Rift devs get help from a hacker and plug security flaws

Since launch, Trion World’s new MMO, Rift, has been under constant attack from hackers trying to steal accounts. Trion Worlds have been fighting back against the attacks with the help of a benevolent hacker who spotted a huge security flaw in Rift’s system, and contacted the developers to help them fix the problem. Trion Worlds have since launched a “one-two punch” of security updates over the weekend to help protect player accounts.

The hacker goes by the name ManWitDaPlan, and refers to himself as a “white hat”, an ethical hacker whose day job involves running a security firm that works to secure and destroy sensitive data. His Rift account was hacked in March, so when he spotted a loophole in the Rift servers that would allow a malicious user to access someone else’s account without needing their user name and password, he got in touch with Trion straight away. Five minutes later, he was talking to Rift lead developer Steve Chamberlain, and the engineering team was working on a fix for the problem.

“Trion hit this like Jackie Chan channeling Bruce Lee,” said ManWitDaPlan, speaking to ZAM, “which is what you do when you find an exploit. No playing the blame game, no whining, just find and fix and slam the door on the hackers.”

Rift executive producer Scott Hartsman posted on the Rift forums on Saturday to thank the helpful hacker, “We’d definitely like to thank Mr. ManWitDaPlan for the well-timed assist. Sir, we salute you and offer our most heartfelt thanks.” It’s rumoured that ManWitDaPlan received a lifetime subscription to Rift for his troubles. All he would say is “Trion seems very happy with me for some reason. I’ll be around for a while…”

In the Saturday forum post, Hartsman also outlined a few new security measures for Rift, saying that, so far, hacks have affected about 1% of the Rift community. Trion Worlds are hiring more staff to combat the ongoing attacks.

“Both the login fix and the Coin Lock addition have been doing their part in signficantly reducing overall incidents over the last 18 hours.” says Hartsman, adding that “neither one is a silver bullet, but so far it is looking to be a solid one-two punch.” Meanwhile he encourages players to make sure their email passwords and Rift passwords are different, saying that attacks are likely to continue. “This will remain something that we will continue keeping an eye on, forever.”

Disclaimer: All information on this blog has been compiled from their respective official websites or through public domain sites and leading newspapers. Although, we have taken reasonable efforts to provide you with accurate information, but we assumes no responsibility for the accuracy (or inaccuracy) of the Information and would advise you to verify it from the official product provider. We cannot guarantee that the information on this page is 100% correct.

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Prey 2 inspired by Blade Runner and Mirror’s Edge

The first details of Prey 2 suggest that it will be very different to the original, though equally as mad. It will be a single player only, open world shooter set in a run-down future metropolis. The main character will be a free-running Sheriff with the unlikely name of “Killian Samuels,” and the game promises to have “the moving scheme from Mirror’s Edge, the freedom of Mass Effect and the fire fights of Killzone 2.”

GameReactor magazine have spilled the beans on the sequel, which will draw inspiration from Mass Effect, The Chronicles of Riddick, Blade Runner and Mirror’s Edge. Killian will be “as flexible and limber as Faith of ME, leaping over hights, hanging by arms from pipes, balancing on thin boards and jumping like a cat upwards structures.”

The game has been in development for three years and is set on the planet of Exodus, an alien desert world with big city environments. You’ll be able to pick and choose missions and the game will have an inventory system that will let you upgrade your weapons and abilities. Weapons can be customised and rebuilt to change their stats, and different ammo types add more customisation options.

The portals of Prey 1 will return, though they’ll be rarer, and the multiplayer mode won’t make a return at all. Human Head said “Who would pick the MP mode of Prey 2 ahead of the one in for example Halo Reach? We’d rather to a really good SP adventure.” The game is scheduled to come out next year.

Disclaimer: All information on this blog has been compiled from their respective official websites or through public domain sites and leading newspapers. Although, we have taken reasonable efforts to provide you with accurate information, but we assumes no responsibility for the accuracy (or inaccuracy) of the Information and would advise you to verify it from the official product provider. We cannot guarantee that the information on this page is 100% correct.

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Duke Nukem Forever multiplayer replaces flag with capturable, slappable women

Duke Nukem Forever’s “Capture the Babe” CTF variant requires you to abduct a woman to score. The mode is revealed in the latest issue of Official Xbox Magazine US where they explain that Gearbox will give the option to give her a “slap” if she “freaks out” as you drag her across the map.

WTF? Read on for the details and to hear Gearbox’s CEO’s attitude towards Duke’s controversy-bating elements.

Speaking to the magazine, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford said: “Our goal isn’t to shock people, but I think there’s some stuff that’s a bit uncomfortable. I mean, the alien’s plan is to capture our women and impregnate them to breed an alien army, so you can imagine some horrible shit happens.”

