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In the wake of this morning's Newsweek article purportedly unmasking mysterious Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto, the man known as Dorian Nakamoto has become the subject not just of more investigative reporting but of a car chase and is apparently denying being the creator of the currency. Los Angeles Times reporter Joe Bel Bruno and others have taken to Twitter as they follow Nakamoto and an AP reporter, who successfully convinced Nakamoto to come with him for lunch.

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OK, apparently #Nakamoto picked one reporter outside his house to take to sushi. Surreal #bitcoin

— Joe Bel Bruno (@JoeBelBruno) March 6, 2014

From there, "a dozen" reporters surrounding his Temple Hill residence followed, pursuing the pair first into a sushi restaurant, then onto the highway.

So #Nakamoto and the @ap reporter flee the sushi restaurant. The rest of the media take chase again. #bitcoin

— Joe Bel Bruno (@JoeBelBruno) March 6, 2014

Eventually, they arrived at the AP bureau, where the chase continued.

The @latimes reporter @byandreachang jumps into the elevator with #Nakamoto in #bitcoinchase

— Joe Bel Bruno (@JoeBelBruno) March 6, 2014

Nakamoto now in DTLA. Told me in elevator that he's not involved with #Bitcoin, engaged in weird car chase "all for a free lunch."

— Andrea Chang (@byandreachang) March 6, 2014

Previous video has shown Nakamoto saying he is "not involved" in Bitcoin, but he's now said to have denied being the creator as well, although the situation is hectic enough that it's hard to pin down anything for sure.

To clarify, #Nakamoto DID DENY being the #bitcoin creator. There is more to this story #bitcoinchase

— Joe Bel Bruno (@JoeBelBruno) March 6, 2014

Nakamoto, when I asked him in elevator why he told Newsweek he used to be involved with #bitcoin: "No no no I was never involved."

— Andrea Chang (@byandreachang) March 6, 2014

Nakamoto's location was revealed by a Newsweek photograph, which showed not only his house but his street and license plate number. So far, there hasn't been any further confirmation or denial of the incident. However, Temple City police confirmed to The Verge that police were called from Nakamoto's house on February 20th, though no arrest was made. They refused to discuss further details, including whether the quotes attributed to the officers were accurate.

The days of waiting around to see your latest Gmail messages on iOS are over. Google has just released an update for Gmail that supports iOS 7's background app refresh. In the company's own words, this means there will be "no more annoying pauses while you wait for your inbox to refresh." Gmail will now retrieve your email even when the app is closed to make sure everything is ready and up to date the next time you open it. To take advantage of the new feature, you'll need to have background refresh turned on in your iOS system settings, and Gmail notifications must also be turned on. But once you've checked off those two steps, you'll never be waiting for your messages to refresh ever again. Gmail for iOS might not be on par with the Android experience just yet, but today's update eliminates a major annoyance. The latest Gmail update for iOS also adds support for single sign-in across Google's various apps. By signing into your Gmail account, you'll be able to quickly log in after downloading Google Maps, Google Drive, YouTube, and Chrome.

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Update: Just to clear up any confusion, manual refresh wasn't necessary in the prior version of Gmail, but there was a delay before new messages would appear. The article has been updated to reflect this.

That hoverboard from yesterday that looked straight out of Back to the Future, and also too good to be true, is not the real deal. Funny or Die, the makers of numerous internet shenanigans, just posted a video with actor Christopher Lloyd apologizing for the HUVr, though Lloyd did not go so far as to explain what the project was really about.

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All for an autographed prop giveaway

Peering into the camera, a despondent Lloyd says he was "blinded by all belief" that the production — which featured professional skater Tony Hawk, musician Moby, and others floating on a hoverboard — was a spoof. The new clip shows behind-the-scenes footage of the production where you can clearly see the wires and rigs used to haul the actors off the ground. As a consolation prize, Funny or Die is giving away a replica of the HUVr board signed by Lloyd and the rest of the crew to one random Facebook commenter.

