Federal Judge Halts ‘Grand Theft Auto V’ That Allows Cheats

Federal judge put a stop to programs that enable real-life players to cheat in the games. U.S. District Judge Louis Stanton handed down the injunction against David Zipperer of Georgia.

Take-Two Interactive, which makes Grand Theft Auto Online, experienced a loss of at least $500,000 due to these programs, according to its initial complaint on March 23. Single-player mods are available with his programs, but the online community and publisher began to take issue when the online multiplayer sphere was impacted. The injunction seeks to stop sales of his product, which allows God Mode and can enable the practice of “griefing.” Online communities have engaged in substantial debate as to what qualifies as griefing, but it mostly involves creating inconvenience through level and firepower discrepancies between players.

 

World Health Organization Classification Of Gaming Disorder

As of Monday, June 18, gaming disorder is officially recognized as a mental health condition by the World Health Organization. It’s called gaming disorder, and it’s characterized by “a pattern of persistent or recurrent gaming behavior,”, or an addiction to gaming. Folks who suffer from the disorder are said to have “impaired control over gaming,” which is to say an inability to control the frequency, intensity, duration, and context of their habits. WHO also notes that those who prioritize video games over “other life interests and daily activities” and continue to escalate the amount that they play “despite the occurrence of negative consequences” are also showing symptoms of the newly classified disorder.

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which is created by the American Psychiatric Association (APA), has yet to recognize gaming as an official condition. However, the guide does include internet gaming disorder as a potential problem to continue monitoring for future inclusion.

Fortnite Celebrity Tournament

Twitch streamer Tyler “Ninja” Blevins and electronic music artist Marshmellow pose for photographs after winning the final round of Epic Games’ Fortnite Pro-Am competition.

Photo by Nick Statt / The Verge

Last week, 50 celebrities and 50 professional video game players gathered near the north end of a soccer stadium in Los Angeles to play Fortnite for $3 million in prize money and drew more than 1.1 million viewers live on Twitch. The line to get in sprawled across every available stretch of sidewalk around the Banc of California arena.

Despite the star-studded lineup, Tyler “Ninja” Blevins was far and away the most sought-after celebrity in attendance. Photo by Nick Statt / The Verge

Epic’s next mission is to change Fortnite from a compulsive pastime into a competitive e-sport. The company has pledged $100 million in prize money for the game’s first year of competitive play, and strategically announced its intention to host a Fortnite World Cup in 2019 in the middle of the Pro-Am stream to ensure the news had the maximum impact to its most valuable audience.

Fortnite has enjoyed headlines about obsessed MLB players, basketball pros’ self-described addictions, and its cross-over pop culture appeal. Big names in hip-hop and EDM like Drake and Diplo have participated in record-breaking live streams with Ninja, whose rise to stardom has been more meteoric these past nine months than any other internet celebrity in recent memory.

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NBA player Paul George exchanging phone numbers with Twitch streamer and Fortnite pro Ali “Myth” Kabbani before the tournament started. Photo by Nick Statt / The Verge

Photo by Nick Statt / The Verge

Photo by Nick Statt / The Verge

Statt / The Verge

Photo by Nick Statt / The Verge

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Has Mario(from Super Smash) Gone Insane? Here’s A Visual Interpretation

 Mario has gone from the fun-loving plumber we once knew to a face full of rage.

Now this mario here is exuberant to meet some new friends. Running headlong, with a smile on his face, unaware of what goes on in Super Smash Bros. He doesn’t even look like he’s aware he’s about to fight these guys. It’s like he’s running in for a hug. Mario is happy, he doesn’t know the dark future awaiting him. After this, he’ll know the truth. Everyone is trying to do him in. By the time Melee rolls around it’s clear Mario knows what’s up. His entire demeanor has shifted from one of unbridled joy to concentrated focus. He’s down to fight this time around. 

By the time Brawl hits, Mario knows that everything is a lie and no-one, not even his very own paramour, Princess Peach, can be trusted. Unlike previous covers, his back is turned to everyone, his visage dark and shaded under his hat. His brow furrows as he looks around him at what he now knows are not friends, but mortal enemies. 

Mario is now in full attack mode (hell, everyone is). After Brawl he has lost any and all remnants of the joyous, rotund hero who ran with open arms towards the other characters. He’s tired of dying and being reborn, only to die again and he’s not going to take it anymore. He attacks first in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. His battle cry is already ringing out before the game even starts.  The distrust, the fights, the violence have turned him into this, and he doesn’t care who this fireball hurts. They’re certainly not being launched towards his competitors. 

The Ultimate. At some point between fighting for his life concurrently in two separate games as his friends and enemies showed no remorse, Mario snapped. He is lost and all that is left is a fighting machine, hell-bent on destroying EVERYONE. And now they’ve given him that chance.

Once a hero saving people, did good deeds and even when his enemies crossed him he let them live on so they could play tennis or race each other sometimes. No more. That hero is gone. All that is left is madness. All that is left is fear. All that is left is death.

This is a synopsis of Matthew Razak, Editor-in-Chief at Flixist interpretation of Mario

OVERWATCH LEAGUE GRAND FINALS IN BROOKLYN NEW YORK

 

 

Overwatch League Grand Finals, will be at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, on Friday and Saturday, July 27–28.

Visit www.overwatchleague.com/#signup to register to receive information about ticketing for the 2018 Overwatch League Grand Finals and more.

