TriplePoints of Interest – Week of October 3

Image credit: Oculus VR

In this week’s TriplePoints of Interest Amazon levels up with Twitch Prime, Oculus held its third annual keynote, and Universal Pictures has optioned the movie rights to Gears of War.

“Twitch Prime” Adds Gaming Goodies to Amazon Prime Benefits

Live-streaming site Twitch, which is owned by Amazon, officially announced an exclusive set of perks for Amazon Prime members. Twitch Prime includes discounts on games, free in-game content, one free channel subscription each month, and ad-free viewing. Wired says that the introduction of Twitch Prime is the the largest piece of evidence yet for Amazon’s involvement in the acquisition. Twitch Prime will not be available as a standalone subscription service; instead it’s bundled with Amazon Prime. Amazon Prime, which offers two-day shipping and access to Amazon’s video and music libraries, costs $99 per year.

 

Everything Oculus announced: Touch controller launch date, social VR, the VR web, and more

On Thursday, October 6, Oculus VR had its annual Oculus Connect 3 developer conference, treating the audience to hardware announcements and new social tools. VentureBeat collected a few of the keynote’s highlights. Oculus is rolling out the Touch controller system in December, which will enable Oculus Rift owners to bring their hands into VR. Oculus is also working with several hardware vendors to put its “Oculus-ready” stamp on multiple gaming laptops. Although the Rift already has built in headphones, the company revealed that there will be earbuds to improve audio experience. A new, wireless standalone headset is in the works, and it uses a computer vision to map out the user’s environment so that it can always calculate where the user is in space. Oculus also unveiled Oculus Parties, a digital space where users can meet up to chat, watch movies, and play games.

 

“Gears of War” Movie Adaptation in Works at Microsoft, Universal

Variety reported that Microsoft’s “Gears of War” is on way to the big screen. Scott Stuber, known for “Ted,” and Dylan Clark, known for “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” will produce the adaptation with Universal Pictures. At this stage, it’s unclear whether the film will be a direct adaptation of the games or if it will be a brand new story set in the universe.

 

See you next week on TriplePoints of Interest!