PS2J 330 News – Modern Gaming Art

Free games

  • Epic Games

    • Star Wars Battlefront II: Celebration Edition

      • 2017
      • Third and first person action shooter followup to the Battlefront reboot of 2015 that has you fighting on the ground and among the stars across a variety of maps in the Star Wars universe, with both the multiplayer Battlefield-style gameplay we’re used to in the series as well as a single-player campaign
      • The Celebration Edition bundles it along with a large collection of aesthetic customization content that was available through in-game purchase, all the way from launch up to and including The Rise of Skywalker

CES 2021 highlights

  • Razer showed off Project Hazel, clear futuristic face masks that qualify as N95 respirators, have a good silicone liner to prevent leakage or foggy glasses, and amplify your voice to help keep speech from sounding muffled
  • They also have the Project Brooklyn gaming chair, a bucket seat with an integrated keyboard tray and 60” curved display for more immersion
  • Panasonic has an AR HUD system for vehicles that use eye tracking and projected images on the windshield to show an intelligent overlay including alerts and directions lined up with real-world objects
  • LG showcased their new rollable display tech, leading to scroll-like devices with a thick rounded edge and an adjustable display size
  • Brink Bionics has the Impulse Neuro-Controller, a glove that can detect your intention to click your mouse 80ms before your finger moves
  • ColdSnap wants to be the Keurig of ice cream, aiming to provide pod-based soft-serve made to order in under 120 seconds
  • Petpuls is an AI driven smart dog collar that will decipher up to five different emotions (happy, anxious, angry, sad, relaxed) and track your pet’s activity and sleep
  • And Vuzix has some microLED smart glasses that actually look like something humans would wear, with the added benefit of cellular connectivity, noise-cancelling microphones, stereo audio, and a 3D HUD shown across both lenses

Lucasfilm Games is shifting their entire development strategy, opening the doors to more studios and ending EA’s monopoly on the Star Wars IP

  • The first big news to come from this is that they’re collaborating with Ubisoft on a story-driven open-world Star Wars game, which will be led by Massive Entertainment
    • You might have seen their name on things like Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, Far Cry 3, and Tom Clancy’s The Division 1/2
  • They went on to say that their relationship with EA isn’t completely ending though, which makes sense after the great success of Star Wars: Squadrons, and the middling success of Fallen Order
    • This is some good news for Reddit commenters who brought up a great point- why hasn’t Respawn taken their Titanfall chops and made a Republic Commando title?
    • Though that just reminds me how the Clone Wars TV show put a hard stop on the Republic Commando / Imperial Commando books, and makes me a little sad
  • But on to more hope- apparently Lucasfilm Games will also be working with Todd Howard, MachineGames (the team behind the new Wolfenstein titles), and Bethesda on an upcoming Indiana Jones title as well!
  • I’m really looking forward to what Lucasfilm kicking their gaming division into gear will mean for the next few years of releases

CD Projekt’s co-founder released an explanation this week of exactly what happened with Cyberpunk 2077’s development and release

  • In the video statement he defended the development teams and said that the decisions lay solely on his and the board’s shoulders, and promised they would work to regain the trust of gamers
  • Apparently the game was initially developed for PC and then ported to consoles, which led to many of the issues running on PS4 and Xbox One as they underestimated the difficulty of the port
    • And the big reason why review keys for console weren’t sent out until right before release was just because they were still working hard trying to iron out all the issues that they had found
  • The path forward
    • More updates are coming with bug fixes, updates and improvements
    • Once the biggest fixes are out they’ll be releasing free DLC packs aimed at the first half of the year, and the PS5 and Xbox Series optimization updates in the second half
  • So all told we should have the Cyberpunk we were hoping for before the end of 2021, which is something at least. Whether people will start trusting the developers again will remain to be seen

Citing concerns over censorship, a North Idaho internet provider blocked Facebook and Twitter this week

  • For anyone who isn’t aware, Twitter and Facebook banned Trump from their platforms due to violations of their terms of service after he incited a riot that invaded the US capitol building in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election results
    • Keep in mind that this is completely legal, and that the First Amendment only protects speech from being limited by the government
  • According to emails sent by “Your T1 WIFI” to its customers the ISP determined that this was censorship of their customers and information, so they decided to block access to the sites as of Wednesday
    • Your T1 WIFI stated that about 2/3 of its customers had called in asking the sites to be blocked because of these concerns, so the next logical step was to censor block the sites from all customers
  • They’ve since walked back the decision and made it an opt-in process instead, but the damage may already be done- a spokesperson for the Washington Governor’s office said that the attorney general’s Consumer Protection Division would be looking in to the matter because of Net Neutrality violations, which forbid broadband internet providers from blocking lawful content and services

In related news, the right-wing social media site Parler has gone dark after being pulled from not only the Apple and Google app stores but also the Amazon web hosting services that the site was running on

  • Apparently Parler was basically chock full of nazis, radical extremists, and terrorists, with much of the content focused on inciting and coordinating violence or other illegal activity
    • Daring Fireball described it as “4chan with rightwing celebrity endorsements”
    • For example Parler investor Dan Bongino, a Fox News commentator and former NYPD police officer, said in a Parler post that the company was “not done with Apple and Google” and encouraged users to “Stay tuned to hear what’s coming.” One user replied: “It would be a pity if someone with explosives training were to pay a visit to some AWS Data Centers – the location of which are public knowledge.”
  • All of this went against the terms of service of the various platforms it was connected to, so therefore it was kicked out even after being given warnings and deadlines in which to implement some kind of moderation plan
    • As it turns out, Parler was actually even in direct violation of its own terms of service
  • Some have taken to screaming first amendment and censorship, but I cannot stress this enough- freedom of speech doesn’t mean freedom from consequences
  • And those consequences will be coming- apparently in the wake of the US Capitol riot a researcher began archiving every Parler post to create a lasting public record for future researchers to sift through
    • Hacker @donk_enby pulled dozens of terabytes of content, including raw unprocessed photos and videos that include metadata like the exact GPS coordinates at which they were recorded

This Week In Gaming History

January 9 – 2000 – Mario Party 2 – N64 (North America)

  • Mario and a range of well known Nintendo characters, including Yoshi, Bowser, Luigi, and Wario return for some more party action.
  • The second edition includes 5 new boards, each with a specific theme, such as Space Land, Western Land, Horror Land, and Mystery Land.
    • Each board includes unique attributes in relation to the theme, but the main goal is the same: complete the board game over a certain amount of moves and be the player to have the most coins and/or stars at the end.
  • The single player story mode allows one person and 3 CPU controlled players to play each board.
    • Once you play a specific mini-game (64 in all), they become available to purchase using the coins you collected in your games to play anytime.
    • Multiplayer allows 2 to 4 people to play the game.

January 10 – 1997 – Obsidian – Windows

  • The plot of this Myst-influenced 5 CD adventure game involves issues such as nanotechnology and artificial intelligence.
    • Fortunately, the bundled strategy guide explains the basics of these subjects.
    • Gameplay is linear and largely based around puzzles.
  • Obsidian’s had an imaginative advertisement campaign.
    • Combining both printed ads as well as television spots, the campaign was unusual as it portrayed several common situations twisted in a way that defied all laws of physics, nature and logic followed by the tagline “Your rules do not apply here”.
      • For example: a printed ad showing an empty room lit by an overhead lamp, only the lamp produces darkness instead of light.
    • Yet the most impressive ad was the famed “egg” TV spot, which featured a guy dropping an egg to the floor with unexpected results.
    • This commercial became a particular object of cult among publicity buffs and won 3 Gold Clio awards and became a permanent feature on the New York Museum of Modern Art, as well as being a regular on TV commercial specials, and a runner-up for a Cannes Golden Lion award.

January 11 – 2005 – Resident Evil 4 – GameCube

  • Plot:m
    • Picking up six years after Resident Evil 2, the fourth game in the series follows former cop (now US agent) Leon S. Kennedy to Europe on a top secret mission to investigate the disappearance of the president’s daughter Ashley.
    • As Leon encounters unimaginable horrors, he must find out who or what is behind everything.
    • Old friends…and enemies…lurk around every corner as Leon attempts to find out who is truly behind the kidnapping of the president’s daughter.
  • Resident Evil 4 is a major change from the previous installments.
    • Instead of a fixed third person perspective, the game features a new “behind the back” movement camera angle and an “over the shoulder” aiming feature that allows players to control their gun movement for specific body part hits.
    • It features a brand new AI system and more open environments that allow enemies to work together to capture and corner Leon.
    • Enemies are now humans, which allows them to climb up ladders, open doors, and use weapons throughout the game.
  • The entire item system has also been revamped, so that smaller items no longer require an entire item space to hold.
    • Instead, items take up blocks of space in a briefcase according to their real life size, to allow for many more items and weapons.
    • Leon can collect treasure from enemies or from the surrounding area, and visit the infamous “merchant” to purchase bigger briefcases, treasure maps, weapons upgrades, and powerful weapons such as the one-shot RPG.
    • There is also the Mercenaries from Resident Evil 3, which allows the player to play survival scenarios as character such as Hunk and even Albert Wesker himself.
  • Development:
    • The earliest version of the game was announced for the PS2 under Resident Evil 2 with director Hideki Kamiya.
    • This build was eventually cancelled as a Resident Evil installment and became the title known as Devil May Cry.
    • Eventually, development was moved to the Gamecube console and another build emerged.
    • This was the first version to feature Leon from RE2. The game’s main menace was to sport a hook on one of its hands, and the logo for the game reflected this (this can still be seen in the final logo).
    • More versions were created and cancelled before Shinji Mikami took over and transformed the title into what it is today.
    • Of all the builds developed, only one of them was never unveiled to the public (it was the one that was being worked on right before Mikami took over).
    • Early in the development stages the game’s setting was Japan, not Europe.

January 12 – 2016 – That Dragon, Cancer – Windows, Mac, Ouya

  • That Dragon, Cancer is an autobiographical and crowd-funded game created with a small team and based on the experience of the couple Ryan Green and Amy Green, who lost their son Joel Evan Green to cancer.
    • The game consists of fourteen interactive sequences that chronicle their time with Joel, incorporating their thoughts and experiences, and voiced by themselves and their other children.
    • It represents a love letter to their son and a way to immortalize him.
    • Joel was diagnosed with an atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumor when he was twelve months old, leading to terminal cancer, but he went on to live for four more years until he passed away in 2014.
  • Each scene shows a different moment of their time together with Joel, both the highs and the lows.
    • Scenes are often abstract or involve metaphorical interpretations of situations and are played from a first-person or a third-person perspective with small amounts of interaction and exploration.
    • Sometimes there are choices for the player or optional parts that can be explored or examined.
    • There are scenes at the pond, playing with a duck, in the playground, the hospital and so on.
    • Scenes show both the positive moments such as Joel playing or the conversations with the other children, but also the couple when they argue, the moment of the first diagnosis, the conflict between science and faith and so on.
    • A part of the crowd-funded contributions also involves messages and art incorporated in the game.
  • Along with the game, a documentary called Thank You for Playing was filmed, documenting the game’s development and the last years of Joel’s life.
    • It was released in 2016. The game was released on what would have been Joel’s seventh birthday.

