Xbox news recap: Beam rebrands to Mixer, Far Cry 5 reveal completely changes the franchise and more

Welcome to our weekly Xbox news recap series, where we go over the top stories of the past week in the world of Xbox. Let’s get started.

Beam becomes Mixer, mostly for legal reasons

Beam, Microsoft’s streaming service with a small but loyal base of users, has been rebranded as Mixer. The rebrand has gotten a mixed reception so far, with many loyal Beam users upset that the service has been so dramatically changed overnight. Unfortunately, the renaming occurred because Microsoft “had to change the name because we couldn’t use the Beam name globally,” according to a Tweet from Mixer’s Matt Salsamendi. Only time will tell how dramatic of an effect the new brand has.

Far Cry 5 revealed, showing new direction for the franchise

Far Cry 5 was revealed this week by Ubisoft, showing us an entirely new direction for the Far Cry series. The franchise has mostly been defined up until this point by its themes of wilderness and throwing people into a wild, untamed land – but the new series takes place in a contemporary American setting. This time around, it looks like the game takes place in a Montana town called Hope County, and features a villain in the way of a religious cult. Several trailers were released, and they’re all worth watching.

Mixer getting huge changes in the near future

Mixer’s new brand means that the service is really doubling own on making its own identity in the world of streaming services, and that comes with new features. Mixer has been very transparent about what they plan to be adding in, and it’s actually pretty promising. The list includes Dynamic Stream Recaps, Sub Anniversary Announcements, Channel Editors, Scheduled Live Streams, Team Based Interactive Games, Voice Chat Commands, Co-Streaming, and so much more. No word on when this stuff comes out, but it’s all looking great.

Here’s the list of features:

• Dynamic Stream Recaps
• Sub Anniversary Announcements
• Channel Editors
• Scheduled Live Streams
• Team Based Interactive Games
• Voice Chat Commands
• Co-Streaming
• AV1 Stream Encoding
• Private Messaging
• Group Messages
• Moderator Permission Editor
• Channel Moderation Logs
• Built-in Donations
• Theater Mode
• VOD Chat Replay
• Console Apps

Mixer may be coming to Playstation, and maybe Switch

Mixer’s mostly aimed at people who are Xbox/Windows 10 diehards, but as a service it needs to be available for everybody. A Twitter user recently reached out to Microsoft’s Phil Spencer about the plans for Mixer, noting that he’d heard that there were plans to bring Beam to “other platforms,” including Playstation. Phil Spencer answered the question about as simply as possible, by just saying “Yep.” I’d say that’s as close to confirming Mixer on PS4 as he can get, without saying it in plain English.

Yep.

— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) May 25, 2017

Mixrosoft’s E3 event will be broadcast in 4k – only on Mixer

Microsoft is going to be broadcasting their briefing at E3 on Mixer, giving Xbox fans who have the ability to watch 4K content the broadcast necessary to do so. While it doesn’t really strike most people as a big deal, this means several big things. First of all, you’ll be able to see new trailers released at E3 in their clearest quality (minus any compression.) Second – and possibly the most important – this will be the first real showing of streaming in 4K. This feature is missing from Twitch, and seeing it in action might get some people to consider trying out Microsoft’s service instead.

@Xbox will be broadcasting the #E32017 briefing in 4K Ultra HD, with a special edition #Mixer 4K broadcast pic.twitter.com/5E6W8euoVf

— Yusuf Mehdi (@yusuf_i_mehdi) May 25, 2017

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