Skip to main content

Twitch adds server-based video call support to Curse

twitch adds video calls curse twitchlogo
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Twitch will soon roll out support for video calls to its Curse application. Starting today, the feature is releasing on Mac, Windows, and Chrome, with mobile support to follow in the future.

Engadget was told by Twitch that the new video call service will support up to five people at once, and users will also be able to screen-share with others.

Recommended Videos

To prevent against DDoS attacks, the calls will not be peer-to-peer, but rather server-based.

Curse has been touting its system as superior against DDoS attacks for quite a while now. Back in 2015, the company — not yet owned by Twitch — emphasized that its “Curse Voice” used cloud-based technology instead of the peer-to-peer systems used by services like Skype.

“We work with a lot of streamers,” Curse CTO Michael Comperda said at the time. “We’re all gamers, so we’ve actually experienced DDoS ourselves, our websites included. People attempt to DDoS our websites pretty much every day.”

In addition to its communication services and YouTube partnership program, Curse also offers a series of World of Warcraft mods that have become nearly essential for dedicated players. Deadly Boss Mods and BigWigs are both extremely useful for large raids, while the Omen threat meter allows players to easily tell when they need to stop attacking and allow their teammates to increase “aggro.”

Twitch acquired Curse back in August, with plans to integrate Curse’s services directly into the Twitch platform. At the time of the acquisition, Curse has 30 million monthly users across its applications, web services, and video channels.

“While it’s still early days for Twitch and Curse, we’re kindred spirits in many ways and are looking forward to working together to enhance our users’ gaming experience,” Twitch CEO Emmett Shear said in August.

Will you plan to use the new video service, or will you stick with other, non-Twitch-integrated options? Let us know in the comments!

Gabe Gurwin
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…
NYT Crossword: answers for Friday, November 8
New York Times Crossword logo.

The New York Times has plenty of word games on its roster today — with Wordle, Connections, Strands, and the Mini Crossword, there's something for everyone — but the newspaper's standard crossword puzzle still reigns supreme. The daily crossword is full of interesting trivia, helps improve mental flexibility and, of course, gives you some bragging rights if you manage to finish it every day.

While the NYT puzzle might feel like an impossible task some days, solving a crossword is a skill and it takes practice — don't get discouraged if you can't get every single word in a puzzle.

Read more
The PS5 Pro holds the key to the PS6’s success
The hero of Shadow of the Colossus stands in a temple.

When the PlayStation 5 Pro was revealed, the big buzzword to come out of the presentation was PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR). This was PlayStation's "secret sauce" intended to sell the $700 upgrade to new customers and existing PS5 owners alike. Similar to AI upscaling seen in technology like DLSS, PSSR allows games rendered at a lower resolution to be upscaled using AI to appear more detailed. For the PS5 Pro, this means removing the need to choose between a performance mode that prioritizes frame rate and a resolution mode that sacrifices frame rate for a clearer picture.

PSSR is the first time any kind of AI upscaling has been used on consoles ... and will be key in PlayStation's success for its true next-generation console.
Sidestepping the graphical arms race
With rare exceptions, new game consoles have mainly sold themselves based on providing a graphical leap above its predecessor. This was clear as day going from 8- to 16-bit systems, and perhaps at its peak going from 16-bit to 3D, but has since hit a level of diminishing returns. PS5 games are undeniably better looking than PS4 games of the same scale, but the differences are in the margins.

Read more
3 new Xbox Game Pass games to play this weekend (November 8-10)
An alien in armor with a light sword standing in front of a space ship window with a planet in the background.

This is a good week for strategy game fans subscribed to Xbox Game Pass because November's first new additions to the service all fall within that genre. Two of them are real-time strategy game classics from Blizzard Entertainment, and the other is a strategic take on an arcade classic. If you're playing on a console, these additions may not mean as much to you, but for Game Pass subscribers with access to a PC, these recently added strategy game games are well worth your time.
StarCraft: Remastered
StarCraft Remastered Announcement

The original StarCraft is a monumental release for Blizzard Entertainment. It gave the studio a third pillar franchise alongside Warcraft and Diablo, was one of the first major esports games, and set a standard that most RTS games after it have tried to follow. In 2017, Blizzard released StarCraft: Remastered, updating the classics' visuals, audio, and online features; that's the version of StarCraft that has come to Xbox Game Pass. While there are more approachable RTS games nowadays, PC gamers should check out the original StarCraft if they've never played it before to better understand the foundational building blocks of the RTS genre.

Read more