Korean Overwatch Hackers Arrested, Hit With $10,000 Fine

South Korea’s new law is for those who hack online games in order to cheat at them, which went into effect last June, has hackers in hot water. Earlier this year, 13 Overwatch offenders were arrested, and now two have received their sentences.

According to a post from Blizzard Korea—which worked with the Seoul National Police Agency Cyber Security Department as part of a year-long investigation that began in January 2017—one of the 13 has received two years of probation from the South Korean government, and if he violates it, he’ll see jail time. The other has been fined 10 million won, or around $10,000.

No competitive game is free of cheating, but in 2016 and 2017, Overwatch had an especially nasty hacker problem in South Korea, where the proliferation of PC-focused cafes called “PC bangs” meant that cheaters could cycle between freebie accounts when they got banned. Early in 2017, Blizzard changed the rules around PC bang accounts to crack down on that practice, but there was still a bigger problem: those who created the hacks.

South Korea’s June 2017 law targets those creators—not rando players who decide it might be fun to see through walls for an afternoon. The law specifically mentions the creation of “game hacks” as well as the creation and distribution of private servers. It’s come under fire for perhaps being too broad, . Anyone found guilty can face a maximum fine of nearly $50,000 and a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

The Microsoft Store & ESL In Sydney Launches An Esports Academy

Helping students realize the dream of an esports career, the Microsoft Store’s Esports Academy, focuses on the nitty gritty of playing, but on the elements surrounding esports as a business as well. A wide array of talent from the Aussie esports scene will be on hand to teach attendees the ins-and-outs of  eSports.   Sessions run for three hours at a time and cover a wide array of esports related topics, giving attendees experience shoutcasting, playing as a team using games like League of Legends and Overwatch, and understanding the larger scale aspects of the esports business, with ESL Australia giving away tickets to IEM Sydney to attendees as well. Interested gamers, can register on the Microsoft site.

 

President Trump Plans To Meet With The Game Industry

President Trump plans to meet with members of the video game industry next week “to see what they can do” on the issue of gun violence.

Details on specific timing and attendance for the meeting weren’t immediately available, but Sanders cast the meeting as of a piece with multiple others that have already taken place between the president and “a number of stakeholders” in the gun violence debate. “This is going to be an ongoing process and something that we don’t expect to happen overnight, but something we’re going to continue to be engaged in and continue to look for the best ways possible to protect schools across the country,” Sanders said.

 

Twitch Has A Competitor Called Caffeine

A team of ex-Apple engineers and execs is taking on Amazon-owned Twitch and Google’s YouTube Gaming with today’s official launch of a new social broadcasting platform, Caffeine. Backed by $46 million from Andreessen Horowitz and Greylock Partners, Caffeine was co-founded by former Product Design Lead for Apple TV and Chomp co-founder Ben Keighran, along with Senior User Experience Designer at Apple, Sam Roberts.

 

Since  You can’t simply build yet another live streaming service and hope for the best – you have to create something original and differentiated.

For Caffeine, that’s a suite of technology products and new experiences that existing rivals don’t have.

To begin with, Caffeine has developed its own publication tool, in the form of a free 10 MB download, that makes getting started with streaming easier for the casual gamer.

There’s about 800 million gamers out there, but there’s roughly 2 million content creators a month on Twitch. With the Caffeine software, gamers can start streaming from their Windows PC with a single click.

Caffeine has developed custom technology that can detect when a game launches on the PC (by watching the system’s processes), then is able to use the Windows DLL file to inject viewers’ comments as an overlay onto the game itself.

The company built out its own real-time distribution video network that leverages WebRTC – the same technology that powers things like Google Hangouts and other peer-to-peer communications. That means everything on Caffeine is taking place in real-time with zero delays.

Caffeine

Gaming Disorder The New Mental Illness 2018

 

The newly classified gaming disorder is now included as an affliction. Those who suffer from the disorder are said to have “impaired control over gaming. Gaming disorder is characterized by a pattern of persistent or recurrent gaming behaviour (‘digital gaming’ or ‘video-gaming’), which may be online (i.e., over the internet) or offline, manifested by: 1) impaired control over gaming (e.g., onset, frequency, intensity, duration, termination, context); 2) increasing priority given to gaming to the extent that gaming takes precedence over other life interests and daily activities; and 3) continuation or escalation of gaming despite the occurrence of negative consequences. The behaviour pattern is of sufficient severity to result in significant impairment in personal, family, social, educational, occupational or other important areas of functioning. The pattern of gaming behaviour may be continuous or episodic and recurrent. The gaming behaviour and other features are normally evident over a period of at least 12 months in order for a diagnosis to be assigned, although the required duration may be shortened if all diagnostic requirements are met and symptoms are severe.

Infographic brought to you by Predator.

Earlier Version Of Super Mario Game Sold For 30,000

The transaction took place over eBay yesterday afternoon. Th eSuper Mario game was  purchased in mint-condition  for $30,100.44 USD. Longtime vintage game seller DKOldies, based out of Pennsylvania, initially listed the pristine copy of Super Mario Bros. under a no-reserve auction and set the bidding at one penny. The copy of Super Mario Bros. in question is in incredibly good condition and has been kept sealed in its original shrinkwrap. It’s also a very early copy of the iconic NES game, and has remained in the vintage “hangtab”-style packaging, which includes a perforated tab on the rear side that can be popped out to allow players to hang the game on a peg.

