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Microsoft's Renamed Game Streaming Service, Mixer, Adds New Tricks

Along with a new name -- Mixer -- Microsoft is adding some new features to its game streaming service, Beam.

Users of the service should soon be able to live-stream games on their mobile gadgets.

To better compete against Amazon’s Twitch.tv and Google’s YouTube Gaming app, Mixer will also now let up to four streamers combine their streams into a single viewer experience. As such, multiple channel streams can be displayed on a single page.

“Co-streaming doesn’t require streamers to play the same game or even do the same activity, and you can join a co-stream with friends who are streaming from different types of devices,” Matt Salsamendi, co-founder and a head engineer at Mixer, notes in a new blog post.

The Microsoft unit is also rolling out Mixer Create -- a new mobile app that makes it possible for users to self-broadcast.

“Soon thereafter, we’ll add the ability to stream live gameplay from your mobile device as well,” Salsamendi said.

“In the future, you could imagine streaming ‘Pokémon Go’ on your mobile device, through Mixer, and hunting with viewers!” an enthused Salsamendi added.

Once mobile gameplay streaming launches, users should be able to join a co-stream with friends who are broadcasting on PC, console or another mobile device.

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