and all-caps cosmic horror, it feels all-the-more precious when characters confide in you. For instance, you encounter two girlfriends, Lucy and Maggie, who are straightforward and say exactly what they mean. And when Lucy tells her story, the game doesn’t try to distract you with linguistic sleight-of-hand. It doesn’t wave around puns or tongue-in-cheek jokes. It simply lets her talk, and her words slice through with a clarity and sincerity that’s beautiful and heartbreaking.

The aesthetic

Above: Genderwrecked features both evocative sparse ASCII art and detailed hand-drawn illustrations.

Image Credit: GamesBeat

As I wandered the somewhat hellish landscape of a world decimated by forces unknown, I was struck by how stark yet beautiful it was. I’m a sucker for ASCII art, particularly the way it can suggest a shape with just a perfectly placed ampersand, and Genderwrecked’s background art is studded with cryptic symbols and morse code dashes. It leaves you to decipher the world on your own, letting you fill in the spaces with just a few lines of description to go on.

In sharp contrast, the characters are hand drawn monsters, fully detailed and meticulously colored. I admired the tiny segments on Maggie’s maggot-ridden body, even as I felt a little queasy because bugs are one of my personal weaknesses. Jolene the screaming tree is scrawled with bold lines and splotches of colors contrasted with sharply defined teeth and the careful curve of a lashing tongue.

Genderwrecked’s art sometimes reminded me of underground punk zines — tiny magazines printed in someone’s basement, filled with weird artifacts and graffiti-esque art. Though it doesn’t capture that aesthetic, its spirit feels related in attitude and personality.

Memorable characters

Above: Please meat my robot dad husband, we are very much in love.

Image Credit: GamesBeat

The postapocalyptic landscape isn’t teeming with characters, but the ones you meet are memorable. You’ll encounter Lucy and Maggie, of course, who are made respectively of bone and wriggling maggots. You’ll answer riddles from Phantasmos, of dreams and nightmares, mystery, phases, unbeing and being again — or Fanny, for short. If you want, you can marry Mark, the rad bot with a dad bod, who’s fathered 159 boys made of ground meat and has a penchant for terrible puns. And a pseudo-intellectual tree will yell at you in all-caps then ask you a little shyly for your opinion.

Later on, you’ll learn more about some of these characters. But even those who don’t get as much backstory are fully realized people with hopes and dreams (even if some of them don’t have lips or feel sensation). Whether it’s because of their quirks or a line of dialogue that strikes you, it’s going to be hard to forget them.

What you won’t like

Occasionally frantic dialogue

Above: These meatboys are very good.

Image Credit: GamesBeat

Genderwrecked trades quips at a lightning fast speed when more than one character is on the screen, bouncing jokes off of each other at a rate that can be a little dizzying. This works for the most part, but occasionally the jokes fell flat.

One specific example is a brief gag about Alfie’s name and how his brother, Craig, deliberately mispronounces it. It seemed too easy and unnecessary, especially given how lovable the meatboys were on their own. Fortunately, that segment was over quickly, and it didn’t detract from the overall story.

Conclusion

In an interview, Robertson and Aceae told me they made a deliberate decision against creating an “educational” game about transgender issues. They wanted to make something that reflected their own experiences and the stories of those in their lives. By shedding the pressure to show players a “perfect representation” — if such a thing exists — they’ve created something that’s genuine and heartfelt.

All the actions you can take in the game involve other people, whether that’s talking to them, kissing them, or fighting them. You can be confrontational or receptive, you can learn about their ideas. You may never really complete your quest to define gender per se, but you learn about how important it is to be in a community of people you can engage with about these topics.

Toward the end, Genderwrecked drops its pretenses and casual memes. I almost felt like it was rewarding me for making it so far — like it trusted me enough now to show its emotional core. It exchanges its flippant jokes for an earnest dialogue about how messy it can be to unravel the threads of identity, to figure out who you are when you’re not backed in a corner by external forces and oppressors. And it reassures you that it’s OK to not know, it’s OK to be considered monstrous by those who don’t understand.

There will always be people out there who do.

Score: 90/100

Genderwrecked is out on January 18 for Windows, Mac, and Linux. The developer sent us a code for review.

The PC Gaming channel is presented by Intel®'s Game Dev program.

NPD: Nintendo Switch was No. 1 in December, but Xbox One outsold PS4

Posted: 18 Jan 2018 05:50 PM PST

The Nintendo Switch was the No.-1-selling game console in December, but Microsoft’s Xbox One family of consoles outsold Sony’s PlayStation 4, according to market researcher NPD Group.

It’s no surprise that Microsoft could beat Sony in December, as Microsoft launched its Xbox One X console in November and Sony didn’t have any new hardware. But it was a rare piece of good news for Microsoft, as Sony’s PS4 has outsold the Xbox One by two-to-one in this generation.