Overwatch World Cup Tournament

Overwatch World Cup is about to kick off in Shanghai, China.

National Overwatch teams from China, Hong Kong, Norway, and Romania will battle in Group A, while France, Denmark, Thailand, and Argentina compete in Group B. Both groups are stuffed with top-tier, professional Overwatch talent—some, however, are full professional and others are newcomers. Teams that fill out each group, save a few, are new rosters put together specifically for the event: That means that anything can happen at the Overwatch World Cup.

Day one of the Shanghai group stage begins at 2am ET on July 14—which is 2pm in Shanghai’s local time. (Of course, if you’re in North America’s pacific time zone, the tournament starts on July 13 at 11pm PT for you.) China versus Romania begins the event, followed by Hong Kong versus Norway, France versus Argentina, and Denmark versus Thailand. Exact times for each match have yet to be released, however.

Day one is expected to continue until 9am ET.

Day two

Day two continues at 2am ET and running through 9am on July 15. China will take on Norway first, followed by Hong Kong versus Romania, France versus Thailand, and Denmark versus Argentina. As with the first day, no exact times have been laid out for each match.

Day three

Day three begins at midnight ET, running through 10am on July 16. In Shanghai, the event begins at noon. China versus Hong Kong starts the day, followed by Norway versus Romania, France versus Denmark, and Thailand versus Argentina. The playoff finals will close out the event immediately after.

https://platform.dotesports.com/embed?type=twitter&url=https://twitter.com/PlayOverwatch/status/884563975639252994

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The top two teams will advance to the Shanghai playoffs, where two teams heading to the main event will be determined. All of this will go down on the Overwatch Twitch stream—though those local to Shanghai will be able to watch the event in person at Yun Space.

They’re saying That eSports Has Became Cutthroat: What It Takes To Get Paid

They’re saying there’s cutthroat competition, cash prizes, gambling, spectators, even juicing controversies in eSports. Adderall ( used to treat narcolepsy and ADHD) is a particular favorite among hardcore gamers. And the eSports business is booming; Newzoo Research estimates that eSports will be a $1.1 billion business by 2019.

 

Earnings can depend on the  person and the game. the gamers are signed to a contract and paid to play.They may not make Major League Baseball–level cash, but there are similarities between the lives of professional gamers and professional athletes. Competitors often wear sponsor-backed jerseys or other branded gear.

More On This Here

Video Game Designers Are Getting Better At Creating Hair For Black Characters

 

This year’s E3 black character’s hair is seen as refreshing. io9‘s Evan Narcisse says in his essay for anthology State of Play, As a black gamer, I’ve also noticed these problems, particularly for black women. A lot of black characters have permed, straight hair, or textures that aren’t quite right

He says “The hair, for the most, part looks great. Not only does their hair have the physicality of black hair, which tends to grow out and not down, it appears to have the coarse, kinky texture of it. For the above character from Wolfenstein II you can even see where exactly she’s picked out her fro, and the imperfections in that circle”.

 

Latest Drama In eSports, Joshua-Lee Drops Bombshell

 Former Splyce player Joshua-Lee ‘Joshh’ Shephard accusing his organization of “not paying” him in a TwitLonger post.

Marty ‘LazerChicken’ Strenczewilk, replied to the original post of Joshh’s TwitLonger on the official Call of Duty Competitive Reddit.

Calling the decision to bring back Josh under Splyce “one of the biggest mistakes we ever made,” LazerChicken said that Josh’s actions were “directly costing the organization” and that the organization “fined him from his salary (not his prize money)… to keep our team running.”

These fines came after the organization restructured their contracts to not “get screwed by players like Josh ever again who directly cost us money… as any sports team would do.”

Joshh claims the organization owes him “$5000+ from 3 events and 3/4 of a months salary” after Epsilon paid the fee to acquire him off Splyce.

He also claims that he was “told” from an unknown, unnamed member of Splyce management that he would “not [be] getting my money because they made a loss from selling me and buying Zer0.”

Joshh also qualified his post by saying that he was not “perfect when working for them, but who is?” Josh is currently is under contract with Epsilon, who is qualified for the 2017 Call of Duty Championship

eSport’s Overwatch Getting A Minor League

Just as in real sports, the quality of your players can improve if you have some kind of a farm system where aspiring top-level pros can compete against each other. Overwatch Contenders is like its Triple-A league.

Overwatch will complete its first year on the market on May 23. A a short period, it has attracted over 30 million players and become popular in the esports market, which market researcher firm Newzoo predicts will grow to a $696 million business in 2017. It’s also a paid game, not free-to-play, so all of those players spent money ($40 for the base version on PC, $60 on console) upfront.

The first season of Contenders, which Blizzard is calling Season Zero, will have open signups. Online-only qualifiers will determine the top eight teams in North America and European regions with separate tournaments. Each one will have a prize pool of $50,000. The large Asia region, meanwhile, is not a part of these first seasons

Season One will then have those top teams fighting against each other in more tournaments, giving them a chance to play competitive matches regularly. It also gives Overwatch League team owners a chance to scout out additions for their rosters.

Facebook Wants In On eSports

Katowice, Poland is home to the largest eSports event in the world—Intel Extreme Masters. Photo courtesy ESL

ESL

Facebook said Thursday that it has partnered with ESL, formerly known as the Electronic Sports League, to live stream video game tournaments, also known as eSports.

