Fortnite 巨星(Fortnite superstar)Tyler “Ninja” Blevins 宣布他将不再在Twitch上直播并转而在微软平台Mixer上独家直播时震惊了全球游戏玩家。
尽管被如此庞大的公司所拥有，但在此之前，许多人甚至从未听说过Mixer。Xbox 用户可能对它很熟悉，因为它是本地流媒体平台(streaming platform)，但
Twitch一直在流媒体上就像亚马逊(Amazon)在网上购物一样——没有竞争对手能接近它。
然而，随着Brevins最近的举动，更多的目光开始转向Mixer，并认为它是一个可行的选择。值得注意的是，这也发生在Twitch受到社区抨击的时候，因为他们对平台上的某些流媒体进行了一系列关于禁令（或缺乏禁令）的可疑决定。
现在，人们比以往任何时候都更想知道，“ Mixer 能否(Could Mixer)成为比Twitch更好的流媒体平台？“嗯(” Well)，在某些方面，它可能已经是了。
炒作区(HypeZone)
Mixer的HypeZone从(HypeZone)Twitch从未有过的最酷的功能之一开始，是一系列官方Mixer
频道，当他们处于游戏的关键时刻时，它们会自动突出和突袭选定数量的游戏中的流媒体。
HypeZone目前支持 PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds、Fortnite Battle Royale、Rainbow 6 Siege、Call of Duty: Black Ops 4和Apex Legends -所有射击游戏。要获得
HypeZone的资格，您所要做的就是在Mixer上进行流式传输，并清楚地看到您的游戏内HUD。
当Mixer从玩这些游戏的流媒体中检测到紧张时刻时，他们就有机会被托管在游戏的官方HypeZone 频道上(HypeZone channel)。发生这种情况时，现场观众会被发送到该频道，从而创造出令人振奋的体验。在 HypeZone 的聚光灯下，我个人的观看人数从不到 10 人增加到 200 多人，这太棒了。
以下是 Mixer 的五个
HypeZone频道的官方链接：
如果您一直在寻找不间断的行动，请务必查看它们！
火花和 XP(Sparks & XP)
虽然Twitch有追随者年龄和长期订阅者奖励，但Mixer将类似 RPG 的系统融入其流媒体、观看和聊天体验。
Sparks 是一种货币形式，XP 是一种升级您的帐户以解锁新功能并展示您作为Mixer 查看器(Mixer viewer)体验的方式。两者都是由流媒体和观众赚取的。
您每分钟获得 50 Sparks 用于广播和观看流媒体。但是，使用Mixer Pro、频道订阅和Channel One，您每分钟可以获得高达 325 个火花。
您可以使用 Sparks 来创建团队、启用交互式游戏增强功能、在频道中启动技能(Skills)（动画视觉效果）等等。总的来说，Sparks 和 XP(Sparks and XP)只是激励在Mixer上进行更多(Mixer)广播和观看(broadcasting and viewing)的方式。
互动游戏(Interactive Games)
2014 年，Twitch开始了一项大规模的社会实验：Twitch Plays Pokémon ( TPP )。TPP允许Twitch 聊天者通过在(Twitch chat)Twitch 聊天(Twitch chat)中发送垃圾输入键来交互影响Pokémon游戏，
然后将这些输入键发送到游戏。该频道的最高收视人数超过 121,000 人，并以 1,165,140 人的单人在线游戏参与者创下吉尼斯世界纪录。(Guinness World Record)
Mixer似乎已经认识到像TPP这样的事件的天才，并且他们已经在MixPlay中建立了交互性。这允许游戏开发商和第三方通过
Mixer使他们的游戏完全互动。此功能使流媒体能够将操纵杆和按钮添加到
混音器叠加层(Mixer overlay)，以控制游戏的播放方式，允许观众帮助影响游戏中的决策等等。
(Interactivity)目前在
Minecraft、SMITE、Paladins、No Man 's Sky、Killing Floor 2、Hello Neighbor、City
of Brass、Phantom Trigger和许多其他游戏中支持交互。(Paladins)此外，Mixer为开发人员提供了他们需要的所有文档(documentation)，以帮助在更多游戏中构建交互性。
MixPlay 的互动游戏功能是我们从未见过的Twitch(Twitch)原生支持的最酷的 Mixer 功能之一
。
合流(Co-Streaming)
Twitch实际上支持 co-streaming，但它的实现远不如 Mixer 的干净。它涉及手动配置您的流媒体软件(streaming software)，并且并非每个频道都支持它。
然而， Mixer(Mixer)的协同流式传输允许多达四个流媒体在分屏视图中协作流式传输到单个聊天。要在Mixer上执行此操作，您只需转到您的频道，单击(Mixer)关注者数量(follower count)旁边的三点选项图标，然后单击Start a Co-Stream。在这里，您最多可以邀请另外三个人。一旦他们接受，你就可以上线了。真的就是这么简单。
观众甚至可以选择四种布局之一：网格、实时侧边栏、相机选择器(camera chooser)和移动。
虽然共同流媒体是一项可能会被极少数流媒体使用的功能，但Mixer投入
时间和精力(time and effort)来执行它比 Twitch 做得更好，这表明他们关心支持各种类型的流媒体。
正如你所看到的，Mixer为观众和流媒体提供了很多很棒的东西。它严重缺乏的一件事是数字——Mixer流(Mixer)的收视率远不及Twitch上的收视率。然而，改变这一切始于你给Mixer一个机会。
4 Ways That Mixer Is a Better Streaming Platform Than Twitch
Fortnite superstar Tyler “Ninja” Blevins
shocked gamers worldwide when he announced that he would no longer be streaming
on Twitch and іs moving to stream exclusively on Microsoft’s platform, Mixer.