January 13 – 2004 – Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel – Xbox, PS2

  • Setting:
    • In a post-apocalyptic future, a society known as the Brotherhood of Steel is born, wielding powerful weapons and armor from the time before the war, they seek to bring some form of order to the wastelands of what used to be the United States.
    • As a new member(s) to the Brotherhood, you’ll soon find yourself separated from your comrades and forced to contend with a variety of missions and challenges alone.
    • Radscorpions, Super-Mutants and Deathclaws are all in the Brotherhood’s way, and bringing an end to their tyranny will certainly make the wasteland a safer place.
  • Brotherhood of Steel is an action game set in the Fallout universe.
    • The Brotherhood members are well armed and carry full clips of ammo (which does run out).
    • New weapons of various nature can be found and equipped to bring new tactics.
    • Shooting down enemies earns experience points and these points are used to improve the attributes of various individual skills.
    • Additionally, your character will have to contend with finding keys and other objects, protecting NPCs and jumping over bottomless pits.
  • Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel features a product placement for the real life Bawls energy drink.
    • This may be jarring to fans of the Fallout series, who are used to having Nuka-Cola as the post-apocalyptic drink of choice.
  • Fan response to this game was so overwhelmingly negative that Interplay actually shut down the official Brotherhood of Steel message board.
    • It is so hated by the Fallout fanbase, the game’s section on the No Mutants Allowed forums (one of the biggest Fallout forum) is called: “Fallout: Piece of Shit (PS2, XBOX, My Lower Intestine)”.

January 14 – 1999 – EA pulls Tiger Woods 99 on Playstation for bootlegging South Park

  • Company recalls PSX version of Tiger Woods 99.
  • A bootleg episode of Southpark was found on the CD in normally unused space.
  • The file was only readable via a PC, and was invisible to the PSX console.
  • Recall was issued since Southpark is offensive to some people.
  • Roughly 100,000 copies were affected.

January 15 – 2002 – Mobile Suit Gundam: Zeonic Front – PS2

  • Based on the Mobile Suit Gundam anime series.
    • Ride with the bad guys as you battle Earth Federation forces for independence.
    • Take control of three mobile suit teams. Use strategy tactics to infiltrate federation bases.
    • Use a wide variety of Mobile suits equipped to kill.
    • Strategically set your route to carry out mission objectives successfully

Tidbits

  • Samsung unveiled their new Galaxy S21 series of phones with edge-to-edge display, 120hz refresh rate, and 8K video recording
    • The Ultra model also brings a larger display and S Pen functionality for people that miss the Note series
    • Unfortunately it looks like not even Samsung staff are that into their hardware, with tweets promoting the release being marked from “Twitter for iPhone”
  • WhatsApp is now in a rush to reassure people that some of their data is still safe after changing its terms and privacy policy to include significant data sharing with Facebook
    • Backlash from those changes saw Signal and Telegram hitting the top of the free app charts on iPhone as people found other options for messaging
    • They went out of their way to list the things they don’t share like private messages, call logs, and your location, but doesn’t mention what they do share like device usage, IP address, and unspecified “other information”
  • Apple announced a set of new major projects this week as part of its $100M Racial Equity and Justice Initiative, to help dismantle systemic barriers to opportunity and combat injustices faced by communities of colour
    • This includes an innovation and learning hub both in Atlanta and online, an Apple Developer Academy in Detroit, and venture capital funding for entrepreneur POC’s
  • Roku has purchased Quibi’s old content library of about 75 shows and documentaries for well under $100M according to the Wall Street Journal, giving them exclusive rights through to the end of the year and shared streaming rights through 2027
    • Roku will be offering the content for free with ads, which likely means that a lot more people will see these shows now than would have otherwise

 

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PS2J 282 News – Hot Mario

Free games

  • Epic Games

    • Rayman Legends

      • 2013
      • Action platformer in classic Rayman fashion that has up to four players simultaneously making their way through levels, collecting Lums, and defeating enemies
  • Sony

    • Titanfall 2

      • 2016
      • First person shooter that prioritizes fluid movement and adaptable tactics, and then you drop a gigantic robot in the arena and wreck shop
      • The sequel also introduced a single-player campaign with a buddy-cop / Half-Life feel
    • Monster Energy Supercross

      • 2018
      • Arcade motocross racing game that lets you customize your rider and bike for single-player or against racers all over the world
  • Microsoft

    • Insane Robots

      • 2018
      • Roguelike turn-based card battle game that has you leading a robot rebellion through randomly generated survival arenas
    • Jurassic World Evolution

      • 2018
      • Business simulation game based on 2015’s Jurassic World, where you build a dinosaur park on the Las Cinco Muertes Archipelago
    • Toy Story 3

      • 2010
      • A platformer loosely based on the film of the same name that also includes a free-roam Toy Box mode set within the fictional Woody’s Roundup television series
    • Castlevania: Lord of Shadow – Mirror of Fate HD

      • 2013
      • Side-scrolling action-adventure game that reveals the story of the Belmonts as they battle across generations against the forces of darkness

Google’s Stadia launch is making waves with its underwhelming performance in the wild

  • Apparently despite Google’s insistence that games will run in 4K resolutions at 60 fps, Bungie has stated that the Stadia’s version of Destiny 2 renders at 1080P and then upscales to improve the quality
    • This appears to be a common strategy, with Red Dead Redemption 2 also rendering at 1440p and upscaling after the fact
  • Google’s released a statement basically saying that they support 4K and 60fps, and they give developers “the freedom of how to achieve the best image quality and frame rate”
    • They went on to say that they expect developers will be continually improving gameplay and graphics as time goes on
  • Still, after Google’s vice president announced that all games at launch would support 4K, this is a bitter pill to swallow for many who spent almost $200 on the platform and signed up for the $10/month service in addition to the cost of the games themselves
  • In an effort to ease the pain of new users Google’s given a couple of free games to early adopters- Farming Simulator 19: Platinum Edition and Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition, and refunds for both for people who recently purchased them at full price

Valve revealed more details about Half-Life: Alyx, and it looks gorgeous

  • The graphics are just beautiful, and gameplay seems to be the familiar mix of shooting and problem solving that Half-Life fans are used to
    • They’ve also brought gravity gun-like mechanics with the gravity gloves, which seem to allow for full-scale gameplay in smaller rooms by letting you catch and bring stuff towards you that you can’t otherwise reach
  • The game can apparently be played either sitting, standing, or with roomscale movement, and players can use finger-tracking or trigger-based controllers to either teleport around or walk smoothly with an analog stick
  • It’ll officially support the Valve Index, HTC Vive, Windows Mixed Reality, and Oculus Rift headsets. The Oculus Quest will also work when connected to a PC
  • That PC is going to need some beefy specs though, with Alyx’s minimum requirements including mid-high range processors and graphics cards, as well as 12GB of RAM
  • It will apparently be a “full-length” game, hitting Steam in March 2020, and preorders are available for $60USD. Owners of the Index will get it for free

Facebook has acquired Beat Games, the developers of Beat Saber, and I’m not sure how to feel about it

  • On one hand, Beat Saber is an amazing game and the team behind it deserves all the money and recognition
  • On the other, Facebook is my least favourite company and I can’t help but think there’s going to be a combination of nickel-and-diming and privacy invasion coming soon
    • They’ve already announced Facebook support incoming with “social features, new modes, music, and more”
  • Apparently the dev team will join Oculus Studios to continue work on all currently supported platforms, and current plans for 360 degree levels and more music remain unchanged

And last we have a blast from the past for you- contaminated romaine lettuce has hit once more, causing 67 cases of E. coli across the US

  • You might remember this from way back in episode 191, 193, and 226
  • This time the outbreak has been linked to romaine grown in Salinas, California, and the CDC is advising consumers and retailers not to eat, sell, or serve any romaine grown in the region
  • If you’re not sure where your romaine came from it’s best to just toss it to be safe

Deathwing crashes Heroes of the Storm

Deathwing breaks many conventions of what people are used to with a hero in Heroes of the Storm.
He is the largest playable character in the game, making him a massive target. Even larger than when Alexstraza, uses her dragon form, but Deathwing will always be in his dragon form.
He is a melee bruiser, with energy instead of mana. He has huge advantages, and its balanced by extreme weaknesses.

His strengths

  • Deathwing is permanently Unstoppable. He is immune to all crowd control effects
  • He does area damage
  • All his abilities are not only strong, but cannot be interrupted
  • He has a high health pool, and a ton of armour
  • He has global mobility
  • And Crowd Control abilites

His weaknesses

  • He is unaffected by allied abilities, that’s no buffs or heals
  • Poke damage can’t be healed easily, so its quite dangerous
  • With a massive health pool, percentage-damage attacks do quite a lot
  • His abilities have a obvious wind-up, all his attacks are telegraphed
  • Once he uses Dragonflight, his options are limited

His abilities

Passive

  • Aspect of Death

    • Deathwing has 4 armour plates which grant 10 armor each. Each quarter portion of his health lost, loses a plate. And health gained does not restore armor plates. Only Dragonflight will heal are restore armor plates.
    • Deathwing is unstoppable and deals 100% additional damage to heroes.
    • And his contempt for even his allies prevent them from using friendly effects on him.

Mount

  • Dragonflight

    • 45 Second cooldown
    • After 3 seconds, fly into the sky, becoming immune to all effects and gaining 2.5% Health per second.
    • Taking or dealing damage puts this ability on a 5 second cooldown.

1 Key

  • Form Switch

    • Switches Deathwing between Destroyer and World Breaker forms, each granting access to two unique Basic Abilities.

Q

  • Molten Flame

    • After 1.5 seconds, Deathwing breathes stream of flame. Drains 30 Energy per second.
  • Destroyer – During Dragonflight

    • Slam down to the ground, dealing damage to enemies in the area and gaining access to Destroyer form
    • Can be in air however long you want.
    • Can land on any point with vision.
    • Other abilities have a 3 seconds cooldown after landing.

