‘Celebgate’ iCloud hack perpetrator sentenced to 34 months in prison
By Malcolm Owen Friday, March 01, 2019, 10:35 am PT (01:35 pm ET)
A hacker who pleaded guilty for his part in the ‘Celebgate’ hack, involving phishing for credentials and attempting to access more than 200 iCloud, Yahoo, and Facebook accounts controlled by celebrities and other users, has been sentenced to almost three years in prison.
The U.S Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia advises Christopher Brannan, 31, of Richmond was sentenced on Friday for participating in the social media and cloud storage hacking event known as “Celebgate.” Branna, a former high school teacher, pleaded guilty in October to charges of unauthorized access to a protected computer and aggravated identity theft.
While the crimes were punishable by a maximum of seven years in prison, a plea agreement with Brannan led to the United States making a non-binding recommendation to the court that he be sentenced to 34 months in prison, a decision agreed upon by Senior U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson at sentencing.
Court filings advise Brannan accessed online accounts for Apple’s iCloud, Yahoo, and Facebook, allowing him to acquire complete iCloud backups, photographs, and other private information from more than 200 victims. The “Celebgate” name refers to the fact that some of the people targeted in the campaign were famous.
Brannan acquired access in a variety of ways, including simply answering security questions in forgotten password systems that could be easily answered by reviewing the victim’s other public social media accounts. He also used phishing to acquire credentials, using email addresses that looked as if they were legitimate security accounts from Apple.
The teacher is not the only person to receive punishment for “Celebgate,” as last year George Garofano was sentenced to eight months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for accessing more than 200 iCloud accounts. In 2017, Edward Majerczyk received nine months in prison and paid $5,700 to one victim for hacking into more than 300 iCloud and Gmail accounts.
The first person sentenced for the attack in 2016, Ryan Collins, received 18 months for accessing 50 iCloud accounts and 72 Gmail accounts.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 03-01-2019, 11:08 AM - Forum: Lounge
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Yakuza Dev's New PS4 Game Judgment Makes A Familiar Crime Drama Feel New
After seven mainline games in the Yakuza franchise, and having grown so close to series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu and his rollercoaster of a life, stepping into his hometown of Kamurocho without him didn't feel right. But Ryu ga Gotoku Studios' new game, Judgment, thrusts you back into the red-light district as Takayuki Yagami, a lawyer-turned-private eye, whose detective sensibilities spin a fresh perspective on a place we've seen so many times. And after two hours of hands-on with the localized version, I've come to appreciate seeing a familiar town in a new light, not to mention investigating the ongoing drama of Kamurocho's criminal underworld.
It takes some time to adjust and accept Yagami, especially when I pass by the old Serena bar and Millenium Tower, or stop by the Sega Arcade in Theater Square and Don Quijote off Nakamichi street. These are the spots I've been to countless times as Kiryu, and a sense of nostalgia hit me as I was playing. However, the book's been closed on the Dragon of Dojima and with a heavy introduction to Yagami's own tumultuous life and how he ties into the overarching Yakuza narrative, I can't help but buy into what Judgment is trying to do.
Takayuki Yagami (left), Masaharu Kaito (right), two misfits from opposite ends of justice whose circumstances have them caught in the middle.
New Stories From An Old City
In many ways, it's the same old seedy Kamurocho--modeled after Kabukicho in Shinjuku, Tokyo--mainly because it's literally the same map and with several assets from Yakuza 6 and Kiwami 2. Low-level goons trying to flex, shady types looking to swindle you, and thugs ready to fight fill the streets. But that's only the backdrop to Yagami's story. In a flashback, it's established that he'd been a lawyer with Genda Law Firm in Kamurocho, and successfully defended one Shinpei Okubo, who Yagami seems to have a personal connection with. After being found not guilty, Okubo subsequently stabs his girlfriend and burns down their apartment; this is as it appears in the introductory cutscene, but knowing Yakuza games, there's certainly more to this particular story.
Fast-forward three years later, Yagami left the life of a lawyer to work as a private investigator, trading in his suit for a sweet pair of skinny jeans and slick leather jacket, if he's not in disguise. He stays close to his former associates at Genda Law who remain integral to the story, even taking on jobs for his old boss. Old cohorts aside, Yagami works alongside his partner Masaharu Kaito--the beefy, well-dressed right-hand-man who can hold his own against mobs of bad guys. He's also ex-yakuza and was previously booted from the Tojo Clan for reasons currently unknown. Two misfits from opposite ends of justice whose circumstances have them caught in the middle.
Even the central drama pulls from what we already know; the Kansai-based Omi Alliance encroaches on the Tojo Clan's turf yet again, but Omi goons are found murdered throughout Kamurocho, inexplicably with their eyes gouged out. Thus, the first chapter titled "Three Blind Mice" gets you involved in one of Judgement's deeper mysteries. It leads to another web of characters who all seem to be building up to have roles in a larger conspiracy, setting the pieces for a potential plot twist down the road. One of them being Kyohei Hamura, a captain in the Tojo Clan's Matsugane Family, who's suspected of committing one of the said murders--and Yagami must help defend him.
