The Supers #1 Credits: The Supers Main Story/Character Designs Propaganda Fridging Coming Soon Art by Ricky Gunawan Written by Chris Morris
The Incident Written by Chris Morris & Chelsea Crutchley Drawn by Chelsea Crutchley
Side Projects Anti-Bullying PSA Fun with Magnets Written by Chris Morris Art by Jeff Martin
Ailing’s Problem Written by Chris Morris Art by Elaine Will
The Eagle’s Whom’s Who Written by Chris Morris Art by Ricky Gunawan Graphic Design by Ivan Sampson
Starka Pinup by Sabrina O’Donnell Outback Pinup by Elaine Will Celsius Pinup by Jeff Martin Inferno Pinup by Christopher Eric Petersen Wisp Pinup by Daniel Schneider The Eagle pinup by Kyle Charles
Wisp’s Coming Out Party Written by Chris Morris Art by Catherine Dubois
The Adoption Written by Chris Morris Art by Steven Charles Rosia
Initially released in 2010, it was later completely revamped and rebranded as A Realm Reborn in 2013
It’s a lot of fun, and you might recall I got pretty into it about a year and a half ago
If you’re a Final Fantasy fan and looking to get into an MMO, it’ll 100% scratch that itch
Epic Games
Axiom Verge
2015
Side-scrolling metroidvania game with great reviews where you play a scientist that, after suffering a crippling injury, wakes up in an ancient and high-tech world
News
Xbox Live will soon be spreading its wings and getting on iOS, Android, and Switch
A session description from the 2019 Game Developers Conference seems to have blown a big reveal- that Microsoft is releasing a new cross-platform developer kit for mobile gaming
There’s no mention of a launch window, but it appears to be a first-look at connecting players between iOS, Android, Switch, XBox, and Windows
This is really cool news, and perhaps not a huge surprise after their cross-platform Minecraft ads with Nintendo
When asked for comment a Microsoft spokesperson told Polygon the company has “nothing additional to share at this time”
Biohackers, which is now added to Teledildonics on my list of favourite words, have encoded malware into a strand of DNA
It was just a proof of concept, but they’ve shown it’s possible to encode software into physical strands of DNA so that when a sequencer analyzes it the resulting data becomes a program that takes control of the underlying computer
In this case they managed to write code into physical DNA that, when compressed with industry-standard software, hacks that software and breaks out into the memory of the computer to run its own arbitrary commands
It seems pretty far out, but a lot of these programs weren’t written with security in mind. No one was expecting they’d need an anti-virus on a gene sequencer
As sequencing becomes more commonplace it may eventually become a real vector for attacks
Companies could even put malicious code in the DNA of genetically modified products to protect trade secrets
It’s something that we won’t need to work with for quite some time, but when it does arrive we’ll be glad we started thinking about it now
We’ve reached peak crypto-currency
Canadian exchange QuadrigaCX can’t repay $190M to clients after its founder, the only person who knew the passwords to its cold storage, unexpectedly died overseas.
Crypto currency exchanges are uniquely vulnerable to this kind of thing since they actually store the cryptocurrencies for their customers, but the threats are usually hackers and malware rather than lost passwords
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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!
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!