Signs that the production was faked cropped up almost immediately after the video was released, though it was surrounded by an air of mystery thanks to an excessively cryptic website and a Facebook page that denied claims it was a ruse. Nonetheless, actors in the project mentioned it on their resumes — including the "MIT researcher" who turned out to be actor Nelson Cheng — and special effects errors were spotted in the video almost immediately. Funny or Die remained mum on the production until today, saying only that "sadly, we were lying," adding that "the great promise of Back to the Future II has not been fulfilled ... yet. And for that, we truly are sorry."

Cyanogen's Koushik Dutta has been teasing the prospect of mirroring your Android screen on Chromecast for a few weeks, and today you can finally try the feature -- if you have the right smartphone, that is. An updated version of the Mirror for Android beta includes early support for mirroring to either a Chrome browser or Chromecast, but only if you have a Nexus 5. Google's phone is the sole device with the hardware video decoder needed for this mirroring technique, Dutta says. You also have to get root-level access to the operating system with the current release, although that won't be necessary in the future. Provided you meet the app's exacting requirements, you can give mirroring a spin at the source link.

Filed under: Cellphones, Home Entertainment, HD, Mobile

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Source: Koushik Dutta (Google+)

This is the final update upon the MetroTwit for Desktop end-of-life. For more information, read the announcement on our blog.

Another popular third-party Twitter client is closing its doors today. MetroTwit started off life as a photoshop concept in March 2010, before being released as a Windows desktop client for Twitter. It has grown in popularity over the years with more than 400,000 Twitter users, but a Twitter access token limit on third-party clients means it will soon no longer function for new users. The MetroTwit team is removing the download links for both the desktop and Windows 8 versions, and the existing apps will no longer be supported or updated with features.

"We reached out to Twitter after they made the token limit announcement, but they did not offer to extend our cap," explains MetroTwit developer Long Zheng in an interview with The Verge. Zheng says the team had one simple goal: create a great Twitter experience on the Windows desktop. "We understand the Twitter developer API strategy has evolved with its business over the past few years," says Zheng. "It's unfortunate this affects a small but enthusiastic group of Twitter users who enjoy third party clients."

No official Twitter for Windows desktop alternative

While existing MetroTwit users can continue to use the app, any effects from the removal and lack of support won’t be felt unless Twitter alters its APIs in future in a way that breaks the existing app. It’s an unfortunate, but unavoidable turn of events, and MetroTwit fans are clearly sad to see it go. Twitter has focused on improving and building its own official clients, but the company has not yet released a dedicated Twitter desktop app for Windows. Official alternatives include Twitter for Windows 8 and TweetDeck, and Tweetium, a third-party app for Windows 8, is also rising in popularity. Zheng says the MetroTwit team is proud of its work on the app, and that it's "always exploring new and interesting app opportunities on Windows."

IGN 9/10 - Gamespot 7/10 - Edge 8/10 - Eurogamer 8/10 - Polygon 8.5/10 - Kotaku Not yet

Game Informer 8.5/10 - CVG 9/10 - Destructoid 8/10 - USGamer 5/5 - Rock Paper Shotgun No Score - Joystiq 3.5/5

Videogamer 6/10 - OPM 8/10 - Shacknews 6/10 - GameTrailers 8.3/10 - PC Gamer 90/100 - GamesRadar 4/5

Gasmereactor 8/10 - Giant Bomb 5/5 - GamesBeat 95/100 - The Escapist 4/5 - NowGamer 8/10 - Hardcore Gamer 4/5

Digital Spy 4/5 - EGM 8.5/10 - Strategy Informer 9/10 - PlayStation Universe 8/10 - We Got This Covered 4.5/5

PCGamesN 10/10 - Original Gamer 9/10 - GameZone 8/10 - OnlySP 9/10 - Gaming Trend 95/100 - ZTDG 9/10

OXM 9/10 - Game Revolution 4.5/5 - XONE Magazine 8/10 - Gamesided 8.5/10 - Push Square 8/10 - Rev3Games 3/5

IncGamers 8/10 - God is a Geek 9/10 - Lazygamer 8.5/10 - The Koalition 90/100 - Metro 8/10 - DualShockers 6.5/10