I didn't get to see the conclusion to this particular story thread, but I picked up some interesting bits along the way that painted a clearer picture of where Yagami fits in. He's presented as a stand-up fellow and doesn't appear to have any burning desire or motivation to help either side in this endless gang war, but does some basic (and shady) debt collecting for the Matsugane family to make ends meet. But Prior to Hamura's arrest, it's said that patriarch Matsugane had paid for Yagami's law school tuition to defend Okubo in return; the aforementioned incident three years ago. As I inched closer to the truth in this early chapter and wondered how Yagami will handle the truth, the more complicated pieces started to fall in place.
With all the narrative juggling you'll be doing and Yagami's dynamic role as a veteran investigator and hardened fighter, it's a sensibility that also pours into Judgment's gameplay.
You Can't Fight Your Way Through Every Problem
Compared to most Yakuza games, Judgment's main story has you doing a bit more than beating dudes to a pulp before reaching an often respectful resolution. The opening hours give you a taste of the different phases of a typical mission. In one phase, you'll follow a suspect in one of those tailing sequences where you fail if you get too close or stray too far from the target. In another, you'll examine your immediate surroundings to gather evidence within a confined location for a case you're investigating. At other times, you'll engage in chases on foot a la Yakuza 3, 4, and 5 where you pursue a suspect and avoid obstacles to catch them before they escape. There's also a phrase of talking to bystanders at key locations to hopefully obtain witness accounts that bring you closer to solving the case at hand.
On their own, these in-between sequences haven't been all that great yet, and if anything, simply break up the pace of what we've come to expect. One thing that seems to stand above the rest is the addition of a more dynamic dialogue tree. These don't necessarily influence the story's outcomes the same way many modern RPGs do, but they put you in position to lead conversations and play at least a small part in digging out information and piecing evidence. By nature of taking the role of an investigator, you're more inquisitive about the surrounding environment and the people within it. So much so that you can form bonds with some characters; we're hoping for Persona-style social links, but we'll have to wait to see how far this'll take us.
Judgment's added layer of investigation breaks up the pace and makes you think of story events a bit differently.
When it's time to throw down, the series' tried-and-true beat 'em up combat resurfaces, using a near identical control scheme. Yagami plays reminiscent of the footloose financier Shun Akiyama (playable in Yakuza 4 and 5), who relies more on agile kicks and acrobatics than haymakers and brutal throws. His high-flying fighting style also feeds into the EX Actions (formerly Heat Actions) in which you'll see Yagami wall-jumping to deliver a devastating knee or follow up a roundhouse with a swinging double kick through a doorway. Although I was only able to mess with the demo's available EX Actions, scrolling through the upgrades menu reveals even more stylish attacks--I get the feeling that Judgment's humorous side may shine here (I mean, we saw Yagami kickflip a skateboard to kick a dude in the face in a previous trailer). Yagami gives off an air of parkour-influenced swagger as opposed to Kiryu's traditional absurd brutality that I, and I suspect many others, will be onboard for.
Downtime And Minigames
As expected, minigames are found around the corners of the sandbox of Kamurocho, mainly at the Club Sega right in the heart of Kamurocho's Theater Square. 'Kamuro of the Dead' delivers a light gun-style experience that throws back to House of the Dead and sparked thoughts of the ridiculous spinoff Yakuza: Dead Souls. And the smaller things like the dart boards and UFO Catcher crane game are still around. But the adorable plushies you pluck out of it serve a slightly bigger purpose: you can now decorate your office space with them. Yagami lives in his office and sleep on the couch as if he (like his fighting style) was pulled straight of the Akiyama template. And in this office, you can put your own flair on it with cute stuffed cats, office plants, and Super Monkey Ball monkeys--a nod to director Toshihiro Nagoshi's pre-Yakuza claim to fame.
You'll still find Club Sega down by Theater Square with plenty of arcade games to play!
Sadly, karaoke isn't present in Judgment. The rhythm-based minigame that brought so many beautiful and hilarious moments throughout the Yakuza series was said to not be a great fit for Judgment and its characters. It'd also be pretty difficult getting new Yagami's voice actors Greg Chun (English) and Takuya Kimura (Japanese) to sing karaoke songs in the voice over booths in a way that makes sense for both languages.
A New Watermark For The Series' Localization
For the first time in Ryu ga Gotoku Studios' history, its game will feature dual audio; you'll have the option for the English or Japanese voice track with separate subtitles for each. It's a new challenge for Sega's localization team that's been renowned for its stellar work on bringing the current generation of Yakuza games to the West with their original spirit in tact. While I find the Japanese voice work to be the best fit, the English voices left me pleasantly surprised, especially with the extra effort made to animate proper lip-syncing for a separate script.
Prominent anime and video game voice actors were brought on for Judgment; alongside Greg Chun in the lead role are Matthew Mercer, Max Mittelman, Yuri Lowenthal, Cherami Leigh, and SungWon "ProZD" Cho to name a few. Having spent some time with the English track, I began to ease into it and found myself brought into the story all the same. Having this option opens the door for those who've always wanted a dubbed version.
Saori Shirosaki works at Genda Law, and isn't one for words, but will gladly scarf down dorayaki.
