Twitch Grows Its Music Library

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Twitch.tv, the popular game streaming service that sees over 100 million monthly viewers, has been making strides in adding music to its channel, both through tunes that can be played by users during their broadcasts and with live music specials, including Steve Aoki and other artists. Now, it’s pushing its collection even further, partnering up with the Rhymesayers label to bring hip-hop to the channel.

With the partnership, Twitch will bring more than 100 songs in the hip-hop category to the Twitch Music Library for users to utilize however they please. This brings the total music library to over 1,000 tunes available for broadcasters, doubling what was initially offered back in January.

Rhymesayers has made a name for itself over the last 20 years, helping independent hip-hop artists rise to stardom. Performers such as Atmosphere, Brother Ali, Dilated Peoples, P.O.S. featuring Mike Mictian of Doomtree and Aesop Rock are amongst the many available in the Twitch music library.

“The Twitch community’s taste in music is as varied as the games they play,” said Colin Carrier, CSO and head of music for Twitch. “By being able to offer Twitch broadcasters such a large collection of music to use from Rhymesayers’ robust catalog, it ensures fans of independent hip-hop have plenty of choices.”

“It’s important for Rhymesayers to have our music where people are listening,” said Skye Rossi, CFO for the label. “With so many gamers in our audience, we’re excited to be a contributor to the Twitch community.”

Grieves, one of the artists featured in the deal, also spoke on the partnership. “I’m excited to be a part of this launch on Twitch ’cause not only do I get to share music with the world, but I get to game with it as well,” he said. “Bump the music, bang with me on the digital battle ground, but most of all, have FUN! That’s what this is all about.”

The deal should be beneficial for both sides, bringing in new Twitch fans eager to use Rhymesayers’ music, and introducing the label to an audience that will appreciate the presence of hip-hop. The label will host a community event tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. PDT to celebrate the announcement, with artists like Grieves and others taking part in gameplay sessions of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. Fans of the label can attend the event on the official Rhymesayers Twitch page.

Supercell Preps New Mobile Game

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Supercell has become one of the biggest success stories in the mobile world, generating a whopping $1.7 billion across its three releases, Clash of Clans, Hay Day, and Boom Beach. However, that isn’t stopping it from trying something new with its latest endeavor.

VentureBeat reports that Supercell has been testing its latest release, Smash Land, for release on the mobile market. The game shows some similarities to the popular mobile release Monster Strike, as you “smash your way through dangerous lands packed with scary creatures,” according to the product description. Players can arm themselves with “explosive abilities” and seek out treasures, while teaming up with friends and taking on foes. Additional heroes with new capabilities can be unlocked (or purchased), for players to add to their collection.

The game takes a new approach to the usual Supercell style, which relies on hardcore strategies that players of Clash of Clans and Boom Beach have easily adapted to. However, a similar business mode is in play here, as there’s hours worth of gameplay, as well as plenty of goodies for players to invest in, although it remains completely optional.

Supercell is somewhat finicky with its releases, as it’s been known to cancel projects before coming to fruition, mainly because they couldn’t live up to the reputation created by its previous releases. However, Smash Land shouldn’t have any trouble generating an audience of players of all ages – and that could help push the company to even greater success for 2015, in a market that could hit $30 billion by December.

For a team of 150 employees, Supercell has generated a lot of attention over these past couple of years, and Smash Land could be the game that pushes them even further, despite its somewhat “cute” approach compared to other releases. Its “fling-and-smash” sort of play should bring players in with ease, with an assortment of heroes and enemies keeping them there.

There’s no word on a release date for Smash Land yet, but it is available in the Canadian App Store, so arrival on other markets shouldn’t be too far off.

Simon Tay produced a video preview of the game, which can be found below.

 

Nintendo Reveals Add-Ons, Amiibos

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Yesterday was no April Foolin’ for Nintendo, as the company presented its latest Nintendo Direct online broadcast and showcased a number of new additions for popular games, as well as teases for upcoming titles. And, seeing how healthy its Amiibo business is as of late, it made a few announcements in that category as well.

