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November 12th, 2010, 23:51 Posted By: wraggster
The volume of email spam has continued to drop following the shut down of several botnets pumping out unwanted email, security outfit Symantec has found
According to the firm, global spam volume was down 22.5 per cent month-on-month in October, and down over 47 per cent compared to August.
Symantec pointed to botnet shutdowns including the Zeus ring and spamit.com as contributing to the drop. The Netherlands also took down several servers controlling the Bredolab botnet.
In October spam still made up 86.6 per cent of all email, but this was described as the lowest level of spam since September 2009.
Symantec said spam was taking a holiday related theme with replica items, online replica, online pharmacies and 419-type scams featuring heavily.
The United States was still by far the largest source of spam representing 27 per cent of world spam originating from compromised machines and servers. In terms of phishing scams, the US hosted an astonishing 50 per cent of the world phishing hosts and phishing lures.
The report also highlighted the growth of social networking phishing scams. A common mechanism to lurk end-users to giving away confidential information was to pose as a security service of the social networking brand. Like most phishing scams, users were encouraged to provide log in details to continue to gain access to the service.
http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/35137...ntinue-to-fall
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November 12th, 2010, 00:17 Posted By: wraggster
Electronic Arts will be shouldering the lion's share of publishing responsibilities for the forthcoming Star Wars MMO, The Old Republic, taking almost all of the duties previously assigned to Lucas Arts.
Lucas Arts will continue to play an active part in the design and marketing of the game, but the publishing and distribution work will be "centralised for efficiency". The game has been developed by RPG specialists BioWare, who also made PC classic Knights of the Old Republic, and is due to go online next year.
Recently, Bigpoint CEO Heiko Hubertz proclaimed that The Old Republic would "never be profitable" as its subscription model was too outdated and its budget too high, while PopCap CCO Jason Kapalka told press that Farmville was a bigger threat to World of Warcraft's MMO crown than Star Wars.
EA itself acknowledges that The Old Republic is the most expensive project the company has ever embarked upon, comparing its budget to World of Warcraft's - a figure which would place it around the $100 million mark.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...r-old-republic
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November 11th, 2010, 23:51 Posted By: wraggster
PC strategy game Shogun 2: Total War will be released globally on 15th March 2011, SEGA's announced.
Improvements have been made to the 3D battles and the tactical campaign map. There's a brand new AI system inspired by the scriptures that influenced Japanese warfare, the Chinese "Art of War", too.
Analysing this ancient text enabled the Creative Assembly to implement easy to understand yet deep strategical gameplay," SEGA said.
Rob Fahey saw The Creative Assembly's game in June. But more recently, at the Eurogamer Expo 2010 in fact, Eurogamer chatted to Total War godfather Mike Simpson about his latest effort.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...otal-war-dated
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November 11th, 2010, 23:48 Posted By: wraggster
At least two "major" shops will demand publishers remove Steam functionality from PC games, a new report claims.
If publishers refuse, those retailers will not sell PC games with Steam integration at all.
"Key retailers" fear Valve's digital service has a "monopoly" on the download market, according to MCV.
Sources claimed Steam serves 80 per cent of the PC download sector, and shops are worried that selling games with Steam tech built-in pushes users towards only buying games through Valve.
"If we have a digital service, then I don't want to start selling a rival in-store," the digital boss at one of the biggest UK games retailers told MCV.
"Publishers are creating a monster – we are telling suppliers to stop using Steam in their games."
More than 30 million people have Steam accounts, according to Valve.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...steam-monopoly
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November 11th, 2010, 00:42 Posted By: wraggster
Don't believe the 11th February 2011 date given to Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood on PC. That ShopTo telly advert hasn't been finalised yet.
From the Ubisoft mouth, Eurogamer heard: "We have not announced a release date for the PC version and this video has not been approved by Ubisoft."
Even ShopTo admitted the error, telling Eurogamer the video was a pilot and any date mentioned would need checking with Ubisoft.
The video was posted on That VideoGame Blog. As it ends, a picture of the boxed game beside a prominent ShopTo logo spouts the 19th November console (PS3, Xbox 360) date as well as an 11th February 2011 PC date - complete with unqualified asterisk.