W

  • Incinerate – Destroyer Form

    • After 0.75 seconds, Deathwing flaps his wings, dealing damage to nearby enemies.
  • Lava Burst – World Breaker Form

    • After a 1 second delay, deal damage to all enemies in the area and create a pool of magma that deals damage and slows enemies. Lasts 6 seconds.
  • World Breaker – During Dragonflight

    •  Slam down to the ground, dealing damage to enemies in the area and gaining access to World Breaker form

E

  • Onslaught – Destroyer Form

    • After 0.5 seconds, Deathwing lunges in a direction dealing damage to enemies and slowing them by 35% for 2 seconds. Deathwing bites enemies at the end of the lunge, dealing additional damage.
  • Earth Shatter – World Breaker Form

    • Create a fissure of earth that deals damage to enemies hit and stuns them for 0.75 seconds.
    • Attack comes out in a cone, only effecting the edges

R

  • Cataclysm

    • After 2 seconds, Deathwing flies in the targeted direction, dealing damage on impact and leaving scortched ground that deals damage over time. Lasts 6 seconds.
    • Deathwing starts with his epic ability, but it starts on a 270 second cooldown at the beginning of a match.

Amiibo releases while we’re gone!

  • Good news for Canadians, Best Buy pre-orders have been really good for amiibo lately
    • In my experience at least
  • Shovel Knight
    • 3 Pack!
      • Plauge Knight
      • Specter Knight
      • King Knight!
    • Golden Shovel Knight
  • Smash Bros
    • Ricter
    • Dark Samus

 

Be safe holiday shopping with BBB 

  • Holiday shopping is fun, but be safe
    • It’s black Friday sales the weekend of this episodes release
    • and Christmas shopping is up while we are taking our December break
  • When sales are on, so are the scammers
    • If a sale looks too good to be true, it probably is
    • The Better Business Bureau is here to help!
    • You can search by keyword
    • Scam Type
    • Country
    • And even Date Reported
  • Make sure you talk to your less techsavvy family and friends
    • Don’t click links in unexpected emails
    • Don’t use links provided
      • Navigate to the site yourself
      • Use caution when using a link that is required for a promotion

 

Tidbits

  • Apparently Apple will be revamping their software development processes after the buggy launch of iOS 13, implementing “flags” to allow software engineers to selectively enable or disable unfinished or buggy features in testing
  • According to Phil Spencer, Microsoft’s Head of Xbox, VR support is not in the cards for the next Xbox (currently known as Project Scarlett)
    • In a statement to gaming site Stevivor, Spencer said that he thinks VR is isolation and games are a communal, kind of together experience
  • No Man’s Sky is getting yet another huge, free update- this time letting you upgrade your favourite ships all the way up to S-Class
    • The new upgrade system is being introduced alongside a lot of other pieces like a ship salvage system, inventory upgrades, the ability to have multiple multitools, and a ton of other quality-of-life improvements

Alan’s Top Recommendations of the Year!

  • Movie
    • Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse (ep 230)
  • Netflix series
    • Russian Doll (ep 239)
  • Book and series
    • The Calculating Stars (ep 242)

 

Literally Misleading

Last Week:

Reddit User – red_4
An ex-con makes it big.
Ant Man

 

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A huge thanks to Dalton, for supporting us for so long. We really appreciate his support over the years.

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We are a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network powered by ATB
And talk to us in the comments!

Alert: Anyone still using an iPhone 5 should update their software immediately

  • As of November 3rd core functionality of the phones will break due to a GPS bug with daylight saving time, and if you haven’t already updated to iOS 10.3.4 by then you’ll have to manually do so through your computer- iCloud connections and over-the-air updates will no longer work

Samsung has released an update to address the fingerprint fiasco on their Galaxy S10 and Note 10 devices

  • A couple weeks ago we talked about the problem with Samsung’s revolutionary new ultrasonic under-display fingerprint sensor, and how by applying a screen protector to the device you can unlock it with anything from a piece of fruit to a small toy
  • Samsung’s now officially released a fix for this problem, and they’ve said they’ll be sending notifications to all users who have registered their fingerprints in their devices
    • They’re also asking anyone that has registered their fingerprint with a screen protector applied to remove it, then delete and re-register their prints, since the stored prints may include “incorrect” info
  • Time will tell if Samsung can earn back the trust of the security community though, with many banks worldwide pulling fingerprint verification from their apps on varying ranges of Samsung and Galaxy devices
    • The Bank of China even blocked it for Tab S6 users, which uses a standard optical sensor instead of the in-display ultrasound

Just days before Blizzcon is slated to begin, reputable leaks have popped up on ESPN of all places showing what appears to be Overwatch 2

  • From the looks of things it will be introducing a new PVE experience, possibly similar to some of their event game modes that have had a team of heroes playing against waves of enemies, as well as new game modes, maps, and heroes
  • There’s also new artwork hidden on the Blizzard Gear website featuring a group of Overwatch heroes charging into battle including Echo, a previously teased but unannounced character that may be going live alongside the expected announcement
    • There are also some minor costume changes in the new artwork, with Tracer, and Mei getting subtle tweaks and Genji wearing a hoodie and pants over his cybernetic body
  • It will be interesting to see what gets announced at Blizzcon, how many of these leaks get confirmed, and what the fate of Overwatch 1 will be with players having spent so many hours and earned so many unlocks but having its sequel coming down the pipe

Apple sneakily announced and released their new AirPods Pro this week, and they’ve got a lot of the changes I was hoping for after seeing Google’s Pixel Buds earlier in October

  • The redesign brings in rubber tips more in line with modern earbuds, smaller stems, active noise cancellation, and a fancy “Transparency” mode
  • They’ve also kept ear detection, which is my favourite feature of my old Gen 1 AirPods, but have swapped out tapping on the buds to activate Siri for squeezing the stem to control music more traditionally- one squeeze for pause/play, two for next track, three for back, along with a long squeeze to switch from ANC to Transparency
    • Apparently there’s some Apple trickery at work that makes it feel and sound like clicking a button, though there aren’t any actual moving “button”
    • They also still have the ridiculously simply pairing process with iDevices, where you just have to open the case nearby and tap the screen. New to iOS 13.2 though, you can also use this to temporarily share audio with a friends AirPods and have it playing through both sets simultaneously
  • So let’s dive in to what’s new:
    • Rubber tips – they’ve got the usual three sizes to customize your fit, but instead of having a little vent hole in the rubber like Google did to equalize pressure they actually have a vent system running through the AirPod itself
      • The vent doesn’t sacrifice water resistance though, as these are rated IPX4 and good for exercising and sweating all over
      • They also have a fit test you can run where it uses microphones both in and outside of your ear to gauge the seal around the Pods and see if you should adjust the sizing
    • Speaking of those microphones, the active noise cancellation uses them along with fancy software to process your environment 200 times a second and remove background noise by sending out special customized anti-noise
    • They also do some adaptive equalization, tuning the frequencies of the music to the shape of your ear to optimize audio quality
    • And then there’s the new Transparency Mode, which lets you hear your environment and your own voice while offering just a hint of noise cancellation to keep things clear and understandable if you want to hear traffic or transit announcements
      • You can swap between Transparency and ANC on the fly by squeezing the stem, from your iPhone’s Control Centre, or on your Apple Watch
  • Battery life is pretty much unchanged depending on your usage- turning off ANC and Transparency gets you the usual 5 hours of listening, while turning them on takes it down to 4.5, and you’ll see 3.5 hours of talk time on the phone. The case amps that up to 24 hours of listening, 18 hours of talk, and it can be charged via Lightning or a Qi wireless charge mat
  • All that can be yours for $250 USD or $329 CAD, and they’re available to order or pick up now

Apple’s also released a bunch of software updates

  • As I mentioned earlier iOS 13.2 is out, with not only audio sharing but also Deep Fusion photos for the iPhone 11 (taking multiple exposures using all the lenses and fusing them into one high-quality photo), and the ability to control whether your Siri dictation is used to improve the service and, if not, delete anything they might have archived
    • You can opt out by going to Settings > Privacy > Analytics & Improvements > Improve Siri & Dictation and toggling the slider off
    • And you can delete any saved Siri interactions from Apple’s servers by going to Settings > Siri & Search > Siri & Dictation History, and tapping on Delete Siri & Dictation History
    • This is all a much-needed improvement, especially from a company that claims to care so much about the privacy and security of your data
  • watchOS 6.1 brings support for the new AirPods, as well as finally allowing version 6 to be installed on Series 1 and 2 watches
  • and macOS 10.15.1 also brings AirPods Pro support and those Siri privacy settings
  • They did release audioOS 13.2 for HomePods as well, which brought the ability to differentiate between multiple voices and easily hand off audio by bringing your phone near the speaker, but it was soon pulled after users online started saying it bricked their HomePods
    • If you’ve already updated your HomePods Apple recommends you don’t reset or reboot it, even if iOS prompts you to, until they issue a fix.
    • In the meantime, if you’ve been affected by this issue you’ll need to contact Apple support and have it repaired or replaced

The Outer Worlds – Josh’s Impression

  • Great RPG
    • I’m not generally a fan of RPG’s but this one has really taken me by surprise
  • The setting is, as other have put it, is like 1984 by George Orwell, but with corporations instead of the government
    • When faster than light technology was discovered, companies spread out and bought the rights to many star systems.
    • This story takes place in a system controlled by The Board
      • The Board is made of the heads of massive companies that control everything
    • The technology is similar to Bioshock
      • Sort of less pipes and steam, more plug-n-play tech and Edison bulbs
      • But the main hook of it is fascinating technological advancements that can be maintained with a pipe wrench
    • Weapons are neat too
      • There has been knives, scythes, hammers, staves, all sorts of things
      • For ranged weapons there are your handguns, rifles, heavy machine guns, flame throwers and grenade launchers
      • Best part is ammo is only 3 types, Light, Heavy and Energy
    • Armour is simple as well
    • Stats
    • Companions
    • Healing
    • Time Dilation
  • Great conversations
    • Funny
    • Skills do well in it
  • Not too long
    • Has an end!
  • Lots of replay

Tibits

  • Apple’s copyright lawsuit against mobile device virtualization company Corellium over offering virtual iOS for development and testing hit an interesting development, when Corellium fired back saying Apple owed them $300K because they make it easier for security researchers to track down bugs
    • Corellium claims that its product is fair use and makes the world a better place, though the fact that one of their customers sells hacking tools to law enforcement and intelligence agencies makes it tough to believe in their altruism
  • In an interesting move EA has announced they’ll start publishing games on Steam again, leading many to speculate on their Origin launcher soon being shut down
    • Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is already up on Steam, and other major titles will hit in the coming months. We’ll see multiplayer titles like Apex Legends next year, with cross-play between Steam and Origin versions

Alan recommends The Lost Boys

 

Literally Misleading

Last Week:

Thanks to reddit user – MissBarker93
Movie – Man Survives thanks to his own feces
The Martian

This Week:

Thanks to reddit user -YodaFan465
After his father dies, a barber evades an MLM scheme

 

For more content, Patreon supports get access to upcoming ideas and more!