Dealspwn 8/10 - BT Games 5/5 - Start Replay 9/10 - Talkingship 8/10 - Entertainment Buddha 8.5/10 - GameCloud 9/10

Seemingly out of nowhere, a major promotional campaign for a "real" hoverboard known as HUVr has launched online today. It all began with a pair of bizarre video clips featuring testimonials from celebrities including Tony Hawk, Moby, and Back to the Future's own Christopher Lloyd. One clip shows Lloyd delivering the HUVr to Hawk, followed by demonstrations that are "completely real" — at least if you believe whoever is behind the mysterious PR push. They're calling themselves HUVr Corp and claim to have a staff filled with "materials science, electricity & magnetism experts who've solved an important part of one of science's mysteries: the key to antigravity."

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Another video attempts to explain how this miraculous feat of technology actually works. Along with the YouTube videos, HUVr has also popped up across social media with accounts on Facebook and Instagram. Obviously the product we're seeing here is bogus — despite some convincing video trickery. We've thus far been unable to find any record of such a company existing or any trademarks filed for HUVr. But we're still left scratching our heads when it comes to what this viral stunt is actually seeking to promote.

HOVERBOARDS ARE REAL (finally!) thanks to huvrtech http://t.co/wYjPaJGY6z #theyrehere http://t.co/7vmi2zz94P

— Tony Hawk (@tonyhawk) March 4, 2014

The HUVr website shows a "destination time" of December 2014, suggesting we may be in for a bit of a wait before all is revealed. Is it all a carefully crafted teaser for Tony Hawk's upcoming mobile game? This seems like a very elaborate production if the end goal is boosting App Store sales. Perhaps an Oculus Rift-style virtual reality title (HUVr) could be on the way. Or is this viral campaign meant to stir up early anticipation for another Back to the Future film? Maybe those self-lacing Nike shoes? A December unveiling would make sense ahead of wider availability in 2015. There are many questions and few answers at this point. Looking up the website's registration data offers no hints, and an email from the company — sent from a Gmail account — only said HUVr Corp would respond to us with more details in the future.

Valve co-founder and managing director Gabe Newell participated in an Ask-Me-Anything (AMA) thread on Reddit today, after his previous attempt at an AMA was unsuccessful.

We've rounded up some of the most upvoted questions and corresponding answers Gabe Newell posted in the thread.

Gabe Newell reveals his favourite non-Valve game.

His friends think his e-fame is "entertaining"

The cancelled AMA which was supposed to happen on 3/3 was not an intentional troll, he claims.

You could have played Team Fortress 2 with Gabe Newell.

Company name "Valve" was chosen over "Rhino Scar"

Dota 2 is currently Gabe's favourite game.

The Source 2 engine will be focusing on user generated content.

He's donated $1m to The American Civil Liberties Union.

He's never thought about leaving Valve.

Zorine Te is an associate editor at GameSpot, and you can follow her on Twitter @ztharli
Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email news@gamespot.com

Fact: If there were a button I could press to make Sir Patrick Stewart a regular fake news correspondent I would never stop pressing it

Sony has a released a bunch of statistics covering the first four months of life of its new baby. Beyond regular sales figures (six million units so far, and nearly 14 million game sales), some of the more interesting numbers relate to how PlayStation gamers are engaging with the console's online features. We're told that half of all PS4 owners have been persuaded to cough up for a PS Plus subscription, which grants access to online multiplayer gaming as well as a number of discounted and free titles. Meanwhile, the 'Share' button on the DualShock 4 controller has apparently been used 100 million times to share recorded game highlights with the PS4 community, and 3.6 million gameplay broadcasts have been streamed over Twitch and Ustream -- a feature that still hasn't been enabled on the Xbox One. And who knows? The PS4's Twitch numbers might have been even higher if people hadn't gotten themselves banned for playing real-live strip poker.

Filed under: Gaming, Sony

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Source: PR Newswire, PlayStation.Blog

Hey, what’s that image over to your right? Oh that’s just an HTC HD2 running a port of the Nokia X ROM… Wait, what?