The most recent Ubisoft release schedule - sent out today - declares Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood PC a Q1 2011 title.
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood famously introduces multiplayer to the series. You could have tried it at the Eurogamer Expo 2011 had you gone.
But there's much more to Brotherhood than that. There's a story about Ezio building his own Brotherhood of assassin's and leading them to glory. What this means is more sandbox gameplay, albeit done in a way that pulls on the series' strengths: the running, the jumping, the exploration.
Tom Bramwell is reviewing Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood for Eurogamer. He's testing it right now - he has a big smile on his face. He'll deliver the Eurogamer verdict on Tuesday.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...otherhood-date
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November 11th, 2010, 00:24 Posted By: wraggster
Are you troubled by strange activity in your Battle.net account? Do you experience feelings of dread in your WarCraft or StarCraft games? Have you or your family ever seen a fraud, hacker, or scam?
If the answer is "yes," then don't wait another minute. Pick up the phone and call the professionals: Blizzard's Dial-In Authenticator. Their courteous and efficient automated system is on call 24 hours a day to verify your identity in case of suspicious account activity.
It's ready to authenticate you.
http://www.joystiq.com/2010/11/10/bl...authenticator/
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November 11th, 2010, 00:12 Posted By: wraggster
Anonymizer, Inc. has developed Anonymizer Nevercookie, a free Firefox plugin that protects against the Evercookie, a javascript API built and made available by Samy Kamkar (same guy who brought you the Samy Worm and XSS Hacking to Determine Physical Location) who set out to prove that the more you store and the more places you store it, the harder it is for users to control a Web site's ability to uniquely identify their computer. The plugin extends Firefox's private browsing mode by preventing Evercookies from identifying and tracking users
http://news.slashdot.org/story/10/11...ts-Evercookies
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November 10th, 2010, 23:56 Posted By: wraggster
A speedy programmer by the name of Hector Martin has released drivers to get Kinect working on your PC.
This comes just days after widespread reports of Kinect having been hacked, which Microsoft moved to dismiss merely as drivers, not a hack.
NUI Group, who created the original unreleased drivers say their making an SDK platform for Kinect on Windows, which will allow people who understand such things to create interactive programs/games for it, but it apparently won't be released until they get $10k in donations.
Martin, however, has thrown his drivers out there already, although all you'll be able to do with them right now is view Kinects RGB and colourful IR depth-sensing cameras on your screen - a quirky pastime more than anything else.
http://www.computerandvideogames.com...VG-General-RSS
http://git.marcansoft.com/?p=libfreenect.git
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November 10th, 2010, 13:09 Posted By: wraggster
This editorial discusses the habit of Bethesda Softworks to release broken and buggy games with plans to just fix the problems later. Following a trend of similar issues coming up in their games, the author begs gamers to stop supporting buggy games and to spread the idea that games should be finished and quality controlled before release – not weeks after.
http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/1...Buggy-Releases
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November 9th, 2010, 00:25 Posted By: wraggster
Roger Thompson, chief research officer of AVG Technologies, said Sunday that an exploit for the newest IE flaw had been added to the Eleonore crimeware attack kit. 'This raises the stakes considerably, as it means that anyone can buy the kit for a few hundred bucks, and they have a working zero-day,' Thompson said on his company's blog. Microsoft has promised to patch the vulnerability, but last week said the threat didn't warrant an 'out-of-band' update. Microsoft will deliver three security updates Nov. 9, but won't fix the IE bug then.
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/10/11...ses-the-Stakes
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November 8th, 2010, 22:24 Posted By: wraggster
BigPoint is now inviting you, you and you to put Battlestar Galactica Online through its paces.
It's a closed beta to begin with, restricted to a "hand-selected" group of people from Europe and the US. That number will increase, however, as preparations for an open beta in December ramp up.
The beta offers a tutorial mission as either the human or Cylon species. Complete that and the universe proper becomes your playground, as you tackle computer opponents as well as other testees.
No, it's not a word. Yes I'm going to keep calling them that.
BSG Online lets you mine, too - plus there's a chance to nose around the famous Battlestar Galactica itself.
You can sign-up on the BSG Online website.
