GUEST: The landscape surrounding microtransactions in video games continues to evolve at a pace outstripping the law’s ability to keep up. Just months after enduring public outcry over an extensive loot box system in Star Wars: Battlefront II, EA Games has announced a complete ov … | Continue reading
(Reuters) — Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said on Tuesday the social network had no immediate plans to apply a strict new European Union law on data privacy in its entirety to the rest of the world, as the company reels from a scandal over its handling of personal info … | Continue reading
GUEST: Augmented and virtual reality startups raised over $3.6 billion from venture capitalists and corporates in the last 12 months to the end of Q1 2018, setting a new record. Over three-quarters of a billion dollars was invested in the first three months of this year alone. A … | Continue reading
Facebook head of security Alex Stamos today announced that roughly 140 Facebook and Instagram accounts as well as 138 Facebook pages controlled by the Internet Research Agency (IRA) have been removed from its platforms. IRA is best known as a state-sponsored propaganda machine th … | Continue reading
Over the last month, I spent most of my time playing an “educational” game called Eco. Strange Loop Games has launched Eco in Early Access, and the developer sells a pack of 100 copies for $500. The idea is that schools would have multiple classrooms of students all playing toget … | Continue reading
Amazon today announced that people can now add music or live radio to Alexa Routines, which are commands that can accomplish multiple things with a single command. Starting today, Routines can include music from a specific artist, playlist, album, or station or from streaming ser … | Continue reading
Psyonix has pushed out its biggest Rocket League update of 2018, and it includes a number of new features and content as well as a beta version of the Tournaments system. The patch is rolling out to all platforms today. The big addition in this update is Tournaments. This is a mu … | Continue reading
Following the FCC’s announcement last week of a plan to block U.S. carriers from using federal funds to purchase Huawei products or services based on national security risks, the Chinese networking giant today issued a statement broadly denying the security claims, saying that th … | Continue reading
GUEST: As a software engineer whose clients are marketing professionals, I’ve gained a great deal of empathy for marketers over the years. Not because marketing technology is evolving so rapidly (which it is), but because the proliferation and misuse of buzzwords is so rampant, w … | Continue reading
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is getting a third map that is in an early testing phase right now, and it is a reaction to Miramar, the last-player-standing shooter’s second map that many people hate. This new area is faster, has a ton of cover, and provides a more even distributi … | Continue reading
Tales of the Neon Sea is a cyberpunk noir adventure in the form of a classic pixel art point-and-click game from Chinese indie studio Palm Pioneer. The developer has teamed up with publisher Zodiac Interactive, and the game is slated for release this summer for PC and consoles. A … | Continue reading
Interactive streaming engine developer Genvid Technologies has raised $6 million in a funding round led by Makers Fund. Genvid’s technology will enable developers to make any multiplayer game (esports titles, virtual reality games, and massively multiplayer online games) more com … | Continue reading
Spotify’s stock soared today after making its hotly anticipated and highly unusual debut on the public markets. The $165.90 opening price of the stock valued Spotify at around $29.5 billion, well above its most recent valuation of $19 billion. The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) i … | Continue reading
GUEST: WhatsApp cofounder Brian Acton expressed outrage at Facebook’s privacy policies last month by tweeting “It is time. #deletefacebook.” But WhatsApp’s Facebook-like group chat features also have design flaws that jeopardize user privacy. Maybe it’s also time to #DeleteWhatsA … | Continue reading
Intel said it will spin out its Wind River Systems software division to financial giant TPG for an undisclosed price. The chip maker bought Wind River Systems for $884 million in 2009, and now it’s ready to send it out of the nest. Wind River makes embedded operating systems and … | Continue reading
The recent tweets by President Trump railing against Amazon could have very real repercussions for the tech giant, which is currently considered the front-runner to land a $10 billion cloud services contract with the Pentagon. A story today by Vanity Fair cited inside sources who … | Continue reading
