Microsoft acquires Beam

Microsoft has acquired Beam; a Seattle based interactive game streaming service that lets viewers play along with streamers as they watch. Beam’s model takes the mostly passive interaction that streaming fans may be used to form services like Twitch and YouTube adds the ability for viewers to interact with the streamer via crowdsourced controls.

Players interacting through Beam can direct the play of the person streaming, doing things like setting which weapon load out they take into battle for multiplayer shooters. Visual controls provide viewers the ability to help players pick quests, and you can even assign challenges that alter the gameplay considerably from what you’d get via a typical play through.

Microsoft Beam acquisition is an attempt to strengthen company Xbox gaming service. Microsoft says it is bringing Beam interactive technology into the Xbox family to make Xbox Live more Social and fun. Beam interactive streaming platform can be enabled with any game. With Minecraft for instance, Beam users can not only see their favorite streamer but can also play along with them.

Microsoft has been steadily acquiring startups and big name tech organization in order to strengthen some of its core services. Earlier this year, Microsoft acquired LinkedIn for a record $26 Billon in order to better connect with professionals and expand its productivity services. With Beam, Microsoft would try to strengthen its core Xbox Live service while Beam will gain resources to build its product into a bigger game streaming platform.

Activision Blizzard buys Candy Crush Saga Maker

Call of Duty publisher Activision Blizzard has bought King Digital Entertainment, the creator of mobile smash hit Candy Crush Saga, in a deal worth $5.9 Billion. King Digital Entertainment had built one of the largest networks of players on Facebook and on mobile devices noting that King’s games had 474 Million active users in the third quarter of 2015.

Activision already owns one of the biggest gaming franchises in Call of Duty, in addition to Destiny and huge properties such as World of WarCraft and StarCraft as a result of its merger with Blizzard in 2008. The company’s gaming portfolio grows even bigger with the addition of the biggest name in social gaming. Consumer spending on Candy Crush fell 13 percent year over year in the second quarter of this year.

Activision Blizzard games are played on consoles such as Microsoft Xbox and Sony PlayStation. King floated on the New York Stock Exchange in March last year with a valuation of almost $8 Billion making it the most valuable British business of the tech craze. Candy Crush became wildly popular racking up a billion plays a day on smartphones for the company, based in London West End.

This acquisition clearly demonstrates a new commitment to mobile for Activision as well as the will to diversify their IP Portfolio to a more global female audience. Activision has taken in the past a more reserved approach to mobile, releasing only a handful of titles, like Hearthstone and mainly using mobile apps as side experiences to their PC and console games. In the meantime, global competitors such as EA or Tencent have embraced this new sector.

Microsoft to launch Windows 9

Finally, we may finally get a glimpse of Microsoft’s Windows 8 successor codenamed threshold next month. Allegedly called the Windows 9, the new platform is rumoured to be taking a U-turn, as it will bring back most of the familiar Windows attributes. The windows 9 are likely to come with a host of UI changes.

One of the most consistent rumours and a highly anticipated feature of Windows 9 is said to be return of Start Menu. Microsoft will launch some more windows app with some kernel changes. Microsoft also plans to remove its Charms bar. The right side overlay used to access search, share, settings, and so on. Microsoft also said to add virtual desktops feature to Windows 9 for enterprise and power customers. Apple OS X and many Linux distros already come with support for virtual desktops. Virtual desktops will allow users to create separate active desktops and switch between them from a button on the taskbar.

Another highly anticipated feature is the return of Shutdown on Start. The start screen could also be improved to boot straight into the desktop. The new improved Windows 9 OS will also bring along a more familiar task bar that is said to unify the old and new user interface. Microsoft will create a universal app store for Windows 9, Windows Phone and Xbox. People also expect Google apps feature in Windows 9 OS. Apps such as Google Hangouts, Google Maps, Gmail will be inbuilt, which may run in offline mode too.

People are expecting that they can play Xbox games on Windows 9. However, there is a problem in new OS and it is web itself. Microsoft continues to support IE 8 and 9, which require an unacceptable amount of hacking to render properly. Internet Explorer 11 is much better but developers have created some pages, which will not open or does not work properly. Microsoft will release the preview of Windows 9 on September 30 and will only reveal new features of OS.