After fan outcry over Assassin’s Creed Odyssey’s forced heterosexual relationship and child in their latest DLC, and despite initially saying there wouldn’t be any changes, Ubisoft has announced they’ll be changing the cutscene and dialogue to “better reflect the nature of the relationship for players selecting a non-romantic storyline”
They’ll also be addressing the achievement earned after the child is born called “Growing Up”, which many saw as a comment that being gay or childless was a phase to grow out of
Free games of the fortnight
Epic Games
Jackbox Party Pack (until Feb 7th)
2014
Pack of party games playable using your phone as a controller, ranging from head-to-head trivia to made-for-streaming lie detection with audience participation
Security
Collection #1 has been released this week, containing more than 700M email addresses and 1.1B unique username/password pairs
This collection compiles more than 2000 different leaks dating all the way back to 2008
If you’re curious about your credentials you can go to haveibeenpwned.com and type in your email address to see if it was included
They also provide a secure password checker, but I’m too paranoid to use it
Either way, the big bullet point here is to make sure you don’t re-use passwords, and use 2FA whenever possible. Stay safe out there
Also, it looks like Apple’s released security updates for pretty much everything so you should update if possible
Soulja Boy is at it again, shaking up the video game world by putting his name on illegal emulators
We missed reporting on it before, but apparently late last year he “released” game consoles, including a Game Boy clone, that were just rebranded bootleg Chinese Linux boxes with the price cranked up that run a bunch of emulators and unlicensed ROMS
My favourite part is how the SouljaGame Handheld (which comes with 3,000 games) is marketed as running Switch games
Well in a surprise to absolutely no one he was forced to stop selling them, presumably due to legal action, and souljagame.com now redirects to Nintendo’s 3DS store
And now he’s back at it again, showing off his latest project that supposedly has 800 games preinstalled from consoles like PlayStation, Game Boy, and Genesis
He’s now saying that they’re all licensed, and that Nintendo originally approached him because they wanted in
To top it off, when asked if it’ll play Fortnite he said “Yes, we’re working on it.” “Not this one, on the next one you can”
When asked for comment, Epic Games just said “No, you can’t play Fortnite on a rooted or jailbroken device due to anti-cheat measures”
YouTube has officially banned users from sharing videos of dangerous pranks and stunts
After a blindfolded teen crashed into another vehicle while attempting the Bird Box challenge, YouTube is finally stepping in
They’ve updated their guidelines to disallow videos “that can cause death and/or have caused death in some instances”
Specific examples cited were the Tide Pod challenge, which had people eating laundry detergent, and the Fire challenge, which had people dousing themselves in rubbing alcohol and setting themselves on fire
Yes, apparently the fire challenge is a thing. The flames are sometimes not visible to the naked eye, and in many cases the resulting burns require skin grafts
So that was my daily dose of what the fuck this week
They’ve also added that they don’t allow “pranks that make victims believe they’re in serious physical danger”, and “pranks that cause children to experience severe emotional distress”
We have yet to see policies against hateful or racist rhetoric, but hey, baby steps
In Japan: Man arrested for selling a modified figure
You’re known by your friends as ‘the dependable one’, a trust-worthy type, loyal to those you care about. You’re a deep thinker, using your knowledge to your strategic advantage. Your only real flaw is your tendency to get distracted by petting dogs in need of belly rubs! Who can really blame you for that?
There is something I like about each faction
Cherrystone Kingdom
Traditional look of European Knights
Silver armour and red cloth
Heavensong Empire
Outfits have a Samurai flair
They also wear Golden animal masks that reflect their role and discipline
Cloth and leather armour, yellow is their primary colour
Felheim Legion
Viking look
Undead and supernatural beings in their ranks
Blue cloth and heavy brown wool for their outfits
Floran Tribes
Plant people, some very humanoid
Looks like Dryads
Celtic and/or Druid look
Primarily green, they have a natural colour palette
I like the look a lot, going to want to watch some gameplay and maybe pick it up for myself.
Tidbits
Move over Korea, Google’s new AlphaStar AI system is crushing pro Starcraft II players
Even after it was tweaked with slower-than-human reaction times and fewer actions per minute than professional human players it managed to win 10 of its 11 matches
Metroid Prime 4 is being delayed after Nintendo decided to reboot the project and shift development back to the series’ original developer, Retro Studios
In a development update video they said that they didn’t make the decision lightly, but the existing development hadn’t reached the standards they were looking for
Windows 10 Mobile is becoming de-supported this December
In other news, Windows 10 Mobile is apparently still supported in 2019?
They’re recommending that users switch to an iPhone or Android device, since they’ll stop releasing any updates on December 10, 2019, which is amusing after their funeral procession for the iPhone when it released
Get ready for the bounty of Pokemon movies on its way
Detective Pikachu sequel is already in development, and they’re working on adapting Red and Blue as well as a spinoff centered on Mewtwo
Ale & Blood mini review
Really entertaining novella in the Bring Down Heaven series by Sam Sykes
Great taste of his style if you’re interested but didn’t want to commit to a full novel
Recommend Newsflesh trilogy by Mira Grant (and all the side novellas)
Summary from GoodReads
The zombie apocalypse happened more than twenty years ago. Contrary to popular belief, we didn’t all die out, largely because we’d had years of horror movies to tell us how to behave when the dead start walking. We fought back, and we won…sort of. The dead still walk; loved ones still try to eat you if you’re not careful; the virus that caused the problem in the first place is still incurable. But at least we lived, right?
