John DruryATTN: Shawn
Endless Space was a fine 4X strategy game with interesting, distinct races and a best-in-class interface. Then Amplitude Studios’ follow-up was Endless Legend, a fantasy 4X game set within the same universe which was best-in-class in general. In fact, we named it the best game of 2014.
So pardon my excitement for the news that Amplitude are now making Endless Space 2 [official site] and have released the first CG trailer.
John DruryWhoops
The damage travels by text, Forbes reports, and takes advantage of a weakness in a piece of code called Stagefright.
Stagefright is a tool Android uses to play back media — any text you get that’s an MMS (as opposed to an SMS) is played back to you using Stagefright. Any app that can read your text messages sits on top of that code, from Google Hangouts to your pre-installed default “Messaging” program.
Joshua Drake, the security researcher who discovered the flaw, told Forbes that the only thing a hacker would need to send out exploitations would be phone numbers. Attackers could then send messages to those numbers with bad code packaged in that would allow them to access the receiving device and steal data.
The level of access attackers would gain would allow access to files stored on SD cards as well as on the phone memory. Attackers could also turn your phone into a bug, remotely recording audio and video without your knowledge. Bluetooth access is also hackable via Stagefright. All versions of Android from 2.2 and up are considered vulnerable.
If that sounds terrifying, well, it kind of is. And then it gets worse. The exploit isn’t like a virus-laden e-mail attachment; you don’t actually have to try to view the media in order to be affected. Merely looking at the message in some apps is enough.
And then there are the apps where you don’t even have to open the message: for folks who use Google Hangouts to read their texts, Hangouts would open and access the exploit code “immediately before you even look at your phone… before you even get the notification,” Drake told Forbes, adding that it’s possible then to delete the message before the user even receives an alert, making the attack completely silent.
The good news is, after Drake reported his findings, Google has verified and corrected seven security holes. But here’s the bad news: Google doesn’t update Android phones directly. Service providers do. So Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, AT&T, and other, smaller carriers all have to push patches to their own Android customers… and they are not known for doing so quickly.
Drake will be speaking about his process for discovering vulnerabilities in Android at the Black Hat InfoSec conference in Las Vegas next week.
Stagefright: It Only Takes One Text To Hack 950 Million Android Phones [Forbes]
John DruryIt begins...
This year's Summer Games Done Quick (SGDQ) starts this weekend and runs for 160 uninterrupted hours. The annual speedrunning marathon, and its sister event Awesome Games Done Quick (AGDQ), are also fundraisers for worthy charities. To raise money, the events regularly push highly skilled players to their limits across dozens of games. So what is SGDQ? What is speedrunning? And what runs should you be on the lookout for next week?
John DruryDamn those are cool
The 8-bit Mario amiibo — which is gorgeous — will be available in two variations, the first of which will arrive in Europe on Sept. 11.
According a tweet from Nintendo of Europe, the "Classic Colours" amiibo arrives first, sporting the red and brown plumber's outfit from Super Mario Bros. A "Modern Colors" edition, in which Mario's hair and t-shirt are more familiar colors, will be released Oct. 23.
We've contacted Nintendo of America for information about stateside releases, and we'll update this article with more information as we receive it.
The Sept. 11 date coincides with the release of Super Mario Maker, the upcoming Wii U game that will allow you to create your own diabolical 2D side-scrolling levels, in addition to the 100...
John DruryBARF
Ben Affleck will take the helm of a Batman solo film set after the events of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, reports Deadline. The actor will also co-write, with Geoff Johns, and star in the as yet unnamed movie.
"My studio sources tell me that Affleck and Johns are well in synch and have more than found their rhythm," says Deadline's Mike Fleming. "In fact, they are likely to turn in a script before the end of the summer, prior to Affleck going off to direct Live By Night in November. Affleck postponed that pic to star in Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice."
His sources had no word on when the new project would be slotted into Warner Bros. upcoming lineup of DC Comics-based films.
Geoff Johns is not a strange name to Batman fans,...
John DruryThis is super-rad to the max.
In the suburbs of Buffalo, New York, there is a house that until recently was for sale. From the front and from the back, the exterior looks like any ordinary upscale house built in the late ’80s. Inside, however, it looks like the sets from “Saved by the Bell” collided with sets from “The Golden Girls,” then somehow became attached to a mall food court from 1988. Then nothing ever changed.