Awaiting Judgment
Judgment is tempered in a way that fits what the game is going for. No longer are you navigating the ranks of a yakuza clan or sorting out your own family drama while taking breaks to hit the dance floor or belt out a few songs at the karaoke bar. I'll miss that, it's what made Yakuza's story and characters full of life. The masterful fluctuation between absurdity and melodrama takes a back seat, at least that's how it appears.
There are a lot of new faces, and keeping track of who's who comes part-and-parcel, and even with just two hours with the game, there's still plenty of detail I haven't laid out here. But if I've learned anything from seven Yakuza entries, it's that Ryu ga Gotoku Studios makes good on the details it throws into its games. Judgment provides a fresh perspective of a familiar setting. It may not be a Yakuza game by name, but the spirit seems to still be there. You can investigate Kamurocho's latest crimes as Takayuki Yagami in Summer 2019 when Judgment launches exclusively for PlayStation 4.
Competition: Win A Bundle From Zavvi’s New ‘Original Hero’ Clothing Range
To celebrate the launch of the new Original Hero range of clothing our friends at Zavvi have kindly donated a prize bundle worth around £100 to give away to you, the Nintendo Life readers.
The Original Hero range fuses the bold, exciting features of Japanese streetwear-inspired style with ‘Super Mario’ line art visuals. These complementary elements combine within a distinctive fashion range that celebrates the unmistakable Super Mario character aesthetic in both high contrast monochrome or subtle black on black.
The 16-piece range comprises t-shirts, long sleeves, sweats, and hoodies featuring characters and enemies spanning the iconic Super Mario franchise, including cult-favourites such as Goomba and Piranha Plant.
If you are interested in buying items from the range, they are available now, but hurry because they will only be available to buy for one week, or until sold out. Good luck!
The latest Nintendo Download update for Europe has arrived, and it’s bringing new games galore to the eShop in your region.As always, be sure to drop a vote in our poll and comment down below with your potential picks for the week. Enjoy!
Switch Retail – New Releases
Trials Rising(Ubisoft, €24.99 / £19.99) – Explore over-the-top action and physics-bending motorcycle racing in the latest opus of the Trials franchise. All new features, more competitions and more tracks means new challenges. Ride challenging tracks around the world – from the Great Wall of China and New York City to the Eiffel Tower and everywhere in between. – Read our Trials Rising review
The LEGO Movie 2 Videogame(WB Games, €39.99 / £34.99) – The alien monster invaders have left Bricksburg in ruins and taken Emmet’s friends! It is now up to Emmet and a host of heroic characters to go beyond their world and save their friends from the strange inhabitants of the Systar System. Journey into outer space, discover new worlds, and test your Master Building skills.
Rad Rodgers Radical Edition(HandyGames, €29.99 / £26.99) – Rad is a rambunctious but spirited young boy who maybe plays too many video games. After dozing off at the tail end of a long night of gaming, Rad awakens to find his dusty old console has turned itself back on. Suddenly a vortex emerges and he’s sucked into his TV, where he finds himself the star in his very own video game adventure.
Crash Dummy(Funbox Media, €29.99 / £26.99) – The evil D-TROIT has kidnapped MIA, the Advisor’s daughter! You might be playing as CID, the simple crash dummy, but CID was also programmed and equipped with everything need to be the hero he always dreamt of.
Constructor Plus(System 3 Software, €19.99 / £19.99) – In this town you’ve gotta think BIG! Take on the role of a budding property developer and build yourself up from minor-league housing crook to interplanetary property tycoon, wheeling, dealing and thieving all the way. Use a variety of sneaky methods to do over the competition, from a selection of Undesirables to calling in the Mob when you need a more heavy-handed approach…
Fimbul(EuroVideo Medien, €26.99 / £24.29) – Fimbul combines intense Viking battles with a deep story that unfolds through in-game comics to bring the frozen world of the Norse sagas to life. Immerse yourself in the blistering winter preceding Ragnarok — The Fimbul Winter! – Read our Fimbul review
Switch eShop – New Releases
DELTARUNE Chapter 1(8-4, Free) – Create your own avatar, meet strange friends, and jump into the darkness. By the way, this first chapter is FREE, so please feel free to check it out. Like, you don’t really need to read this or anything… You can just try it…
Ape Out(Devolver Digital, €14.99 / £13.49) – Ape Out is a wildly intense and colourfully stylized smash ‘em up about primal escape, rhythmic violence, and frenetic jazz. Build up nearly unstoppable momentum and use your captors as both weapons and shields to crush everyone on your procedurally generated path to freedom. – Read our Ape Out review
Trials Rising – Digital Gold Edition(Hi-Rez Studios, €39.99 / £29.99) – Includes the Game & 55+ tracks with the Expansion Pass! Explore over-the-top action and physics-bending motorcycle racing in the latest entry of the Trials® franchise. With new tracks and more ways to compete, Trials® Rising is easy to pick-up and play, challenging to master and offers the best multiplayer racing experience. Includes: Main Game, Sixty-Six, Crash & Sunburn, Stuntman Rider Pack, Samurai Item Pack.