A huge thanks to Dalton, for supporting us for so long.

And thanks to all our ‘fanily’ that support us.
And if you want to support us too, its as easy as clicking this link!
We are a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network powered by ATB
And talk to us in the comments!
Twitter and Instagram @ps2jshow
A Facebook Page exists as well.

Free games

  • Microsoft

    • Hitman: The Complete First Season

      • 2016
      • Third person stealth assassination game in episodic form, taking Agent 47 all around the world to prove he is the ultimate silent assassin
    • We Were Here

      • 2017
      • Co-op puzzle game where you team up with a friend or stranger online to escape an abandoned castle, but the twist is you’re split up only able to communicate with and help eachother via walkie talkie
    • Earth Defense Force 2025

      • 2013
      • Arcade-style third person shooter that has you taking on gigantic alien insects with infinite ammo and often-ridiculous weaponry
      • More details in PS2J 238, the history of Earth Defence Force
    • Tekken Tag Tournament 2

      • 2011
      • Tournament fighting game with solid gameplay and a massive cast
  • Sony

    • Batman: Arkham Knight

      • 2015
      • Solid third-person stealth action game in the Batman universe with great combat, fun stealth takedowns, and the addition of a drivable Batmobile, all brought together by Kevin Conroy’s iconic voice
    • Darksiders 3
      • 2018
      • Action-adventure Metroidvania style game that will be familiar to fans of the first two, Darksiders 3 has you taking control of Fury, the sister to War and Death and another of the four horsemen of the apocalypse
  • Epic
    • Celeste
      • 2018
      • Platform adventure game where you have to jump, climb, and dash through each area to climb a mountain and collect strawberries
    • Inside
      • 2016
      • The spiritual successor to Limbo, Inside is another deceptively simple platformer where you control a small boy in a big, very dangerous world
 

Security warning- it’s time to delete the CamScanner app immediately

  • Security researchers at Kaspersky discovered malware in various versions of the Android app, and the iOS app has a history of not being much better despite the protections Apple has built in to their App Store process
    • The malware is set up to extract and run another piece of software that downloads more malware for whatever its creators are up to at the moment, like showing intrusive ads or signing users up for paid subscriptions
  • Lifehacker is recommending Android users switch to a better, more secure app like Adobe Scan or Microsoft Office Lens, or use the built-in scanner in the Google Drive app
    • iOS users can also use the document scanning function built in to the Notes app
 

Speaking of security, after the Siri privacy concerns we reported on back in episode 265, Apple has officially apologized and put a halt to the Siri grading program pending some serious changes

  • It looks like concerns were more founded than I thought, with Apple laying off the contractors they’d hired to review selected Siri conversations to improve the service and completely revamping the whole program later this fall
  • The changes include defaulting everyone to opt out of the recordings, allowing an optional opt-in with the ability to turn it back off at any time, and only allowing Apple employees access to the audio samples instead of using contractors
  • They’ve also released a new Siri Privacy and Grading FAQ that you can check out for more details on the upcoming program: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210558
 

The Apex Legends subreddit became an interesting place this month, with developers logging on to insult players reacting to microtransactions

  • About two weeks ago Respawn posted an apology regarding the Iron Crown event and how they locked some of their cooler skins and items behind paid lootboxes
    • For context, one event item called the Heirloom Axe costs over $200 CAD to get
    • In the future they say they’ll provide more ways to obtain items, and in the meantime they’ve made some tweaks to how the event items are being distributed
  • The comments thread then got pretty heated, as a Respawn employee started engaging with people pretty angry about the situation calling them dicks, ass-hats, and freeloaders
    • The downvotes are currently sitting at -5300, -3500, and -1000 respectively, so they’re going to have to try a lot harder to beat the Battlefront 2 “sense of pride and accomplishment” microtransaction comment with a whopping -670000
    • I’m not sure what’s going on over at EA, but it really seems like they should tone it down with both the lootboxes and the social media responses
  • This time it was handled with a lot more class though- instead of EA’s strategy of “ignore the masses”, Respawn CEO Vince Zampella publicly apologized for the discussion, saying
    • “Some of our folks crossed a line with their comments, and that’s not how we want Respawn to be represented. I apologize to any of our fans that were offended.”
    • “I will always stand behind the team here at Respawn and support them on speaking out against some of the toxic and nasty comments aimed at their families and loved ones,” he continued. “But we shouldn’t contribute to it when we do comment, and add to the very thing we want to prevent. Last week we didn’t do that, going forward we will be better. Having an open, healthy relationship with our community is incredibly important to all of us at Respawn.”
  • All in all it’s a pretty classy response to a bad situation, taking responsibility without throwing anyone under the bus
 

An attempt is being made to bring Telltale Games back from the dead, though with very few of its original parts

  • All the assets were purchased by LCG Entertainment, and the new Telltale will sell some of the back catalog as well as work on new games based on some old associated properties as well as new licenses
  • Apparently some workers from Telltale Classic will be offered freelance roles with a possibility for full-time in the future, but it looks like LCG wants to make a fairly clear distinction between that company and New Telltale
  • It’s been confirmed that New Telltale has the rights to continue The Wolf Among Us and Batman, as well as some original properties, and there are some expired licenses that they’re currently reviewing
    • Unfortunately the rights to release a game based on Stranger Things have already reverted back to Netflix, but there’s still a lot there to work with
  • Fingers crossed they can recapture the magic of early Telltale, before they overreached and started pumping out poorly managed games in a dated, hard to work with engine
 
Good news everyone, the final additions to Shovel Knight, King of Cards and a multiplayer fighting mode called Showdown, are officially coming in December
  • The game is also getting features like new body types, a they/them pronoun option, accessibility features, co-op feats, new language support, and additional cheats that apparently add whole new ways to play
    • It’s been so long since the main campaign released I’ll have to dust off my Vita and check it out this Christmas
  • There’s also a new spinoff coming called Shovel Knight Dig, following Shovel Knight in a Spelunky-type adventure through semi-randomized levels as you pursue Drill Knight and his dastardly crew to the centre of the earth
    • It’s being developed in collaboration with Nitrome, makers of games like Redungeon and Rust Bucket
    • There’s no word on a release date for Dig quite yet
 

More than a year after Zuckerberg promised a Clear History tool for Facebook it’s finally here, and it kind of works?

  • Rather than the previous claims of it deleting tracking information from your account, it just slightly limits data that is collected about you when you’re not on Facebook
    • For instance, how Facebook would present ads based on things you shopped for online
  • It doesn’t even stop the tracking, but rather disconnects it from a specific user- everything is still gathered to build a profile, it just may not be used on you in particular
    • And keep in mind, this only applies to behind-the-scenes tracking- they can still identify you if they have your email or phone number
  • And it only limits data gathering one way, from third parties into Facebook. Nothing stops Facebook from reporting back to advertisers when users purchase a product after seeing a targeted ad
  • All in all it’s kind of a garbage attempt, especially when it was first touted as working the same as as your browser’s Clear History feature- flushing the data entirely
 

In response to WebKit’s announcement that tracking cookies will be treated as a security risk, Google’s now trying to make the argument that blocking them is actually bad for privacy…?

  • For anyone not aware, a cookie is a little piece of info that websites can read and write in your web browser, to do things like keep you logged in when you leave a website, that can also be used like breadcrumbs to see what websites you visit
  • Their first point seems to be that if you block cookies then developers will find other, more secret ways to track users, like building a fingerprint based on things like what device they’re using or what fonts they have installed. Since users can’t manually clear that, it’s apparently worse
    • freedom-to-tinker.comsaid it well: “We see that our town has a pickpocketing problem. But if we crack down on pickpocketing, the pickpocketers will just switch to muggings. That would be even worse. Surely you don’t want that, do you?”
  • And their second point is that blocking cookies that target ads causes content publishers to lose ad revenue because the ads become less relevant. This was, of course, backed up by a study (read, single paragraph in a blog post) run by Google. Who I’m sure is a completely third party wait it’s the same company
    • As long as we’re comparing anecdotes, the international edition of the New York Times recently switched from tracking-based ads to contextual and geographic ads—and it didn’t experience any decrease in advertising revenue.
  • So their strategy is to block fingerprinting (which is good) and improve the classification of cookies to be more transparent about what’s being used to track you (which is kind of neutral? Because in theory any cookie could be used to track you)
 

Creature in the Well

  • A top down dungeon crawler
    • With elements of pinball
  • You play as Bot-C
    • The last of engineer of a robot collective
    • You have to save the town of Mirage from a huge sandstorm by repairing an ancient weather machine
    • But there is a strange creature that is watching you from the shadows
  • The gameplay is hack and slash
    • With puzzles influenced by pinball, breakout and other ball based games
    • You explore rooms rooms to gather energy, which you spend to open doors and upgrade your character
    • Lots of secrets, with different weapons and cosmetic items
    • The town also has citizens that can help you
    • And they coined the phrase Pin-Brawler
  • September 6 for Switch, Xbox One and Steam.
 

Indies for Switch that Josh has

  • Enter the Gungeon
  • Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove
  • Stardew Valley
  • The Messenger
 

Josh is interested In getting

  • Cuphead
    • StudioMDHR’s astonishing Cuphead has made the jump from Xbox One/PC to Switch. The port runs wonderfully both in console and handheld mode, retaining all the glory of the 1930s cartoon art style and animations.
    • Cuphead is a challenging game, but it never comes across as unfair. Minimalistic mechanics let you focus on the task at hand — the multi-phase bosses — while enjoying all of the excellent animations and sounds.
    • Cuphead is worth playing for the art style alone, which is as impressive now as it was upon its original launch in 2017. The engaging boss fights and crisp mechanics make it a pleasure to work through, even when the going gets exceedingly tough.
  • Hyper Light Drifter
    • Hyper Light Drifter is an ode to 8-bit and 16-bit adventure games, set in a distinct world reduced to shambles. This top-down adventure features extremely challenging gameplay with a neat gimmick.
    • Your main weapon, an energy sword, has to strike enemies in order to charge your supplementary, ranged weapons. This means you have to master melee combat to have a chance against the onslaught of enemies.
    • Rounded out by a beautiful soundtrack and fantastic animations, Hyper Light Drifter is a moving experience with an understated, but powerful story.
  • Down Well
    • Downwell, a game about a man falling down a well in a park, has been available since 2015 on mobile devices. Rendered in black and white, the premise is simple: Make it to the bottom. Since you’re falling at a rapid pace, you would think you’re already ahead of the game, right? Not so fast. Avoiding obstacles, enemies, and projectiles is an arduous endeavor that forces you to think and move on the fly.
    • As a rogue-like, each time you make your descent, the layout of the well changes. With guns attached to your boots that only recharge when you touch the ground safely, it’s a constant battle between the offensive and defensive. Power-ups are rewarded at the bottom of each stage, but each level ups the challenge. Basically, no matter what you have in your arsenal, you’re always facing an uphill battle (ironic, huh?).
    • A round of Downwell can last anywhere from seconds to a handful of minutes, depending on your skill level. On Switch, it’s a perfect game for quick bursts in handheld mode. The $3 price makes Downwell a steal, but you should splurge for the Flip Grip to play Downwell comfortably with a vertical orientation.
  • Into The Breach
    • From the makers of the excellent FTL: Faster Than Light, Into the Breachsomehow manages to be Subset Games’ best outing. A turn-based tactics game, Into the Breach takes place on small grids filled with only a few units. The name of the game is survival, as losing all your units restarts the game.
    • It’s an interesting approach to the relatively well-trodden grid-based tactics genre. You can, if you choose, take out enemy units, but you must focus on protecting your power grids. Since you only have a limited number of turns, choosing where to place your units at the start of each round is key.
    • Into the Breach has so many surprising layers to it that you’ll learn new strategies even after you’ve cleared the game multiple times. It’s a near perfect turn-based strategy game that should not be missed by any fans of the genre.
 
