TriplePoints of Interest – Week of August 29

Photo courtesy: Google.

This week in TriplePoints of Interest content creators call out YouTube for demonetizing videos, Quake VR works with Valve to make the HTC Vive wireless, and the first Google Play Indie Games Festival comes to San Francisco this September.

YouTube creators oppose ad-friendly policies

On Wednesday, several popular YouTube creators posted videos that voiced concerns over YouTube’s process of demonetizing videos for not being advertiser-friendly. Popular YouTuber Philip DeFranco is one of the leading voices and called the Advertiser-Friendly Content Guidelines a form of censorship, reported Fortune. Non-ad-friendly content includes sexually suggestive or violent videos, inappropriate language, promotion of drugs, and controversial or sensitive subjects and events. According to a YouTube spokesperson the policy isn’t new; instead YouTube made it easier for content creators to see when a video has been demonetized. As for now, all creators who were flagged can appeal their videos while YouTube attempts to “ensure better communication.”

VR tech startup Quark VR is working to make the HTC Vive wireless

Of the major virtual reality headsets that have come to market already, the HTC Vive is seen as the strongest competitor. Ars Technica says the only issue is that wires are holding back the full VR experience as well as physically holding back users. Bulgarian tech company Quark VR announced that it is introducing a small transmitter that will communicate via Wi-Fi between the PC and the Vive. Quark has been working directly with Valve for the last five months to get the prototype ready to show. No official date for an unveiling has been released, but hopefully users will get to truly experience VR freedom soon.

Google’s indie games festival comes this September

Google unveils its first-ever Google Play Indie Games Festival, which takes place on September 24 in San Francisco. The free event will feature 30 new titles, 15 of which attendees can play on the site. The games will be voted on by the public and a panel of judges which includes industry experts like Chief Game Designer at Google Noah Falstein and CEO of Kongregate Emily Greer. The winning developers will receive prizes as recognition for their efforts, such as Google Cloud credits, Nvidia Shield K1 tablets, Razer Forge TV bundles, and more. Google told TechCrunch that it believes a live event helps developers expand their network of fans as well as get real-time feedback.