Tag: turns
Steam indie RPG turns underrated Final Fantasy game into trash
There are two kinds of Final Fantasy fans: those that have played Final Fantasy Tactics and constantly talk of its brilliance, and those that keep saying they’ll play it eventually. A new indie game on Steam, Trash of the Titans, offers something for both camps that channels the spirit of Tactics, but gives it a trashy spin.
Malware Turns Home Routers Into Proxies For Chinese State-Sponsored Hackers
The main purpose of the malware appears to relay traffic between an infected target and the attackers’ command and control servers in a way that obscures the origins and destinations of the communication. With further analysis, Check Point Research eventually discovered that the control infrastructure was operated by hackers tied to Mustang Panda, an advanced persistent threat actor that both the Avast and ESET security firms say works on behalf of the Chinese government.
The researchers discovered the implant while investigating a series of targeted attacks against European foreign affairs entities. The chief component is a backdoor with the internal name Horse Shell. The three main functions of Horse Shell are: a remote shell for executing commands on the infected device; file transfer for uploading and downloading files to and from the infected device; and the exchange of data between two devices using SOCKS5, a protocol for proxying TCP connections to an arbitrary IP address and providing a means for UDP packets to be forwarded. The SOCKS5 functionality seems to be the ultimate purpose of the implant. By creating a chain of infected devices that establish encrypted connections with only the closest two nodes (one in each direction), it’s difficult for anyone who stumbles upon one of them to learn the origin or ultimate destination or the true purpose of the infection. As Check Point researchers wrote: “Learning from history, router implants are often installed on arbitrary devices with no particular interest, with the aim to create a chain of nodes between the main infections and real command and control,” Check Point researchers wrote in a shorter write-up. “In other words, infecting a home router does not mean that the homeowner was specifically targeted, but rather that they are only a means to a goal.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Tears of the Kingdom’s Fuse ability turns the game into Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater
Shield surfing returns in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, but with Link’s new powers, he’s turned into a full on skater boy.
It seems that there’s a limitless number of activities to do in this updated version of Breath of the Wild’s Hyrule. Whether it’s making a whole bunch of wacky and wonderful creations (and some rather obscene ones), or just simply proving that there isn’t a “right” way to play the game. But the hottest trend taking over the hills of Hyrule? Skateboarding. In the first game, you could do a cool flip to get Link on his shield to surf down mountains, snowy slopes, or sandy dunes. But now, players are using Link’s Fuse ability to make flat out skateboards.
The thing about Tears of the Kingdom, is that if an object can be interacted with through Link’s Ultrahand ability, you can also do so with any of his other abilities, including Fuse. So that means you can do things like sticking a rock on the end of your sword, or firing off an arrow with a mushroom on its tip. It also means that you can attach a mine- or regular cart to your shield, which players have quickly found is the sickest way to get around Hyrule.
The Return of Rome Expansion Turns Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition Into The Game From Your Nostalgic Memories
Vice City turns 20 on PC—here’s our original 93% review from 2003
Dbrand’s Zelda skin turns your Switch into a giant middle finger to Nintendo lawyers
Dbrand just made another quick buck by flipping off Nintendo. You can now preorder a $50 skin for your Nintendo Switch that’s a dead ringer for the $359 Nintendo Switch OLED Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Edition — at least until you look closely.
At first, the “Clone of the Kingdom” seems like just that. But then you realize that Dbrand replaced the Triforce with The Eye of Providence, a symbol often as famous for its connections to conspiracy theories and the Illuminati as for its benign appearance on the back of a US Dollar. (Admittedly, the crest of the Sheikah is an eye with three pyramids for eyebrows.)
Then, you might notice the runes. What might they read? “Go fuck yourself, lawyers” is the first one I decoded; I won’t…
It turns almost half of Hunt: Showdown players haven’t even killed another player
It turns out that a pretty large portion of Hunt: Showdown players have actually even killed another player.
If you’ve ever played Hunt: Showdown you’ll know that other players aren’t necessarily your biggest threat at any given point in time. It’s a threatening world to exist in, and that doesn’t always work for every player. So much so that it turns out 40% of players haven’t even killed another player at all. As reported by PCGamer, who held a roundtable regarding first-person shooters at GDC, general manager for the Hunt franchise at Crytek David Fifield shared that statistic, noting that it’s a big issue for new players when facing veteran players.
“We have an achievement in Hunt called Debut,” Fifield said. “It’s ‘kill your first enemy Hunter’, 40% of our players never get it. We’re a PvP game where you come in, you do some things, and 40% of the people trying Hunt have never killed another player.” Due to the nature of Hunt: Showdown, which is PvPvE, there’s a chance many players won’t even encounter one another in a particular match. So it can be tricky for some when they come up against someone who’s been playing the game for a while.
iMac Turns 25 Today: When to Expect the Next Model to Launch
“This is iMac,” said Jobs, at the Flint Center in Cupertino. “The whole thing is translucent. You can see into it. It’s so cool. We’ve got stereo speakers on the front. We’ve got infrared right up here. We’ve got the CD-ROM drive right in the middle. We’ve got dual stereo headphone jacks. We’ve got the coolest mouse on the planet right here.”
The original iMac pioneered many industry firsts, such as USB and FireWire, while abandoning the floppy drive and other legacy ports. The computer featured a 15-inch display, a PowerPC G3 processor, a 4GB hard drive, 32MB of RAM, a CD drive, two USB ports, and an Ethernet port for connecting to the still-nascent internet.
Over the past two and a half decades, the iMac has received many design changes, moving to a flat screen and an aluminum enclosure. Fittingly, the current 24-inch iMac features a colorful design just like the original model did all those years ago.
When to Expect a New iMac
Apple released the 24-inch iMac in April 2021 with the M1 chip and an ultra-thin design available in seven colors, including green, yellow, orange, pink, purple, blue, and silver. This is currently the only new iMac in Apple’s lineup, as the Intel-based 27-inch iMac and iMac Pro models were both discontinued over the past few years.
A new iMac will launch in late 2023 at the earliest, according to Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman. In February, he said Apple had no plans to update the iMac with the M2 chip and is waiting until the M3 chip, which has yet to be announced. The M3 chip is expected to use TSMC’s 3nm process for significant performance and power efficiency improvements.
TSMC has reportedly faced yield issues with 3nm chip manufacturing, and Gurman said there is a possibility the new iMac does not launch until 2024. In any case, the next iMac appears to remain several months away from launching.
This article, “iMac Turns 25 Today: When to Expect the Next Model to Launch” first appeared on MacRumors.com
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