Virtual reality won't become "mainstream" for another five years or more, according to what Oculus VR founder and Oculus Rift VR headset creator Palmer Luckey tells GamesIndustry International. Luckey says that that rather large window of time is fine with him because the Facebook acquisition gives him the space he and his company need to do what is best for VR technology in the long term.

Kill Screen has a fascinating interview with indie developer Nicky Case, who is working on a video game about media bias. His inspiration? The network coverage of the Michael Brown shooting in Ferguson, Missouri.

On August 9, African American teen Michael Brown was shot multiple times by Ferguson, Missouri police officer Darren Wilson. The death of the teen, who was unarmed at the time he was shot at least five times, sparked riots and protests in Ferguson, and tons of national attention from media outlets.

GX3: Everyone Games has raised over $42,000 of its $80,000 goal on Kickstarter in its first three days, with 22 more days to go. GX3 is the new name for the GaymerX convention - tentatively set for sometime in November or December of 2015 in the Bay Area. The event is an all-inclusive two-day fan gathering offering a safe space for gamers of all creeds and sexual orientations and generally celebrates the culture of gaming.

While it is the typical line for a company to use when buying out something so beloved by the community as Twitch is, Amazon said last night that it has no plans to make any changes to the popular community-driven video game streaming service. Amazon announced yesterday that it had acquired Twitch for an estimated $970 million. Michael Frazzini, vice of president of Amazon Games, and Twitch CEO Emmett Shear said during a "town hall meeting" last night that the deal shouldn't worry Twitch users.

Nintendo has responded to a petition calling on the company to add Robin Williams as a character in the next Legend of Zelda game. Williams and his daughter Zelda were big fans of the game series and have in the past appeared in Nintendo commercials supporting the franchise and other Nintendo games. Williams was an avid gamer and a big fan of Nintendo's series. His daughter is named after the world famous princess from the game as well.

What are the most pirated games state-by-state? According to data collected by Movoto (as detailed by GamesBeat), the most popular game to download illegally from filesharing sites in the United States is Ubisoft's Watch Dogs. By state, Watch Dogs was downloaded the most in Washington, California, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and a host of other states. It is by far the most pirated game in many regions in the country.

With only 38 hours to go, the developers of Ninja Pizza Girl managed to raise the cash it was seeking from its Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign. Australia-based Disparity Games managed to raise $35,816 AUD - a little over the $35,000 AUD it was initially seeking.

Game streaming service Hitbox took a few hard shots at competitor Twitch this week after the service implemented new copyright rules and changed the way streamers can archive content.

In a blog post deriding Twitch and promoting its own service (of course), Hitbox said that forcing a 30 second or more delay on streams and applying its new automated copyright enforcement system on VODs is a "slap in the face of everyone who tries to share their passion for gaming with the world."

Legendary Entertainment has acquired Felicia Day's Geek & Sundry YouTube channel and added it to its digital division. Legendary Entertainment is a film company whose credits include Godzilla and Pacific Rim, among other properties.

"I am thrilled to have Geek & Sundry partner with a company I admire and that aligns authentically with my audience's interests," Felicia Day tell GII.

In a lengthy post on its official Blog, game streaming service Twitch announced that it will soon begin implementing a revamped video-on-demand service that offers users higher quality VOD options, the ability to view archived content on mobile and other devices, and a simplified system for exporting video to YouTube.

The makers of "The Power of Glove," an independent documentary about the infamous Nintendo Entertainment peripheral, have run out of money and have taken to Kickstarter in an attempt to raise $15,000 to finish the film.

The limited edition PlayStation 4 auctioned off (by retailer Tradera) as part of Stockholm, Sweden's recent week-long Stockholm Pride Festival kicks ended, generating thousands for the Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights.

While CD Projekt Red has not been afraid to include sexual content in its The Witcher series of action role-playing games, the Poland-based developer says that sex scenes in general should be tactful. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt will contain sex scenes, according to level designer Miles Tost, but they will not be overdone or be tacky. These scenes will not be interactive either.

The Entertainment Software Association (ESA), Hispanic Heritage Foundation (HHF), and HHF’s Leaders on the Fast Track (LOFT) today announced applications are now open for the second annual ESA LOFT Video Game Innovation Fellowship. The program provides minority youths with an opportunity to promote social change through video games, according to the ESA. The Fellowship program will award 20 people between the ages of 15 - 25 with grants to create video games or mobile applications which seek to solve problems that face their communities.

Another week, another live episode. If you missed the live show over the weekend you can check it out now on YouTube. We're still working out some of the kinks.