As part of the deal, Facebook  will live stream upcoming ESL contests in which players battle each other in the first-person military shooter game, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Facebook will also host a weekly show dedicated to highlights and interviews with players participating in the Counter Strike tournament.

Each week ESL will live stream 30 hours of Counter-Strike tournaments, known as RankS competitions, via Facebook, the companies said. The RankS competition involves 300 gamers from North America and Europe who battle to win a cut of the $40,000 prize money ESL awards each month. In total, ESL plans to broadcast over 5,500 hours of gaming tournaments, starting in June.

 

eSports & Immigration

The eSports economy is expected to grow to $696 million, a year-on-year growth of 41.3% and the global eSports audience is expected to reach 385 million in 2017. Total prize money in 2016 reached $93.3 million, up from $61.0 million in 2015. According to Sports Illustrated, in 2016, eSports events sold out Key Arena in Seattle, Nationwide Arena in Columbus, the Staples Center in Los Angeles and Madison Square Garden in New York. The purse for the Seattle event, The International Dota 2 Championship, was $20,770,460, which Sports Illustrated points out is roughly double the total payout of The Masters. In 2017, major eSports competitions have been scheduled across North America, Europe, South Korea, and China, to name a few, making eSports truly international.

eSports is surging and whether or not esports professionals are appropriately considered “athletes” is hotly debated. One of the reasons this debate matters is because if they aren’t athletes, they don’t qualify for P-1 visas. And if they don’t qualify for P-1 visas, it can be very difficult for these professionals to travel to the U.S. to participate in major competitive events.

Look Out eSports-Now There’s Drone Sports

Drone Racing League (DRL) organizes drone races across the globe and films them using a mix of camera drones, stationary cameras and first-person-view (FPV) video. Since its launch in 2015–2016, its races have been viewed on YouTube, Twitch and Facebook over 43 million times. DRL events have also been on TV, and the organization expects the coming season to be viewable on TV screens in up to 75 countries.

Each drone is equipped with a camera that streams images in real time to first person view (FPV) goggles worn by the pilots. The pilot literally feels like he or she is sitting on the nose of the drone, as it flies around courses in venues like outdoor stadiums, factory buildings or tents.

“Drone racing essentially means that a pilot can shift their consciousness into the aircraft, flying through tiny gaps without any fear of physical danger.

When you wear FPV goggles you share the pilot’s experience, something that has often been compared to Star Wars or a computer game.

 

 

NBA 2K18’ ARRIVES SEPTEMBER 19

BA 2K18 will arrive on September 19  Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3.
For the Legend Edition, Shaq will appear in the No. 32 jersey that he wore for the Miami Heat across his three-plus year stint in South Beach. It will cost $100 and includes a Shaq poster, five Panini trading cards, some stickers, and a slew of digital content, including 100,000 worth of in-game currency, 20 weekly MyTeam packs, undisclosed Shaq items, and “more.”
The Legend Edition Gold will feature Shaq wearing No. 34 for the Los Angeles Lakers, the team that he won three straight NBA titles with alongside Kobe Bryant. Also,Gold edition purchasers will receive an exclusive Shaq lenticular print. On the digital side of things, you’ll receive 250,000 worth of in-game currency, 40 weekly MyTEAM packs, as well as the Shaq items, and the mysterious “more” content. The Legend Edition Gold will sell for $150.

African American Hair Appears To Be A Problem With Video Games

Source: Mic

Black players don’t get to look like themselves in video games.

Video game character customization isn’t exactly a new trend, but recent titles like Fallout 4, NBA 2K17 and even newer Pokémon entries make it easier than ever to create a main character that looks just like you — they say it helps to have straight hair.?

Even when games get skin tone options right, the hair type and facial structure typically is ignored resulting accustom made black character that ends up looking more like a brown white person. See Here

Black character creator options in video games still have a long way to go

‘FIFA’ customization wins by a hairSource: Xavier Harding/Mic

Black character creator options in video games still have a long way to go

Dome afro, one of three black hairstyle options in ‘Mass Effect: Andromeda.’Source: Xavier Harding/BioWare

The WWG Gaming Comunity

the WWG

McLaren, World’s Fastest Car Company Want In On eSports

McLaren and Logitech G Team have come together to create the World’s Fastest Gamer, “the world’s most intense and demanding competition for virtual racers. The contest doesn’t have a big cash prize on the line or an expensive trip or anything like that. Instead, you’ll be offered a once in a lifetime career opportunity with McLaren. The winner of the contest will be given a one-year contract with McLaren to work as their official simulator driver. They’ll work with actual engineers at the McLaren Technology centre and at grand prix circuits where the company goes.

It doesn’t matter what platform you play on as McLaren plans to invite the best players on PC, console as well as mobile devices to the McLaren Technology Centre. Six finalists from around the world will be chosen and four more will gain entrance through online qualifying events. You’ll be able to watch hopeful racers compete through YouTube as well as through McLaren’s social media channels.

Ten racers will go in, one will come out with a job.

