Microsoft’s streaming service Beam has been re-named - it’s now called Mixer.
The Twitch-rival is also getting two new features: co-streaming for multiple people to broadcast on a single channel, and mobile support to stream while on the move.
“If you’re playing with your friends you can bring all of those streams together on one channel page,” Mixer boss Matt Salsamendi told Eurogamer in an interview.
also:
Mixer’s new mobile app will let users on iOS or Android stream on the service as well. Salsamendi has some interesting ideas for mobile usage:
“The idea is you could strap mobile phones to nerf guns and have a real-life battle, and see from every perspective. The idea is to continue creating diverse experiences for more diverse broadcasters,” he concluded.
I’d heard good things about their low latency mode but last time I saw a stream using this tech (earlier in the week) then that mode was disabled and said I needed a different browser. I was using the standard browser (Chrome is the agent for something like half of all web requests - it is the standard now) so for them to have not done the work to make their client compatible was not a great sign. I know it’s MS and so might push Edge but that’s really not how they’ll win market share - putting the differentiating feature of the service only on the browser not a lot of people use (even if most have it pre-installed on their machine).
[Edit: Hmm, someone mentioned that it might be something weird happened on my end as they’ve had low latency mode available on Chrome. Will have to investigate next time I end up viewing a stream using that client.]
Competition is good. I still have no idea why I’d use this rather than a low latency dedicated service (Steam, which is so low latency you can also use it for remote play but they also do broadcast mode) or the market leader (Twitch), especially as Beam/Mixer isn’t even an option in my integrated streaming software (GeForce Experience can stream to Twitch, YouTube, and Facebook - yes, I have even seen one of my friends using the FB integration a few times so clearly someone does use that).
I liked the old name (and URL) a little better, but it’s good to see them working on new features to help make a case for more people using their tech. Competition is always nice to have. The co-streaming is quite a nice idea - there have always been good sites which support multistreaming for Twitch, but I’m surprised they’ve never integrated it into the site proper.
Not sure I’d feel comfortable strapping an expensive device to a nerf gun, though - nor do I think it’d be something I’d want to watch. Good on them for coming up with weird ideas, though, I guess.
Additionally, down the line Microsoft will update Mixer Create to let creators stream live gameplay of iOS games directly from their iPhones and iPads, similar to how Mixer can stream games on PC and Xbox One. The mobile broadcasts will be viewable by users on any platform that Mixer is on, including the basic Mixer app for and Android, as well as on Xbox One and the web.
From Microsoft:
In the future, you could imagine streaming “Pokémon Go” on your mobile device, through Mixer, and hunting with viewers! Once mobile gameplay streaming launches, you’ll be able to join a co-stream with friends who are broadcasting on PC, console or other mobile devices.
Channel One is an always-on, moderated channel of content that lets you see what’s happening across Mixer. We’ll highlight a wide variety of content, including big title releases, livestream events, tips and tricks, esports updates, and more. There’s always something new on Channel One, and it’s a great “first stop” for new visitors to see what’s out there and get acquainted with our service.