Aaron Greenberg, head of Xbox marketing at Microsoft, sent out a celebratory tweet.

December is a big month because of holiday sales. Sony indicated earlier that it also had a good holiday season, with sales of 5.9 million PS4s. To date, Sony has sold more than 73.6 million PS4s since 2013, while Nintendo has sold more than 10 million Switch consoles since March 2017. Microsoft doesn’t release its figures.

Overall, sales of games and hardware and accessories grew 11 percent in 2017.

"Combined sales of PlayStation 4 and Xbox One continue on a record-setting pace," NPD analyst Mat Piscatella said. "Over the first 50 months in market for each console, the combined hardware installed base of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One now exceeds that of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 by 18 percent, and that of the PlayStation 2 and Xbox by 4 percent."

Despite Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One sales still ‘on a record-setting pace’

Posted: 18 Jan 2018 05:17 PM PST

Console gaming is hot, and the Nintendo Switch is a big reason for that. Through the first 10 months of a console’s life, Nintendo’s hybrid home/handheld system is the fastest-selling system ever in the United States. But that hasn’t hurt PlayStation 4 and Xbox One sales, as those devices are still selling faster than their predecessors, according to industry-tracking firm The NPD Group.

“Combined sales of PlayStation 4 and Xbox One continue on a record-setting pace,” NPD analyst Mat Piscatella said. “Over the first 50 months in market for each console, the combined hardware installed base of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One now exceeds that of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 by 18 percent, and that of the PlayStation 2 and Xbox by 4 percent.”

Microsoft and Sony have both worked to give their fans a reason to upgrade their consoles with upgraded versions of their systems. The Xbox One X launched last year and the PlayStation 4 Pro launched in 2016. Both enable 4K resolutions to varying degrees, and both are aimed at the hardcore. This gives the biggest fans and highest spenders a reason to buy new hardware and it floods low-priced used consoles into the secondary market.

But with the introduction of the Switch, the ongoing success of the PS4 and Xbox One seems to suggest that those systems have their own, large dedicated fan bases beyond generic “fans of gaming.” The Switch also has that, and it is pulling from an audience of consumers that have, generally speaking, not completely committed to Microsoft or Sony.

Or maybe they are like me and own to many different ways to play games.

The PC Gaming channel is presented by Intel®'s Game Dev program.

NPD 2017: An incredible year for games leads to 11% sales growth

Posted: 18 Jan 2018 04:36 PM PST

Last year was wild for gaming. Three strong-performing consoles, unbelievable software from established publishers, and breakout hits on PC led to an 11 percent increase in spending, according to industry-tracking firm The NPD Group. U.S. consumers spent $14.59 billion on game-related products in 2017, which follows a $13.18 billion 2016.

“Sales of video game hardware and video game software led growth,” said NPD analyst Mat Piscatella.

Here are the full results from 2017:

  • Total: $14.59 billion (up 11 percent from $13.18 billion in November 2016)
  • Hardware: $4.71 billion (up 28 percent from $4.71 billion)
  • Console software: $6.39 billion (up 6 percent from $6 billion)
  • PC software: $275 million (down 20 percent from $342 million)
  • Accessories and gamecards: $3.22 billion (up 2 percent from $3.14 billion)

Keep in mind that the above software numbers include both physical and digital, but only for publishers that share their data with NPD.

You can find the 10 best-selling games of 2017 in the U.S. right here, but games sold well outside of the top 10 as well. Last year had both blockbuster hits and an abundance of software. The NPD Group reports that 314 packaged games launched at retail in 2017.

“This is up 16 percent versus 2016’s 271 packaged releases,” said Piscatella. “And it is 36 percent higher than the century low 230 packaged retail releases in 2015. Total sales for packaged software experienced growth in 2017.”

Piscatella specifically highlighted the success of racing games, which saw launches like Forza Motorsport 7, F1 2018, and Dirt 4. Overall, the genre saw 68 percent higher sales compared to 2016.

“Sales of racing games showed the highest growth among all genres in 2017,” said Piscatella. While shooter games generated the most overall consumer spend.”

As for hardware, spending was also up a whopping 28 percent. The introduction of the Nintendo Switch was a major contributor to that $4.7 billion, but the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 are also both healthy with lots of dedicated fans.

Overall, the gaming market seems like it is an excellent state. More people are turning to PC gaming for unique experiences, PS4 and Xbox One continue to outsell their predecessors, and Nintendo is addressing a market beyond the other consoles with the Switch. In 2018, we should see publishers and platform holders capitalize on this excitement once again.

The PC Gaming channel is presented by Intel®'s Game Dev program.