Television channel Syfy - the network that aired Battlestar Galactica - is involved on the BSG project. Assets from the popular sci-fi show are being shared, and Norwegian developer Artplant has apparently made an MMO that "sets a new standard" for browser-based games. RuneScape won't be happy.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...begins-article
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November 8th, 2010, 22:22 Posted By: wraggster
One day Activision and Blizzard may share; one day Call of Duty may work inherently with Battle.net - but for now the companies remain, in the words of Battle.net overseer Greg Canessa, "two separate entities".
"Bobby Kotick and all the folks at Activision are very, very supportive of Battle.net and what we're doing. They've said that Battle.net is one of the top five strategic initiatives going on at Activision Blizzard," he told Gamasutra.
"Having said that, as you know, Blizzard and Activision are really two separate entities, and we really do our own thing.
"We have this vibrant World of Warcraft business; we have the StarCraft II business and eSports; we've got Diablo III and what's going on there - and that's going to be a huge phenomenon for us. We've got so many opportunities in front of us, I think the mistake that we could make as a company - and I don't think we are making it because we're aware of it - is to get spread too thin and go in too many directions."
In the future, Canessa - who helped launch Xbox Live - said there are "huge opportunities" with licensing opportunities, movies and "other things we have going on" on Battle.net. But Blizzard is militant that none of this should distract from "what we're really good at, which is making kick-ass entertainment services".
"Some day maybe we add other titles in there. Who knows?" he mused. "When we really feel like we've really delivered that kick-ass set of experiences for Blizzard games, and we feel like we've grown the team - and you've heard some of my challenges growing the team and finding the talent - when I've got that sustainability, when we really feel like we've got that dialled-in and nailed down, you know, who knows what the future holds."
StarCraft II launched a revised Battle.net to the world, and will soon include an in-game marketplace for the community to share and sell their own game mods.
Battle.net will also offer a direct-from-Blizzard purchase of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm ahead of launch, so that the game can be installed and patched before the servers are switched on.
Diablo III, with its recently-revealed PvP and co-op, will solidify what Battle.net offers as a service.
Valve launched Steam on the back of Half-Life 2 and now the digital distributor eclipses all others on PC. Blizzard's three games could conceivably kick-start Battle.net with similar momentum.
"We've got a lot of huge ambitious plans," Canessa added. "Exactly: the sky is the limit with this stuff. And we're getting into spectating, tournaments, the marketplace and other stuff going forward.
"We've just got so much potential here, I only wish we could stop time and get some of this stuff sooner. It takes a long time to build this stuff."
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...-any-time-soon
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November 8th, 2010, 21:51 Posted By: wraggster
Slashdot already covered Firesheep, the Firefox extension that makes it easier to steal logins and take over social media and email accounts after users log in from a WiFi hotspot or even their own unprotected network. Zscaler researchers have created, and are now offering to every consumer, a free Firefox plugin called BlackSheep, which serves as a counter-measure. BlackSheep combats Firesheep by monitoring traffic and then alerting users if Firesheep is being used on the network. BlackSheep does this by dropping 'fake' session ID information on the wire and then monitors traffic to see if it has been hijacked.
http://news.slashdot.org/story/10/11...ool-BlackSheep
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November 8th, 2010, 21:50 Posted By: wraggster
When Microsoft released the very first version of Windows nearly 25 years ago, on Nov. 20, 1985, it was late to the game and little used. Apple had already brought graphical user interfaces to computers with Macintosh more than a year earlier, while DOS systems dominated the market for IBM and IBM-compatible PCs. No one who used this first version was likely to have predicted that Windows would completely dominate the PC market 25 years later...
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/10/11...10-At-25-Years
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November 7th, 2010, 21:04 Posted By: wraggster
APB as we know it is dead, but Codemasters Online general manager David Solari is convinced it could be turned around - providing someone has "nine months of hard work" to spare.
"[Realtime Worlds] made some key mistakes there," Solari explained to Eurogamer. "With some key stuff changed that game could be successful.
"Somebody will... If they don't pick up the game then they will pick up the technology for sure, because the avatar and character customisation technology is incredible. Something will definitely be done to preserve that.