Here are some of the more general stories that came out of yesterday’s announcement:

Super Smash Bros.’ New Combatants – Nintendo officially announced new downloadable characters for its Super Smash Bros. games, including popular Pokémon character Mewtwo, who will release at the end of this month; and Lucas, a hero from the company’s classic Earthbound game. In addition, bonus costumes will be available for unlocking for Mii fighters.

A New Card Based Animal Crossing Game – Fans of the interactive Animal Crossing games will be able to take part in a new experience for their Nintendo 3DS systems, in the form of Happy Home Designer. In this game, players will be able to create their dream homes, with help from characters from the series. In addition, Nintendo will release an NFC adapter for the 3DS systems, sold separately, that will enable players to scan Animal Crossing cards to add extra items into the game. Happy Home Designer should release later this year, alongside the NFC adapter.

Mario Kart 8 Getting Back Up To Speed – Ever since its release last year, Mario Kart 8 has been a huge seller for Nintendo. So, the publisher announced some new content for the game, which will be released this month. An Animal Crossing-themed downloadable content pack, featuring eight new tracks and additional karts and characters, will arrive on April 23rd for $7.99. Also, a new free update will provide a new speed class to the game, boosting the action up to 200cc. Fans seeking hardcore racing action are sure to love that.

Amiibo Madness – Finally, Nintendo continued to capitalize on its Amiibo success with the announcement of a fourth wave of the interactive figures, which will come to retail on May 29th. These include a number of fan favorites, like Wario, Charizard and Pac-Man, although some will be sold exclusively through retailers like GameStop and Best Buy.

Two newer titles coming from the publisher for Wii U, Yoshi’s Woolly World and Splatoon, will also have Amiibo tie-ins that launch alongside their respective games. Yoshi will see special yarn-based Yoshi figurines that can be used to activate secondary characters within that game universe, while Splatoon will feature a three-pack of characters – two Inkling soldiers and a squid – that can unlock bonus features in the third-person paint shooter, which we profiled last week.

Splatoon and its respective Amiibo characters will launch May 29th, while Yoshi’s Woolly World and its unique figures are due later in the summer.

The Nintendo Direct special can be watched in full below.

 

Augmented Reality Games To Reach Record Numbers By 2019

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With virtual reality technology on the rise, it won’t be long until the marketplace is flooded with games that take advantage of these headsets, whether it’s Sony’s Project Morpheus, Facebook’s Oculus Rift or a number of other competitors on the market. But will augmented reality-based video games really be as popular as most developers believe One research company seems to think so.

Advanced Television has reported that data provided by Juniper Research indicates augmented reality apps, which place users in a secondary universe that they can look around and, to some extent, interact with, will see a huge rise in popularity in just a few years’ time. Juniper indicates that AR-related games on the mobile market will generate 420 million downloads annually by 2019. Currently, those numbers sit at 30 million for 2014, which isn’t too shabby a number.

With the introduction of new technology, including virtual reality units, Google Glass, Magic Leap’s hardware and Microsoft’s recently announced HoloLens, interest in AR games will pick up. That’ll be a change of pace from how they’re selling now, as the market has been stagnant over the last couple of years. Juniper believes that the reason for this is because of the lack of cutting-edge apps that would draw in potential customers. However, as new technology becomes introduced, more and more people will pick up on it, and immerse themselves in their available worlds.

“The app market has stagnated somewhat, with the industry struggling to move beyond AR marketing tools,” said research author Steffer Sorrell. “I do see a shift, though – Blippar, for example, is moving into visual search, which will open the app to a far wider potential audience.”

Interest should not only increase in a customer base, but also marketers and companies that can find a way to effectively implement products and advertising into augmented reality, but without getting in the way of the experience itself. As more headsets and other gear comes to store shelves, we should get a better idea of how these ideas will come to fruition.