Here’s a preview of the house’s real estate slideshow: we really recommend scrolling through the entire thing to understand what makes the home so special. Despite what the Realtor.com listing says, the house has been sold. Presumably, that includes the beautiful pillars highlighted with neon lights.
Why does the house look like this? Has it sat untouched since it was last sold in 1993? Did they simply re-use the photos taken for that listing in 1993? “This is elaborate cosplay of the ’80s sitcom Silver Spoons,” one of my friends suggested when I shared the listing on Facebook. Maybe. Others speculated that it was a film set, or intentionally redecorated that way for sale.
We checked with the realtor, who told us that the house was not staged or used as a film set. The décor was put there by the real people who really lived there. If the geometric wall sculptures or those amazing kitchen chairs interest you, they will be selling the art and furniture in a house sale later this summer.
However, we aren’t real estate agents or home decorators: we’re children of the ’80s and ’90s. We kept picturing our favorite television characters from the era in every room of the house. There was only one way we knew to show our appreciation for this house.
Original Listing [Realtor.com]
John DruryHurry Paul!
Capcom announced that it would be selling an official, wearable version of Mega Man's helmet, and fans were understandably excited while being a bit nervous about the price tag. You can pre-order the helmet right now, and the price is a pleasantly surprising $150.
"Extremely limited quantities will be produced based on advance pre-orders," the official page states. "Order NOW! Pre-Orders will only be open for a limited time. Ships Winter 2015 just in time for the holidays as the ultimate gift for the biggest Mega Man fans (including yourself!)"
If you're interested, sounds like hurrying is a pretty good plan.
John DruryOh god no.
A patent for new airplane seats shows the middle seat turned around in an attempt to increase arm and shoulder space.
Airlines and aircraft manufactures are continuously looking for new ways to pack passengers into planes like sardines. From installing narrower seats to exploring the idea of bicycle-like perches , there appears to be no end to what might be considered to maximize capacity on flights. The latest concept: a seating design that takes the already awful experience of being stuck in the middle seat and makes it worse… so much worse.
Wired reports that a recently approved patent [PDF] by airplane seat supplier Zodiac Seats France takes the middle chair and turns it around, creating an alternating seating pattern.
The “Economy Class Cabin Hexagon” design essentially gives every passenger on the plane four seat mates instead of two.
The seating arrangement is described as a configuration “with at least one row having at least one forward-facing seat and at least one aft-facing seat.”
The new design creates alternating seat positions.
That means if you’re lucky enough to be sitting between two people, you’ll now be lucky enough to look two others in the eyes for an entire flight.
Zodiac says in the patent that the new seating design is meant “to increase cabin density while also creating seat units that increase the space available at the shoulder and arm area.”
While facing the opposite direction of two seats you’re smushed between would likely give you a little more freedom to move your upper body, it doesn’t help the fact you likely won’t be able to completely ignore the two other people with little else to look at than your face.
Of course, as Wired points out, there might be a few situations where facing other passengers might be helpful: if they’re your family or friends or you’re just looking to chat up a fellow traveler.
Though the patent certainly gives us a small glimpse into the creative means for which the airline industry is looking to maximize limited seating space, Zodiac hasn’t made any public plans to take their new design to the skies.
In order for the Hexagon design to make it to the masses, it would first have to undergo an array of safety and compliance tests, not to mention the extremely dirty looks many travelers would surely throw such a design.
Hey Look The Most Nightmarish Idea For Plane Seating Ever [Wired]
John DruryYay!
The Iron Giant, the beloved animated film directed by Brad Bird, will be re-released in theaters this fall by Warner Bros. Pictures and Fathom Events, the companies announced today.
Known as The Iron Giant: Signature Edition, the re-release is a remastered version of the movie that also contains two bonus scenes. It will play as a special engagement at 7 p.m. local time on Wednesday, Sept. 30, followed by an encore presentation at noon on Sunday, Oct. 4, in select theaters across America. Fathom Events will announce the theater lineup and ticket details next month.
For those who can't make it to the screenings — which are likely to sell out quickly, even if they're playing in a theater near you — a high-definition digital version of T...