OK. Part of why you undoubtedly had to do a double take when reading that last statement is that most of the development efforts on the Nokia X thus far have involved removing Nokia’s strange UI from the device and turning the Nokia X into a more traditional Android smartphone. But just like what they say about questionable content on the Internet, if you can imagine any kind of strange hybrid ROM, chances are that someone’s already created it.

This strange amalgamation comes courtesy of XDA Senior Member aazzam16661 with help from Senior Member gilbert32. Now before you start getting too excited (or traumatized), this port can’t do much more than boot at this point. Essentially nothing works other than graphics and sound—but perhaps that’s a good thing for HD2 owners everywhere. That said, it’s still interesting to say the least to see such a port on the HD2, essentially proving that the HD2 will live on for forever—at least in comparison to other mobile devices.

You can check out more screenshots by visiting gilbert32′s post. Just don’t ask the dev for a flashable ZIP because it won’t come anytime soon. And be careful what you wish for, as you may find yourself with a Nokia-laden HD2 at some point.

Apple is said to be scooping up hundreds of engineers and supply-chain managers as it prepares to create and release products more quickly and more frequently. The Wall Street Journal reported the hiring, which it says is focused in China and Taiwan and has drawn engineers away from various tech firms including rival HTC — an obvious target for talent, as it's located in one of Taiwan's largest cities. Apple reportedly reached out to individual engineers at these other companies specifically. While it's not clear how many Apple has hired, it could create yet another hurdle for HTC in particular, as the company has seen a financial downturn while struggling against larger smartphone makers.

Hiring may also focus on monitoring factory conditions

The Journal reports that Apple needs the additional engineers to facilitate work on iPhone and iPad parts with its suppliers in the region; the supply-chain managers may be part of an effort to better monitor factory conditions following loud concerns and criticism last year.

Quicker product launches would be a stark change for Apple, which has for years kept the majority of its products on a yearlong refresh cycle. Apple has strayed from that on occasion lately, releasing two new iPhones last year and releasing two iPads the year prior. While the Journal says that Apple is hoping to release products more often, it doesn't say whether the focus will be on shortening the time between product update, releasing more new products, or both. For now, it may be a matter of expediting updates and expansions for existing product lines: previous reports have suggested that Apple is planning two iPhones with larger displays for this year, and Apple may simply need more talent if it wants to have both of those ready for the fall.

Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates has reclaimed the title of world's richest person in Forbes' latest ranking of billionaires. The finance publication puts Gates' net worth at $76 billion and says Microsoft stock has helped him unseat Mexico's Carlos Slim, who held the top slot for four consecutive years. But Slim's reign was the exception, not the rule: Forbes has listed Bill Gates as the world's richest man for 15 of the past 20 years. And while his stake in Microsoft makes up less than a third of his total fortune (Forbes says Steve Ballmer may soon pass Gates as the company's largest individual shareholder), the stock has shot upward on Wall Street over the past year and tacked several billion onto Gates' net worth.

Despite stepping down from his role as chairman last month, the Microsoft founder plans to spend more time at the company serving as technology advisor to new CEO Satya Nadella. "I'll have over a third of my time available to meet with product groups, and it'll be fun to define this next round of products working together," Gates said last month. When away from Microsoft's headquarters, Gates will continue to focus his attention on various philanthropic projects including The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Gates has already given away more than $28 billion over the years. Among tech executives, Mark Zuckerberg has gained the most momentum this year. Facebook's strong stock performance has doubled Zuckerberg's net worth and at $28.5 billion, he's now within spitting distance of Forbes list mainstays like Sergey Brin, Larry Page, and Amazon's Jeff Bezos. And thanks to Facebook's massive acquisition offer, WhatsApp founders Jan Koum and Brian Acton have joined the billionaires list.

Several years ago, technology research firm Gartner predicted Apple would maintain its hold on the tablet market until 2015. A new study from the company, however, shows Android taking a decisive lead: in 2013, it boasted 62-percent market share, compared to 36 percent for iOS. Google's mobile operating system climbed to the number one position thanks to more tablet sales overall, though Gartner also credits the proliferation of cheaper, smaller-screen slates (the Nexus 7 no doubt included) with establishing Android's newfound dominance.