Black Mirror’s mind-reading tech could be here sooner than you think

Posted: 18 Jan 2018 04:10 PM PST

GUEST:

Our minds may no longer be a safe haven for secrets. Scientists are working toward building mind-reading algorithms that could potentially decode our innermost thoughts through memories that act as a database.

For most, this probably sounds like an episode of Netflix's hit series Black Mirror. The dystopian sci-fi thriller recently showcased a chilling episode called “Crocodile” that used memory-reading techniques to investigate accidents for insurance purposes. The eerie episode is set in an AI-driven world of driverless vehicles and facial recognition technologies. The plot of “Crocodile” centers on the icy crimes of a witness that investigators revealed with help from intelligent technology.

The insurance agent uses a memory recaller (known as “corroborator” in the episode) that comes with a surveillance chip. Once connected to the user, the device allows insurance agents to access engrams and creates a corroborative picture of the witness’ range of memories on a screen. It replays the entire accident from the user’s position.

The agent recreates a similar atmosphere to jog the subject’s memory (in this case employing a song and beer). While insurance tech in the real world may not be quite this sophisticated, technology that reveals a subject’s innermost thoughts could actually be a reality one day.

Experts are currently mapping sections of the brain to collect data that helps them understand human interactions using language, sentences, images, thoughts, and even dreams.

Language charting

In a 2016 study funded by the National Science Foundation, neuroscientist Alexander Huth of UC Berkeley and a team of researchers built a “semantic atlas” to decode human thoughts.

The atlas displayed how the human brain organizes language through vivid colors and multiple dimensions. The system also helped identify areas in the brain that correspond to words with similar meanings.

Researchers conducted the brain-imaging study by asking subjects to remain inside an fMRI while they listened to stories on Moth Radio Hour. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) detects subtle changes in blood flow in the brain to measure neurological activity, and the study did just that. The experiment disclosed that at least one-third of the brain's cerebral cortex was involved in language processing, including areas dedicated to high-level cognition.

Such data-driven techniques could give a voice to those who cannot speak, especially those with motor neuron diseases like ALS or victims of brain damage or stroke.

Complex behavior

In 2017, a team from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) led by Marcel Just developed a way to identify complex thoughts like “The witness shouted during the trial.” Researchers used machine learning algorithms and brain imaging technology to show that different areas of the brain formed the mind's building blocks to construct complex thoughts.

In 2014, CMU introduced BrainHub, an initiative that focuses on modern brain research, linking neuroscience to behavior through machine learning applications, statistics, and computational modeling. BrainHub continues to examine ways we could use neural interventions to help people with neurological conditions and developmental disorders.

Facial reconstruction

In 2014, a research group led by Alan S. Cowen, a former undergraduate student at Yale University, accurately reconstructed images of human faces based on how the study subjects’ brains reacted to the images.

Researchers mapped the brain activity of subjects as they showed them a range of images of faces. The researchers created a statistical library on the subjects’ brains’ responses to individual faces. When researchers showed new faces to the subjects, they used the library to reconstruct the face each subject was viewing. According to Yale News, Cowen predicts that as the accuracy of facial reconstruction increases with time, such research tools could help study how autistic children respond to faces.

Dream reading

In 2013, Japanese scientists managed to “read dreams” with 60 percent accuracy by decoding some aspects of dreams in an early stage of a dream cycle.

Researchers used MRI scans to monitor test subjects as they slept. The team built a database to group objects into broad visual categories. During the final sleep round, the researchers could identify what the volunteers were seeing in their dreams by monitoring their brain activity.

Thought prediction

In 2014, Millennium Magnetic Technologies (MMT) NeuroTech became the first company to commercialize “thought recording” sessions. Using its patented and proprietary Rosetta Technology, MMT identifies Cognitive Engrams that represent the patient’s brain activity and thought patterns. The technology uses fMRI patterns and biometric analysis of video images to interpret facial recognition, object recognition, truth vs. deception during interrogation, and dream sequences.

Limitations

To be fair, memory tech comes with many limitations.

For one, brain mapping is a lengthy and expensive process. For researchers in Kyoto, dream-reading took 200 test rounds for each participant. Moreover, even if companies and organizations were to implement mind-reading tech, the action would violate several human rights. Reports have already highlighted at least four rights that unauthorized mind-reading would violate if our brains were connected to computers.

Unlike “Crocodile,” in the real world, mind-reading AI will face many limitations and a lot of pushback before public officials approve it for investigations. And even with that, regulations could curb the enthusiasm for this revolution.

Deena Zaidi is a Seattle-based contributor for financial websites like TheStreet, Seeking Alpha, Truthout, Economy Watch, and icrunchdata.

December NPD 2017: Nintendo Switch leads a $3.29 billion month

Posted: 18 Jan 2018 03:30 PM PST

It looks like a lot of folks treated themselves to a Nintendo Switch for the holidays last month. The video game industry in December was up 10 percent year-over-year, generating $3.29 billion thanks mainly due to hardware sales, according to industry-tracking firm The NPD Group.

