games

Live Scores for Sports Games Being Added by Threads: Starting with the NBA

Gettyimages 1507057889 1
Threads, the Twitter-like app from Instagram, is adding live scores for sports games. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on Friday that Threads has started testing live scores for NBA games, and that the platform plans to add support for additional leagues in the future. The launch of the feature comes as Threads continues to take on X, which has had live scores for sports games for around a decade now. Threads isn’t just adding live scores — users will also be able to tap a team’s logo to be redirected to the conversation about that team, and connect with other users who follow them. The addition of live scores marks Threads’ latest effort in building out a platform to rival X.

Can the antitrust case against Apple be seen as a glimmer of hope for Epic Games?

Fortnite Epic Gettyimages 957063528 1
Meanwhile, Fortnite maker Epic Games has been accusing Apple’s iOS App Store of antitrust violations for years in an ongoing, arduous legal battle. “Apple often enforces its App Store rules arbitrarily,” the suit says. And unlike Android devices, iPhones do not allow for sideloading apps, meaning that Apple has control over any app in its App Store. “While Apple has reduced the tax it collects from a subset of developers, Apple still extracts 30 percent from many app makers,” the suit says. On Thursday, the Coalition for App Fairness (CAF) – which includes Epic Games, Spotify, Deezer, Proton and other companies – released a statement in favor of the DOJ’s action against Apple.

‘Recreational Hacker Spills About Causing Mayhem in Apex Legends Tournament Games’

Apex Concept Art Wallpaper Revenant
I’m getting hacked, I’m getting hacked bro, I’m getting hacked,” said one of the players allegedly compromised during a live stream of the gameplay. On Tuesday, Respawn, the studio that develops Apex Legends posted a statement on X (formerly Twitter), addressing the incidents. Conor Ford, who works on Apex Legends security team, wrote on X that he and his colleagues are working to address the issues. Or other video game hacking incidents? Or other video game hacking incidents?

“LinkedIn Seeks to Integrate Gaming into its Platform”

Linkedin China E1547032000499
LinkedIn, the Microsoft-owned social platform, has made a name for itself primarily as a platform for people looking to network and pick up knowledge for professional purposes, and for recruitment — a business that now has more than 900 million users. Now, to boost the time people are spending on the platform, the company is breaking into a totally new area: gaming. App researchers have started to find code that points to the work LinkedIn is doing. The LinkedIn spokesperson declined to say how and if Microsoft is involved in the gaming project at LinkedIn. Facebook, the world’s biggest social network, has been a major driver of social gaming over the years.

Analyzing SuperScale’s $5.4 Million Series A Pitch Deck

Pdt Superscale Tc Cover
Twenty-two slides might seem like too many (the optimal length for a slide deck is around 16 slides these days), but there are some interstitial slides and an appendix in this one, and those don’t really count. This team slide came as a bit of a surprise:Putting this slide at the end of the deck makes me wonder about the seriousness of this startup. If it has five business units and 70+ team members, it throws the rest of the deck out of whack. On slide 12, the company noted it had $7.5 million worth of revenue from just its case study clients. The full pitch deckIf you want your own pitch deck teardown featured on TechCrunch, here’s more information!

Google’s Deepmind AI learns to be your ultimate video game ally

Sima Instructions
AI models that play games go back decades, but they generally specialize in one game and always play to win. From this data — and the annotations provided by data labelers — the model learns to associate certain visual representations of actions, objects, and interactions. AI agents trained on multiple games performed better on games they hadn’t been exposed to. But of course many games involve specific and unique mechanics or terms that will stymie the best-prepared AI. And simple improvised actions or interactions are also being simulated and tracked by AI in some really interesting research into agents.

“Unveiling Google Play’s New Features: AI-Powered FAQs and the Latest YouTube Videos for Gaming”

Gettyimages 1241020032
Google announced a bunch of new features for Google Play listings for games including AI-powered FAQs, displaying the latest YouTube videos, new immersive ad formats, and support for native PC game publishing. These announcements were made at the Google Games Developer Summit held at San Fransisco. Play Pass and Play PointsTo drive more in-app purchases, Google is now allowing developers to set discounts for users who have the company’s Play Pass subscription. Support for PC gamesIn the last few years, Google has made its Play Games for PC program available in more than 120 countries. Now, the company is set to allow publishers to put native PC games on the Play Store.

iOS users in Europe rejoice as Fortnite makes its long-awaited return (for real this time)

Gettyimages 9570635101
After terminating Epic Games’ developer account on Wednesday, Apple said it will reinstate the Fortnite maker’s access to publish iOS apps in Europe. This means that Epic can move forward with its plans for an Epic Games Store, and it can bring Fortnite back to iOS in Europe. Last month, Epic announced it would be able to bring Fortnite and the Epic Games Store back because of Europe’s Digital Markets Act (DMA). “We are moving forward as planned to launch the Epic Games Store and bring Fortnite back to iOS in Europe. But under the new DMA law, third-party marketplaces like the Epic Games Store can come to iOS, lessening Apple’s control over apps in Europe.

New York Times Unveils Enhanced App for Improved Discovery and Streamlined Navigation

Nyt Games App
The NYT Games app is debuting a new redesign to help users discover games and track their progress more easily. The redesign comes nearly a year after the New York Times renamed its games-focused app from “NYT Crosswords” to “NYT Games” to better represent its growing family of games. NYT Games principal product designer Lian Chang told TechCrunch that the redesign caters to both old and new players. Chang says the redesigned game cards incentivize players to come back to a game and finish it. The idea behind the redesigned game cards was to not only be inviting for discovery purposes, but also be functional.