This week hosts Andrew Eisen and E. Zachary Knight discussed a lot of topics (markers below if you want to skip around) including Youtubers taking money from publishers, MSNBC talking about video games, Apple's sexist policies on engraving, Ninja Pizza Girl, Marvel's attempts at diversification and Nintendo's similar attempts at diversification.

If you need proof that eSports is a real sport, then this story should provide the conclusive and irrefutable proof you need. Valve's The International Dota 2 Championships will be broadcast live via ESPN.

Valve Software has inked a deal with the popular sports cable network to broadcast the Seattle-based tournament live on ESPN3. The network will also air an exclusive program previewing the final match on EPSN2 on Sunday, July 20, at 8:30pm PST.

Good Games Writing has launched #PitchJam & #CritJam, a week-long celebration of games writing. The site claims that more than 150 writers have signed on to take part in the event, and more are expected to join in. To take part you have to RSVP.

In last week's poll we asked our readers, "Has a Video Game Ever Made You So Mad You Broke the Controller?" The majority of votes seemed to indicate that almost half of respondents have enough control not to break a controller either because it is defective or because the game someone is playing becomes too frustrating.

Blizzard president and a co-founder Mike Morhaime says that his studio is making a concerted effort going forward to create more diverse and inclusive game characters and content. Morhaime made his comments in response to an open letter aimed at him and Blizzard complaining about under-representation of females and ethnic minorities in the company's games.

We've seen "rock simulators" and goat simulators, so I suppose it isn't that much of a stretch for a games journalist to want to make a "games journalist simulator." That's exactly what games journalist Jason Evangelho tells web site Siliconera; he has teamed up with Game Informer writer Daniel Tack to create "Game Journalism Simulator."

Bethesda announced today that it has teamed up with the American Red Cross to host a blood drive during its annual QuakeCon event. QuakeCon takes place this year at the Hilton Anatole Hotel in Dallas, Texas.

The blood drive is inspired by Tango Gameworks' upcoming horror game, The Evil Within - which is set for launch on October 21 for Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PS4, and PC.

The blood drive event is being called "The Good Within Blood Drive," and will take place July 18 and 19 at QuakeCon.

Jennifer Ann’s Group continues to use the medium of video games to promote awareness on the dangers of teen dating violence. Today the nonprofit organization announced the winners of its seventh annual "Life. Love. Game Design Challenge" - as well as the results of its first-ever game jam to create a game that championed its cause of stopping teen violence.

What was once a male-only Hearthstone eSports competition has been opened up to women after the Internet-at-large gave organizers International eSports Federation a public spanking yesterday. The company says that it has listened and has changed its policy going forward. The organizers came under fire on Tuesday when it was revealed that the Hearthstone IeSF World Championship in Baku, Azerbaijan would only be open to men.

The first gay companion character in the Dragon Age series was revealed on the official Dragon Age: Inquisition web site by BioWare.

Kentucky Route Zero and Grand Theft Auto V have been named as finalists for the ninth annual GameCity festival's GameCity Prize award. The full shortlist of games up for the award include Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, Gone Home, Grand Theft Auto V, Kentucky Route Zero. and Papers, Please. The GameCity festival takes places in Nottingham, England beginning Oct. 25 and running until Nov. 1.

YouTube is highlighting two new features coming to the Google-owned video services and both will have an impact on gamers and video game-related video makers. The first is news that YouTube will support 48 and 60 frames per second video in the next few months. Google used video games to show off how this will look - specifically highlighting footage from Battlefield: Hardline and Titanfall.

Speed Demos Archive and SpeedRunsLive revealed the dates for their next big Twitch-based charity event, Summer Games Done Quick. Beginning June 22 and running until June 29, a group of friends will gather and try to play and finish a variety of games as quickly as possible, in order to raise cash for Doctors Without Borders. Twitch will stream marathons of the playthroughs throughout the week.

Nintendo has made four student games available for free on Wii U eShop in Japan. All of the games were built by teams of students in Tokyo and Osaka, Japan.

MOCAtv (the video channel for the Museum of Contemporary Art) has released "Art in Video Games Los Angeles" episodes one and two. Art in Video Games Los Angeles focuses on gaming culture and artists in Los Angeles and offers interviews with important industry veterans like Stephanie Barish, Tracy Fullerton, Richard Lemarchand, and Sam Roberts. Profiled in later episodes are the new school of game artists like Kellee Santiago and Jenova Chen (Journey), Ian Dallas (The Unfinished Swan), and Mark Essen (Nidhogg).

An interesting article from Gamasutra explores whether traditional games journalism is slowly being damaged by the advent of the YouTube video game personality. The article, "Is YouTube killing the traditional games press?" goes directly to game developers to ask them if having their videogames played or highlighted by a popular YouTube personality has had an actual impact on sales.