The Switch was the best seller last month, but since it came out in March, it couldnt’ beat out Sony’s PlayStation 4 as the best-selling console of 2017. But it has broken some records in terms of sales in its first 10 months.

“On a time-aligned basis through the first 10 months on the market, Nintendo Switch has sold more consoles than any other platform in history,” NPD analyst Mat Piscatella said.

And more good news for Nintendo: Monthly sales of the 3DS and 2DS handheld consoles were the highest they’ve been since December 2014.

Here are the numbers for December 2017:

  • Total: $3.29 billion (up 10 percent from $3 billion in December 2016)
  • Hardware: $1.27 billion (up 27 percent from $997 million)
  • Console software: $1.24 billion (up 2 percent from $1.22 billion)
  • PC software: $40 million (down 17 percent from $48 million)
  • Accessories: $735 million (flat from $734 million)

The NPD report doesn’t cover total market spend, and it is missing certain data (such as digital sales from Blizzard’s store on its Battle.net service). It is more of a snapshot of the market as a whole, using data from participating publishers and platforms.

Software

Overall

  1. Call of Duty: WWII
  2. Star Wars: Battlefront II 2017*
  3. Super Mario Odyssey**
  4. NBA 2K18
  5. Mario Kart 8**
  6. Madden NFL 18
  7. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds*
  8. Assassin’s Creed: Origins
  9. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild**
  10. Grand Theft Auto V
  11. FIFA 18*
  12. Destiny 2*
  13. Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2
  14. Splatoon 2**
  15. Need for Speed: Payback*
  16. Xenoblade Chronicles 2**
  17. Just Dance 2018
  18. The Sims 4*
  19. Pokemon: Ultra Sun**
  20. Pokemon: Ultra Moon**

* No PC digital sales
** No digital sales

Software spending was up 1 percent from December 2016, reaching $1.3 billion. After Activision’s Call of Duty: WWII’s immense month in November, it’s unsurprisingly still at the No. 1 spot on the charts.

“Call of Duty: WWII was the best-selling game in December, as well as for the year,” said Piscatella. “December 2017 is the eighth consecutive December that a Call of Duty franchise release has topped the sales chart.”

Activision Blizzard was the highest earning publisher in 2017, though more folks spent their dollars on Nintendo games in December. This is probably thanks to an influx of new Switch owners looking to build out their library of games for that platform.

Xbox One 

  1. Call of Duty: WWII
  2. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds
  3. Star Wars: Battlefront II 2017
  4. NBA 2K18
  5. Madden NFL 18
  6. Assassin’s Creed: Origins
  7. Grand Theft Auto V
  8. FIFA 18
  9. Destiny 2
  10. Forza Motorsport 7

PlayStation 4

  1. Call of Duty: WWII
  2. Star Wars: Battlefront II 2017
  3. NBA 2K18
  4. Madden NFL 18
  5. Assassin’s Creed: Origins
  6. Grand Theft Auto V
  7. FIFA 18
  8. Need for Speed: Payback
  9. Destiny 2
  10. Horizon Zero Dawn

Nintendo Switch**

  1. Super Mario Odyssey
  2. Mario Kart 8
  3. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
  4. Splatoon 2
  5. Xenoblade Chronicles 2
  6. Mario & Rabbids: Kingdom Battle
  7. Pokken Tournament DX
  8. Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
  9. ARMS
  10. Just Dance 2018

Nintendo 3DS**

  1. Pokemon: Ultra Sun
  2. Pokemon: Ultra Moon
  3. Minecraft
  4. Mario Kart 7
  5. Mario Party: The Top 100
  6. Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser’s Minions
  7. Super Smash Bros.
  8. Super Mario Maker
  9. Miitopia
  10. New Super Mario Bros. 2

The best-selling games of 2017

  1. Call of Duty: WWII
  2. NBA 2K18
  3. Destiny 2*
  4. Madden NFL 18
  5. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild**
  6. Grand Theft Auto V
  7. Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands
  8. Star Wars: Battlefront II 2017*
  9. Super Mario Odyssey**
  10. Mario Kart 8**

Hardware and accessories

Hardware generated $1.3 billion in December, up 27 percent year-over-year and driven mainly by the Switch. As previously mentioned, it became the best-selling console in its first 10 months. But Microsoft’s Xbox One and the PlayStation 4 are also breaking records. More people own the two platforms than any of the companies’ previous iterations.

“Over the first 50 months in market for each console, the combined hardware installed base of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One now exceeds that of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 by 18 percent, and that of the PlayStation 2 and Xbox by 4 percent,” said Piscatella.