Wargaming West today released three new story-based missions for the console versions of World of Tanks on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Xbox 360. The free-to-play game is also available on PC, but the single-player/cooperative missions are only available for consoles. Across all … | Continue reading
There’s a new bankroller in town. Makers Fund has raised $200 million for a venture capital fund focused on the global interactive entertainment industry. The San Francisco fund is headed by Jay Chi, a long-time advisor and veteran of the game, and he is joined by long-time colle … | Continue reading
SPONSORED: Presented by Topia Launching a company requires a strategic vision, lots of investment, time, and grit. And because it’s so important to create a powerful brand, entrepreneurs work really hard to develop an identity that captures their vision, sets them apart, and hope … | Continue reading
A virtual reality version of Japan’s hit RPG Dragon Quest will debut this month at VR Zone Shinjuku in Japan, Bandai Namco has announced. Titled Dragon Quest VR, the HTC Vive-based multi-player experience will join VR versions of Mario Kart Arcade Grand Prix, Dragon Ball, Gundam, … | Continue reading
PRESS RELEASE: Red Balloon Security, a world leader in embedded device security, today announced it has secured $21.9 million in Series A funding. Bain Capital Ventures led the round, with additional investment from Greycroft, American Family... | Continue reading
Facebook is today expanding the scope of 360 degree photos by allowing users to send the immersive image format directly through Messenger. The social networking giant first launched 360 Photos through its main app back in 2016, allowing viewers to control the view by tilting, sw … | Continue reading
PRESS RELEASE: Vida Ventures, a next-generation life sciences venture firm, was officially unveiled today with an initial $295 million in assets under management and an investment in Allogene Therapeutics. The firm actively builds and invests in life... | Continue reading
As of January 2018, the number of cryptocurrencies had already hit 1,384, and more are being launched all the time. Some of those tokens are widely usable — such as Bitcoin — but many only have a distinct use within their blockchain project’s ecosystem. What if the cryptocurrenci … | Continue reading
In the age of Facebook and mobile messaging apps, you could be excused for thinking that SMS was on the fast track to extinction. But one New York startup has built a service that issues bite-sized advice each day via text message, designed to improve confidence and general menta … | Continue reading
Supercell has recruited 36 pro esports organizations to field teams for its new Clash Royale League, which will crown the world’s top Clash Royale players in a series of tournaments with a $1 million prize pool. Supercell’s roster of teams includes eight of North America’s finest … | Continue reading
(Reuters) — The New York Stock Exchange on Monday set the reference price for shares of music streaming service Spotify at $132. Spotify is pursuing an unusual direct listing to reach the public markets in place of an initial public offering, and shares are expected to start trad … | Continue reading
(Reuters) — Trading firms are negotiating buying, selling and lending digital currencies like Bitcoin and ether over Skype, catering to big investors looking to avoid rocking already volatile online exchanges. Some 20 traders as well as clients such as wealthy investors, bitcoin … | Continue reading
To beat cybercriminals, McAfee suggests in a new report that gamers may be the key candidates for cybersecurity jobs. The Santa Clara, California-based cybersecurity company said it did a survey of 300 senior security managers and 650 security professionals at major corporations. … | Continue reading
Indie studio Rose City Games’s The World Next Door is a quirky mashup of a visual novel and a role-playing game with real-time combat. It’s also the first title that manga publisher Viz Media is taking on as a publisher. Its release date is still to be determined, but the title w … | Continue reading
The best part of Far Cry 5 is its prepper stashes. These are a series of challenges that require you to solve puzzles or platform your way through an obstacle course to unlock a ton of loot and perk points. My favorite one of these in Hope County is a haunted house that is freaky … | Continue reading
Disney has teamed up with the PerBlue studio on Disney Heroes: Battle Mode, a mobile brawler that features characters from both the Magic Castle and Pixar. The game comes to iOS and Android later this year, but players can sign up for it now. Disney announced in January that it h … | Continue reading