John Drurydamn that's cute
(via TumbleOn)Cats and Dogs Growing Up With Their Toys (photos via boredpanda)
Previously: Before-and-After Photos of Dogs Growing Up
John DruryATTN: PAUL
Capcom will be showing, and selling, many items at San Diego Comic Con, but this is likely going to be the biggest deal among them: An official, wearable Mega Man helmet.
"There have been many attempts at creating a wearable Mega Man helmet over the years, but it's never been made officially," the post on the Capcom blog stated.
"Made of high quality ABS plastic with a high polish finish, authentic proportions and details, plus working LED lights! A unique clamshell hinge allows the front and back half of the helmet to easily open up to comfortably fit your head inside the soft padded interior for a perfect fit."
It's made to be worn or displayed, for people with the self-control required not to put it on and keep it there 24...
John Drurybest video
Feel like you just can’t make it through the next few days before the holiday weekend? We interrupt your regularly scheduled Wednesday programming with a perfect panacea for the hump day blues: The Tiny Hamster at a tiny Fourth of July barbecue with his tiny friends (and one normal-sized human). Sure, the video is two days old, but that doesn’t make it any less adorable or brain soothing. Or tiny. [Hello Denizen on YouTube]
John DruryHa! Like the name.
In a study published in the Journal of Marketing Research, researchers identified particular kinds of consumers whose preferences can predict products that will flop, calling those folks “harbingers of failure,” reports the Chicago Tribune.
“Certain customers systematically purchase new products that prove unsuccessful,” wrote the study authors. “Their early adoption of a new product is a strong signal that a product will fail.”
Researchers looked at retail purchases made by about 130,000 consumers at a national convenience store chain, and found that 13% of them had buying habits that predicted failure of a new product. Failure in this case means surviving less than three years. About half or more of the products they bought were doomed to die before they had a chance to make it big.
This means if you’re the kind of person who liked the Zune, you probably also liked Frito Lay Lemonade, which apparently was a thing.
And “the more they buy, the less likely the product will succeed,” the researchers wrote.
This is because harbingers of failure are more likely to consistently buy things that other customers won’t, for whatever reason. Maybe they like to be different, or maybe they just have a soft spot for the things no one else likes.
For companies, this means that they’d need to be careful not to just focus on how many people are buying a new product, but who it is that’s doing the buying. If you’ve got a boatload of these harbingers of failure on board, your ship is sure to sink.
There’s a reason all your favorite products are always being discontinued [Chicago Tribune]
John DruryOH NO WHATS THIS?!
Every time another Steam sale rolls around I always grab a few extra copies of Terraria [official site]. I like to hand them out to anyone on my friends list who doesn’t own it yet. “It’s 2D Minecraft, but with actual character progression and loot and crazy monsters and and and” I tell them. If you haven’t played it yet, now is a great time to do so, since the long-awaited Patch 1.3 game will arrive tomorrow, June 30th.
The update adds a ludicrous amount of new stuff, as well as some much needed functionality tweaks. Like Steam multiplayer invitations to make playing with others much less of a headache.
John Drury/!\ ALERT /!\
You can buy the Pip-Boy Edition of Fallout 4 soon at Amazon and now at Best Buy and GameStop in the U.S. "for a short time," according to a Bethesda Blog post today.
It will also be available at Amazon.ca, Best Buy Canada and EB Games for Fallout fans from the Great White North.
Bethesda announced the $119.99 special edition last week. Its most notable feature is a plastic gadget that will wrap around your arm and create a real-life Pip-Boy together with your smartphone and some Bethesda software. It quickly sold out, and it's likely to do so again soon.
Bethesda revealed Fallout 4 just before E3 2015 and expanded upon the game's offerings at its first-ever E3 press conference. The game is scheduled for a Nov. 10 release on...
John DruryOh Batman
Some people been complaining about the protagonist of Fallout 4 having a voice breaks immersion and here is my 2 cent on it.
If your character isn't voice, but the NPCs are, the dialogue flows weird with one side constantly chatting and the other one in complete silence. It just doesn't flow well.
Of course, we can remove voice from ALL characters but I don't think people would accept this at this day and age. I could, but I'm old school and honestly, some of the best characters in modern games had superb voice acting.
So giving the character a voice works the best in my opinion. I never felt Shepard was less "me" because he did not sound exactly like me.
Of course, I know some people been complaining not about the whole voice thing, but about having the story been less open in Fallout 4 to give it a better narrative, but this is the topic for another rant...
John DruryGood news PC-Only folks!