Despite the growth in software and hardware, the accessories category remained largely unchanged year-over-year. It earned $735 million in December, with consumers shifting their focus from “toys-to-life” (such as Nintendo Amiibo) to cases and organizers.

Interactive gaming toys were down 66 percent, whereas cases were up 167 percent compared to December 2016. Gamepad spending was also up 10 percent, led by the PlayStation 4 DualShock 4 controller as in previous months.

The PC Gaming channel is presented by Intel®'s Game Dev program.

NPD 2017: The 10 best-selling games of the year

Posted: 18 Jan 2018 03:29 PM PST

Call of Duty is still a big deal, but Star Wars: Battlefront II is … less so. It’s time to go over the 10 best-selling games in the United States in 2018, as tracked by industry data firm The NPD Group. This includes full game sales at retail and through digital stores (for publishers that share that data), but it does not take into account revenue generated from in-game purchases.

This is a great way to get a snapshot of the dynamic gaming industry. It’s also the same data that major publishers are looking at to help inform how they pursue future projects. But that means sometimes games are missing — and that’s especially true this year.

We’ll get to the top 10, but first — let’s talk about PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. NPD doesn’t have the exact numbers, but if developer PUBG Corporation shared its sales data with NPD, the battle royal shooter would shoot to the top half of this list and would have a decent shot at making No. 1. PUBG has surpassed 30 million copies sold worldwide on PC and has already had more than 3 million copies sold on Xbox One.

NPD’s analysts do not try to extrapolate and estimate, so PUBG isn’t on here. What is? Let’s check it out.

NPD’s 10 best-selling games of 2017

  1. Call of Duty: WWII
  2. NBA 2K18
  3. Destiny 2**
  4. Madden NFL 18
  5. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild*
  6. Grand Theft Auto V
  7. Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands
  8. Star Wars: Battlefront II**
  9. Super Mario Odyssey*
  10. Mario Kart 8*

* Digital sales not included
** PC digital sales not included

After years of declines, Activision confirmed that Call of Duty: WWII sold more this year than any entry in the series since 2012. That was more than enough to ensure that it landed the No. 1 spot on this chart. This is the ninth year in a row that Call of Duty has landed the top spot.

Activision’s only other game on the top 10 is Destiny 2, the sci-fi shooter from Halo developer Bungie. It landed at No. 3, and that means 2017 was huge for Activision.

“Activision Blizzard drove the highest consumer spending for the year,” NPD analyst Mat Piscatella said.

Take-Two Interactive (and its subsidiaries, like 2K Games) also had a strong 2017. The company’s NBA 2K18 was the second best-seller of the year. That’s up from the No. 4 spot in 2016. But Take-Two Interactive’s crown jewel, Grand Theft Auto, was still massive last year.

GTA V debuted in 2013, but its age didn’t count against it. The open-world crime game was the No. 6 best-seller for the second year in a row. This is the sixth straight year that GTA has made the top 10.

But while GTA V is a miracle of consistency, the Star Wars games from Electronic Arts are less so. In 2015, the sci-fi multiplayer shooter Star Wars: Battlefront ended up as the No. 4 best-selling game of that year. That put it one spot ahead of GTA V. But in 2017, Star Wars: Battlefront II only made it to No. 8. That’s behind GTA V, a game that is now two years older. EA’s other game on the chart, the football sim Madden NFL 18, was No. 4.

Only two other publishers had games on the top 10, and those are Nintendo and Ubisoft. Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands landed at No. 7. That open-world cooperative shooter debuted in March, and it was one of the biggest hits of the first half of the year.

The final publisher is Nintendo. The company had a resurgent 2017 with the launch of its Switch console along with a new Mario, Zelda, and a refreshed Mario Kart to go along with it. Mario Kart 8: Deluxe is essentially the Wii U game with some extras, and it made the list at No. 10. Super Mario Odyssey, which launched at the end of October, made it to No. 9. Finally, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild ended the year at No. 5.

What’s especially impressive about Nintendo’s games is that they are the only entries on this list that include no digital sales. If you added in that revenue, it stands to reason that they would have ended up even higher.

The PC Gaming channel is presented by Intel®'s Game Dev program.

Microsoft details 7 changes coming to Windows 10’s Camera app

Posted: 18 Jan 2018 02:21 PM PST

Exactly a week ago, Microsoft released the latest Windows 10 preview build with a slew of new features and improvements. Among these was a short note about the Windows Camera app getting a revamp, but the company didn’t go into much detail. That changed today with the Windows team offering a list of seven specific changes.

Last week, Microsoft said Windows 10 users could expect the Camera app to offer “more personalized behavior, like remembering the last camera and scene used,” being able to handle ‘two cameras simultaneously,” and “more resolution options.” The team also shared it had made “core architecture changes to the product to remove a lot of complex handling for unsupported devices and functionality that is now duplicated in core Windows operating system functionality” that would “help us to innovate, fix bugs, and deliver new features.”