Seventeen NBA Teams Will Appear In NBA 2K Esports League

The 17 Teams Are:

 

• Boston Celtics
• Cleveland Cavaliers
• Dallas Mavericks
• Detroit Pistons
• Golden State Warriors
• Indiana Pacers
• Memphis Grizzlies
• Miami Heat
• Milwaukee Bucks
• New York Knicks
• Orlando Magic
• Philadelphia 76ers
• Portland Trail Blazers
• Sacramento Kings
• Toronto Raptors
• Utah Jazz
• Washington Wizards

The league will draft teams of five players to compete in a five-month season, which will mirror the NBA with a regular season, bracketed playoffs and a final championship match to wrap it all up. Players will create their own avatars for competition, so no one will be using avatars of the recognizable basketball stars that appear in NBA 2K, like LeBron James or Kyrie Irving.

The NBA is the first pro sports league to co-own an esports organization in the United States. In Europe, several soccer leagues have signed on to participate in a FIFA esports league. Earlier this year, ESPN partnered with EA for broadcasting rights of these FIFA matches. FIFA has also been chosen as one of the esports games to appear as a medal event in the 2022 Asian Games.

 

NBA2K

 

When the NBA2K eSports league launches next year, it will be under the stewardship of a longtime NBA executive and with the participation of NBA teams. Donohue will oversee the league, which was formed between the NBA and Take-Two and is set to launch with its inaugural season in 2018.

The eSports Gamers Mouse

Razer has introduced the Lancehead, a wireless mouse that uses a new type of wireless technology. Razer calls this new connection method Adaptive Frequency Technology, and suggest that it “automatically selects the strongest interference-free frequencies within the 2.4 GHz band.

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Overwatch Player Dumped For Racial Slurs

Toronto Esports cuts ties with Matt “Dellor” Vaughn for prolonged outburst during Twitch stream; Vaughn says he’s quitting competitive gaming

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Best Selling Video Games 2017

Ubisoft’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands was the best-selling game overall from February 26 through April 1. This is the first reporting period to include Sony’s Horizon: Zero Dawn, which launched on February 28. Sony’s PS4-exclusive landed in the No. 4 spot for March, behind Mass Effect: Andromeda (No. 3) and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (No. 2)., the Nintendo Switch outsold the PS4 and Xbox One in March. The Switch sold 906,000 units in the US during March.

• Ghost Recon: Wildlands
• Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild*
• Mass Effect: Andromeda
• Horizon: Zero Dawn*
• MLB The Show 17*
• Grand Theft Auto V
• For Honor
• NBA 2K17
• Nier: Automata
• Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare

March 2017 Top 10 PS4 Games

1. Ghost Recon: Wildlands
2. Horizon: Zero Dawn*
3. Mass Effect: Andromeda
4. MLB The Show 17*
5. Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 Remix
6. Nier Automata
7. Grand Theft Auto V
8. NBA 2K17
9. For Honor
10. Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare

March 2017 Top 10 Xbox One Games

1. Ghost Recon: Wildlands
2. Mass Effect: Andromeda
3. For Honor
4. NBA 2K17
5. Grand Theft Auto V
6. Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
7. Battlefield 1
8. Halo Wars 2
9. Overwatch
10. Forza Horizon 3

March 2017 Top Nintendo Switch Games

1. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild*
2. 1-2 Switch*
3. Super Bomberman R*
4. Just Dance 2017*
5. The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth*
6. Skylanders: Imaginators*

March 2017 Top Wii U Games

1. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild*
2. Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD*
3. Super Smash Bros.*
4. Minecraft*
5. Paper Mario: Color Smash*
6. Pokken Tournament*
7. New Super Mario Bros. U + New Super Luigi U*
8. Super Mario Maker*
9. Yoshi’s Wooly World*
10. Splatoon*

PlayStation Vue & eSports

 

PlayStation Vue is slated to get its very own, dedicated eSports channel with 24 hours content facility. Along with boosting the still nascent eSports industry and giving it a larger audience, this would also serve to give the players something to do between bouts of game play.

The Electronic Sports League (ESL) said that its EsportsTV will be coming to Sony’s TV streaming service later in the month.

The service launched in Europe last year and has already reached in excess of 5 million households. ESL is one of the largest names in the niche and organizes a whole host of programs including the likes of League of Legends and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

Users will have other options besides Twitch and the like to watch eSports events. With Vue available on PlayStation 4, Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, mobile, and other platforms, there will be a host of places where users can easily get hold of all the happenings in the niche.

 

Trends In The Game Industry (eSports)

According to Newzoo, of the 1.3 billion gamers worldwide, 256 million are eSports fans today. That number will grow to 385 million by 2017. ESports generated over $493 million in revenues last year and are expected to jump to $696 million this year.

When you look at the gaming landscape, the only thing as “hot “as eSports is virtual reality. Newzoo forecasts global virtual reality and augmented reality will generate $569 billion by 2025. And gamers will be a big part of that revenue, with projections of spending $100 million on VR hardware by 2018.

The Electronic Sports League (ESL), and one of the giants in both the tech and gaming markets, Intel, are already laying the groundwork for virtual reality eSports. The eleventh season of the Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) eSports tournament just concluded in Katowice, Poland over two sold-out weekends this month. Over 173,000 people attended and another 40 million people tuned into the livestreams across Twitch, Twitter, and a dozen television networks globally. IEM Season 12 will kick off its year-long tournament tour schedule on May 6 in Sydney, Australia.

Coming Soon! You’ll Be Able To Play PS4 Games On Windows PC

Read More 

 

Law Enforcement & The DDoS Crackdown

Law enforcement agencies arrested 34 suspects in 13 countries, including the U.K and the U.S., as part of a crackdown last week on DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) attacks.