Hello Games today announced that the Windows PC and PlayStation 4 versions of No Man's Sky will be launched simultaneously.
Speaking at the PC Gaming Show at E3 tonight, Hello's Sean Murray said: "We were actually going to announce a release date at E3 2015, but for reasons we can't. We'll announce a release date soon, and when we do, it will be for PC and PS4 simultaneously."
No Man's Sky is a space exploration adventure that Sony picked up as a console exclusive. The game was due to be launched in 2015, though Hello Games is not fixing a launch date.
Given the scale of No Man's Sky, it's possible that the game might be used to introduce an Early Access program for PlayStation 4. Xbox One has launched an Early Access program, and...
John DruryCool! I loved the Frontier coaster sims (minus screamride).
Before Frontier Developments became famous for Elite again, they mostly made rollercoaster and zoo tycoon games like RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 and Kinectimals. They haven’t stopped making those, and at E3 have announced… something other than a PC release of Xbox exclusive murdercoaster sim Screamride. That’s what I would’ve liked to hear: that I’d soon be building coasters intended to thrill and/or murder every rider. Oh well!
Still, I’ll make do with what they actually announced. Planet Coaster [official site] is a rollercoaster-building theme park management sim (no, nothing to do with pubs [jokes]) coming in 2016.
John Druryso gimmick... I want it
Fallout 4's Pip-Boy is unlike anything you've seen before — in a game or in real life. The collector's edition of Fallout 4 includes an elaborate Pip-Boy cell phone case for the wrist. And yes, it will have an app.
"As far as stupid gimmicks go, this is the best fucking one I've ever seen," said Todd Howard, the game's director.
Developing ...
John DruryWoo this year!
Fallout 4 will be released on November 10, Bethesda Softworks' Todd Howard announced at the publisher's E3 2015 press conference today. Yes, that's this year. 2015.
Bethesda offered a deep dive into Fallout 4 during its press conference tonight, showing off player customization (including the option to play as a female Vault dweller), what the game world looked like before nuclear devastation, deep weapon customization and crafting, a real-life Pip Boy and more.
The developer also revealed another game in the Fallout universe, Fallout Shelter, which is available for mobile devices starting today.
The next entry in the Fallout franchise is coming to PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Xbox One.
Bethesda: Fallout Shelter demoJohn DruryNeat
Bethesda Game Studios is working on a mobile Fallout game called Fallout Shelter, the company announced today during Bethesda Softworks' pre-E3 showcase.
The game makes you the overseer of your very own vault. You build out rooms from an anthill side view, à la XCOM. You'll control the residents of the vault, and can expand their number as well as the structure itself — by sending two of them into a room to procreate, of course.
Bethesda Game Studios' Todd Howard noted that Fallout Shelter will be free-to-play, but promised that it won't contain paywall timers or require an internet connection. Loot comes in the form of lunchboxes, and you can buy additional ones in the game.
Fallout Shelter will be available on iOS tonight; Howard...
John DruryMake up your fucking mind blizzard. (attn: pete and dom)
When we interviewed World of Warcraft lead designer Ion Hazzikostas last month about the upcoming new zone, Tanaan Jungle, one controversial decision stood out: Blizzard had decided not to add flying into the new zones of the Warlords of Draenor expansion pack, and possibly not into future expansions at all.
Now it seems that Blizzard has reversed this decision, though players will have to jump through some hoops in order to unlock the feature.
In a post on the official World of Warcraft blog, Hazzikostas reiterates much of what he told Polygon in our interview. "World of Warcraft is full of memorable moments that are only possible when players explore the world by ground," he writes.
However, Hazzikostas goes on to acknowledge that...
John DruryWell now I'm sad.
Christopher Lee, the veteran actor who starred in dozens of movies beginning in the 1940s, died this week after being hospitalized for respiratory problems and heart failure.
The U.K. Telegraph published a copy of his death certificate, which says Lee passed away at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London on June 7, last Sunday. The U.K. Independent reports that his wife delayed a public announcement to inform family first.
Lee, who stood six fee five inches tall, is perhaps best-known to his younger fans for playing Saruman in Peter Jackson's Hobbit and Lord of the Rings trilogies and Count Dooku in the Star Wars movies Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. Others may know him for his portrayal of Dracula and his role in T...
John DruryStart the hype train!