OXM reports that Capture the Babe is “Pretty much what you’d expect to see from a CFT-style mode, with one small touch: the “Babe” will sometimes freak out while you’re carrying her (somewhat understandable we’d say) at which point you have to hit a button to gently give her a reassuring slap.”

According to Randy, Gearbox are intending to “Get right up to that edge and then relax enough so people don’t reject it.”

Sorry Randy, I just rejected.

I like flags and guns as much as the next man, but abducting and slapping women has never been on my gaming wishlist. Yes, footage of the mode in action hasn’t yet been released, but I’m finding it hard trying to imagine how this could be work out fine.

OXM details four multiplayer modes which will support up to eight players each: Dukematch, Team Dukematch, Capture the Babe and Hail to the King. Duke Nukem Forever will come in multiple editions, and is due for release May 3 2011.

Disclaimer: All information on this blog has been compiled from their respective official websites or through public domain sites and leading newspapers. Although, we have taken reasonable efforts to provide you with accurate information, but we assumes no responsibility for the accuracy (or inaccuracy) of the Information and would advise you to verify it from the official product provider. We cannot guarantee that the information on this page is 100% correct.

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Crysis 2 review

An alien dropship hums overhead, trailing otherworldly ruby-red fumes from its engines. The patrol craft spits shining metal pods at the earth as it passes. Embedded in the city street asphalt, the pods pop like pressurized eggs; three raptor-legged, inquisitive Ceph soldiers spring out.

They can’t see me, but I’m a mere 20 feet away, invisible, steel feet perched still atop a shipping crate. I’m holding the wrong gun for this—a microwave gun would’ve been ideal—but I don’t care. I love the way my SCARAB assault rifle’s laser sight attachment seems to wander organically, slightly out of sync with my movements, illuminating what I’m about to kill. I center it on the aliens’ weak spot: an exposed patch of pink-goo translucence where tendrils dangle—like Cthulhu’s tentacles—from their back.

As the aliens’ formation fans out, I seize the moment and fizzle out of stealth mode. Eight rounds ping the Ceph commander, but he doesn’t die. In two seconds, he’ll activate a shield that makes him four times harder to kill. I can’t take him down in time—I need to flee. I sprint-leap off the container and tap Q; the voice in my head murmurs “MAXIMUM ARMOR,” and I hear my suit’s skin go hyper-dense, just in time to absorb the fall damage. I backpedal into an alley—my armor can’t sponge the damage from another energy blast. I need to find cover, but turning to look in the direction I’m walking would cost a precious second that I don’t have.

I think my back is near a wall—I’ve got to trust that that’s true. I spend my last Nanosuit energy on a hail Mary blind leap, holding the spacebar as I mentally cross my fingers. I hear a robotic whoosh—like a high-tech trampoline. Twenty feet off the ground, my feet find a cobblestone ledge. I cloak and dart off. I’ve never felt more like Batman in a game—and that includes Batman games.

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EA manager says $60 games are “exploitative

General manager at EA Ben Cousins has been talking about the benefits of the free-to-play model ahead of the launch of the Battlefield Play4Free open beta in April. He says that he believes the $60 pricing on games is “exploitative,” and considers the full priced game market to be “a really harsh business model.”

Cousins was talking to Rock Paper Shotgun about the controversies surrounding microtransactions in free-to-play games when he said “I have trouble working out why free-to-play games have generated controversy – I’ve been doing this for four years now, so it feels kind of normal to me – but I can’t think of anything more exploitative than gating all of your content behind having to pay someone $60.”

“That’s a really harsh business model if you think about it objectively,” he adds, saying “what we do is enable everyone to play the game, and figure out if they like it. If they don’t like it they can walk away and they don’t lose anything.”

“How many times have we all bought crappy games for $60, right? And the majority of people in our game spend less than that – the cost of a full-priced game. So what we’re selling is a cheaper than full price game that you can try before you buy.”

Cousins goes on to say that the rise of cross compatible platforms like HTML5 and Unity will see games spread across multiple platforms. “PC, Mac, Linux, Android, Chrome potentially – developers are going to become platform agonostic. You are seeing that with HTML5, Unity, the Molehill version of Flash, these are 3D engines with high level features and hardware graphics support, and they will run on any of those platforms. I see the future being guys on PCs playing this stuff, but they will be playing with guys on Android Tablets and Mac Netbooks, etc, etc.”

According to Cousins, the rise in cheap, powerful laptops will mean that free-to-play, portable, multiplayer games will soon be massive. “I think the future will be us playing on these devices and playing free games with deep multiplayer experiences.” What do you think, are portable, free-to-play games the future?

Disclaimer: All information on this blog has been compiled from their respective official websites or through public domain sites and leading newspapers. Although, we have taken reasonable efforts to provide you with accurate information, but we assumes no responsibility for the accuracy (or inaccuracy) of the Information and would advise you to verify it from the official product provider. We cannot guarantee that the information on this page is 100% correct.

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