Yesterday the Microsoft owned streaming platform formerly known as Beam was re-branded as Mixer. I joined Beam quite some time ago but I haven’t actually gotten around to streaming on the platform even though I have spent a number of hours watching others use it to stream. The interface is sleek, there’s almost zero delay between the stream and your chat which makes things incredibly nice when it comes to interaction.
None of that is the main reason I like this particular platform though.
As a gamer, community is key to me. When a platform I use gets shut down, it bothers me. Imzy is one such platform though they were not for streaming (you’ve probably never heard of it and that’s OK). Forge is another streaming platform that I used to use but it has changed and redesigned itself so many times I find it unreliable and I don’t have very much faith in it (plus it no longer does what I wanted it to do). The fact that Microsoft owns Mixer sits very well with me because they’re an established company with money at their disposal. It gives me a little tiny bit of confidence that Mixer (even under a new name) isn’t going anywhere, and that they’re invested in the product.
If you’d like to follow on Mixer you can find me there as Mixer.com/Stargrace – the same handle you can find me as pretty much everywhere. If you’re on Mixer, let me know your user name so I can give you a follow back! I spend a lot of time looking for awesome streamers to watch and I’d love to see more of my friends streaming. You’d be surprised at the things other people find interesting enough to watch (as I say this, I’m watching a stream of a seagul nesting. Yesterday I spent the better part of the day with a stream of puppies playing in the background).
If you’re trying Mixer for the first time let me know what you think of it! They’ve just announced a ton of new features including co-streaming, which is really neat to see in action. You can just invite whomever you wish to co-stream (for a maximum of three invites, four streamers total) and the chat channels will merge while the display shows each streamer. Perfect for matches of Overwatch or Mario Kart.
As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!