 

Tidbits

  • A new trailer for The Mandalorian dropped this week, and it looks just fantastic
    • Strikes me as Firefly but Star Wars, and has the titular Mandalorian teaming up with IG-11 in a lot of very cool settings and situations
  • The 2015 MacBook Pro battery trouble is now having some negative effects on travellers, with many airlines banning all 15″ MacBook Pros from checked luggage regardless of the year and warning they must stay off for the duration of the flight
  • Dutch brand ZENS unveiled a wireless charging mat that can charge two devices at a time anywhere on the mat, bringing us one step closer to the cancelled Apple AirPower
    • The mat uses 16 overlapping coils to deliver the power, compared to Apple’s planned 32 coils to charge three devices, and doesn’t have the same kind of software integration, but if it sounds like something you want I hope you have $140 USD to burn. $180 USD gets you a glass version so you can see the coils and circuitry
  • A short-lived Amazon listing for an Overwatch-themed Nintendo Switch case, marked as “officially licensed by Nintendo and Blizzard Entertainment”, is fuelling speculation that the team shooter is coming to the Switch sometime soon
    • Between an upcoming Nintendo Direct and Blizzcon this November, the time is definitely ripe
 

Alan recommends Archero

  • You play the Lone Archer in this roguelike dungeon crawl, choosing from randomly assorted skills each time you level up to take on bigger and more daunting challenges
  • It got some interesting gameplay, where each room has a variety of enemies either shooting or charging at you, and you have to take them down while keeping your health bar up
    • The interesting part comes in with your attack- it automatically aims and shoots but only while you aren’t moving, so you have to choose between attack and dodging at any given moment
    • And it has my favourite roguelike mechanic, where there are permanent upgrades you can unlock and level up between sessions, so that even if you’re having trouble at the moment you’re still making progress
  • It’s got some annoying F2P bits to it, but it’s been pretty easy to not drop any money on it so far and I’m about halfway through the campaign
    • They also don’t have any mandatory ads, only putting them in when you choose to continue after dying or keep playing when you’re out of energy
  • Over all I’ve been enjoying it, and it looks like there are some cool updates coming in the near future with unlockable heroes and a battlepass feature that increases the rewards you can get
 

Literally Misleading

MOVIE – After being mistaken for terrorists, protecting intellectual property is now the least of the hero’s problems.
 
If you have a Literally Misleading Description, message Josh directly on our Discord, or Twitter @fushigiyami
 

For more content, Patreon supports get access to upcoming ideas and more!

A huge thanks to Zane, for believing in us for so long.
And thanks to all our ‘fanily’ that support us.
And if you want to support us too, its as easy as clicking this link!
 
We are a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network powered by ATB
 
And talk to us in the comments!
 
 
Twitter and Instagram @ps2jshow
 
A Facebook Page exists as well.

Free games

  • Microsoft

    • Gears of War 4

      • 2016
      • Third person sci-fi shooter where you can team up and take on the new threat in split screen co-op with some crazy weapons (explosive drills, chainsaw guns) that’s the first in the series not developed by Epic Games
    • Torchlight

      • 2009
      • A Diablo-esque action hack-and-slash RPG dungeon crawl that has you completing quests and exploring dungeons with your pet, which starts as either a wolf dog, a lynx, or a ferret, but can be transformed into other animals by feeding it
    • Forza Motorsport 6

      • 2015
      • Realistic racing sim that introduced new gameplay elements like rain and night racing, along with a new story mode called “Stories of Motorsport”
    • Castlevania: Lords of Shadow

      • 2010
      • Third person action RPG that has you questing to resurrect your dead wife with your trusty retractable chain whip
  • Sony

    • Wipeout Omega Collection

      • 2017
      • Racing game where you pilot anti-gravity ships around futuristic racetracks
      • Includes high-def remasters of Wipeout 2048, Wipeout HD, and the HD Fury expansion. It’s also compatible with PSVR
    • Sniper Elite 4

      • 2017
      • Tactical stealth shooter game that has you exploring levels for the perfect vantage point to snipe your enemies
  • Epic

    • Alan Wake

      • 2012
      • Action-adventure game following best-selling thriller novelist Alan Wake as he tries to uncover the mystery behind his wife’s disappearance while experiencing events from the plot of his latest novel, which he can’t remember writing, coming to life
    • For Honor Standard Edition

      • 2017
      • Ubisoft’s pseudo-historical strategy fighting game, where knights, vikings, samurai, and more recently the Chinese Wu Lin faction, all face off online and fight for supremacy
  • Twitch

    • Pumped BMX Pro

      • 2019
      • The latest installment in the high adrenaline fast-paced arcade BMX physics-based trickathon
    • Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap

      • 2017
      • Platform action-adventure remake of the 1989 Master System title of the same name, with gameplay reverse engineered from the original Master System code and brand new graphics and music
    • Mable & The Wood

      • 2019 from the Kickstarter launched in 2016
      • You play as Mable, a shape-shifting girl who can take the form of the creatures that she kills.
      • The strange cult that resurrected you speak of an ancient prophecy that says you will hunt down the great beasts, take their shape, and use their powers to save this dying world.
      • But what if they’re wrong? The prophecy is old, and words lose their meaning with time…
    • Automachef

      • 2019
      • A resource management puzzler where you design kitchens and program machinery for a robotic fast food tycoon who believes he’s human
 

A former Amazon employee managed to hack Capital One’s network last week, stealing sensitive data for about 106M people

  • Capital One confirmed the intrustion, saying it hit about 100M people in the US and 6M in Canada
  • Info taken included names, incomes, birthdates, addresses, phone numbers, and emails.
    • In the US, social security numbers for 140T people were also taken, as well as about 80T bank account numbers
    • For Canadians, social insurance numbers for about 1M people were obtained
    • No credit card numbers or login credentials were compromised
  • Apparently the data came from credit card applications filed from 2005 until early 2019
  • On the plus side bank officials have stated that it’s unlikely the stolen data was used or widely disseminated, but they’re clearly in damage control mode so take that with a grain of salt
 

A report from The Guardian last week talked about Siri privacy concerns from an Apple contractor

  • According to this employee, conractors working on Siri regularly hear confidential medical info, drug deals, intimate moments, and other private information when reviewing audio from accidental Siri activations
    • The whistelblower went on to say that the recordings are accompanied by user data showing location, contact info, and app data
  • In response, Apple released a statement saying that a small number of anonymized Siri requests are analyzed to improve the service, accounting for less than 1% of all activations
    • The audio is linked to a randomized identifier not associated with any of your personal info
      • According to Apple’s security white paper, user voice data is saved for a six month period using that random id
      • After that, a second copy may be saved with no identifier for up to two years
    • They also said that the audio is analyzed in secure facilities and all reviewers are under strict confidentiality requirements
  • One of my favourite bits from the story is them acknowledging that Apple says the data “is used to help Siri and dictation … understand you better and recognise what you say”, but then calls them out for not explicitly stating the work is done by a human
    • You kind of have to wonder how else we’d improve how a computer interprets someone talking, other than having a someone teach it
  • It seems like there’s a pretty big discrepancy between Apple’s policies and what the contractor are saying, but considering the unsubstantiated Bloomberg story from last year about weird hacking microchips hidden in servers and Apple’s track record when it comes to privacy I’m inclined to side with Apple on this one
  • Either way, if you’re concerned about privacy you can turn off the Hey Siri feature on your iDevices and choose to activate it manually if you need it
 

Tidbits

  • Great news for Call of Duty fans and fans of console openness in general: the new Modern Warfare will feature crossplay between PC, PS4, and XBone
  • Respawn will apparently reveal a AAA VR FPS at Oculus Connect in September
    • They’ve already confirmed it’s not a Titanfall or Star Wars game, but Respawn has been a solid developer so I’m interested to see what they release
 

Recommend A League Of Their Own

  • A comedy-drama that tells a fictionalized account of the real-life All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, created to keep the sport going during World War 2
  • Stars Geena Davis, Tom Hanks, Madonna, Rosie O’Donnell, and a ton of other great actors
  • It was even selected for preservation in the US National Film Registry in 2012 for being culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant
  • And fun fact- all of the scrapes and bruises shown on the players are actual injuries sustained during the filming- except for a single scene, no stunt doubles were used. All the actresses actually played, hit, and slid

 

Literally Misleading

GAME – With strength, speed and always moving up, three teams must work to stop the mastermind behind thier turmoil.
 
If you have a Literally Misleading Description, message Josh directly on our Discord, or Twitter @fushigiyami
 

For more content, Patreon supports get access to upcoming ideas and more!

A huge thanks to Zane, for believing in us for so long.
And thanks to all our ‘fanily’ that support us.
And if you want to support us too, its as easy as clicking this link!
 
We are a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network powered by ATB
 
And talk to us in the comments!
 
 
Twitter and Instagram @ps2jshow
 
A Facebook Page exists as well.