RemiLore(Nicalis, €39.99 / £35.99) – RemiLore is a “rogue-lite” anime-style adventure set in a colourful fantasy world where players hack-and-slash their way through an army of mechanical monsters using a huge variety of unique melee weapons and devastating magic attacks! – Read our RemiLore review
SKYHILL(Klabater, €13.49 / £12.14) – World War III was an unexpected and cruel tragedy… You seemed to have a nice time, hidden in your fancy penthouse in Skyhill Hotel… Till the impact of a bio-weapon blew away the life and world you once knew.
Dark Quest 2(Brain Seal Entertainment, €9.99 / £8.99) – Dark Quest 2 is a turn-based RPG where you control a party of heroes on your epic quest to defeat the evil sorcerer and his minions. The game features a party based system where you control a group of heroes, an isometric hand-drawn art style, dice-based mechanics and much more.
Pixel Devil and the Broken Cartridge(Black Sun Game Publishing, €9.99 / £8.99) – Pixel Devil and the Broken Cartridge is an old school pixel art platformer. The protagonist ends up in the world of 8-bit video games. Help him get through challenging levels, beat various bosses, learn new skills, and find the villain behind the abduction of young women. But more importantly, together you’ll have to find the answer to the big question: why have the characters of old school video games suddenly turned evil?
The Lost Light of Sisu(Solvarg, €9.99 / £8.99) – Sisu is a forgiving yet challenging physics driven platformer. In this playful adventure, you find yourself searching planets in pursuit of energy cubes that power your spaceship but also evolve your abilities. Use these new-found powers to traverse obstacles and overcome grumpy alien species.
Stellar Interface – Deluxe Edition(Imagination Overflow, €15.89 / £15.89) – Fight In Ever Changing Space Battles, explore the Universe in Gold and expand your choices with 5 new Spacecrafts! Run through the universe, discover the numerous perks/consumables and their synergistic effects. Explore the randomly-generated galaxy to find merchants, unlock spacecrafts, collect StellarNetES Cartridges, checkmark your kills of the various galactic overlords. Main Title + Lost Galaxy DLC.
ACA NEOGEO THE ULTIMATE 11: SNK FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP(HAMSTER, €6.99 / £6.29) – “THE ULTIMATE 11: SNK FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP” is a soccer game released by SNK in 1996. Choose your favourite of 80 different teams, more than ever before, and conquer the two Championship modes! Choose from 4 styles of team balance to customize your team according to your own playing style!
Anodyne(Nnooo, €9.99 / £8.99) – Immersed in a moody, dream-like soundtrack explore a world full of natural, urban and abstract environments, solving puzzles and defeating enemies…with a broom!
BATTLLOON(UNTIES, €5.99 / £5.49) – Battlloon is a cute and casual PvP action game which pits you against your friends in a battle of bouncing balloons! Plays up to 4 players! The rules are simple! All you have to do is to bump other players into the spikes! May the best balloon win!
izneo(izneo, Free) – Description: Izneo BD Comics Manga Webtoon is a Nintendo Switch app for comics, with thousands of digital comic books.
Johnny Turbo’s Arcade: Super Real Darwin(FTE Games, €7.99 / £7.03) – The inhabitants of the planet Lakya unwittingly unleash the planet’s life force known as Evol. As the released Evol drifts from planet Lakya, it is received by the inhabitants of the nearby planet Cokyo; the people of Cokyo initiate the Shlohe project, a plan to use their captured Evol to develop advanced biologic ships and weapons to invade planet Lakya. The inhabitants of Lakya retaliate the Cokyo invasion by using their own evolving fighter ships.
My Girlfriend is a Mermaid!?(Sekai Games, €24.99 / £22.50) – Our protagonist lives out in the city but one summer decides to return to his rural hometown and it is there he once again meets his childhood friend, Ion… who is now a mermaid!? Soon after he also meets Petakko, a mermaid who has lost her memory and Rin, a priestess who looks after mermaids but also has a split personality. It is these encounters that brings our protagonist in contact with the legend surrounding mermaid.
Monster Dynamite(TREVA, €19.99 / £17.99) – Cheeky monsters everywhere! Place your explosives strategically on stacks of crates, scaffolding and logs where the little critters are sitting. Light the fuse and bring them all down! What looks simple at first gets more and more demanding: The cheeky little guys won’t keep still – and they just keep coming! With the explosions you’ll have to take into account chain reactions, movement behaviour, tilt directions and much more. Got enough bombs? Rake in trophies and defeat the monsters!
Ninja Village(Kairosoft, €10.00 / £8.99) Rewrite the history of feudal Japan with an army of the ultimate guerrilla warriors: ninjas! The shogun has fallen from power, plunging the land into chaos as feuding feudal lords scramble to take his place. But the shogun has an ace up his sleeve: you! As the head of a leading ninja clan, it’s up to you to rally your followers and help unify Japan!
Space War Arena(Playchemy, €13.00 / £11.69) – Welcome to Space War Arena! Build an armada from 30 different types of evolving units, unleash your cunning, adapt to the enemy, and command your fleet in epic AI encounters or vicious same-screen multiplayer. Engage!