EXCLUSIVE: Native advertising has seen somewhat of a renaissance in recent years, primarily driven by the need to supplement ads that are being blocked by both third-party tools and major browsers. And specific industries are driving continued growth in the native ad industry, ac … | Continue reading
GUEST: A recent study found that fake news spreads faster and further than real news on Twitter. This means false news reaches more people than the truth. In fact, as the study puts it, “the top 1 percent of false news cascades diffused to between 1000 and 100,000 people, whereas … | Continue reading
The console-like Linux-based PC gaming future may need a few more years before it’s ready. Valve has dropped the “Steam Machines” section from its marketplace (as PC Gamer first spotted), which means they are now buried off of the front page. If you hover over the “hardware” tab … | Continue reading
PRESS RELEASE: Hydromax USA, LLC ("Hydromax" or the "Company"), a leading provider of data collection services for infrastructure assets, announced the closing of a definitive agreement to acquire the Technical Services division of Miller Pipetech... | Continue reading
When Star Wars: Battlefront II came out in November for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, few people were talking about the multiplayer shooter’s gameplay or graphics. A controversial loot box system, which would give players items that could give them advantages in exchange for r … | Continue reading
VB EVENT: Our latest speakers for our GamesBeat Summit 2018 event know something about the future of marketing and user acquisition: Influencers. YouTube and Twitch video creators are fast becoming a consumer’s primary source for gaming info. Adam Sessler, Albert Schwarzmeier, Ji … | Continue reading
As new products and services have emerged throughout the history of capitalism, it hasn’t been unusual to see geographic clusters emerge that become an industry’s center of gravity. But the era of artificial intelligence has triggered an unusually direct response from countries t … | Continue reading
Apple is actively planning to move away from using Intel-series processors in its Macintosh computers, according to a new report today from Bloomberg. The move to Apple in-house chips is expected to take place two years from now, and has led Intel’s stock to drop more than eight … | Continue reading
SiFive has raised $50.6 million in a third round of funding to further its ambition to create a new licensing model for the semiconductor industry. San Francisco-based SiFive wants to democratize access to custom silicon chip designs. The company’s founders invented RISC-V, a fre … | Continue reading
PRESS RELEASE: NIO is bringing the NIO House experience to Auto China 2018 in Beijing, giving attendees a first-hand look at how NIO empowers its users. The NIO House will be open from April 25 to May 4, 2018. NIO House is a living space for... | Continue reading
Google has announced that the Chrome Web Store is banning extensions that contain cryptocurrency mining scripts. New extensions with coin mining scripts submitted to the store are being rejected as of today, and existing extensions already in the store will be removed “in late Ju … | Continue reading
Tech companies in the U.S. heartland are stepping up their efforts to convince tech talent to leave the Bay Area — and parroting some Silicon Valley lingo to do so. On Monday, a group of 10 Colorado tech companies announced the formation of the Colorado Technology Recruiting Coal … | Continue reading
The Tor Project has announced that it’s winding down its privacy-focused Tor Messenger chat program, nearly three years after its beta debut. Tor, an acronym of “The Onion Router,” is better known for its privacy-focused browser that directs traffic through a volunteer-run networ … | Continue reading
Chris Hecker has been making SpyParty full-time for eight years, and he’s finally hitting a big milestone. While he’s already sold copies on his website, the veteran gamemaker is putting SpyParty on Steam Early Access beginning April 12, and it will have new 21 animated character … | Continue reading
EXCLUSIVE: As part of a six-year effort to highlight the benefits of gigabit networks, the Mozilla Foundation today announced today that it has awarded the final 14 prizes from its $1.2 million Gigabit Community Fund. Funded in part by the National Science Foundation, the Gigabit … | Continue reading
EXCLUSIVE: Textio, maker of AI-powered tools to augment business writing, today announced a new product to help recruiters reach out to job candidates. Like the company’s first service, which uses AI to help customers write better job descriptions, Textio’s second offering helps … | Continue reading