The Newsflesh Trilogy is a story about blogging, politics, medical science, espionage, betrayal, the ties that bind, the ties that don’t, how George Romero accidentally saved the world, and, of course, zombies. It’s thoughtful horror, and horrific science fiction, and I’m very fond of it.
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 Official Fans 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!
A bad app, or bad actors, may be using your phone for nefarious purposes! Dunkey has a new Best of the Year video. Alan has a movie recommendation we missed earlier. Josh answers last weeks Bad Description of a video game, and gives a new one.
Dunkey has his Best of 2018 Video out
God of War – Dunkey says its a rare example of a triple A studio actually making a triple A game. We did a whole history leading up to it and don’t wanna spoil anything! https://www.ps2jshow.com/ps2j-196-history-5-30-2018/
Celeste – Help Madeline survive her inner demons on her journey to the top of Celeste Mountain, in this super-tight platformer from the creators of TowerFall. Brave hundreds of hand-crafted challenges, uncover devious secrets, and piece together the mystery of the mountain.
Into The Breach – Control powerful mechs from the future to defeat an alien threat. Each attempt to save the world presents a new randomly generated challenge in this turn-based strategy game. From the creators of FTL.
Zeroranger – Bullet hell shoot em up with beautiful pixel graphics down with minimal colour palette, and an amazing soundtrack.
Enter the Gungeon – A bullet hell dungeon crawler following a band of misfits seeking to shoot, loot, dodge roll and table-flip their way to personal absolution by reaching the legendary Gungeon’s ultimate treasure: the gun that can kill the past.
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze – Help Donkey Kong and his friends get back their home from Vikings.
Super Smash Bros Ultimate
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End – Set 3 years after the events of Uncharted 3, Nathan Drake has apparently left the world of fortune hunting behind. However, it doesn’t take long for adventure to come calling when Drake’s brother, Sam, re-emerges asking for his help to save his own life and offering an adventure Drake cannot resist.
Lumines – The critically-acclaimed puzzle game produced by legendary creator Tetsuya Mizuguchi comes to PC.
Monster Hunter World – Enjoy the ultimate hunting experience, using everything at your disposal to hunt monsters in a new world teeming with surprises and excitement.
Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon – Battle with swords and whips in this retro-style action game brought to you by game creator Koji Igarashi and Inti Creates! Play as Zangetsu, a demon slayer bearing a deep grudge, who must travel through perilous lands to defeat a powerful demon lurking in a dark castle.
Downwell – A game about a young man going down an endless well with gun-boots.
Jack Box Party Packs – The team behind YOU DON’T KNOW JACK presents FIVE guffaw-inducing party games in one pack! You’re gonna need more than one party for this. Your phones or tablets are your controllers! For 1-100 players!
Monolith – A top down action shooter with procedurally generated elements. Explore a large, abandoned facility in search of incredible power, fighting dangerous foes and gaining new weapons and upgrades as you progress.
PS2J 202 (June 2018) News Update
Bethesda’s lawsuit against Warner Bros accusing the Westworld mobile game of copying Fallout Shelter has been quietly resolved
Terms weren’t disclosed, but both sides are covering their own legal fees and Bethesda called the resolution “amicable”
My guess? WB found that the company they hired to develop the game copied code and paid to make the problem go away
There’s a sneaky package tracking app that’s crowd-sourcing its data in the worst way possible
The app is called “Parcels – Track Your Packages” (not to be confused with the popular “Parcel” app)
As soon as you download and open it, it starts sending requests to its server looking for packages to track
The weird part here is that you may not have registered any packages yet
What it’s actually doing is downloading the details for shipments that other users have registered, including tracking number and courier details
Then the app uses your device’s resources and connection to get the status of those packages and send the info back, presumably to be forwarded on to the person that’s actually asked for it
This is likely a way to get around any limiting that the tracking websites may have, since the requests are coming from a large number of devices instead of a single group of servers
The problem is that, even if it was done with good intentions, the developers have created a botnet
They could easily leverage this framework to have all the devices perform DDoS attacks or falsify ad-clicks
Besides that, it’s also an issue because there’s no security involved
There’s no encryption on the data that’s being sent or received, or even on the instructions your phone gets from the server
9to5mac had the app running on a test device for an hour and managed to capture tracking info for 52 different shipments because they knew how to look
AT&T has found an easy way to upgrade all their mobile users from 4G to 5G- change the logo!