Translated into a changelog, that means:

  • Users can now use all their attached cameras in parallel (if the OS allows) on different app windows. Example: I am recording video on my right camera and I can attach a photo to my email on my left camera.
  • The last used camera is always remembered, and the next time the app opens we try to load that camera first.
  • The last used scene is always remembered (video, photo), and that is the one we load first the next time the app is launched.
  • Users can now select more photo resolutions (before there was only max resolution per ratio) and more video ratios (before there was only 16:9).
  • The brightness slider (which is widely available on all USB cameras) is more smooth (more stops) and shows the actual selected brightness value to the user.
  • Swipe left on the capture button to show all sliders is not possible anymore.
  • Wheeling on the capture button between scenes (photo, video) is not possible anymore.

In short, the Camera app is winning five features and losing two others. The reason for the losses is part of a bigger architecture change that should result in more additions at a faster clip.

Unless you’re in the Windows Insider Program, you won’t see these changes yet. They’ll arrive as part of the next major Windows 10 update, likely to ship in a few months.

NPD: U.S. video game revenue grew 18% to $36 billion in 2017

Posted: 18 Jan 2018 02:11 PM PST

The U.S. video games industry earned $36 billion in revenues in 2017, according to The NPD Group and Entertainment Software Association (ESA). This is an 18 percent increase from 2016. Revenues includes sales from hardware, peripherals, software (physical and digital), and in-game purchases.

2017 saw the launch of Nintendo’s home console/portable hybrid Switch in March. The system sold 4.8 million machines during 2017, a new U.S. record for a console’s first 10 months. Microsoft also released the Xbox One X, an improved version of the Xbox One with 4K support, in November. Sony’s PlayStation 4 upgrade, the PlayStation 4 Pro, came out late in 2016 but sold well throughout the year.

Hardware (including peripherals) grew 19 percent from 2016’s $5.8 billion to 2017’s $6.9 billion. Software (including in-game purchases) grew 18 percent from $24.6 billion in 2016 to $29.1 billion in 2017. Microstransactions, including those from random loot boxes, have proved profitable for many types of games, including mobile and triple-A console and PC. But players started to push back against the practice later in the year following controversy surrounding Star Wars: Battlefront II’s use loot boxes, which gave an advantage to those willing to pay extra money.

“2017 was a special year for the industry and for everyone who loves games,” said Mat Piscatella, The NPD Group's video game industry analyst, in a press release sent to GamesBeat. “Developers created content that delighted gamers across all gaming platforms. From mobile to PC, and from console to virtual reality, growth was achieved because the passion of gamers was matched only by the talent of game makers.”

The PC Gaming channel is presented by Intel®'s Game Dev program.

Understanding messaging and chatbots in the omnichannel contact center

Posted: 18 Jan 2018 02:10 PM PST

GUEST:

It seems like publications and business owners everywhere are talking about the rise of chatbots. Businesses are supposed to deploy chatbots, consumer gadgets are implementing intelligent systems, and some even say our jobs will be displaced by bots in the future. Whether driven by humans or bots, many of our interactions with contact centers today and in the future will shift from phone calls to online rich-text chat sessions. The real question is, where will these conversations take place?

An omnichannel approach is based on the notion that customers want to interact with businesses on multiple different platforms. Some might prefer phone calls, others could be more inclined to chat online, and some might even use email. A more encompassing notion tries to look at a single interaction as taking place in multiple channels at once. In this scenario, a potential customer could find what they are looking for on a business’ website, initiate an interaction over a chat widget, and close the purchase through a phone call.

The omnichannel world

Moving to omnichannel means more than just more (or all) channels. It means striking a conversation with a customer on their preferred channel. Here are a few of the text-based channels currently available.

SMS and A2P

The most obvious of text channels is SMS. In the business context, it is also known as A2P SMS, or “application to person SMS,” where a contact center sends an SMS message to a customer notifying them of a sale or the status of their recent call.

While SMS is a ubiquitous channel, it might not be the preferred choice. SMS can be expensive and limited. You can only use 160 characters per message and nothing but text. While it provides a feeling of continuity in an ongoing conversation, there’s less ability for branding. There are other noteworthy messaging mediums today that are useful and needed.

Chat widgets and mobile applications

We’ve seen websites adding chat widgets in the past decade or so. These enable site visitors to strike up a conversation with the website owners. In many cases, companies use chat widgets for support and sales purposes. Companies have improved chat widgets over time, enabling more intelligent interactions through machine learning, images, and rich links, as well as the integration of voice and video calling through WebRTC or callback systems.

There’s a trend taking over chat widgets that also involves marketing automation, segmenting website visitors, and launching a conversation proactively through the use of automation rules. These shifts edge the channel from support and sales toward marketing and sales.