Despite being owned by such a massive
corporation, many people had never even heard of Mixer until then. Xbox owners
may have been familiar with it, since it’s the native streaming platform, but
Twitch has been to streaming what Amazon is to online shopping – no competitor
has come close to knocking it off.
However, with Brevins recent move, more eyes
have started to turn to Mixer and consider it as a viable option. It’s worth
noting that this also comes at a time when Twitch has been under fire by the
community for a series of questionable decisions regarding bans (or the lack
thereof) against certain streamers on their platform.
Now more than ever, people are wondering,
“Could Mixer become a better streaming platform than Twitch?” Well, in some
ways, it may already be.
HypeZone
Starting off with one of the coolest features
that Twitch has never had, Mixer’s HypeZone is a series of official Mixer
channels that automatically highlight and raid streamers from a select number
of games while they’re in crunch-time moments of gameplay.
HypeZone is currently supported for
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, Fortnite Battle Royale, Rainbow 6 Siege, Call of
Duty: Black Ops 4, and Apex Legends – all shooters. To be eligible for
HypeZone, all you have to do is stream on Mixer with a clear view of your
in-game HUD.
When Mixer detects tense moments from
streamers playing these games, they have a chance of being hosted on the game’s
official HypeZone channel. When this happens, live viewers are sent to the
channel and it creates an exhilarating experience. I’ve personally been in a
stream that has gone up from less than 10 viewers to over 200 during a HypeZone
spotlight, and it was awesome.
Here are the official links to Mixer’s five
HypeZone channels:
Be sure to give check them out if you’re ever
looking for non-stop action!
Sparks & XP
While Twitch has follower ages and long-term
subscriber rewards, Mixer incorporates an RPG-like system into its streaming,
viewing, and chatting experience.
Sparks are a form of currency, and XP is a way
to level up your account to unlock new features and show off your experience as
a Mixer viewer. Both are earned by streamers and viewers.
You earn 50 Sparks per minute for broadcasting
and viewing streams. However, with Mixer Pro, channel subscriptions, and Channel One,
you can earn as high as 325 Sparks per minute.
You can spend your Sparks to create a team,
enable interactive game enhancements, launch Skills (animated visual effects)
in a channel, and more. Overall, Sparks and XP are just ways to incentivize
more broadcasting and viewing on Mixer.
Interactive Games
In 2014, a massive social experiment started
on Twitch: Twitch Plays Pokémon (TPP). TPP allowed Twitch chatters to
interactively influence Pokémon games by spamming input keys in Twitch chat
which would then be sent to the game. The channel peaked at over 121,000
viewers and holds the Guinness World Record for participants of a single-player
online game at 1,165,140.
Mixer seems to have recognized the genius of
events like TPP, and they’ve built interactivity into MixPlay. This allows game
developers and third parties to make their games fully interactive through
Mixer. This features enables streamers to add joysticks and buttons to the
Mixer overlay that will control how a game is played, allows viewers to help
influence in-game decisions, and more.
Interactivity is currently supported in
Minecraft, SMITE, Paladins, No Man’s Sky, Killing Floor 2, Hello Neighbor, City
of Brass, Phantom Trigger, and many other games. Furthermore, Mixer provides
developers with all the documentation they need to help build
interactivity in even more games.
MixPlay’s interactive games functionality is
one of the coolest Mixer features that we’ve never seen supported natively by
Twitch.
Co-Streaming
Twitch actually supports co-streaming, but its
implementation is nowhere near as clean as Mixer’s. It involves manually
configuring your streaming software, and it isn’t supported in every channel.
Mixer’s co-streaming, however, allows up to
four streamers to collaboratively stream in a split-screen view to a single
chat. To do it on Mixer, you simply go to your channel, click on the
three-dotted options icon beside your follower count, and click on Start a Co-Stream. Here, you can invite
up to three others. Once they accept, you just go live. It’s really that
simple.
Viewers can even choose between one of four
layouts: grid, live sidebar, camera chooser, and mobile.
While co-streaming is a feature that will
likely be utilized by a very small percentage of streamers, Mixer putting the
time and effort into executing it so much better than Twitch shows that they
care about supporting streamers of all kinds.
As you can see, Mixer has a lot of great things
going for it for both viewers and streamers. The one thing it lacks in,
severely, is numbers – viewership on Mixer streams come nowhere close to those
on Twitch. However, changing that starts with you giving Mixer a chance.
