Twitch, which has been successful with “Twitch Plays Pokemon,” just launched an initiative it’s calling “stream first” with the goal of encouraging game developers to integrate Twitch functionality. To make that easier, Twitch is also debuting development services and three “stream first” games that show off the possibilities of Twitch functionality. One of those is Schell Games’ “Wastelanders,” in which teams led by different broadcasters are lead into battle in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Continue reading Twitch Debuts Tools to Encourage Developers to ‘Stream First’

As part of its effort to streamline the process of addressing counterfeit goods, Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Group has begun to automatically remove from its biggest shopping site products that certain brands have deemed as fake. Alibaba’s Taobao shopping site is one of the busiest in the world, and counterfeit goods have been a concern ahead of the company’s IPO. Its expedited take-down process will initially apply to products identified by less than two dozen brands participating in the program. Continue reading Alibaba Combats Counterfeit Goods After Filing IPO Prospectus

Warner Music Group has entered a partnership with Shazam to gain access to unique customer data. This data will allow Warner Music Group to see how often songs are listened to, and help them find breakout artists. Shazam is a popular smartphone app that helps consumers identify songs, and has about 500 million song identification requests per month. Due to this large volume, Shazam’s data gives a strong indication of which songs are popular with the public. Continue reading Warner Music Group Uses Shazam to Identify Breakout Artists