The other winner, according to this study: Samsung, which grew by 336 percent in 2013 to a 19.1-percent share of the tablet market. That's still a much smaller piece of the pie than Apple's 36 percent, but among Android device makers the Korean company is still very much the king. Conversely, Microsoft has seen very modest growth; Windows 8 tablets accounted for just 2.1 percent of the market in 2013. Click through the source link for more stats.

Filed under: Tablets, Mobile, Samsung, Google

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Source: Gartner

Late night host Jimmy Kimmel celebrated the Academy Awards in the only way he's become accustomed to: poking fun at the entertainment industry using its own stars. Riffing off the fact that many of the Oscar-nominated films were adapted from books, Kimmel turned to internet memes as a source for future films, resulting in a four clips that star A-list actors doing things you would never expect.

Key among them is a version of Amadeus — somewhat unfortunately — "Ameowdeus," that stars Kevin Spacey as Keyboard Cat. Spacey is joined by a slew of other famous actors, including Gary Oldman, Ben Kingsley, Mandy Patinkin, Christoph Waltz, and Abbie Cornish. Kimmel throws in references to "Hamster on a Piano" and "Dramatic Chipmunk," in a clip that gets real dark, real fast.

Kimmel, who's hosted Jimmy Kimmel Live! since 2003, has a history of producing post-Oscar Hollywood spoofs. Following the past two award shows, he put out "Movie: The Movie," and "Movie: The Movie: 2V," both highlighting frequent movie cliches. This latest volley of shorts ventures into the equally absurd, though splits it up into smaller chunks.

If you're holding out for a Super Smash Bros.-style fighting game for the Xbox One featuring mascots like Master Chief or Marcus Phoenix, here's some bad news. It sounds like that's not going to happen, at least not anytime soon, according to Microsoft Studios executive Phil Spencer.

"I love [Super Smash Bros.] but for me it works cause it's Nintendo and their incredible IP lineup," Spencer told a fan on Twitter. "I find others less interesting; just me." Nintendo's fighting game series pulls characters from its long list of industry-topping games, including Mario, Zelda, Donkey Kong, and Pokemon, among others.

Microsoft has a large library of wholly owned IP to draw characters from for such a game, but it doesn't sound like Spencer--who is part of the team at Xbox responsible for greenlighting games--is interested in the idea. Spencer also said recently that Microsoft doesn't plan to launch a Mario Kart-style game anytime soon for Xbox One because Nintendo already owns that market.

Sony, on the other hand, released the Super Smash Bros.-style fighting game PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale in 2012 featuring first-party characters like Kratos (God of War), Sweet Tooth (Twisted Metal), and Sackboy (LittleBigPlanet), among others.

Eddie Makuch is a news editor at GameSpot, and you can follow him on Twitter @EddieMakuch
Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email news@gamespot.com

Valve recently enabled Steam Family Sharing functionality for all Steam users. Sharing your game library with another user (or vice versa) is rather complicated but Neowin is here to help. Read more...

After 16 days, the hive consciousness of Twitch Plays Pokemon has successfully beaten Pokemon Red. Early this morning, thousands of chat participants navigated through the final fight with Blue, a major milestone in a "social experiment" that has effectively turned Twitch.tv into a huge crowdsourced gaming platform. Twitch Plays Pokemon, which launched on February 12th, translates chat text into button presses on a Game Boy emulator. The result was chaotic but surprisingly effective, and the number of players had risen to 35,000 within four days. Yesterday, players reached the endgame against the Elite Four— something the creator was initially dubious would happen. During the battle with Blue, viewership topped 100,000, though it didn't reach the overall peak of 120,000 from February 18th.

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Watch live video from TwitchPlaysPokemon on TwitchTV

Without some changes, the game may never have been won. In mid-February, the creator modified its controls to make it more "beatable," preventing trolls from spamming the start button and creating a "democracy" mode, which accepted only the most popular button presses rather than all of them. Twitch itself had to fix its chat system after it buckled under the strain of heavy Twitch Plays Pokemon usage. Company executives, however, have been more than happy with the success of the project, calling it "one of the most interesting things we've seen on Twitch since we launched."