Free games

  • Twitch

    • The Little Acre
      • 2016
      • A lovingly crafted, hand-drawn and fully voiced point-and-click adventure game that has you exploring 1950’s Ireland and a strange new world in search of your father
    • Whispering Willows
      • 2014
      • Indie adventure horror game that has you interacting with the spirits of the dead, solving the puzzles of a mysterious mansion and helping Elena find her missing father
    • Stealth Bastard Deluxe
      • 2012
      • Subtitled “Tactical Espionage Arsehole”, this 2D stealth platformer has you sneaking through a deadly facility that seems determined to get you
    • Majesty Collection
      • 2011
      • Real time strategy with indirect control, where you need to influence your heroes to carry out your will and defend your domain

Sony released a State of Play announcement this week talking about some of their upcoming projects, and they look interesting

  • We’ll be getting an asymmetrical cooperative/competitive game in 2020 set in the Predator universe called Predator: Hunting Ground
    • No gameplay was shown, but it seems to follow the lines of the Friday the 13th game or Evolve where one player is the predator and the others are part of a fire team trying to take it down
  • We’ll also see a MediEvil remake on the PS4 this October 25th
    • The remake of the PSOne classic looks pretty nice, coming to 4k resolutions from the old jagged polygons, and I’m looking forward to playing the fun and weird story once again
  • Sony dropped a trailer for the Final Fantasy VII remake they announced four years ago, including gameplay and cutscenes, and it looks really good
    • Still no word on a release date, but it ends with “More to come in June” so I’ll be keeping an eye out

Firefox users may have noticed some problems with their extensions this week, namely that they’ve been completely broken

  • Apparently Mozilla forgot to renew a security certificate that expired on May 3rd, causing many add-ons to the browser to stop working entirely
  • Apparently they’ve released a potential temporary fix, but there are many cases in which it may not work for people
    • For instance if they’re on Android, the Tor browser, or have certain settings disabled related to Studies
  • Despite the problems Mozilla developers are advising against using workaround, and saying not to delete and reinstall add-ons to try and fix the issue
    • Some workarounds circulating online, they caution, could even leave your data vulnerable to potential attacks
  • In the meantime they’ve made an updated version available for desktop and Android to address the issues, and other platforms should have the new version as soon as possible

Samsung has officially acknowledged they have no idea when the Galaxy Fold will hit users

  • Pre-order customers in the US have been told that, if they don’t respond confirming the order and the devices haven’t shipped by May 31st, the orders will be automatically cancelled
  • Considering the supply chain and logistics required, if they don’t know whether they’re shipping this month by now they’re not shipping

Adobe is quietly testing new pricing for its Creative Cloud Photography bundle, doubling the price from $10 to $20USD per month

  • The new plan also brings cloud storage up from 20GB to 1TB, but for anyone not using Adobe storage there’s no added benefit
  • The original price is available on a hidden section of the site, which is just really weird way to run a test. Was the test us noticing?

It looks like Bethesda is under fire this week for their brief pen-and-paper RPG adventure set between Cyrodiil and Elsweyr, that not only uses D&D 5th edition rules (which are open sourced and is completely fine) but also copied entire sections from a published adventure called The Black Road

  • Entire characters and lines of text seem to have been copied wholesale from the adventure, causing Bethesda to take the whole thing down while they investigate

Video game can detect early Alzheimer’s symptoms

Written by Zack Zweizen published on Kotaku
Video game to detect Alzheimer’s disease earlier symptoms
  • The forgetfulness is a late stage symptom and not the best for detection
  • PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America) has already studied and sees the game as effective
In Sea Hero Quest, which is a VR game, players have to navigate and control a virtual boat. They are given a map and shown checkpoints, then the map is taken away and players must navigate to these checkpoints in the game world without the map.
According to researchers, every two minutes spent playing the game is equal to five hours of lab-based research. Because Sea Hero Quest has been out for a few years and downloaded and played by over three million players they’ve collected the equivalent of 1,700 years of research data on Alzheimer’s.
Researchers involved with the project studied people who carried the APOE4 gene, which is thought to increase that person’s risk of developing dementia, as they played the game. They then compared these people’s results to the results of folks who played the game who don’t have that gene.
“We found that people with a high genetic risk, the APOE4 carriers, performed worse on spatial navigation tasks. They took less efficient routes to checkpoint goals,” said Professor Michael Hornberger, a member of the team.
Using data gathered from thousands of players who downloaded and played Sea Hero Quest, researchers were able to create a baseline that their test results could be compared to. In the future, the team hopes this data and the game will help identify people who need treatment for dementia before they begin suffering from some of the worse later stage symptoms.

code v2: EAGMB

version 1 :C7373

Update Version 2 :

  • Fixed a bug where the mercs couldn’t see the supplies.

  • Match timer now last 10 minutes instead of 8 minutes.

  • Spies :

    • Energy consumption is reduced by half.

    • The spies now possess 2 Flash bangs and 2 Tear mines instead on 1 each.

    • New ability : Smoke grenade, 1 use, generate a smoky area and the spy become instantly invisible for 5 seconds.

Asymmetric game with the stealthy Spies versus the dangerous Mercs. The Spies goal is to capture 2 objectives out of the 3. The Mercs’s mission is to defend the objectives till the end of the timer OR eliminate the spies to exhaust their respawn tickets to 0.

Based on the Splinter Cell franchise.

Each team and character have his own mechanic.

Spies team:

  • Knockdown

    • You can knockdown mercs if you hit them from behind with a melee attack. https://gfycat.com/fr/backjauntyduck

    • You can’t spam the melee attack to knockdown mercs as soon as they get up, they will have a temporary immunity before being vulnerable to knockdown again.

    • When you knockdown a merc 3 times he will be eliminated.

    • Hacking a merc slow down his movements and it become easier to get behind him.

  • FlashBang (Ultimate)

    • You throw a flash bang on your feet who stun any nearly merc for a very short time.

  • Smoke Grenade (Ability 2)

    • You create a smoky area and become invisible for 5 seconds.

  • Tear sticky mine (Primary Fire)

  • You can recover your gadgets in the spawn.

  • Press “Ultimate Status” voice-line to switch from first to third person camera and vice versa.

  • You don’t trigger mercs’s mines when you crouch and you can defuse these by approaching and using the hack. https://gfycat.com/fr/activerewardingarachnid

  • You can wall jump, once in the air and facing a wall press (Jump) to get a second impulsion. https://gfycat.com/fr/quarterlysnappygourami

  • The spies can help each other to reach higher positions with a cooperative action. When a spy crouch and stay idle, his ally can get a boost when pressing (Interact) on the crouched spy. https://gfycat.com/fr/deficientediblearacari

  • Invisibility ability is now energy limited.

Mercs team:

  • 4 classes: Ashe, Soldier 76, Widowmaker and Baptiste.

  • Abilities now use unique ammo, except for exceptions (like sprint).

    • If your ability is a placeable object you can only have one active at a time.

    • You can refill your abilities ammo on one of the three supplies designed by a yellow ring. https://gfycat.com/fr/forcefulglisteninggelada

    • Once used, the supply is unavailable for 1 minute.

Ashe:

  • Incendiary Mine (Ability 1)

    • Explode and burn everyone in his radius when a spy trigger it. https://gfycat.com/fr/threadbareamusedasianwaterbuffalo

    • To set the trap, hold (Ability 1) for 1 second on a surface.

    • The spy trigger the trap even if he is invisible.

    • The spy can defuse it.

    • It can cause friendly fire.

Soldier 76:

  • When using tactical visor, your speed is raised to the same as the sprint ability.

  • Stun Mine (Ability 2)

    • Stun everyone in his radius when a spy trigger it. https://gfycat.com/fr/lazyeagerafricangoldencat

    • To set the trap, hold (Ability 2) for 1 second on a surface.

    • The spy trigger the trap even if he is invisible.

    • The spy can defuse it.

    • It can cause friendly fire.

Widowmaker:

  • Sprint (Shift)

    • Widowmaker sprints like Soldier: 76 but can also sprint backwards.

  • Motion Sensor (Ability 2)

    • Detect everything moving in a 20m radius and in 360 degrees. https://gfycat.com/fr/healthyadvancedgrouper

    • To set the sensor, hold (Ability 2) for 1 second on a surface.

    • It doesn’t make a difference between a spy or a merc.

    • It doesn’t detect crouch.

    • Can still detect invisible spies.

    • The Spy can disable it.

Baptiste:

  • Chaff Grenade (Ability 1)

  • Surveillance camera (Ability 2)

    • Add second POV for Baptiste.

    • When looking through the camera, you can see energy emitted by the spies when they are invisible. https://gfycat.com/fr/violetrespectfuldingo

    • To set the camera, hold (Ability 2) for 1 second. It will be placed on where you are standing and his direction will be the same as yours.

    • Once you have set the camera, press (Interact) to switch your pov with the camera one.

    • The spy can disable it.

The mode is compatible with all assault maps but due to the objectives and supplies positions requirement, when you want to change map you need to open the workshop and change the first variable of the first rule to the map you want to play.

Any feedback is appreciated and more importantly, have fun!

Plans for the future:

  • Balance, balance, unbalance.

  • Waiting for a “Map condition” to let the players change the map smoothly.

  • More playable Mercs and new gear (smoke, sticky cameras, …)

  • More maps.

Tidbits

  • The Xbox One S All-Digital Edition is officially available, and despite Microsoft’s worries about pricing that we mentioned in episode 247 here in Canada it’s retailing for about $80 less than the similar disk-reading version
  • Apparently in order to fully support Apex Legends, Respawn is pushing out plans for future Titanfall games
    • On the plus side, Titanfall 2 is still a ton of fun and not at all dated
  • I’d completely forgotten it was happening, but IT Chapter Two released a trailer this week and it looks fantastic
    • The movie is set to release on September 6th
  • There’s a new insult going around schoolyards nowadays- default
    • Apparently it’s from Fortnite, based on insulting kids that can’t buy any of the fancy skins and are stuck using the default military drab character
    • It’s something like the new ‘noob’, from the looks of it. In other news, I’ve been 31 for a week and a half and suddenly feel every single one of those years

Alan recommends Bohemian Rhapsody

  • It’s a solid movie with an amazing soundtrack that offers a really interesting perspective on what made Queen, Queen
  • The editing can be a little choppy in some scenes, but it’s worth sitting through to see the full arc of these characters and the actors that really seem to have nailed the look and personality of the actual band members
  • And the cherry on top is that during the credits it does a quick wrapup of where a lot of the people ended up in real life after the point where the movie ended
 

Literally Misleading

MOVIE – Friends meet up and make a trip to the pub for shots.
If you have a Literally Misleading Description, message Josh directly on our Discord, or Twitter @fushigiyami
 

For more content, Patreon supports get access to upcoming ideas and more!

