As useful as the Twitch mobile app can be, it still falls short of what you're used to on the desktop, especially if you're a broadcaster. Would you believe that you have to switch apps just to stream live? Thankfully, it's shrinking that gap today. It's starting to roll out a Twitch app overhaul that adds some of the features you take for granted while refining the interface. For creators, the biggest deal is simply direct mobile streaming -- you can livestream to your channel without any go-between software. While phone-based broadcasting was certainly possible before, this could easily lead to more IRL streams from your favorite streamers.

In the spirit of breaking with convention, we've extended the deadline to apply for Engadget's Alternate Realities grant program an entire week. If you're an artist working with emerging technologies like AR, VR or AI, you have until July 7th to apply for one of five grants of up to $100,000 a piece. If you hadn't heard, we're funding immersive art projects (no, they don't have to be AR or VR specifically) that focus on the theme of Alternate Realities. Those projects will debut at the Engadget Experience, a one-day event exploring the future of creativity at the historic United Artists Theatre in downtown LA on November 16th, 2017.

Microsoft's biggest hurdle with Crackdown 3 isn't its rumored troubled development cycle, it's that Agents of Mayhem exists and is coming out first. Both share a similar premise: You're a super-powered human given free reign over a cartoony open-world. There are plenty of physics-based shenanigans that result from shooting harpoon rifles at snipers and black-hole guns at gang members in both, and each has a familiar structure of taking out a crime syndicate from the bottom up.

New York City is diving into VR in a big way with the launch of a virtual/alternate reality hub at NYU's Tandon School of Engineering. It'll serve to nurture companies and projects relying on the new technologies, with the hopes of cementing NYC as a place where AR/VR can thrive. The hub will be backed by $6 million in funding from the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment, as well as NYC's Economic Development Corporation. The city also claims that the NYU lab will also be the first publicly funded VR/AR hub in the country.

Twitch Partners get a lot of perks, including extra emotes, 60 days of past broadcast storage, financial support and the ability for fans to subscribe to their channels for $5, $10 or $25 per month. Starting this week, Twitch Affiliates -- streamers who make money on the site but aren't yet Partnered -- will also be able to collect monthly dues from their most dedicated viewers. Affiliate streamers will have the option to offer subscriptions at all three tiers, alongside one custom emote per payment level.

Troy Baker has lent his voice and performances to some of the biggest games of the past decade. From six roles across Darksiders 2 to playing Booker DeWitt in BioShock Infinite or stepping into The Joker's shoes in Batman: Arkham Origins, you might not realize it's actually him delivering the lines until you see the credits. That's because he approaches each performance incredibly differently.