Insomniac Games revealed its re-imagining of the original Ratchet & Clank for PlayStation 4 in a new gameplay video today and it is — unsurprisingly — the best looking game in the series. But it's also probably much prettier than you were expecting.
Ratchet & Clank for PS4 will tie into the animated film of the same name that will hit theaters next year. On the PlayStation Blog, Insomniac community lead James Stevenson explains how that influenced the design of the game.
"We knew early on that we didn't want to just up-res Ratchet & Clank for PS2," Stevenson said. "We started out thinking of Ratchet & Clank on PS4 as a 're-imagining'...
John DruryWhoh.
Chris Avellone, Obsidian Entertainment's chief creative officer and one of its founding officers, is no longer with the company, Avellone confirmed to Polygon today.
His last day was May 31.
"I have officially left Obsidian Entertainment to accept a sudden opening as the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor at Hogwarts," Avellone tweeted this morning.
When we followed up with him he confirmed that while his future job at Hogwarts was a joke, his departure was not.
"It is true, and many well wishes to the folks at Obsidian," he told Polyong. "On the future, I'm off to pursue new projects, but I can't say anything more at this time beyond life is short, and the ideas keep growing. :)"
Avellone started his career writing campaigns...
John DruryCool?
I’d entirely forgotten that Wargming.net, publisher of the World of WarVehicles games, had acquired the rights to the Master of Orion and Total Annihilation licenses back in 2013, so when the news of a Master of Orion reboot arrived this morning I was taken aback.
“What?” I said. “Who?”
I didn’t ask why though because I can fully understand the desire to revisit one of the original and best 4X strategy series. Details and video below.
John DruryYay
The official Fallout 4 website went live for some a bit early today, revealing that the game will be coming to Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.
In the website's main image, seen above, we see a dog sitting and starting up at some power armor in a garage, a Nuka Cola machine, and a Pip Boy bobble head.
The site also included a link for a video, which isn't live yet, before the details were removed. The teaser site for the game is still showing a countdown timer to 10 a.m. ET, which we suspect will be when we get our look at the hidden video and, hopefully, much more details.
A reader also found the full thumbnail for the impending YouTube video and Tweeted it out. The image appears to show a first-person perspective on the world of...
John DruryHa
New York’s current “Wheel of Fortune” branded instant lottery game seems pretty fun: you scratch off letters and reveal which are or aren’t on the game board. These words are supposed to be randomly generated, but one gambler is really upset at the state lottery after scratching off the words, “YOU/ELMIRA/TRASH.” You can probably guess where he lives.
The game categories here were “person, place, thing,” and those words do fit the categories. They are also a completely-formed insult, and the ticket containing that phrase happened to be sold in the city of Elmira (population 29,200) to a 22-year-old college student.
“At first, I thought someone was playing a trick on me with one of those fake lottery tickets, but I guess it was real,” he told the local newspaper. The owner of the bar where he bought the ticket agreed: she thought something was wrong and contacted the county sheriff’s office.
Local law enforcement and the state Gaming Commission checked out the ticket, determining that it was real and that no one had put that phrase together on purpose. In a statement, the gaming commission assures us all that they are not flinging hyper-regional insults at members of the public. They explain:
“The odds of these three words being selected in that particular order are 1 in 900 million. As soon as the ticket was brought to our attention, we immediately contacted the ticket printing vendor (IGT) to remove the word ‘trash’ from being a possible result for any future game. We apologize to anyone who was offended by this unfortunate result.”
Feeling trashed by a Lottery ticket [Star-Gazette]
John DruryITTTSSSS BBAAAAACCCCKKKK
It's that time of the year again, time to start preparing for the massive Dota 2 tournament The International and time to pick up a copy of the part crowdfunding, part fan mag, part gift-giving compendium for the event.
Every year, Valve puts together a digital compendium for The International. The compendium, which sells for $9.99. The digital compendium helps players and fans from around the world celebrate the tournament, but perhaps more importantly it also fuels the prize pool for the finals and gives away a lot of neat little Dota 2 rewards.
Rewards are unlocked in two ways: through stretch goals and by leveling up your compendium through play. Stretch goal unlockables include loading screens, emoticons, music and announcer...
John DruryAs much as I don't like Vice, I really like Vice.
Melanie from Baltimore laying down the truth to Vice reporters during a livestream.