V.O.I.D.(JanduSoft, €3.39 / £3.05) – After some time, a group of Ploids decides to take action and return the peace. To achieve this, Alpha and Omega must travel through time to eras of an ancient land, in order to obtain sacred stones that will give him the necessary power to defeat the invaders. Some of the ancient epochs are feudal Japan, the ice age, the medieval era or among others. What he does not know is that the invaders tried to get those holy stones before him! … In addition, time threatens to collapse, and only you can connect to the PLOIDS to save the Earth!
World Tree Marché(Flyhigh Works, €11.99 / £10.69) – World Tree Marché is a warm-hearted management simulation in which you run the market of a struggling ‘world tree’ together with six chefs. As the Royal Food Adviser, you need to help them through their unique gourmet storylines, find new recipes and stop the evil Gourmand Corporation.
Awesome Pea(Sometimes You, €5.99 / £5.39) – Welcome to the Awesome Islands World! Awesome Pea is a classic run-and-jump platformer, where you must jump through many challenging levels and help the greedy Pea, who is ready to undergo any trials for the sake of gold. Dangerous dungeons, deceptively beautiful nature, hidden deadly traps, and many MANY coins await you!
Creepy Road(GROOVYMILK, €12.99 / £11.69) – When everything goes insane and the world falls apart, a man must take up arms to protect his loved ones. Embark with Flint Trucker on a crazy journey to reunite him with sweet Angelina, and try not to succumb to the madness that awaits you!
History 2048(Run-Down Games, €4.99 / £4.49) – History 2048 is a familiar logic game, with beautiful graphics. Travel through the evolution of mankind, meet with famous kings, warlords and adventurer. A new and reimagined reboot of the well-known 2048 game. Pair the similar panels and step to a new era.
Klondike Solitaire(Baltoro Games, €8.99 / £7.99) – Klondike Solitaire, the perfect game to help you escape your hectic daily routine, relax and enjoy. Change the game’s appearance to suit your own taste. Progress through the game to unlock unique card sets and backgrounds. Customise your Solitaire to make it unique and exclusive. Stunning animations and gameplay designed for endless entertainment in the palm of your hand.
Pirates Pinball(EnjoyUp Games, €2.99 / £2.69) – Enjoy Pirates Pinball, a perfect reproduction of a real pinball machine, with all the graphic details and sounds. Discover all the secrets, complete all the missions and become number 1 in the world or the best among your Friends, posting your high score on the online leaderboard.
Queen’s Quest 2: Stories of Forgotten Past(Artifex Mundi, €14.99 / £13.49) – When the king asked a famous alchemist to look into the murder of his most trusted agent, the last thing the alchemist expected was to discover an intricate network of criminals working from the shadows to bring chaos to the land. Conduct the investigation as a shapeshifter and uncover a conspiracy that threatens to shake the foundations of the kingdom.
Shred! 2 – Freeride Mountainbiking(ASBO Interactive, €9.99 / £8.99) – Ride as Freeride legend Sam Pilgrim, and use the advanced trick system to bust out insane combos in over 40 levels including Big Mountain, Downhill, Slopestyle and Street!
Swords & Soldiers 2 Shawarmageddon(Ronimo Games, €12.74 / £11.46) – In this base stomping battle extravaganza, each battle is a fight to win a fast-paced tug of war; whether online, locally in split-screen or against the devious AI.
Tardy(Drageus Games, €4.99 / £4.49) – Ramto isn’t the smartest guy in the Universe. He enjoys finding troubles – and solving them, but when woke up on a spaceship it was too much even for him. Alone on the ship he had no idea how to pilot, among heaps of weird devices created by a schizophrenic engineer.
Treasure Stack(PIXELAKES, €15.83 / £14.21) – Fusing the pulse-pounding pressure of a falling block puzzle game with grapple-powered platforming, Treasure Stack offers up a fast-paced party game experience like no other. As treasure chests and keys fall from the sky and threaten to fill the screen, take direct control of a pixelated hero as you run, jump, grab, climb, grapple and stack matching colours to keep the blocky deluge at bay. But don’t go in unprepared! Unlock over 100 items to customize your hero and grapple with, featuring everything from slimes with chainsaws, to avian boxing glove grapplers.
ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove!(HumaNature Studios, €19.99 / £17.99) – ToeJam and Earl have crash-landed back on Earth in ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove!, a funky fresh roguelike adventure infused with old skool hip-hop and jam-packed with awesome throwbacks to the 1991 classic. Original Funk Lord (and co-creator) Greg Johnson is back at the helm with the sequel that ToeJam and Earl fans have been waiting for!
Ninja Village Demo(Kairosoft) – Rewrite the history of feudal Japan with an army of the ultimate guerrilla warriors: ninjas! The shogun has fallen from power, plunging the land into chaos as feuding feudal lords scramble to take his place. But the shogun has an ace up his sleeve: you! As the head of a leading ninja clan, it’s up to you to rally your followers and help unify Japan!
Riddled Corpses EX Demo(COWCAT) – Riddled Corpses EX is a twin-stick shooter made in the style of 8/16 bit arcade games. Travel through diverse locations packed with danger and huge bosses. Choose your character wisely and make good use of their abilities and the special items (clock, dynamite and turrets) to progress and destroy the root of evil!