The arrests targeted buyers of DDoS-for-hire services, which get paid to flood websites or internet-connected systems with traffic, forcing them to go offline.

Law enforcement agencies also interviewed and warned another 101 suspects under the age of 20, the European Union police agency Europol said in a Monday statement.

Most buyers of DDoS-for-hire services use them to pull pranks, often in online gaming. For example, a flood of traffic can be sent to a rival player’s IP address, severing their internet connection to a game.

But DDoS attacks can also be used for more malicious purposes. For example, hackers have used them to shut down online businesses as part of extortion schemes.

In severe cases, gigantic DDoS attacks can be used to disrupt the internet all across a country,as in a bombardment against DNS service provider Dyn in October that slowed access to many popular websites in the U.S

As part of the crackdown, the FBI detained a 26-year-old in California named Sean Sharma, an alleged buyer of a DDoS-for-hire service. He was charged with launching an attack against a website belonging to an unnamed San Francisco-based chat service. If convicted, Sharma could face up to 10 years in prison, the FBI said in a statement.

Fans Not Happy About Super Mario Run Needing To Connect To Internet

Super Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto, has revealed that upcoming mobile game Super Mario Run will require an active internet connection to be played and gamers are not happy about the requirement.

 Miyamoto, says an active internet connection is necessary because it is too difficult to offer the World Tour single-player mode as an offline mode, particularly because the mode is also related to the Toad Rally and Mushroom Kingdom modes.

Toad Rally needs to access the play data and scores of other users, the information can only be acquired from a server. Mushroom Kingdom, meanwhile, requires purchase verification as players will purchase items through coins earned in the game. Again, this will be impossible to do without an internet connection.

 

Shaq Is Spreading The Word: the White House Is Holding An eSports Event

The White House is live-streaming a competitive gaming event Monday, Dec. 12, and four-time NBA champion Shaquille O’Neal is helping them get the word out.

After playing some Rocket League and declaring himself the black David Beckham, Shaq got down to business and announced the White House Competitive Gaming Event. The event is a game-a-thon running from 4 to 8 p.m. ET Monday on Twitch, with a myriad of gaming personalities and esports professionals playing games and spreading the word about health care and the Affordable Care Act.

 

Toys For The Holiday

INFANTS & TODDLERS (0-2 YRS)

LAUGH & LEARN CRAWL-AROUND LEARNING CENTER

DISNEY FROZEN NORTHERN LIGHTS ELSA

Motor Skills

Social Interaction

Emotional and Social Intelligence

Product Description

Help Elsa bring back the Northern Lights as she sings “Let It Go.” Kids can wave their hand over the snowflake to create beautiful colors. Hold a hand over the snowflake and watch as the lights sparkle on Elsa’s dress.

LION GUARD TRAINING LAIR PLAYSET ages 3+

NINTENDO MARIOKART 8 QUADCOPTER-Tweens

Kids can fly Mario’s R/C quadrocopter with anti-gravity mode. Features a six-axle gyro system for flight stability, a protective cage for the rotors, and 2.4 GHz technology for up to seven minutes of flight. It has beginner and advanced modes, and a rechargeable battery.

SPEAK OUT ages 16+

This hilarious game dares you not to get tongue-tied. Players put in a mouthpiece, draw a card, and try to speak phrases while team members try to guess as many as possible.

I must assume all mouth pieces are sterilized prior to each game

 

 

 

eSports via Twitch

Smash will be in the Midwest this weekend with the UGC Smash Open in St. Louis, Missouri. Some of the best Melee and Smash 4 players in the world are convening on UGC Smash as they battle for $40,000 spread across both games.

The action starts at 10 a.m. CT Saturday and Sunday Dec. 3 and 4. The Smash 4 singles top eight starts at 4 p.m. CT Sunday, followed by the Melee singles top eight at 7:30 p.m. CT. The matches will be broadcast live on UGC’s Twitch and Melee Everyday’s Twitch.

eSports

Open qualifiers for the “Overwatch” Winter Premiere will be held for four days starting December 10 and will be presented at NGE’s official website. The Next Generation Esports said that all “Overwatch” teams for North America will be able to play for the event and team registration can be filled out online.

In the “Overwatch” Winter Premiere by Next Generation Esports, only the top eight teams will be able to battle it out after the open qualifiers. The top eight “Overwatch” teams will then face off in a Double Round-Robin group play for three weeks until two teams are left.

More Here

Pokemon Go Cheaters Will Be Banned

Niantic is starting to permanently ban players who cheat either by spoofing their location or by using software to access the game in an unauthorized manner. You  can get permanently banned for falsifying your location, using emulators, modified or unofficial software and/or accessing Pokémon GO clients or backends in an unauthorized manner including through the use of third party software. More Here

The company does offer a form for banned users to appeal the decision if they believe a mistake has been made,

 

eSports @ The Olympics

The Rio de Janeiro eGames Showcase will take place at British House, Parque Lage in Rio de Janeiro on the 15th and 16th of August.

The showcase will feature some of the leading eSports personalities in the world taking part in a showcase of SMITE and a full international Super Smash Bros. tournament.

The venue, British House, will celebrate the best of London and the UK during the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, from its sporting excellence to its business and culture.

