Bots Bought 30,000 Hamilton Tickets, Alleges Ticketmaster
Ticketmaster is alleging that bots were used to snap up over 30,000 tickets for the popular Broadway musical, Hamilton.
The company filed a federal lawsuit against Prestige Entertainment, who is alleged to have acquired up to 30-40% of all the available Hamilton tickets through illicit means, with a view to re-selling them at a higher price.
The lawsuit, which you can read here, alleges that Prestige used bot technology to make 313,528 orders from January 2015 to September 2016.
An excerpt from the suit reads: "(Prestige Entertainment) have been using bots to access and navigate through Ticketmaster's website and mobile app, and through such unlawful use, improperly procure tickets for the purpose of reselling them at a substantial profit"
Unity Working on Improving Switch Development
Unity says it's working with Nintendo to improve its engine for Switch development.
Some developers have reported issues with the much-used engine when working on Switch - most notably, the release of Yooka-Laylee on the platform has been held up due to technical issues.
Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Unity Japan regional director, Hiroki Omae said, "we continue to partner closely with Nintendo to optimize Unity on Switch".
Omae also points out the relative popularity of Unity for Switch development:
Spotify On Xbox One Means The Death Of Groove Music
Microsoft is migrating all Groove Music Pass subscribers to Spotify before killing off the streaming service on December 31.
In a post to its support page, Microsoft revealed it would be following suit with Sony and getting out of the music streaming game in favour of partnering with industry monolith, Spotify.
The Groove Music Pass service will be ending on December 31st and all streaming, explore playlists and anything that a user owns and hasn’t downloaded, will not be available from that date onward. The app will however continue to function as a music player, so any (owned) music that is downloaded to a device or uploaded to OneDrive will work as normal. If you’ve got music that you actually purchased on the service, now is the time to download it.
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Xbox One Game Gifting Now Possible For Some
Microsoft has begun rolling out a digital gifting service to Xbox One Insider members.
WindowsCentral reports that select players who are part of the Xbox Insider Program are now able to purchase games as gifts for their friends.
The feature is available through the Xbox One online store and appears as an alternate option when buying a game, and you can send gifts directly to a friend through their Xbox Live Gamertag or via email address.
The lucky recipient just has to redeem a pre-paid game code and they can begin downloading.
The feature is still being tested as part of the 1710 preview build, but seems fully functional and could be an aspect of the fall OS update.
New Layton Game Coming Next Year
It looks like there are still plenty of mysteries left to solve for the Layton family, with Level-5 confirming that the well-dressed detectives have another game in the works, aiming to release "summer 2018".
As reported by License! Global magazine (via ToonBarn), in addition to the new game release, the developer is also exploring new ways to experience the world of Layton, with animated projects currently in development as well as "experimental live events".
Netflix Makes Deal for New Shaft Film With Samuel L. Jackson
Netflix has reportedly cut a deal for the rights to the Shaft reboot featuring Samuel L. Jackson.
Deadline reports that in order to secure the international rights and allow it to stream the new film outside of the US just two weeks after it hits cinemas, Netflix may be fronting up over half of the film's $30 million budget.
While neither New Line or Netflix have commented on this alleged deal, sources claim that it has been in the works for several weeks and will not affect the American market. Instead, in the US the film will maintain a more traditional release trajectory from cinema to streaming services and physical media to avoid harming theatre chains.
PlayStation Gets New CEO as Andrew House Steps Down
PlayStation President and Global CEO Andrew House is stepping down from his role, with current Deputy President of Sony Interactive Entertainment John (Tsuyoshi) Kodera taking his place effective immediately.
Per the official announcement on Sony's website, House will remain with SIE as Chairman for the year for transitional purposes, and stick with Sony as Director and Chairman of SIE.
"I'm tremendously proud of what we've built with PlayStation and Sony Interactive Entertainment: entertaining millions globally with the best in games and creating a fully fledged digital entertainment company," said House in in a statement. "PlayStation has been a huge part of my life for more than 20 years but with the business having achieved record-breaking success, now seemed to be the right time for me to pursue new challenges. I shall always treasure the friendships and people that have made SIE such a wonderful place to work. I'm also grateful to PlayStation fans and gamers around the world for their loyalty and support. John and the team at SIE are world-class and I know the future of PlayStation is very bright."
Unsung Story Coming to Switch, PS4, Xbox One
The tactical RPG Unsung Story: Tale of the Guardians will be released on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Switch.
In a recent update to its Kickstarter campaign, publisher Little Orbit has announced the expansion into the home console market despite not making the stretch goals put in place in 2014.
"For me, I remember playing Final Fantasy Tactics from the couch on my PS1, and that format was quintessential to my experience enjoying that game," CEO of Little Orbit Matthew Scott wrote. "Hopefully this balances some of the cancellations and changes we are making."
The Gifted Actress on Portraying Blink’s Powers
Fox's The Gifted sees the second live-action portrayal of Blink, with the character having previously appeared in X-Men: Days of Future Past. And for Jamie Chung, who portrays the character in Fox's mutant drama, giving life to the character's struggles as a mutant was key in this iteration.
"In terms of her powers, it's trigged when she's scared," Chung explained in an interview to IGN ahead of the show's debut. "For her, it's really straining. So what you'll see in the series is, if you were to do something so physically straining, what would you do in the aftermath?"
Some spoilers for The Gifted's premiere episode follow. Check out our spoiler free review if you have yet to watch.