Switch eShop – Pre-Orders
FINAL FANTASY X/X-2 HD Remaster(SQUARE ENIX, €49.99 / £44.99, pre-order from 25/02/2019) – FINAL FANTASY X/X-2 HD Remaster brings the timeless classics forward to the current generation of fans, old and new alike. FINAL FANTASY X tells the story of a star blitzball player, Tidus, who journeys with a young and beautiful summoner named Yuna on her quest to save the world of Spira from an endless cycle of destruction wrought by the colossal menace Sin. Bonus (PERMANENT): X-2 Pack, Credits & Bonus Audio Pack.
FINAL FANTASY XII THE ZODIAC AGE(SQUARE ENIX, €49.99 / £44.99, pre-order from 25/02/2019) – Return to the World of Ivalice… Not only have the graphics and sound been updated to take advantage of the power of new hardware, but the core game design has also been tweaked to produce an evolution of the original FFXII fitting for the current generation.
FINAL FANTASY VII(SQUARE ENIX, €15.99 / £12.79, pre-order from 25/02/2019) – The world has fallen under the dominion of the Shinra Electric Power Company, a sinister corporation that has monopolized the planet’s very life force as Mako energy. In the urban megalopolis of Midgar, an anti-Shinra rebel group calling themselves Avalanche have stepped up their campaign of resistance. Cloud Strife, a former member of Shinra’s elite SOLDIER unit now turned mercenary, lends his aid to the rebels, unaware that he will be drawn into an epic battle for the fate of the planet, while having to come to terms with his own lost past.
Bard’s Gold – Nintendo Switch Edition(Pixel Lantern, €8.09 / £7.19, pre-order from 26/02/2019) – Help the Bard to overcome the dungeon’s many dangerous perils and use your new-found treasures to improve your character and to buy new weapons and gear!
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy(CAPCOM, €29.99 / £29.99, pre-order from 27/02/2019) – The classic courtroom adventure series that has sold over 6.7 million copies worldwide is finally here. Become Phoenix Wright and experience the thrill of battle as you fight to save your innocent clients in a court of law. Play all 14 episodes, spanning the first three games, in one gorgeous collection. Solve the intriguing mysteries behind each case and witness the final truth for yourself!
Hard West(Forever Entertainment, €13.39 / £12.05 €17.99 / £16.19, pre-order from 28/02/2019) – Welcome to the Wild West as you’ve never seen before. Follow Warren on his descent into the darkest recesses of the human soul, and try to survive in a world full of hard choices and even harder consequences. Because in this world, death is a constant presence and the black pacts which you make with forces beyond human comprehension will forever haunt all those around you.
Resident Evil(CAPCOM, €29.99 / £29.99, pre-order from 28/02/2019) – The year is 1998. The Bravo Team of S.T.A.R.S., an elite special forces squad, has gone radio silent, and its Alpha Team has been dispatched to the forest on the outskirts of Raccoon City to investigate this mysterious disappearance. Attacked by bizarre and vicious dogs, alpha team members Chris and Jill manage to escape to a mysterious mansion in the middle of the forest. The horrors they encounter there are far greater than anyone might have foreseen…
Resident Evil 0(CAPCOM, €29.99 / £29.99, pre-order from 28/02/2019) – This entry in the Resident Evil series expands on and enriches the excitement and intrigue of the survival horror genre. Learn of the events that preceded the series’ first game, and experience thrilling new gameplay systems as you alternate between its two playable characters to solve the mystery.
Resident Evil 4(CAPCOM, €29.99 / £29.99, pre-order from 28/02/2019) – In the wake of the completely unprecedented biological disaster of Raccoon City, the corporation exposed as the initiator of those atrocities, Umbrella, has been dissolved. Leon S. Kennedy, a survivor of the incident, has gone on to become a special agent in the direct employ of the president of the United States. The president’s daughter has been kidnapped, and Leon has followed eyewitness reports to a cold village in Europe. In that village, a new intrigue awaits…
Fate/EXTELLA LINK(Marvelous Europe, €49.99 / £44.99, pre-order from 01/03/2019) – Servants from across the Fate series have come together to battle a new sinister threat to SE.RA.PH. Fully-loaded with new elements, Fate/EXTELLA LINK includes never-before-seen Servants, fresh scenarios, polished graphics and refined gameplay. With 10 Servants added to the original roster of 16, foes will quiver at the True Name of players’ Noble Phantasms as they assume the role of their favourite Servant. Bonus: Alteria DLC
Blood Waves(Sometimes You, €9.99 / £8.99, pre-order from 01/03/2019) – Destroy zombies, get the cash and prepare yourself for the next wave. During the break you can buy a necessary weapon, place the traps and defensive barricades, repair the traps survived in the previous wave. And of course, don’t forget to check the stock of bullets and restore your health.
Sushi Time!(Baltoro Games, €3.49 / £3.14, pre-order from 01/03/2019) – Welcome to Sushi Time! Manage a sushi bar and become a tycoon of Japanese food! Try to deliver the orders on time, but be careful not to mix them up! Upgrade your bar and beautify it, so that you’ll be able to create the best sushi in town!