For now, though, the future looks virtually set on augmented reality to take over. It’s just a matter of seeing what companies can do with it.

Digital Domain And Immersive Media Form VR Joint Venture

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by Jessica Klein

Digital Domain Holdings Limited, the parent company of visual effects studio Digital Domain, and Immersive Media, an immersive video production company, have partnered to form IM360, a venture aimed at creating virtual reality videos and providing services to other VR creators.

In addition to offerings tools that help creators edit and produce their VR content, IM360 will provide ways for clients to distribute their content on VR headsets. The joint venture will also put forth and distribute its own immersive content.

Read more…

This article was originally posted on VideoInk and is reposted on [a]listdaily via a partnership with the news publication, which is the online video industry’s go-to source for breaking news, features, and industry analysis. Follow VideoInk on Twitter @VideoInkNews, or subscribe via thevideoink.com for the latest news and stories, delivered right to your inbox.

One In Five Americans Access The Internet On Their Phones Only

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There are a number of companies that provide strong Internet service for those who can afford it. However, a new survey indicates that a good deal of the American audience prefer to use their smartphone when it comes to accessing sites and social networks.

A report from Re/Code states that nearly one in five Americans depend solely on their cellphone for Internet access, and it’s a number that’s showing eventual growth.

This is mainly an audience consisting of younger users, or those without a feasible budget for a high-speed alternative. In addition, those with lower education are coupled into this audience, according to numbers compiled by the Pew Research Center.

“The traditional notion of ‘going online’ often evokes images of a desktop or laptop computer with a full complement of features, such as a large screen, mouse, keyboard, wires and a dedicated high-speed connection,” says the report. “But for many Americans, the reality of the online experience is substantially different.”

Smartphone penetration is showing a higher rate, with nearly two-thirds of Americans possessing some form of the technology.

While the limited site screen makes it difficult to navigate certain sites, the ease of use with smartphone-based Internet allows users to easily check certain information, like updates on social media sites and private information, such as a bank balance.

High cost may be the biggest factor when it comes to Internet service – and even smartphone users have seen some form of effect from that. Pew’s report indicates that 23 percent of smartphone owners have had to cancel or suspend their service at one point, mainly due to the lack of funds. 15 percent, meanwhile, had to hold back, but for a different reason – reaching a maximum data limit on their plan.

“The connections to online resources that smartphones facilitate are often most tenuous for those users who rely on those connections the most,” said Pew senior researcher Aaron Smith.

While this isn’t quite alarming news to broadband and strong Internet providers just yet, the growing audience of smartphone users could be of slight concern over the next few years – especially with more affordable data plans that are likely to be introduced as a competitive move.

Programmatic Is Major Growth Area For Mobile

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Programmatic ad spending is on the rise. Over the last couple of years, it’s seen triple-digit numbers when it comes to increases in spending. And according to eMarketer, that growth won’t stop anytime soon.

The site believes that spending on programmatic ads will rise an additional 50 percent to $14.88 billion for 2015. That makes up 55 percent of total digital display ad spending in all.

A research report by RBC Capital Markets and Advertising Age, posted back in February, shows that programmatic ads make up a small (yet still significant) part of marketers’ total budgets when it comes to ad spending. An approximate 45 percent of US marketers put 20 percent or less of its overall marketing spend into these ads, while only eight percent spend more than 20 percent.

But the numbers won’t stay stagnant for long. The report indicates that nearly two-thirds of respondents have intentions of putting more money into programmatic ad budgets for the coming year.

Mobile plays a huge part in programmatic ad spending, as 33 percent of marketers polled believe it’s the biggest factor with such campaigns. Video came in a close second, with 20 percent of respondents behind it. Other formats, like social media, display and native, followed behind in the 10-16 percent range, as indicated by the chart below.

A follow-up report by Digiday, which also posted in February, notes that U.S. ad buyers and sellers are becoming more involved with programmatic mobile advertising. 69.1 percent stated that they use it in some format, coming in a close second behind display, with 85.6 percent. (Video followed in third with 67.1 percent.)