Some companies have taken this a step further by enabling direct chat interactions with their businesses through self-service applications. The communication process is similar to a chatbot on a website. In the case of a website, companies can also add voice and video calling options on top of rich text messages.

Business APIs

What do Facebook Messenger, Line, WeChat, Skype, Telegram, Viber, Kik, Cisco Spark, and Slack have in common? They are all messaging platforms that now offer APIs for the creation of chatbots. And these APIs are designed and built to enable businesses to reach out to their customers on their messaging platform or social network of choice.

There’s a win-win-win situation here:

  • Messaging platform vendors want these interactions to happen through their platform. Consumers already use messaging platforms for a large portion of their communications, so relying on them for communication with a business feels more natural.
  • Businesses want to be where their customers are, and these messaging platforms make that more possible than ever.
  • These types of interactions are bound to take place more on social networks and messaging applications. Such platforms already have over 3 billion users.

Mobile vendors

And then there’s Apple and Google.

While Google’s current offerings in this domain are slim, Apple offers a more compelling story. At WWDC 2017, Apple shared a developer preview of a new service called Apple Business Chat. This service enables easy discoverability of businesses that register with the service. It also offers the means for customers to communicate with these businesses directly via iMessage.

This approach makes messaging and interacting with businesses an integral part of the user experience of any iOS device.

How do we get there?

There are so many channels these days, and growth doesn’t seem to be slowing down. We have to interact with customers where they are: on the phone, on our branded websites, in our own apps, on social networks, and over every conceivable medium.

Each of these channels has its own integration interface and its own APIs which companies need to use. Some of these channels are simple, and some are more complicated to connect and implement.

When businesses undertake the process of going omnichannel, there are three main approaches they can take.

Self development

A business, especially a developer-savvy one, can cobble together its own omnichannel solution.

There’s a challenge in maintaining the pace with supporting these channels. With each new channel, there are two additional activities that companies must take on. These include:

  • Integrating with the specific API of that channel. This may also need to go through product management or legal to get access to the API and follow its restrictions.
  • Maintaining that code. This is especially important when a service deprecates or updates its APIs.

Self-development is a great option if your team can maintain the resources necessary for updating the current codebase, as well as adding more channels when needed.

Employing CPaaS

Another alternative in creating an omnichannel communication platform is to use communication platform as a service, also known as CPaaS.

Up until recently, these platforms were mostly focused on SMS, voice, and video calling. Some offered IP messaging as well. One of the top trends in CPaaS is support for omnichannel. Nexmo, for example, offers a chat app service.

Twilio recently introduced a new concept called the Engagement Cloud. This solution takes the contact center building blocks to the next level by offering an omnichannel experience to their higher level APIs — what they call Declarative APIs. While classic CPaaS APIs focus on instructing the platform to take a very specific action, a declarative API defines the desired outcome and lets the CPaaS platform choose the optimal way to achieve that outcome. In this case, you don’t choose to send an SMS to a person, you notify them on the channel that best fits the situation at hand.

Then there are services such as Gupshup, which offers “omnichannel APIs for SMS, Voice, and IP Messaging” as well as a bot builder.

As more social networks and messaging platforms start opening up their APIs, the complexity of self-development will grow, which in turn will encourage more CPaaS vendors to offer these omnichannel APIs that companies can use for faster integration.

Using a readymade service

The most common alternative will likely be a readymade service. This is contact center software you can just onboard and use. The challenge here is that most contact center software doesn’t connect to messaging platforms directly. Such a service will probably first appear as an integration API and only later become a part of the platform’s offering.

Where do we go from here?

Messaging and chatbots are part of the modern contact center. They handle everything from fielding and deflecting customer issues to initiating conversations proactively with prospects at the right point in time.

When adding a messaging medium to your contact center, think about offering it in a multichannel environment — one that allows for the number of channels to continue to grow.

Tsahi Levent-Levi is an independent analyst and consultant for WebRTC. He sometimes writes on behalf of Twilio. He is the author and editor of bloggeek.me, which focuses on the ecosystem and business opportunities around WebRTC.

Might and Magic: Heroes studio goes from general to foot solider with sci-fi survival game

Posted: 18 Jan 2018 01:31 PM PST

The survival genre is getting another entry, and this time its from the developer of the Might and Magic: Heroes series and Tropico 6. Limbic Entertainment announced Memories of Mars today. This new adventure will have players taking on the role of a clone who must craft dwellings and scavenge for resources on a Mars that Earthlings have abandoned after failed attempts at colonization.

Limbic is developing Memories of Mars with the help of publisher 505 Games. Together, the two companies will launch the survival sim on Steam as part of that platform’s Early Access portal for unfinished games. This early version will go live this spring.