Located at the historic Parque Lage, one of Rio’s most recognisable buildings, the house is set in the botanical surroundings of the Mata Atlântica, at the foot of the Corcovado

Israeli Army Identifies Pokemon Go As Their Lastest Threat

 

The army  has banned its forces from playing the game on Israeli military bases due to security concerns. In a directive to soldiers and officers, the army warned the game activates cell phone cameras and location services, and could leak sensitive information like army base locations and photographs of the bases.

The military is also concerned that soldiers could download a fake application that impersonates Pokemon Go but could leak information from soldiers’ phones. Pokemon Go players roam streets and buildings holding up their mobile phones and following a digital map to catch creatures that appear on the screen.

The AIG insurance company in Israel is taking advantage of the Pokemon craze to market its personal accident insurance policy that covers accidents caused while playing such mobile phone games. Yifat Reiter of AIG said the company has received dozens of inquiries about the accident insurance for Pokemon players. Distracted Pokemon players have suffered moderate injuries.

Last week, a 15-year-old girl suffered a head injury after she fell off her bicycle while pursuing Pokemon creatures, and a 35-year-old player ran into a glass door and suffered “massive bleeding” in his legs. For Palestinians, Pokemon Go is a frustrating game to play, because mobile high-speed internet services don’t exist in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The Palestinians are among a few markets in the world that still use older 2G technology, according to the International Telecommunication Union, a U.N. agency.

A Gaza-based animator was one of the first people in the territory to download the game. The fourth Pokemon he wanted to catch was located on the premises of the Palestinian Legislative Council, an off-limits government building run by Hamas, the Islamic militant group that controls Gaza.

Other Games Besides Pokemon Go

Geocaching’

Geocaching is an outdoor game app in which people use an app or a GPS device to discover hidden containers around the world. Yes, real containers, and some of them even contain small trinkets for trade.It’s like a  real-life treasure hunt

SpecTrek’

SpecTrek is an augmented reality ghost-hunting game in which users must walk or run to various locations to find virtual ghosts and “catch” them on their phone’s camera.

‘BallStrike’

BallStrike, users have to punch or kick a series of balls that appear all around them in their phones’ or tablets’ rear-facing cameras. The idea is for the user to twist and turn to hit each ball, making the ball explode.

Zombies, Run!’

Zombies, Run! is an immersive running game app in which gamers are tasked with surviving a zombie apocalypse. As gamers jog in real life, they can listen to scary story lines and sound effects of zombies chasing them. In fact, gamers have to speed up whenever a zombie is on their heels. The farther you run, the more supplies you collect to survive.

The Walk’

In The Walk, which was developed by the same team that created Zombies, Run!, the gamer must carry a package that could save the world to a mysterious destination.

As the player walks during the day, they get closer and get closer to the destination, while also unlocking immersive audio story clips along the way. The game takes three months to complete, which might be long enough to develop a new fitness habit.

Superhero Workout’

Superhero Workout was developed by the same creators of Zombies, Run! and The Walk. In the game, the user becomes the pilot of a battlesuit tasked with defending the world against alien forces. The game requires the user to complete real-world exercises, from abdominal crunches to arm punches, to defeat the aliens. The app uses motion detection to track progress.

 

Vancouver’s Nursing Shortage & Video Gaming Experience

 

B.C. Children’s Hospital closed two of its eight operating rooms due to nursing shortages this year. Part of the problem stemmed from the amount of time it takes to train nurses and get them up to speed concerning various operating procedures.  Training a scrub nurse can take six months to properly gain operating room skills. The Association of Registered Nurses of British Columbia highlighted the strain on nurses, finding as many as 40% leave the profession within ten years, partially due to lack of mentoring stemming from nursing shortages.

Angela Robert, the CEO and founder of Conquer Mobile, a health tech company that specializes in medical education solutions, met with a few people on the cutting edge of integrating virtual reality into health care. Neurosurgeon Dr. David Clarke and neuroscientist Dr. Ryan D’Arcy et al concluded simulation could be a great way to train perioperative nurses and surgery residents. Robert said “they were actually looking for people with video gaming experience.” Robert decided to develop an app and virtual reality that would help train nurses without actually having to get them into the operating room. The key to the app was its usability, something the gaming industry thrives on.

Enter PeriopSim, is now used by over 200 facilities from Vancouver Coastal Health, Fraser Health and the Nova Scotia Health Authority. The app and accompanying full virtual reality version cuts training times in half and simulation training offers the opportunity to prepare nurses before they go into clinical placements.

New York States’3D Lottery Game

The New York Lottery has just released a scratch-off game that can be played in augmented reality using your iPhone or Android smartphone. It’s called Gold Castle, and it is the first of its kind in the country. You simply scratch off a small section for “3-D Play” and scan the barcode into an app. A castle pops up out of your ticket, and you can tap glowing windows to see if you won.

City & State recently spoke with the head designer of the new game, Liana Kadisha, who is the chief products officer at Paymaxs.

Man Caught On Indonesian Military Base Hunting For Pokemon Go

AFrenchman hastrespassed an Indonesiam military base while playing the augmented reality game “Pokemon Go.”

A spokesman for West Java police said that a 27-year-old French man was caught at a checkpoint on Monday evening after initially running away when challenged by security guards at the military complex in Cirebon.

The man was released a few hours later because it became apparent he unintentionally entered the complex as he was hunting Pokemon while jogging.