Background: actual 5G is using a completely new chunk of the wireless spectrum which requires new modem and antenna tech as well as more cell towers due to shorter range (because fun fact, some of the new spectrum is blocked by oxygen)
A much easier strategy, as AT&T has shown, is to just call 4G LTE “5G E”, and roll out software updates to reflect that
As a bonus, some of the phones that got this super-important update are still months behind in security patches
Their justification is that the new name will be applied to areas that have advanced LTE features, and actual 5G will be called 5G+. Because this just isn’t confusing enough
Psyconauts 2 coming out 2019 Looks like Raz in actively in the Psyconaut Organization.
Agent Nein is doing experiments on the mind of the villain from the first game.
It looks like Raz’s family may have accepted their powers and be more a part of the story.
An overhead shot of the common enemies you face show a couple new types: a worm thing with yellow eyes, a evil bunny with flame on their back, and a giant Judge with a gavel as a warhammer.
Some teaser shots of game play shows the wonderful ascetic of the game remains intact.
Tidbits
Shout out to fellow APN member I Have Some Notes for the tip
It looks like the fourth film in the Star Trek reboot has been quietly shelved
But hey, at least we got some odd-numbered Star Trek movies that were good!
Vive is introducing new hardware later this year called Vive Pro Eye, that includes eye-tracking from inside the headset
The idea is that you can make menu selections by looking at them instead of having to move your head, and computers can focus resources on rendering the best graphics exactly where you’re looking
Hobbyists have resurrected Kojima’s PT as a free download in Unreal PT
Nearly identical to the PS4 original, just missing the intro and closing cutscene
Also includes a helpful guide.txt for the game’s more obtuse moments
A huge thanks to Dalton, our favourite fan. And thanks to all our Official Fans 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!
Smash Bros may have had its last characters leaked. Apple security, apps and lawsuit round up! Josh has a cheap recommendation and Alan points you where to get ink in Edmonton.
For more info, Patreon supports get access to our show notes!
A huge thanks to Dalton, our favourite fan. And thanks to all our Official Fans 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 talk briefly of the coolest Overwatch Halloween skin. More news on the Bloomberg blunder. Josh suggests a show on Netflix which may be too much for some viewers. Alan recommends a book that is the sequel to another amazing book.
For more info, Patreon supports get access to our show notes!
A huge thanks to Dalton, our favourite fan. And thanks to all our Official Fans 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!
Josh brings up quick meal ideas, mostly Kraft Dinner based. Google is trying to make Chrome the next game platform. Josh recommends an artists YouTube channel, Alan has another trilogy for our fans.
For more info, Patreon supports get access to our show notes!
A huge thanks to Dalton, our favourite fan. And thanks to all our Official Fans 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 do a belated cover of the Smash Ultimate direct. As well as an intersection IMAX Marvel movie event thats happening across the country. Josh recommends a podcast with actor interviews and Alan recommends a podcast that can get a little dark.
For more info, Patreon supports get access to our show notes!
A huge thanks to Dalton, our favourite fan. And thanks to all our Official Fans 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!
Heroes of the Storm is seeing a new character and map. Apple developer conference highlights from Alan. Josh recommends a movie podcast, and Alan points out a comic book kickstarter.
For more info, Patreon supports get access to our show notes!
A huge thanks to Dalton, our favourite fan. And thanks to all our Official Fans 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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The wrestling event of the year comes to Heroes of the Storm. A local comic shop falls victim to an awful movement. Josh recommends a board game and Alan shares a manga.
Thanks @vanillabeanpuff for the suggestion, we will try it out!
For more info, Patreon supports get access to our show notes!
A huge thanks to Dalton, our favourite fan. And thanks to all our Official Fans 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
Google Assistant will be making phone calls for you. Nintendo has revealed more information about its online services. Josh suggests a brutally cute Netflix show, Alan has a music video for you to check out.
For more info, Patreon supports get access to our show notes!
A huge thanks to Dalton, our favourite fan. And thanks to all our Official Fans 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