Overall programmatic display ad spending for mobile in the U.S. is likely to double, according to eMarketer. It estimates an 88.4 percent rise to $8.36 billion, which calculates to 57 percent of the total mobile display ad spending in the market. By 2016, the number will pick up even more, with 68 percent of mobile display ad dollars going towards programmatic mobile ads.

It’s certainly something for companies to keep an eye on – programmatic ads, especially for mobile, are here to stay.

Image source

Google’s Tools Could Increase Mobile App Installs

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App-install ads have found an increasing presence in social media, particularly on Facebook and Twitter. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that Google wants to take part in the action.

AdWeek has reported that the web giant has introduced a couple of new web tools that will allow marketers to implement its mobile applications in a much easier fashion.

First off, AdMob, Google’s mobile app network which provides ads for over 650,000 apps, has extended with the Google Display Network. That’s a big move, considering that it functions mobile sites and apps for two million publishers, including bigger clients like Weather.com and The New York Times. Using this service, advertisers will have access to a much larger audience, capable of seeing their ads.

Google has reported that a number of companies on the Google Display Network have given business a boost, to the tune of a 28 percent rise in mobile app install ads.

But for those who prefer video ads, Google has good news for companies as well. Marketers can now use this format to utilize their apps, with pop-up full screen ads that appear, featuring links to ratings across both Google Play and Apple’s App Store, depending on the availability of the app. By clicking on said ads, users can go straight to a download screen, where they can add it to their device almost instantaneously.

The program has already been successful for one company, Gree International, who reports that Google’s video promos managed to pick up app downloads by ten percent. At the same time, cost-per-install price has decreased by 40 percent. This is a much more effective campaign for the company, compared to others it ran in the past.

Video ads have done good business for both Facebook and Twitter since their introduction, so Google should have no program picking up on that success. Numbers from eMarketer indicate that mobile app install ads will bring in $3 billion in revenue for this year alone in the U.S. – and that’s only just over ten percent of overall mobile spending, which will reach $28.72 billion. Mobile app install ads will still grab about 20 percent of the U.S. mobile display market for 2015 as well.

It looks like the future’s up-and-up for mobile app installs from here.

Image source

InnoGames Launches Strong TV Campaign For Games

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Taking to television to promote games is nothing new, as developers and publishers have been pumping out ads for years, either focusing on gameplay or featuring a AAA-grade presentation to hype said product. However, InnoGames is going the extra mile with its latest campaign, with ads set to air on TV numerous times throughout the month of April.

The company’s TV campaign, which will run across 100 different stations and run 25,000 times globally throughout this month, will focus on its primary strategy games, Tribal Wars 2 and Forge of Empires. Featuring 3D CGI animation and actors intertwined (similar in manner to the Game of War ads), the spots will be seen on the likes of Comedy Central, Fox Network, ESPN, MTV and other channels. It will also run across popular networks in Canada, including Discovery, NHL and iChannel, among others.

“This globally aligned campaign brings our TV presence to a new level,” InnoGames’ Chief Marketing Officer Christian Pern explains.  “High quality and exciting spots combined with the broadcast of attractive TV shows make us confident to reach a large audience, especially targeting people that have not yet played our games. In order to maximize the impact, we also support our TV efforts with a large-scale online campaign.”

InnoGames is also set to launch a cross-promotion with its Facebook page for the Tribal Wars 2 ad, where users can register on the official page {link no longer active} for a chance to win 10,000 crowns for use in their next battles.

The ads could bring in a huge audience push for the German online game company, which already has 150 million registered players around the world. Obviously, the right TV ad can be a proven success for a company, whether with a mobile release or a more social-based title on Facebook or other networks, as Supercell has proven in the past with its Super Bowl Clash of Clans ad, featuring actor Liam Neeson.

The ads can be seen below.