A huge thanks to Dalton, for believing in us for so long. And thanks to all our ‘fanily’ that support us. And if you want to support us too, its as easy as clicking this link! Also, make sure to check out RIPT Apparel for sweet 24 tee shirt designs. And don’t forget to use the coupon code PS2JSHOW for 10% off! We are a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network powered by ATB And talk to us in the comments! Or… Discord Server Twitter and Instagram @ps2jshow Facebook

Free Games

  • Epic Games
    • Transistor
      • 2014
      • From the creators of Bastion and Hades, it’s an isometric sci-fi themed action RPG that has you running through a stunning futuristic city wielding an extraordinary weapon of unknown origin
  • Ubisoft
    • In light of the fire at the Notre Dame de Paris, which caused its roof and 300 foot spire to collapse, destroying almost all of one of the oldest surviving timber frames in Paris, Ubisoft is giving away Assassin’s Creed Unity (which heavily features the landmark) on PC this week until April 25th to give more people a chance to experience it and raise awareness
    • They’ve also announced a 500K Euro donation to aid the restoration and reconstruction, and encourage others to contribute if possible
    • Assassin’s Creed Unity
      • 2014
      • Action-adventure game set in Paris during the French Revolution, using the classic third person open world we’ve come to expect but also revamping combat, parkour, and stealth after the previous entry, Black Flag
 

You might recall us talking about Facebook earlier this month, and how to confirm your email they expect you to hand over your email account’s password

  • Turns out, giving access to your personal information to a company in the business of selling your personal information was a bad idea- who knew?
  • According to Business Insider, Facebook harvested 1.5M people’s email contacts list without consent, and “unintentionally uploaded them”
  • A Facebook spokesperson has also confirmed that the harvested contacts were NOT just used to recommend friends, but also “improve ads”
  • This has gotten to the point where the Irish Data Protection Commission is now in contact with Facebook and considering next steps
 

Smash Ultimate v3.0 is here!

  • First up we’re finally seeing Joker from Persona 5 added to the roster as part of Challenger Pack 1, and his playstyle looks pretty interesting
    • He’s got some moves with a knife and gun, and it looks like he has a charge gauge that allows him to summon his Persona, which upgrades his attacks, greatly improves his recovery, and gives him a combination counter and reflect move
    • His final smash is also interesting- it triggers similarly to Marth’s, with a horizontal rush, but a quick press of the thumbstick makes him sweep back in the other direction in case you missed the first time
  • And speaking of Persona, we’re getting a Persona stage called Mementos with 11 different audio tracks that can affect the appearance of the stage and Joker’s victory screen
  • We’re also seeing new paid DLC Mii costumes for Morgana, Yu, Makoto, Teddie, Tails, and Knuckles
  • The stage builder we saw leaked in an ad last week made an official appearance, but if it supports 8 player stages they’re keeping it on the down-low
    • It does have new things like customizable moving or spinning platforms and multiple layers for decorative elements
  • They’re also adding in the ability to edit and share videos, download other players’ Mii setups, and adding Smash World on the Switch Online app for voice chat, browsing videos and custom stages, and managing your spirit teams
 

Disney has revealed some of the details on their upcoming Disney+ service, and it sounds pretty dang decent

  • Disney+ will launch in the US on November 12 for $7/month
  • It’ll include a huge library of old movies and shows, including Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars titles, along with new content made exclusively for the service
  • There won’t be any ads (which really should be a no-brainer on a paid service) and users can download things to watch offline whenever they want
  • All said and done, this could offer Netflix the kick in the pants we need to stop them from continuing to raise their prices
 

Samsung’s Galaxy Fold is hit reviewers this week, and it’s not looking good

  • Multiple reviewers are having the devices break after just a few days of use
  • The Verge had theirs sprout a random bulge on the display, possibly due to some debris getting into the hinge, but whatever it was pressed into the display hard enough to break it
  • CNBC’s screen started flickering and failing after the first day
  • And Bloomberg’s started showing similar screen issues after two days
  • All told, it’s a rough start for the $2K device. This is really a prototype, but somehow they’re going forward with preorders
 

Labo VR is getting some tough reviews online, citing tiny experiences and terrible screen resolution

  • It also only tracks rotation, not movement, which is pretty standard for a cardboard headset but a tougher proposition in 2019
  • You also have to keep one hand on the headset holding it to your face the entire time, which gets tricky when playing mini games like putting, playing basketball, or throwing a boomerang
  • And it doesn’t help that Nintendo continually breaks immersion with not only how short the playtimes are on their bundled game, but also prompts to take a break every five minutes
  • End of the day, if you already have a switch and you’re curious about VR, then this is maybe a good idea… but it seems like there are also better options available
 
 

Tidbits

  • The first trailer for Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order has hit, and it looks solid!
    • I mean, it’s still coming from EA so be wary, but if they finish it we could finally see a good Star Wars game for the current gen of consoles
    • Releasing on November 15th
  • Speaking of Star Wars and trailers, the new Episode IX trailer looks solid!
    • It’s called The Rise of Skywalker, and the tagline is “This Christmas, the saga comes to an end”
  • The new all-digital edition of the Xbox One S is coming this May, and it’s kind of disappointing
    • It’s basically the existing S with no disc slot, and it’ll sell for about as much as retailers are already selling the S in game bundles (though Microsoft is trying to keep it $50 cheaper than the disc-spinning alternative)
  • In a cool earth-friendly move, Japan is making their medals for the 2020 olympics out of discarded smartphones and laptops
    • The requisite gold, silver, and bronze will be extracted from around 50,000 tons of recovered or donated e-waste and obsolete gadgets
    • For perspective, it takes about 100 fliphones to recover three grams of gold
 

Recommend Buffy the Vampire Slayer

  • I’m very late to the party, but I’m really enjoying it
  • Half delightfully 90’s high school life, half Supernatural-style monster of the week (though, I suppose Supernatural is really Buffy-style monster of the week really)
  • It looks like a series that people had a lot of fun making

 

Literally Misleading

This one is from Fanily member Scott. Check out his twitter @scottybomb and his podcast The Read-Along, its a weekly book club for where you can follow along with Scott and Anita!
 
MOVIE – “A man must join forces with an amnesiac to track down the man who kidnapped his son.”
 
If you have a Literally Misleading Description, message Josh directly on our Discord, or Twitter @fushigiyami

 

For more content, Patreon supports get access to upcoming ideas and more!

A huge thanks to Dalton, for believing in us for so long. And thanks to all our ‘fanily’ that support us. And if you want to support us too, its as easy as clicking this link!

Also, make sure to check out RIPT Apparel for sweet 24 tee shirt designs. And don’t forget to use the coupon code PS2JSHOW for 10% off!

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And talk to us in the comments! Or…

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Huge development in medical tech this week

  • A group of researchers in Mexico have found a cure for the Human Papillomavirus infection, the primary cause of cervical cancer
  • Apparently it’s non-invasive, using a drug to photosensitize the infection and then light of specific wavelengths
  • The treatment, which has been 20 years in the making, is shown to cure 100% of HPV patients without cancer and has been successful in over half the cases when patients already have cervical cancer- even if they don’t have HPV

Activision Blizzard has laid off 800 employees after “weaker than anticipated retail demand” though they made $7.26B in 2018, a $100M increase over 2017 and the best in Activision history

  • Who knows what things will look like next year after their CFO Dennis Durkin announced that they aren’t releasing any titles beyond Diablo Mobile in 2019
  • The worst part is how this is exclusively affecting lower-level employees- all the high-paid executives continue to make money hand over fist
    • Compare this to when Nintendo was operating at a loss for months after the release of the WiiU and then-president Satoru Iwata cut his salary in half, along with other executives taking 20-30% pay cuts
    • Accountability needs to start at the top, and that is so rarely seen in large corporations nowadays

Apple is being sued this month because, in the class action filing, people claim 2FA takes too long

  • The suit complains that it takes too much time out of a users day, and says its abusive because it can’t be removed after it’s been on for two weeks
  • It goes on to say that the login process pops up randomly (it doesn’t), that it takes 2-5 minutes (more like 20 seconds), that it’s a violation of California’s Invasion of Privacy Act (how?)
  • It demands, among other things, “all funds, revenues, and benefits” that Apple has “unjustly received”, but doesn’t list exactly what those might be

Respawn’s new game is here, and it’s definitely not Titanfall 3

  • Called Apex Legends, it’s a class-based free-to-play battle royale on PC, XBone, and PS4 with some polarized reviews
    • Fans of the Battle Royale genre think it’s great, with a lot of quality of life improvements that make it more friendly to new players than competitors, while people who were waiting for Titanfall 3 miss core gameplay like wall-running, slide-hopping, and of course Titans
    • It even includes features that allow you to avoid the voice chat- characters are chosen via round-robin, your drop point is set by a random teammate, and you can ping pretty much anything to alert your team about it or suggest an alternate route with “smart comms” in-game dialogue
      • According to their twitter, they tested the game for a month with no mics and randomized names to refine how it feels
  • Many people are impressed with the representation shown, with a range of races, genders, and sexual preferences included among the 8 characters
    • If nothing else, they’ve definitely knocked the playable characters out of the park. The trailer looks great, with solid personalities, and you can even play a Marvin!
  • Though many were expecting news about Titanfall 3 when this was announced, and Respawn CEO Vince Zampella has tweeted that there will be more Titanfall later this year, developers have gone on record saying that Titanfall 3 is not in development
    • Apparently they’re focusing on Apex Legends and the upcoming Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
      • Maybe EA will let their studios finish a SW game this time?
  • Not to mention, EA is also releasing Anthem later this month. Time will tell if the games will cannibalize each other’s audiences
  • Either way it looks like a solid competitor in the Battle Royale arena, and if nothing else has sparked a ton of renewed interest in Titanfall 2

Nintendo Direct

  • Super Mario Maker 2 is coming to the Switch this June
    • This one really seems like a layup, in the usual Nintendo “It prints money!” style
    • It’ll be cool to see what fresh new hells people come up with, and with some art showing Luigi in a construction outfit maybe co-op is in our future?
  • BoxBoy and BoxGirl is coming April 26th
    • Followup to the acclaimed 3DS puzzle platform series BoxBoy, it brings co-op and a total of 270 levels to the Switch
  • Dragon Quest 11 S: Echoes of an Elusive Age — Definitive Edition hits this fall
    • Remaster of 2017’s PS4 and 3DS JRPG, it’s adding some new character-specific stories and a 16-bit-inspired graphics mode, alongside an optional fully orchestrated soundtrack that you can switch to on the fly
  • We’ll also see Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order on the Switch this summer
    • Team Ninja is bringing us the latest instalment of the ensemble action RPG series, featuring online and local play with up to four Switches
  • Yoshi’s Crafted World is getting a demo release today ahead of its March 29 release
  • We’re also getting a brand-new Fire Emblem on July 26th
    • Called Fire Emblem: Three Houses, it stars a customizable mercenary you can name and customize
    • It’ll also be the first Fire Emblem for over a decade that isn’t exclusive to handheld systems, technically
  • Square Enix is bringing a brand new action-RPG to the Switch this summer as well, called Oninaki
    • It has you traveling between the realms of life and death to save lost souls from turning into monsters
  • Deltarune: Chapter 1, the follow-up to Undertale, will be available for free on Feb 28th
  • Platinum Games is back at it again this August with a new title called Astral Chain, which looks like if Warframe and anime had a pretty badass lovechild
    • And of course it’s Platinum, so expect glorious over the top action fights
  • Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is hitting the Switch this spring
    • This is a pretty crazy one I’ve had my eye on- originally released in 2017, it’s the story of a Celtic warrior with a severe mental illness who travels to Viking hell to rescue her lost lover
    • Apparently it was developed with a group of neural scientists to get a blend of psychological terror and an enlightening experience
  • The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening is getting a full 3D reimagining on the Switch this year
    • It looks like they’re using an entirely new toy-like art style, instead of repurposing the recent Zelda games for the 3DS
    • Apparently it’s one of the few Zelda games set outside of Hyrule, and actually has links to the Mario universe
    • It looks pretty cool, and if my Twitter is any indication people love it, so I might have to check it out
  • Final Fantasy 9 is out on Switch today, and 7 will be here on March 26th
    • Final Fantasy 10 and 10-2 are coming on April 16th, and later this year we’ll also see 12: The Zodiac Age
    • Considering this week was the 20th anniversary of FF8, I’m kind bummed it didn’t get a mention
  • Tetris Battle Royale is apparently a thing, and available today for free
    • Just like most other battle royale games, this is a competitive online multiplayer game pitting 99 people against eachother in a fight to be the last player standing
  • And Dragon Quest Builders 2 is coming to Switch and PS4 on July 12th
    • This one adds online multiplayer to the 2016 Builders formula, as well as larger structures, improved travel, and farming