Unravel Two(Electronic Arts, €29.99 / £24.99, pre-order from 01/03/2019) – When you cut ties to the past, new bonds form. In Unravel Two, create a Yarny of your very own. Then build relationships with other Yarnys in local co-op or as a single player, fostering friendship and support as you journey together. Begin your adventure in a cold and imposing land, then watch your surroundings blossom with new life as you chase the spark of adventure. Dive into an immersive story filled with energy, exuberance, inspiration – even monsters.
MiyoLinux: A Lightweight Distro with an Old-School Approach
I must confess, although I often wax poetic about the old ways of the Linux desktop, I much prefer my distributions to help make my daily workflow as efficient as possible. Because of that, my taste in Linux desktop distributions veers very far toward the modern side of things. I want a distribution that integrates apps seamlessly, gives me notifications, looks great, and makes it easy to work with certain services that I use.
However, every so often it’s nice to dip my toes back into those old-school waters and remind myself why I fell in love with Linux in the first place. That’s precisely what MiyoLinux did for me recently. This lightweight distribution is based on Devuan and makes use of the i3 Tiling Window Manager.
Why is it important that MiyoLinux is based on Devuan? Because that means it doesn’t use systemd. There are many within the Linux community who’d be happy to make the switch to an old-school Linux distribution that opts out of systemd. If that’s you, MiyoLinux might just charm you into submission.
But don’t think MiyoLinux is going to be as easy to get up and running as, say, Ubuntu Linux, Elementary OS, or Linux Mint. Although it’s not nearly as challenging as Arch or Gentoo, MiyoLinux does approach installation and basic usage a bit differently. Let’s take a look at how this particular distro handles things.
Installation
The installation GUI of MiyoLinux is pretty basic. The first thing you’ll notice is that you are presented with a good amount of notes, regarding the usage of the MiyoLinux desktop. If you happen to be testing MiyoLinux via VirtualBox, you’ll wind up having to deal with the frustration of not being able to resize the window (Figure 1), as the Guest Additions cannot be installed. This also means mouse integration cannot be enabled during the installation, so you’ll have to tab through the windows and use your keyboard cursor keys and Enter key to make selections.
Once you click the Install MiyoLinux button, you’ll be prompted to continue using either ‘su” or sudo. Click the use sudo button to continue with the installation.
The next screen of importance is the Installation Options window (Figure 2), where you can select various options for MiyoLinux (such as encryption, file system labels, disable automatic login, etc.).
The MiyoLinux installation does not include an automatic partition tool. Instead, you’ll be prompted to run either cfdisk or GParted (Figure 3). If you don’t know your way around cfdisk, select GParted and make use of the GUI tool.
With your disk partitioned (Figure 4), you’ll be required to take care of the following steps:
Configure the GRUB bootloader.
Select the filesystem for the bootloader.
Configure time zone and locales.
Configure keyboard, keyboard language, and keyboard layout.
Okay the installation.
Once, you’ve okay’d the installation, all packages will be installed and you will then be prompted to install the bootloader. Following that, you’ll be prompted to configure the following:
Hostname.
User (Figure 5).
Root password.
With the above completed, reboot and log into your new MiyoLinux installation.
Usage
Once you’ve logged into the MiyoLinux desktop, you’ll find things get a bit less-than-user-friendly. This is by design. You won’t find any sort of mouse menu available anywhere on the desktop. Instead you use keyboard shortcuts to open the different types of menus. The Alt+m key combination will open the PMenu, which is what one would consider a fairly standard desktop mouse menu (Figure 6).
The Alt+d key combination will open the dmenu, a search tool at the top of the desktop, where you can scroll through (using the cursor keys) or search for an app you want to launch (Figure 7).
Installing Apps
If you open the PMenu, click System > Synaptic Package Manager. From within that tool you can search for any app you want to install. However, if you find Synaptic doesn’t want to start from the PMenu, open the dmenu, search for terminal, and (once the terminal opens), issue the command sudo synaptic. That will get the package manager open, where you can start installing any applications you want (Figure 8).
Of course, you can always install applications from the command line. MiyoLinux depends upon the Apt package manager, so installing applications is as easy as:
sudo apt-get install libreoffice -y
Once installed, you can start the new package from either the PMenu or dmenu tools.
MiyoLinux Accessories
If you find you need a bit more from the MiyoLinux desktop, type the keyboard combination Alt+Ctrl+a to open the MiyoLinux Accessories tool (Figure 9). From this tool you can configure a number of options for the desktop.
All other necessary keyboard shortcuts are listed on the default desktop wallpaper. Make sure to put those shortcuts to memory, as you won’t get very far in the i3 desktop without them.
A Nice Nod to Old-School Linux
If you’re itching to throw it back to a time when Linux offered you a bit of challenge to your daily grind, MiyoLinux might be just the operating system for you. It’s a lightweight operating system that makes good use of a minimal set of tools. Anyone who likes their distributions to be less modern and more streamlined will love this take on the Linux desktop. However, if you prefer your desktop with the standard bells and whistles, found on modern distributions, you’ll probably find MiyoLinux nothing more than a fun distraction from the standard fare.
