Raiders of the Broken Planet has released a new developer diary detailing upcoming economy changes coming to the PC and console MMO.
The update allows prologue (free) players to use gold and faction points earned in the free prologue to unlock characters, build weapons, unlock character/faction cards, obtain lore information, and more. For players who own the complete packs, they will enjoy having better equipped players sharing game space with them.
Here’s a head scratcher: Should shuttered online games be exempted from Digital Millennium Copyright Act claims if the product is abandoned by its owners? The answer is yes, at least sort of. Under current US law, there are exemptions made for circumventing a game’s copyright protection if said servers have been abandoned by the owner and the game has a single player component. It does not protect against changes made to bring multiplayer games back online. It also does not protect people who alter their consoles to circumvent shuttered server authentication.
Well all of that may change, as the US Copyright Office is taking comments in regards to potentially adding exemptions for online services. This could pave the way for explicitly legal MMO servers for shuttered games, so if you have an opinion on the matter then now is the time to give it. The Copyright Office is taking comments until mid-December.
(Source: Gamasutra)
Bungie has released a statement regarding the Destiny 2 bans that MMO Fallout reported on last night. For the sake of clarity, we are posting the statement in its entirety.
We have seen lots of questions about bans being issued in the PC version of Destiny 2. To provide some information, we would like to share some facts.The following is true:
- Destiny 2 cannot automatically ban you, only Bungie can ban a player after a manual investigation
- Yesterday, we banned approximately 400 players on PC
- Bans were applied to players who were using tools that pose a threat to the shared ecosystem of the game
- We did not (and will not) issue any bans for the use of overlays or performance tools, including Discord, Xsplit, OBS, RTSS, etc.
- Information on using third-party applications can be found here: https://www.bungie.net/en/Help/Article/46101
- We are overturning 4 of the bans that were issued during the PC Beta
We are committed to providing an experience that is fun and fair for the millions of players who have joined us in this community.
(Update: Bungie’s PC Project Lead has called this “Internet BS.”)
We do block programs from pushing their code into our game. Most overlays work like that. We don’t ban for that tho. That’s internet BS.
— Shawctober (@ShockAndShaw) October 25, 2017
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It looks like certain recording software is triggering permanent bans in Destiny 2 on PC.
Head on over to the Bungie forums and you’ll find tons of posts from players reporting that they’ve been banned within hours, some within minutes of booting up Destiny 2 for the first time, some before even making it into the game. According to an FAQ on the official website, software with “overlay” features is incompatible with Destiny 2 due to security features programmed into the game to stop how certain cheats are injected into the game code. While the website uses the term “incompatible,” it doesn’t actually state that using said software regardless might be a bannable offense.
Well it is. Permanently.
The list of “incompatible” programs includes the Nvidia Geforce Experience, Fraps, Discord, Mumble, Afterburner, and more. Virtually any program with some sort of overlay feature is incompatible to some extent with the game. And to top it off, according to numerous users affected by these bans for game overlays, Bungie support is doing absolutely nothing to help. According to Bungie’s support, they will not review bans under any circumstance:
There are NO options to dispute or overturn account restrictions or bans. Permanent account bans are only implemented with rigorous checking to ensure that the innocent are not punished alongside the guilty. Bungie does not comment on or discuss individual account restriction or bans.
If players are getting immediately banned for overlay software, that makes Bungie’s claim of “rigorous checking” a complete lie. Bungie might want to check their policy at the door in this case, because they are looking at a PR disaster and very likely some litigation if the issue is as widespread as it appears.
As of yet, none of Bungie’s social media accounts have acknowledged the bans, nor have any staff posted on the forums. MMO Fallout is attempting to get in touch with Bungie/Activision for contact and will follow up once we have more information. Please note that this is technically unconfirmed on our end, but the sheer number of people claiming bans for the same issue has led us to issue this warning.
Perfect World Entertainment today launched the latest update for Neverwinter, the Swords of Chult.
This update, which is set to come to consoles at a later date, introduces the Merchant Prince’s Folly skirmish, a dynamic, 5-player skirmish available at end game. In addition, quality of life updates hope to make inventory management much simpler and straightforward, with the ability to sort, identify, and sell treasures.
And last but not least, in order to make the game more alt-friendly, players with multiple characters will be able to create a Signet of Patronage to help their alternate characters through the game’s campaigns. More information can be found here, or you can watch the handy video below.
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If you’ve been holding off on the Star Wars: The Old Republic expansions for a while now, your patience has officially paid out. To celebrate the launch of Knights of the Old Republic on Xbox One, Bioware is giving away both Old Republic expansions to anyone who uses a simple code by the time the promotion ends. The code is REVANRETURNS and can be redeemed at this link, and if you’re into things like free mounts, you can also get your hands on a free speeder with the code KOTORSPEEDER.
Codes expire Monday, November 6, 2017 at 11:59PM PST / Tuesday, November 7, 2017 at 7:59PM GMT. The promotional code includes Rise of the Hutt Cartel and Shadow of Revan
(Source: The Old Republic)
Let’s be clear on one thing: The death of Neogaf was guaranteed a long time before this last week’s revelation, thanks to a closed door policy and a sycophantic owner/moderation team whose policy can essentially be summed up as “no dissenting opinions.”