Tidbits

  • Upcoming Amiibo Releases
  • Feb 15
    • King K Rool
    • Ice Climbers
    • Piranha Plant
  • April 4
    • Specter Knight
    • Plague Knight
    • King Knight
  • April 12
    • Young Link
    • Daisy
    • Ken
  • TBD 2019
    • Snake
    • Simon
    • Isabelle
    • PKMN Trainer
    • Squirtle
    • Ivysaur
  • Sprint is officially suing AT&T over their deceptive 5G E rebranding of existing 4G cell networks
    • Sprint says it’s false advertising, and AT&T says that their rivals are just frustrated and they “have now occupied beachfront real estate in [their] competitors’ heads”
  • The sixth Terminator movie is now officially called Terminator: Dark Fate
    • Apparently it’ll be a partial reboot, ignoring pretty much everything after T2: Judgement Day, calling it a bad dream or an alternate timeline
  • Apple has released updates for iOS and macOS addressing the FaceTime spy bug, and group FaceTime will remain disabled for the previous versions

Recommend Pretty Deadly by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Emma Rios

  • Billed as a series that marries the magical realism and folklore of Sandman with the western brutality of Preacher
  • It’s a fantastic story with lush, beautiful visuals
  • Might be a little challenging to follow if you try to rush through, but it’s 100% worth taking your time and savouring every last panel

Bad Description of Movies and Games

With the aid of narcotics, a man viciously assaults anyone in his way to make it to his abducted girlfriend.

For more content, Patreon supports get access to upcoming ideas and more!

A huge thanks to Dalton, our favourite fan. And thanks to all our ‘fanily’ that support us.
And if you want to support us too, its as easy as clicking this link!

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Netflix has a fun update that flew under our radar. Bungie breaks free from EA. This week’s bad description, might be too easy. Alan gave a movie a shot when he expected the worst.

I want to not have to use ‘fans’. Cause they are the friends we haven’t met yet, and friends are just the family you aren’t born to. That logic, I’m going to refer to our listeners as ‘fanily’

Netflix has a cool little update!

Bojack twitter posted an update

  • Unflattering pic

You can change your profile pic to be a character from many other Netflix exclusives

  • Bojack
  • Big Mouth
  • Stranger Things
  • Orange is the New Black
  • Defenders
  • Total of 25 different categories
    • Including “The Classics” which is the updated original pics

Choose Your Own Adventure publisher suing Netflix over Bandersnatch 

  • Bandersnatch is really interesting! 
    • Choose your own adventure show
    • Part of the Black Mirror universe/collection? 
  • Thanks to Alaina for telling me to check it out!

Sonic Crash Course Board Game 

BoardGameGook Details

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 30 – 45 min playtime
  • Weight 2/5
  • Designed by Sean Mcdonald
    • Train Heist (2013) 6.7 on BGG
  • Published by IDW
    • Machi Koro

Best review is based on the Kotaku Review

  • Review written by Luke Plunkett
  • Pick your miniature!
    • Sonic
    • Tails
    • Knuckles
    • or Eggman
  • Gameplay has players building the track as they move forward
    • Items appear to give players a boost
    • Almost like Mario Kart
    • Spikes and enemies can also pop up on the track
  • I am interesting in playing it at a cafe
    • The theme looks on point
  • The concern is variety
    • The variety of track pieces seem lacking
    • Luke suggests a board game called Battle Racers, for a more in-depth race experience

Reminder- The Wii Shop Channel is closing on January 30th!

  • Make sure you’ve purchased and downloaded anything you wanted and put it on the consoles you like, because everything from re-downloading to the Wii System Transfer Tool will be shut down

Update: The Twitter account for the Westworld mobile game we talked about last week has announced that it has been removed from app stores effective immediately, and it will officially be closed on April 16th. In-app purchases have been disabled, and any users with in-game currency left over should spend it before things are shut down

  • It looks like the “amicable solution” here was for WB to completely bail on the entire product

Big news from Bungie- after 8 years they’ve officially cut ties with Activision

  • It seems like things came to a head after Activision expressed disappointment with the new Destiny expansion during an earnings call, basically complaining that it was too focused on end-game players and how they want to “drive stronger engagement and in-game revenue generation”
    • Many were worried that this was a signal the micro-transactions would go back to how bad they were when Destiny 2 first launched, with a lot of content locked away behind dollar signs
  • Bungie released a statement thanking Activision for their partnership, and announced that the publishing rights to Destiny will go with Bungie when they leave
  • Looks like even though they’re working on new projects the Destiny community can still look forward to content and support while Bungie self-publishes their content
  • That said, it’ll be interesting to see how the game evolves- Activision likely wasn’t behind all of the problems with Destiny, but if nothing else this will mean the game stays more true to a single company’s vision. Time will tell what that vision is like

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is in the news this week after its director apologized for forcing characters into a heterosexual marriage

  • The game has previously been hailed as a step forward, in which you can play as a man or a woman (a series first) and, though you’re presented with a potential partner of the opposite sex, you can choose to pursue same-sex romance options (or just run around and not romance anybody, as you prefer)
  • Unfortunately the latest DLC pack, Legacy of the First Blade, breaks that thread and has your character getting married and pumping out a kid
  • It may seem like it’s not a big deal but these kinds of games have players building up a personal story for the characters and how they interact, and this kind of sudden jarring change removes a whole layer of immersion for many players
    • A lot of fans feel that it’s entirely at odds with how the main character is developed leading up to that point, with little to no motivation for the sudden personality switch
  • According to creative director Jonathan Dumont the intention was that it was a child to carry on your bloodline to the lineage of assassins shown elsewhere in the series, and to let players choose between a utilitarian view of continuing your legacy or forming an actual romantic relationship, but the clarity and motivation was poorly executed
    • There are no plans to change the current DLC, but he’s said that future chapters will be mindful of how they missed the mark

Apparently EA just can’t get enough hate as it is, so they’ve gone ahead and cancelled yet another Star Wars game

  • This one has a bit of a history- it started at Visceral Games, and would have been a linear action-adventure game directed by Amy Hennig, the same woman that directed the Uncharted franchise
  • Then EA closed Visceral back in 2017, and rebooted the game at EA Vancouver into something open-world with the excuse that single-player linear games are dead
    • Thank you Spider-Man and God of War for proving them oh so very wrong
  • There are rumours that this one (where you would play as a scoundrel or bounty hunter exploring various open-world planets and working with different factions) was cancelled because it wouldn’t come out soon enough, which seems like a weird reason to keep rebooting projects
    • Apparently they might be starting work on another smaller-scale Star Wars title, but people aren’t holding on to much hope that it will amount to anything
    • For me, hope for a good SW game from EA died with 1313
  • On the plus side, Respawn’s Jedi: Fallen Order is still slated for a fall 2019 release. So that’s something

Interesting legal news from the US- federal judge Kanis Westmore has ruled that FaceID and TouchID can’t be compelled by law enforcement

  • Ruling basically applies the same rights against self-incrimination to biometrics that previously applied only to passcodes
  • Westmore wrote: “If a person cannot be compelled to provide a passcode because it is testimonial communication, a person cannot be compelled to provide one’s finger, thumb, iris, face, or other biometric feature to unlock that same device. The undersigned finds that a biometric feature is analogous to the 20 nonverbal, physiological responses elicited during a polygraph test, which are used to determine guilt or innocence, and are considered testimonial.”
  • This could still be overturned, and there are already cases where judges have allowed authorities to compel biometric phone unlocks in the past, but it shows that the legal system is slowly catching up with modern tech
  • In the meantime, just a quick reminder since I’m a paranoid guy, if you restart your phone or bring up the emergency screen on an iPhone by hitting the power button 5 times quickly it will disable TouchID and FaceID, and force a passcode unlock which has always been protected

Tidbits

  • Netflix is being sued over their interactive movie Black Mirror: Bandersnatch
    • Apparently they’ve been in negotiations with Chooseco, a publishing company specializing in children’s books, over the Choose Your Own Adventure trademark for years but never actually gained permission to use it
    • Chooseco is suing for $25M in damages, saying Bandersnatch benefits from association with the Choose Your Own Adventure series without actually getting the license to use the name
  • The final season of Game of Thrones will be coming on April 14th, and they released a teaser on YouTube to get the hype-train rolling!
  • PlayStation VR has released its third digital “demo disc”, featuring superstars like Moss, Thumper, Superhot VR, and Astro Bot Rescue Mission
  • There’s an interesting theory going around that Facebook’s ’10 Year Challenge’ could be a way to train facial recognition on age progression
    • Rather than having to comb through user photos, they’re having clean, simple, helpfully labelled sets of photos that they could use to teach computers what people are likely to look like as they get older

Titans mini-review

  • Pretty solid, once they got “fuck Batman” out of their system
  • Took the characters in interesting directions, and gets you invested right before the evil season finale cliffhanger

Recommend Venom (2018)

  • I was expecting some mindless action, but I found myself caring about the plot and characters
  • The symbiote’s characterization is a little sudden, but it felt fresh and interesting
  • Solid superhero movie even for people that don’t like Spider-Man

Alan has highlights from E3 2018, and Josh has his soft to talk about Super Smash Bros Ultimate. Then Josh recommends an older game and Alan has a less guilty, guilty pleasure to share.

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