Humanity has been driven from the Earth by mechanical beings from another world. In a final effort to take back the planet, the human resistance sends a force of android soldiers to destroy the invaders. Now, a war between machines and androids rages on... A war that could soon unveil a long-forgotten truth of the world.
The alien monster invaders have left Bricksburg in ruins. It is now up to Emmet and a host of heroic characters to go beyond their world and save their friends from the strange inhabitants of the Systar System. Players can journey into outer space, discover new worlds, and test their Master Building skills.
DEAD OR ALIVE 6 is a fast-paced 3D fighting game, produced by Koei Tecmo Games, featuring graphics and multi-tiered stages that create a truly entertaining competitive experience. The story follows the events of DEAD OR ALIVE 5, focusing on 2 separate main narratives; namely, the battle between ?Ninja and DOATEC? versus ?M.I.S.T. lead by Donovan?, and the events that occur during the 6th DEAD OR ALIVE Tournament. New side story episodes will also be added for returning characters. Following the tradition, fights in DEAD OR ALIVE 6 are based on a triangle system: strikes beat throws, throws beat holds, and holds beat strikes. Landing a well-timed attack of the type that beats your opponent?s attack, like landing a strike when an opponent tries to throw, will result in a Hi Counter attack and do more damage.
The iconic ?90s duo is back in the groove with all-new presents to help them navigate this wack planet ?Earth? and retrieve all the lost pieces to the Rapmaster Rocket. Team up for co-op play to discover secret locations, hidden presents and new friends.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 03-01-2019, 03:28 AM - Forum: Lounge
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Don’t Miss: Pokemon’s secret ingredient
The Pokémon franchise launched in the U.S. in 1998 — explosively. Since then, the merchandising fad has waned, but the games have remained as popular as they ever were. The last edition to be released, Black and White, sold over 1 million units in its first day on sale in the U.S. alone. Next week Nintendo will release on DS Black and White 2, the first direct sequels in the franchise.
Producer Junichi Masuda has been at developer Game Freak almost since its inception, joining in the 1990s during the pre-Pokémon days when it was a struggling independent studio developing games for publishers like Sega and Namco. Takao Unno, the game’s director, has been at the studio for a decade.
Unno and Masuda tell Gamasutra about the core of the Pokémon franchise. What makes a Pokémon game? What does the development team focus on, and what resonates with audiences?
I’m sure you get a lot of questions about why you’re doing a direct sequel, but what really interests me is, what can you do with a direct sequel that you couldn’t do with, say, a third installment, or a new game?
Takao Unno: When creating a sequel, with this sequel in particular, we thought about what we could do to make it new, and why we need to make this sequel. And there are a variety of reasons, but in terms of gameplay, we really wanted to enhance the communication features, and really expand on the various communication features that connect players with other players. We really focused on making these functions even deeper and more in-depth in the game.
Another aspect is that when we have the two original versions and then a third version, that’s very interesting in its own, but by having two versions this time as the sequel, we’re able to kind of communicate in four different directions rather than just three. So in terms of the gameplay communication, we’re able to expand in more directions than we have in previous Pokémon titles.
Takao Unno
Another aspect is also the Memory Link, which when you’re someone who has transferred a save data from Black Version and White Version to Black Version 2 and White Version 2 there are some certain scenarios or story elements that get unlocked, and are very interesting for players who’ve played the previous titles.
How do you balance what you change versus what you keep consistent? Because obviously so many things have been consistent since the first or second installment of the franchise up until today, but other things have to evolve because of the way the audience has evolved.
Junichi Masuda: Finding that balance every time is very difficult. But when you think about games, just like playing, for example, soccer and basketball, they’re games that have been around for a very long time. The core gameplay of those — the core of how you play basketball and soccer — hasn’t really changed. Over the years, there’s regulation changes or rule changes to those games, but the core gameplay doesn’t really change for those, and that’s how we kind of feel about Pokémon as well.
Junichi Masuda
When you have those slight regulation changes for soccer and basketball, you can kind of think of that as when we develop more moves for the Pokémon, or change those moves. And finding that balance is very difficult every time. But one thing we’re maybe more focused on these days is defining more detail in those moves. Where it might’ve been a little bit more general or broad in the past, we get into the fine detail of Pokémon moves, I’d say, in the more modern games.
You know you mentioned soccer, for example. We recently had the Summer Olympics, and what changed so much isn’t the events, but the athletes and what they’re capable of has changed. And by the same token, since Pokémon first came out, people have really dug deeply into the games. Does that affect things? The way the players have come to understand and really dig deep into the strategy of the game? Has that changed in any way, the way you approach the design?
JM: When developing the games, we focus primarily on making it a good experience for first time players. You were talking about the Olympics, but one example I can think of is, for example, a young child will watch an Olympic event and it’ll be the first time they’ll have seen that sport, then they’ll get really excited about it, and they’ll want to try it themselves.
And I think it’s really important to make it very easy for people to get into that experience and try it for themselves. And then if they want to take it to another, a higher level they can then talk with more experienced players. When talking about Pokémon, people who’ve played the games for a long time, or maybe their older brother, they can talk to them and learn more about the game. But in terms of actually how we make the games we really focus on making that entrance as easy as possible, making that as user-friendly as possible for brand new players.