I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t spend a lot of time on Neogaf, a website that has repeatedly and personally turned me down for membership in part precisely because of my ownership and affiliation with this website. While the website maintained a reputation of an insulated hugbox where disagreeing with the higher ups was a quick way to a permanent ban, it’s hard to deny the sleuthing skills of many of the members within. A lot of leaks and early information was disseminated through Neogaf, and it honestly made for a good place to find lead stories. As hard as it is, you have to separate the overall community from its more well known and immature voices.
But we’re not here to praise Neogaf, this week’s Community is all about how a person who seems to enjoy exerting control and dominance, an individual with years of rumored sexual malfeasance, could surprisingly turn out to be a sexual predator. The latest allegation was posted over the past few days of Tyler Malka, AKA Evilore, prompting a number of moderators of the website to step down in protest and in solidarity of the alleged victim. The forums, as you might expect, burst into flames from users demanding an answer to said allegations or for Malka to step down. Attempts by moderators to lock and delete threads only fanned the flames further, and eventually the forums were shut down completely.
The internet, unsurprisingly, is taking this opportunity to dance on the grave of Neogaf, given Malka’s alleged predatory behavior towards women seems in stark opposition to his very public support for progressive causes including supporting victims of sexual abuse.
#GamerGate can’t be about desiring reforms in journalism *and* resenting women. The fundamental motivations are clear here.
— Tyler Malka (@NeoGAF) September 9, 2014
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Support apparently not extending to women interacting with Malka who, in 2012, posted a story on Neogaf involving him grabbing a woman’s backside at a bar after she asked him to buy her a drink, just to show that she wasn’t in control of the interaction. The latest allegation comes from a woman claiming that Malka made an unwanted entrance into her shower while she was both sick and intoxicated, posted as part of the growing #metoo campaign that has seen countless women speak out about sexual harassment.
The individual went on to have a relationship with Malka in the following months.
“At one point in a bar a girl who didn’t speak any English came up to me and started flirting heavily, then went straight into asking me to buy her a drink. . . I laughed because drinks here were all of two Euros, but consented and then grabbed her ass hard to show that I wasn’t being taken advantage of, and she thought better of treating me as a mark and left without taking her drink.”
The news of Malka’s misconduct comes just a few months after a Neogaf moderator was arrested. Christopher John Goldberg, posting under the name Amir0x, was arrested and charged with 63 counts of possession of child porn. According to various accounts, there was supposed to be a statement released by Neogaf on the situation this weekend, and as of Monday morning nothing has been released. When a statement is made, it will be added to this article front and center.
Note: Tyler Malka sexually assaulted a woman within 2 weeks of calling gamers basement-dwelling virgin terrorists who threaten women. pic.twitter.com/OQn7Qb7TFO
— Best Mom Eva (@mombot) October 23, 2017
The Steam Link is a device that allows you to stream your Steam games to another television in the house via wifi or ethernet. If you’ve been holding out on buying the Link thanks to its bank-breaking $50 price tag, you are in luck (but only if you act fast).
Valve has placed the Steam Link on sale with the game Icey for the sum total of $8.69 USD. The divides out to $7.69 for Icey and $1 for Steam. You do have to pay shipping and handling, but that’s something that would have been added on while buying the link at its regular price regardless. You’ll need to decide fast, as this bundle ends on October 21 at 9am PST.
Icey, for those interested in this bundle for more than just the Link, is a 2D side scrolling shooter/platformer. More information can be found at the link below.
(Source: Steam)
En Masse Entertainment has unveiled the Pink Power Bundle, a limited promotion in TERA to help spread breast cancer awareness. The bundle is only available until November 1, and contains a small handful of goods to show off your charitable ways.
TERA’s Pink Power Bundle sells for $14.95, with 100% net proceeds going toward the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
“According to Breast Cancer.Org, there are more than 3.1 million survivors with breast cancer history, and 40,000 women are expected to die in 2017 from breast cancer,” said Matt Denomme, Senior Product Manager at En Masse Entertainment. “We’ve got a chance to help bring those numbers down by spreading awareness through our TERA community, as well as contributing proceeds from our Pink Power Bundle to one of the many charities in need. We hope our small part will help these statistics change for the better and fight this awful disease.”
The number of playable characters hits 44 as Loki joins the cast in Marvel Heroes Omega on PS4 and Xbox One. Loki is currently available exclusively through a $20 pack, and will be available to purchase with Gs or with eternity splinters in one month (the website says Black Bolt).
With an ensemble of spells ranging from arcane magic and illusionary tactics to powers of ice and fire, Thor’s half-brother has the goods to cause plenty of damage in battle. Loki’s default costume echoes his classic comic book look, and players who purchase him also have access to a much younger look for the character from his LOKI: AGENT OF ASGARD series.
In addition, G packs are on sale at 25% off for console.
(Source: Marvel Heroes)