"I do think the game could be turned around but it would need nine months of hard work," he added. "That game could have been successful but the cost of development and everything else was a huge thing. The money it had to make to support that was very high risk. If you could take a smaller team and make all the fixes and operate at a lower cost then it's fairly unique: there's not really anything else in the market out there."
Codemasters Online was tipped to be the buyer sniffing around APB. That link came from former community manager Ben Batemen who, after being made redundant from Realtime Worlds (RIP), then joined Codemasters Online.
Solari soon put an end to that speculation.
"We have not picked up APB," he said, definitively. "I can answer you definitively," he echoed, "we haven't picked that up."
The bloated development of APB ruined studio Realtime Worlds. Crackdown's success and $100 million funding caused complacency, which resulted in a 6/10 game leaving the doors in July. Two months later, the plug was pulled on the APB servers.
In September we heard that Epic Games - creator of Gears of War and Unreal Engine - was interested in scooping up the APB remains.
The saga continues.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...nd-in-9-months
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November 7th, 2010, 21:01 Posted By: wraggster
Over on GAF, some screenshots of apparent file directories installed as part of the PC version of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 provide some pretty strong evidence of potential DLC or cut content -- what is it about the PC versions of these games not being able to keep their mouths shut? The files detail an additional level taking place on Endor, where Starkiller The Dos apparently takes on some ewok forces. There's more detail in the GAF thread, but it's kinda spoilery, so consider yourself warned.
There's also some stuff pointing to additional costumes, challenges and some different colored crystals for pimping out your lightsaber -- your run-of-the-mill DLC-type stuff. We've contacted LucasArts for comment on the potential DLC/cut content. We'll update you all as soon as we hear back.
http://www.joystiq.com/2010/11/05/ru...r-cut-content/
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November 7th, 2010, 21:00 Posted By: wraggster
Everyone else is talking about the Supreme Court, but I'm going to hold off on any further commentary until we have an actual decision to analyze. Instead, I want to bring your attention back to a suit filed by Blizzard in California, Blizzard v. VanKuipers, Simpson, and John Does 1-10 (aka the GameThreat.net case). This case seems to be the sequel of sorts to the "Glider" case from the not too distant past (Blizzard v. MDY Industries). In short, that case was about a World of WarCraft "autopilot" program called Glider. Glider circumvented Warden (the WoW cheat protection software). The short version of the result from that case is that MDY Industries, the maker of Glider, was held liable for contributory and vicarious copyright infringement for putting out Glider, which violated WoW's End User License Agreement and Terms of Service. The opinion also upheld Blizzard's right to sue over issues that diminished the player experience.
That brings us to the GameThreat.net case. Some of this should sound pretty familiar. GameThreat.net put out a series of StarCraft 2 hacks and cheats, which worked in multiplayer. These programs were available very shortly after the launch of StarCraft 2, and that, of course, irritated Blizzard, which sent a cease and desist of some sort. While it may have initially appeared the two were in compliance, Blizzard discovered they have re-distributed their source code to others, who have continued to make it available. As a result, Blizzard is suing on basically the same premise as Glider. As is often the case, the ideas here present a bit of a double-edged sword.
http://www.joystiq.com/2010/11/05/lg...ent/#continued
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November 7th, 2010, 19:44 Posted By: wraggster
Nobody will be too shocked to hear NVIDIA expects its next flagship GPU to be the fastest that's ever been, but few will have guessed it'd also be one of the company's coolest and quietest. In the first public teasing of its next-gen graphics card (which is almost certain to bear the GeForce GTX 580 name tag), NVIDIA has revealed a new vapor chamber cooling system, which reminds us of Shuttle's ICE CPU cooler -- basically, water sealed within the chamber gets boiled by the hot elements (a copper plate in NVIDIA's case), which forces it to transfer heat away to the bits that are being cooled by the fan, where it chills out and recycles itself back to the boiling plate. The end result, according to NVIDIA, is about seven decibels less vroom relative to the GTX 480, along with lower operational temperatures. Besides that, the company's Tom Petersen also showed off an impressive tessellation demo and the first public display of Call of Duty: Black Ops gameplay, which was powered by this as yet unannounced GPU. Skip past the break to see it all on video.
http://www.engadget.com/2010/11/07/n...ery-very-soon/
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November 7th, 2010, 10:17 Posted By: wraggster
Blizzard boss Mike Morhaime claims that 2010 has been a banner year for World of Warcraft - even before third expansion Catacylsm launches next month.
