Valve to hold 'Steam Next Fest' in June

Valve has just rebranded the Steam Game Festival into the Steam Next Fest. It will take place from June 16 to June 22. You can expect tons of demos, discounts, and game streams from six-day event. The event will happen almost simultaneously as the all-digital E3 2021, which is happening from June 15 to 17.

Why the name change? Valve's announcement reads: "We've renamed the Steam Game Festival to more directly communicate its focus. Explore and play hundreds of game demos, watch developer livestreams, and chat with the teams about their games in progress, coming soon to Steam."

Source: Games Radar

TimePlay launches new interactive at-home gaming platform

Another reason we miss going to the movie theatres (aside from the massive bags of popcorn aka dinner) is the pre-show fun. The teaser trailers, the talking popcorn reminding us to turn off our devices, and the TimePlay interactive games—remember those? Where we had a chance to compete with fellow movie theatre audience members in friendly trivia and skill-testing games?  Hey, I've won a few extra free drinks and extra points pre-lockdown! Now that we've made "movie night" a regular event at home we can now add TimePlay to make it even more like an in-theatre experience!

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Twitter is thinking about adding emoji reactions to tweets

Photo by Daddy Mohlala on Unsplash

Direct messages on Twitter already offer emoji reactions, but it looks like the social network is considering adding this feature to tweets. The company has been sending out surveys to a few users asking them about their opinions on adding a new reaction system to Twitter. The approach is similar to what you can do on Facebook posts.

In the survey, Twitter shows mockups of the system and asks users what they would prefer. The reactions included are Like, Funny, Interesting, Sad, Awesome, Support, and Angry. The Awesome and Support responses have the option of either a surprised face or fire emoji for the former and the hugging emoji or raised hands for the latter.

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Slack revises new DM feature to prevent potential for harassment

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Slack backtracks on a new direct message feature that someone could potentially abuse. The company will no longer let paid users email customized direct messages alongside an invite for someone to chat on the platform. The concern is that someone could use it to send abusive or nasty language to someone else through email notifications.

While you can block abusers' emails on your email client, these invites are forwarded by Slack using the feedback@slack.com address. That means you can't filter out the messages because you might miss important notifications.

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