The studio showed off Memories of Mars for the first time at the PAX South fan event in Texas, and it has now rolled out the first trailer. In the clip, you can see players putting together shelters and roaming the surface with a weapon and taking on giant spider enemies and other threats.

But the biggest obstacle that players might face on the Red Planet is other humans. Memories of Mars is an online experience. This means you will likely have to compete with and attempt to cooperate with other people. This is common for this genre — especially when it comes to Early Access games on Steam. DayZ, Rust, and others have emphasized the idea of building a band of survivors together to maximize the efficiency of your resources and to increase the security of your characters.

Still, this is something of a departure for Limbic Entertainment. Might and Magic: Heroes and Tropico 6 are strategy games with lots of menus and units. Memories of Mars is a first-person game where you only control one player. That said, it’s likely that some of the management aspects and mechanics from a strategy game would apply to a survival situation.

The survival genre is in a weird place. It simultaneously feels played out and as if we never really got the definitive survival experience. This could leave room for a game like Memories of Mars to step in and win over entirely new audiences.

Of course, it’s not the only game going after the survival genre from a sci-fi angle. In fact, DayZ creator Dean Hall and his development studio RocketWerkz just launched the space-survival sim Stationeers into Early Access at the end last year.

I’m definitely getting the itch to jump into a new survival game, so we’ll see if Memories Mars, Stationeers, or an updated Rust can win me over in 2018.

The PC Gaming channel is presented by Intel®'s Game Dev program.

Pioneer Square Labs Raises $15 Million to Scale Successful Startup Studio

Posted: 18 Jan 2018 01:26 PM PST

PRESS RELEASE:

Foundry Group leads PSL’s second investment round, with participation from PSL’s 12 existing VC investors and 60 angels

SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–January 18, 2018–

Pioneer Square Labs (PSL) announced today that it has raised $15 million to scale its Seattle-based startup studio, which partners with entrepreneurs to create and build innovative companies. Foundry Group led the financing with $10 million, with participation from PSL’s 12 existing venture capital fund investors and 60 angel investors.

Since its inception in October 2015, PSL has spun out nine companies, six of which have been announced and have received funding from leading U.S. venture capital firms. PSL’s team has grown to over 20 employees, including engineers, data scientists, designers, digital marketers and business analysts. Each team member helps to validate new ideas and work with entrepreneurs to launch companies quickly.

“It’s working,” said Brad Feld, Managing Director of Foundry Group. “I would encourage every entrepreneur in Seattle to check out what Pioneer Square Labs is doing. We are excited about what’s going on in Seattle and think PSL is at the center of it.”

The total equity value of the six announced spinouts is $100 million, as determined by outside venture capital firms, and those spinouts have thus far raised over $26 million.

In addition to the startup studio, PSL recently launched a new venture capital arm to enhance and add to its offerings to studio companies and outside entrepreneurs.

PSL has worked on over 80 ideas, killing roughly nine out of ten projects. “Part of the magic of the studio model is that only ideas that we can validate quickly see the light of day,” PSL Managing Director Geoff Entress said. “We are best in the world at figuring out what works and what doesn’t. If you’re an entrepreneur, your most valuable asset is your time. With this model, entrepreneurs are not banging their heads against the wall on ideas that aren’t going to work.”

“We went from idea validation to a founding team and a $3.5 million seed financing in two months,” said Xiao Wang, CEO of Boundless, a startup that automates the immigration process. “We couldn’t have done that without PSL. There’s no better partner than PSL for entrepreneurs who want to change the world.”

In addition to Boundless, PSL’s announced spinouts include Ad Lightning (eliminating bad ads on publisher websites), LumaTax (sales tax automation), JetClosing (next-generation title and escrow service), Taunt (eSports fan competition platform), and TraceMe (superfan engagement platform).

PSL’s venture investors include Bezos Expeditions, Foundry Group, Greycroft Partners, Madrona Venture Group, Maveron, Menlo Ventures, MHS Capital, Sinclair Digital, Techstars Ventures, Trilogy Equity Partners, True Ventures, Voyager Capital and Vulcan. Some of the angel investors include Expedia and Zillow founder Rich Barton, former Concur CEO Steve Singh, ARCH Ventures co-founder Bob Nelsen, former ExactTarget CEO Scott Dorsey and Hootsuite founder and CEO Ryan Holmes.

About Pioneer Square Labs

Pioneer Square Labs is a Seattle-based startup studio and venture firm that finances, creates and launches technology startups. For more information, visit www.psl.com.

About Foundry Group

Foundry Group is a venture capital firm focused on making early-stage technology investments, participating in select growth rounds, and identifying and supporting the next generation of venture fund managers. It is located in Boulder, CO but invests in companies across North America. For more information, visit www.foundrygroup.com.

Pioneer Square Labs
Peter Denton, 206-202-2227
hello@psl.com

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