YouTube is getting into gaming, seriously
YouTube is dipping its hands into every pie it can reach. It’s got YouTube Music, television (in the US), eSports livestreams, and now it’s extending into games of its own. It’s called the “Playables” initiative, and it was initially reported earlier this year by The Wall Street Journal (and Stuff), described as “a product for playing online games.” Back then, it was reserved for Google’s employees as part of an early test, and details were scarce.
All we did know was that Stack Bounce was one of the games in the early test, a game that’s already playable (haha) through Google’s GameSnacks. Today, YouTube has rotated its list of tests and experimental features, announcing that Playables has made it to a “limited number of users to start.”
“We’re starting to test a new experience on YouTube called “Playables”. Playables are games that can be played directly on YouTube on both desktop and mobile devices. If you’re part of this experiment, you’ll see a section on YouTube called “Playables” that will appear alongside other content on the home feed. We’re testing this with a limited number of users to start. You can view and control your Playables history and saved game progress in YouTube History.”
Unfortunately, that’s where the news stops. YouTube didn’t delve any deeper into the sort of games we can expect, or say when the casual user will get access.
No more lyrics (for the poor)
Are you a fan of saving R60/m when it comes to Spotify? Yeah? You won’t when Spotify is through with you. Over the last 48 hours, many of Spotify’s ad-supported users have reported running into a paywall when trying to use one of the app’s best features: live lyrics. Rather than seeing their music’s lyrics, users were greeted with a “Enjoy lyrics on Spotify Premium” notification, and a link to sign up.
If you’re an ad-supported user who still has access to live lyrics, consider yourself lucky. Spotify is only testing the feature across multiple markets for now. If it notices a boost in Premium subscribers, it might be more inclined to make the feature’s removal the norm across all its markets. If there’s a backlash – which is what appears to be happening – it might back down and revert to some other money-making scheme.
So, what gives? Is Spotify strapped for cash? Well, yes, according to a recent report from The Wall Street Journal (via Digitaltrends). The company took a big swing at podcasts – which hasn’t quite worked out as planned. That’s on top of the streamer’s reported loss in the last quarter, totalling somewhere around $330 million – far more than it lost in the previous quarter.
Should Spotify stick to its guns and leave live lyrics behind the paywall, it’ll join the streamer’s next-best thing, the AI DJ.
WhatsApp’s UI is getting a refresh
WhatsApp’s taking a break from adding new features, and instead focusing on making a change to its UI – the first redesign the messenger’s had in years. That’s according to WABetaInfo, which noticed some changes to the app’s home page in the latest WhatsApp beta for Android 2.23.18.18.
The changes include a revised top bar, a new profile button which is where you’ll find the settings menu now, and a different general colour scheme to white from the green it’s currently on.
Next, swapping out the Android app’s Chats, Status and Calls tabs is a new bar that adds ‘All’, ‘Unread’, ‘Personal’ and ‘Business’ filters. It’s relegated the Chats, Status and Calls tabs to the bottom of the screen. Communities too, have been moved and will slot in beside these tabs.
iOS users aren’t being left out. WABetaInfo has confirmed that iOS will receive a similar redesign, promoting better parity between the two app versions.
Even more Pikmin
Nintendo is cashing in on the Pikmin 4 hype, with the quiet launch of a Pokémon Go-like, browser-based AR game Pikmin Finder that, quite obviously, lets players wander the real world to collect an array of Pikmin. You know, almost exactly like that Pikmin Bloom game from back in the day. Whatever happened to that?
Heck, Pikmin Finder is even made by Niantic, which developed Bloom in 2021. You’ll be tasked with searching for Pikmin to add to your collection wherever you are. It’s available here as a browser game and can be used on smartphones and tablets right now, making use of the device’s camera to implement some nifty AR features.
Scanning the ground is how you’ll find the Pikmin for your collection. Swipe up on the little critter’s head to pull it out of the ground and it’s all yours. Once you’ve found all the Pikmin of a certain type in the area – which is usually limited to two or three – you’ll have the option to send them forth to do your bidding. As long as that bidding involves finding treasures like rubber ducks and cake.
It’s not quite as in-depth as, say, Pokémon Go – the gold standard for AR collectors out there. And it was never meant to be. The lack of an official Pikmin Finder app, relegating the game to your phone’s browser, proves that. It’s a bit of harmless fun to keep Pikmin 4’s hype alive until Nintendo decides to make a sequel in another ten years or so.