“Pokemon Go,”which uses Google Maps and a smartphone to overlay reality with Pokemon creatures, has not been officially released in Indonesia but is already popular.

Cabinet Secretary Pramono Agung said he had captured a number of Pokemon at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta, the Indonesian capital a week ago.

A Game Better Than Pokemon Go?

Since Ingress’s launch in late 2012, it has gathered a small but devoted player base around the world. (It’s hard to tell how small; Niantic refuses to give out statistics. The game has been downloaded more than 11 million times, just like Pokemon Go.

Pokémon Go is a social game, while Ingress takes this aspect much further. In Ingress, two teams—the Enlightenment and the Resistance—battle for control of portals akin to PokeStops scattered throughout the world.

Did You know Your Library Has…….?

Today’s modern libraries offer e-book and e-magazines, plus movies on DVD and other digital items such as services as free Wi-Fi, used bookstores. 90% of libraries now offer e-books for your device, and 39% lend e-readers to library patrons. Public libraries across the country are getting creative when it comes to being a resource for their communities. Michigan’s Ann Arbor District Library loans out art prints for two months. Library users can also check out art supplies with dies, musical instruments and microscopes. Board games, fishing poles and tackle boxes are available in Michigan’s St. Clair County Library System. And it’s not just household items. The Mesa Public Library in Arizona has a seed library, where library card-holders can get three free seed packets a month to start a garden.

New York Libraries has I-pads, and computers for the toddlers and gaming equipment like X-box and PS4 for teens, adults and seniors.

Indianapolis’ library system  and a host of others,offer students the ability to text a librarian or email or chat with a tutor for free).

If your child has prepared for the SAT/ACT and is ready to start applying to colleges, libraries also have information on awards, grants and scholarship that can help tremendously with the cost of college tuition.  

Treadmill work stations offer a way for library patrons to burn a few calories while reading or surfing the web. Three branches of the Phoenix Public Library allow visitors to reserve walking computers for 30-minute sessions. Central Library in Phoenix and THINKspot at Red Mountain Library in Mesa, Ariz., are two such maker spaces that provide tools and resources for exploring science, technology, engineering, math and art (STEAM).

Libraries offer public access to specialized equipment like 3D printers, as well as training and a collaborative environment in which to create. Other libraries offer classes and services for aspiring artists, novelists and people interested in learning out-of-the-box skills. The Bubbler at Madison Public Library in Wisconsin holds courses ranging from videogame design to screen-printing and painting. Brooklyn Public Library  in New York offer classes in digital camera editing.

Local artists have also used the Media Lab facilities at the Madison Public Library to record and produce their music.

 Libraries have been shifting from book repositories to community learning centers for years. Today many libraries offer online classes, workforce training, tax aid, health promotion, and resume and career-building support.

Your Savings:

CELEBRATE NATIONAL LIBRARY WEEK

 

 

 

 

 

24-Karat Gold-plated Nintendo Entertainment System For Sale

 

Retro hardware manufacturer Analogue is now accepting reservations for a 24-karat gold-plated Nintendo Entertainment . Only 10 of the Analogue’s limited-edition NES model, console are being produced, priced at $5,000 each. The limited edition unit is  identical to the Analogue Nt aluminum model, priced at a comparatively modest $500. The system is built with refurbished and recovered Nintendo Entertainment System hardware, the Analogue Nt upgrades the 8-bit system’s video output to support modern formats like RGB, component, and s-video, in addition to a standard composite signal.

 

Read More Info it

 

Women in Gaming and Online Harassment

 

Brianna Wu, a prominent video game developer, says there has been threats against her life. In a panel at the South by Southwest conference held recently, she held up a picture of an Internet troll in a skeleton mask. This person, whose identity remains anonymous, sent Ms. Wu a message claiming he wanted to end her life by putting a drill to her forehead. She also stated her husband and dog were threatened as well. Ms. Wu, who works for the gaming studio Giant Spacekat, is not alone in these threats. Other women in the gaming community have faced similar online harassment, which, they say, goes far beyond name calling and violent threats. A half-dozen police officers milled about in the hours before the events started, scanning the crowds for any potential problems. Each session was attended by a police officer who sat at the back of the ballroom surveying the crowd and looking for unattended bags.

 

Government Losing Ability To Spy On Suspects Because Of Encryption – Is Largely Overblown

 

 

Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper made it clear that the internet of things – devices like thermostats, cameras and other appliances that are increasingly connected to the internet – are providing ample opportunity for intelligence agencies to spy on targets, and possibly the masses. Samsung sparked controversy last year after announcing a television that would listen to everything said in the room it’s in and in the fine print literally warned people not to talk about sensitive information in front of it.

Other Gadgets are spying as well.

Other television models, Xbox Kinect, Amazon Echo and GM’s OnStar program that tracks car owners’ driving patterns. Even a new Barbie has the ability to spy on you – it listens to Barbie owners to respond but also sends what it hears back to the mothership at Mattel. Researchers at Princeton University have found that, Google’s parent company, Alphabet popular Nest thermostat was leaking the zip codes of its users over the internet. This data was transmitted unencrypted, or in the clear, meaning that anyone sniffing traffic could have intercepted it, according to the researchers.  Sharx security camera transmits video feeds in the clear, allowing pretty much anyone with access to the owner’s network to intercept and watch them over the internet.