Players, meanwhile, have evolved an arcane series of memes and religious factions. A central element is the Helix Fossil, which players went to great lengths to revive over the course of the game. Others have copied the massively multiplayer model with other games like The Legend of Zelda, and it's unlikely that members of the Twitch Plays Pokemon community will be content to stop with beating Pokemon Red. For now, a comprehensive timeline of the experiment is being updated here.

Google Hangouts just jumped a full version number on Apple hardware -- the first major update since it added voice calls late last year -- and 2.0 has more than just a new iOS 7-ready look. The new app is "fully optimized" for iPads, with a "two-pane" conversation view. On all devices, it's ready for animated stickers -- look out Whatsapp and Facebook Messenger -- 10-second video messages for when your friends are offline, and can send a map of your current location with a few button presses. It's rolling out on the App Store now, assuming you prefer the matchup of Google services and Apple devices.

Filed under: Internet, Software, Mobile, Apple, Google

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Source: iTunes, Frank Petterson (Google+)

Sure, Sharknado and Sharktopus are fun to watch with friends on a weekend, but they also prove that sharks still get a bad rap. Clearly, what we've learned about the animal's behavior since Jaws came out isn't nearly enough, so a group of researchers are attempting to find out more... by strapping a bunch of gadgets to a bunch of sharks. Think of these things as a combination of a GoPro and a sportsband -- they're equipped with sensors and cameras that monitor and video a shark's adventures.

Thanks to the researchers' efforts, they were able to disprove a couple of misconceptions about how the animals move. Unlike what scientists previously thought, sharks power swim (rather than glide effortlessly) to traverse vast expanses of water, and deep sea species aren't lazy slowpokes compared to their shallow water brethren. The researchers (who hail from University of Hawaii and University of Tokyo) even got some sweet underwater footage that the subjects (unknowingly) took themselves embedded after the jump.

So, what's next for these shark-loving scientists, you ask? Well, now that they know what's going on around the sharks outside, the next step is inward -- they're planning an ingestible device. Hopefully, that can give us a better understanding of the predators' diet, so people will stop assuming that human limbs are a shark's favorite snack.

Filed under: Misc, Alt

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Via: SlashGear

Source: University of Hawaii

Stephen Colbert delivered his somewhat controversial keynote speech at the annual RSA security conference Friday, and took the opportunity to lambast the NSA, Edward Snowden, and Mt. Gox, and launch his own "Cloud Fog" security service. "We can trust the NSA," explains Colbert, "because without a doubt it is history's most powerful, pervasive, sophisticated surveillance agency ever to be totally pwned by a 29-year-old with a thumb drive." The full keynote isn't yet available at RSA's website, but YouTube is full of excerpts uploaded by attendees.

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Playing his typical faux-right character, Colbert moves his attentions to Edward Snowden, saying the whistleblower should face espionage charges for taking security secrets to Russia; "Was Mordor not accepting asylum requests?" He then pokes fun at Snowden's Nobel Peace Prize nomination. "The guy's practically a war criminal," he jokes, "I don't understand how they could put him up for the same prize they once gave to Henry Kissinger."

The comedian's appearance was criticized by some who attempted to boycott the conference following Reuters' allegations that RSA was paid $10 million to intentionally add a backdoor to its encryption. CNN and CNET report Colbert defended his decision to appear at the conference, noting that there was "no evidence" in Reuters' article. "I looked at the signatures on the online petition, then I looked at the signature — my signature — on the bottom of the contract saying I’d be here today, and my conscience was clear, as long as the check clears," Colbert said. "Well, it’s not actually a check. They gave me a Bitcoin voucher from Mt. Gox, and I’m sure it’s going to be fine."

