Streaming your live video game session is all the rage right now. Twitch is by far the most popular destination on the web for gamers to stream their games to followers. The Xbox One has a Twitch app that allows you to view streams and a later update to the Xbox One will allow you to stream directly from your console. On Windows Phone we don’t have an official Twitch app for viewing streams yet, but we’ve got some solid third-party offerings.
LiveGaming is another unofficial app for Twitch on Windows Phone. It’s also really good, so let’s check it out.
Twitch is the largest platform for live video streaming of e-sports and video games. It launched in June 2011 as an offshoot of Justin.tv. The Xbox One will be able to stream live gameplay with an upcoming update. The PlayStation 4 can do it right now. Both are remarkable and will only help Twitch see explosive growth as the barriers of entry to stream are lowered. Before the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, streaming content from your console would require extra hardware like a capture card and generally wasn’t something a casual gamer could do.
LiveGaming for Windows Phone is a relatively new app to the Store. It launched around Thanksgiving and has already seen an update. LiveGaming for Windows Phone does everything you’d want in a Twitch app and has a nice interface to boot. Performance was solid on both cellular and Wi-Fi networks.
You can jump into a stream by checking out accounts you already follow on Twitch. The option to browse for streams by Top Games and Featured Channels is also supported in LiveGaming. Not finding what you want to watch? No worries, just search for a specific stream or game within the app.
Once you find a stream you’re interested in you can just click to start watching. The stream quality is set to medium by default, but you have the option to change the stream on a per-video basis or globally for the whole app. Pick either mobile, low, medium, or high for your stream quality setting. You’ll also want to sign in with your Twitch account to access and participate in the chat. The chat interface is superb, it overlays on top of the streaming content so you can still keep an eye on the action while talking to other viewers.
The app is solid for version 1.0.1.0, but there is always room for improvements. Some small things we’d like to see in future updates might be things like pinning specific channels, games, or other items to your Start screen. It would also be rad to share what you’re watching to your social networks. There’s apparently an update inbound that will add some more features. We can’t wait to check it out.
That said, LiveGaming is an excellent Twitch app for Windows Phone. It’s also free, so you better get to the Windows Phone Store and get it right now. You can also use the QR code below or swipe to the right in our app to get LiveGaming for Windows Phone.