"2010 MMORPG sales are up compared to the entirety of 2009," he told investors yesterday.
While he declined to reveal figures, he said of China that "The new [Lich King] content has been a tremendous success in the region. [It's] one driver in pushing the global player base above 12 million."
He was optimistic that the impending release of Cataclysm could further grow subscriber numbers. "This expansion is uniquely positioned compared to previous expansions to drive replayability.
Catacylsm overhauls existing WoW zones, which Morhaime believes will attract lapsed subscribers. "Bringing back players that have taken a break from the game has been a big driver in increasing outreach to players."
Also a success for Blizzard this year was StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. While Morhaime declined to reveal sales figures beyond the previously-announced three million sales over its first month, he claimed "The global retail launch of StarCraft II exceeded all of our expectations."
The PC strategy title had been "by far the most successful" launch for the company, he claimed. "It sold almost as many copies in its first month in the US as the original World of Warcraft sold in its first year."
"The success of the initial launch and the continuing growth of community sets us up well for future expansions." He also refused to divulge any figures on the retail/digital split, but expected success from the Map Marketplace, "which is our version of the App Store for StarCraft."
Morhaime also had high hopes for the forthcoming Latin America and South-East Asia releases of the game, which would see alternative business models to spread adoption amongst lower-income gamers.
He went on to claim that, although StarCraft 1 remained the game of choice in South Korea, "StarCraft II is slowly gaining in popularity in the region. We expect Korean players to gradually transition to StarCraft II over time."
Third-quarter Blizzard revenue was up 68 per cent compared to the same period last year, with operating income jumping some 112 per cent.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...gher-than-2009
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November 7th, 2010, 10:15 Posted By: wraggster
BioWare co-founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk have told of how they were "disappointed" and "sad" after reading the recent scathing anonymous blog post from EA Louse.
Last month a disgruntled EA employee about to fall victim to lay-offs published a vicious diatribe against Warhammer Online creator BioWare Mythic, its staff, and claimed that forthcoming MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic will be a disaster.
The blogger claimed that BioWare had, "spent more money making the Old Republic than James Cameron spent on Avatar. Sh*t you not. More than $300 million! Can you believe that?"
In a new interview with Eurogamer Muzyka and Zeschuk pointed towards the anonymous nature of the post and stressed its commitment to The Old Republic.
"We're disappointed in the sense of someone having that unfortunate perspective," said Zeschuk.
"It was sad to read that kind of stuff," added Muzyka. "We just won a top 100 employers award for BioWare. We invest a lot in quality of the workplace. It's really important to us. We take it seriously.
"The BioWare Mythic team is part of the BioWare group. I know the people that work there. They care. They feel the same way that the other leaders across BioWare and EA feel.
"That kind of stuff... We don't respond to rumours and speculation by people that are ill-informed. We're committed to quality in the workplace."
"The reality of it is when you take an anonymous space you don't know where it's from," said Zeschuk. "Regardless, we're always focused on making the best possible workplace.
"We try to focus on making a great place to work, making great products. But you never know. If it's anonymous, there's no proof of anything. You can claim anything, right?"
Both Muzyka and Zeschuk described The Old Republic, a game due out some time next year, as a "tremendous opportunity".
"It's a big bet, but it's the right kind of bet to make for EA," Muzyka said.
"It's the right kind of bet for BioWare to make. It's taking everything we know from the last 15 to 20 years of development experience and placing some amazing people onto the team, with MMO experience as well as RPG experience.
"The team is a group I'm really proud of. They're working hard to deliver this great game. It's got a lot of content. It's taking the best of features from other products like MMOs and putting them together with something BioWare's known for: the story, choice and consequence, but not losing anything in the translation - exploration, combat, customisation, progression.
"So in that sense it's really a smart decision. It's a pretty good bet for a studio group like BioWare to be building right now. We see it as more opportunity than anything else.
"It's a great BioWare type experience in a massively multiplayer space in a Star Wars setting. Those seem to be some pretty good factors that have set us up for massive success. Beyond that, we just build the best game we can."
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...-read-ea-louse
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