Well, that took awhile. Remember Instacube, the purpose-built digital photo frame designed to pull images directly from your Instagram feed? The Android-powered photo screen found itself short on both funding and manufacturing options last summer. These issues set production back almost a year, but come April 5th, it'll all pay off -- the first units are finally shipping out. Instacube's creators used the extra time productively, at least: the final hardware was redesigned to include speakers (to support Instagram video). Future updates will imbue it with the ability to stream content from Facebook, Vine, Flickr and other services, too. Kickstarter backers who opted for the white or classic models should get their units in the next few months, but the team says additional styles won't be available until production hits full steam. A bummer for sure, but hey, folks have waited longer to get Instagram.

Filed under: Internet

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Source: Kickstarter

Early in the morning yesterday, Twitch Plays Pokemon finally beat Pokemon Red. Once the game was over, the stream let viewers play a variety of Gameboy games while a clock counted down to “a new adventure.”

The anonymous Australian programmer who set up the stream said that he’ll transition it to a second generation Pokemon game, but didn’t say which one.

Now, the wait is over, and the new game is Pokemon Crystal.

More than 70,000 viewers tuned into the start of the new game. It’s set for Anarchy mode for the first hour, but the player character, AJDNNW, has already picked Totodile as its first Pokemon.

The premise is the same: Twitch viewers can use the chat window to input commands. They’re also able to balance the game by shifting control between an Anarchy mode (where every command from the chat is input into the game) and Democracy (where the most popular commands go through).

“It’s safe to say that Twitch Plays Pokémon has been the biggest cultural phenomenon to strike Twitch all thanks to The Creator and You, our passionate and absolutely preposterous community,” Twitch said on its official blog, where it also shared some impressive numbers.

In total, it took 1,165,140 people entering chat commands to beat the game in 16 days, 7 hours, 45 minutes, and 30 seconds. More than 122 million commands were issued. More than 36 million people watch the stream overall, hitting a peak of 121,000 simultaneous viewers.

Emanuel Maiberg is a freelance writer, and you can follow him on Twitter @emanuelmaiberg
Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email news@gamespot.com

Last September Valve launched a small beta for Steam's new family sharing feature, and today it's finally available for everyone. The service lets Steam users share their entire game library with friends and family on up to 10 authorized devices. If you see a friend or family member playing a game you want to check out, you can send them a message requesting authorization. Game saves and achievements will remain separate, however, and the service doesn't work for every one of Steam's games — titles that require a subscription fee or third-party key, for instance, aren't accessible through family sharing. Your account can also only be accessed by one user at a time, so any time you're sharing a game, you won't be able to access it yourself. The feature is available now.

The livestreamed crowd-play event Twitch Plays Pokemon has ended, as thousands of players pooled their efforts to defeat the Elite Four in Pokemon Red. The game was completed after 16 days of consecutive play and saw over 35 million viewers during that time.

Twitch Plays Pokemon is a Pokemon Red mod that allowed Twitch viewers to control the game's main character Red by entering commands in the streaming platform's chat window. The event began on February 12 and reached 75,000 concurrent viewers after five days of play. There were plenty of doubts that players would even be able to cross the Safari Zone in the game, let alone view its ending credits, though the game's creator told Joystiq that "even when played very poorly it is difficult to not make some progress in Pokemon."

The community that gathered around Twitch Plays Pokemon upheld a narrative that extended beyond Pokemon Red's initial scope and included the Twitter-trending Bird Jesus (Pidgeot) and the spiritual consultant and deity Lord Helix (Omanyte). Joystiq also talked with MIT associate professor T.L. Taylor about the event's place in network and game culture, who said it tapped into "something I think is very compelling. So I don't think we're going to see [crowd-play] go away as a genre."

Considering how entertaining this has been, we certainly hope not.

Update: As it turns out, the Twitch Plays Pokemon stream now features a countdown timer ticking away roughly 26 hours and 25 minutes as of this writing that notes, "A new adventure will begin." That pegs the start of what seems to be the next version of Twitch Plays Pokemon at 8:00 a.m. EST Sunday morning.

Twitch slays Pokemon after two weeks of non-stop action [Update: New game on Sunday] originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 01 Mar 2014 04:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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