Epic Games, the developer of Fortnite, is being sued in a class-action lawsuit after a security breach allowed hackers to access the personal information of users with Epic Games accounts.

The class-action lawsuit was filed by Franklin D. Azar & Associates in US District Court in North Carolina. The suit cites Epic’s “failure to maintain adequate security measures and notify users of the security breach in a timely manner.” It goes on to mention that there are more than 100 class members involved in the lawsuit.

Epic acknowledged the breach back in January, surmising that a bug in Fortnite may have exposed the personal information of millions of user accounts. The company fixed the issue, but the suit alleges that the company failed to notify affected users to the possibility of their personal information being compromised. The filing says that the plaintiff and anyone else affected by the breaches “have an ongoing interest in ensuring that their [personally identifiable information] is protected from past and future cybersecurity threats.”

Check Point security researchers discovered the breach in November 2018 before Epic acknowledged it in January 2019. “We were made aware of the vulnerabilities and they were soon addressed,” said an Epic Games spokesperson at the time. “We thank Check Point for bringing this to our attention. As always, we encourage players to protect their accounts by not reusing passwords and using strong passwords, and not sharing account information with others.”

However, Check Point’s report details an exploit that couldn’t have been avoided by constant password changes. “By discovering a vulnerability found in some of Epic Games’ sub-domains, an XSS attack was permissible with the user merely needing to click on a link sent to them by the attacker. Once clicked, with no need even for them to enter any login credentials, their Fortnite username and password could immediately be captured by the attacker.”

“Even if you [had] a security product looking for anti-phishing, it wouldn’t catch [the hack] because it’s coming from a legitimate domain,” Check Point’s head of products vulnerability research Oded Vanunu said. Vanunu went on to encourage players to enable two-factor authentication for their Epic accounts. “Token hijacking is something that is happening on all major platforms,” Vanunu continued. “We are starting to see malicious attackers looking for tokens more.”

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/epic-struck-by-class-action-lawsuit-over-hacked-fo/1100-6469051/

Season 10 of Fortnite kicked off a couple of weeks ago, and since then one of its major new additions has been giving the player base plenty of frustration and anger. The new B.R.U.T.E. mech–a two-player vehicle that sees one person take control as a driver and puts the other in charge of its firepower–has been causing plenty of grief due to its overpowered nature.

Armed with rockets, a shotgun, and 1,000 health–roughly five times the maximum health and shield of other players–this new mech has an innate ability to reduce a regular player’s health from 200 hit points to zero in a matter of seconds, with little to no opposition. Walls offer minuscule defence against the mech’s powerful rockets, and its ability to rapidly close the distance on players makes it particularly deadly considering season 10 removed a lot of Fortnite’s mobility options. It’s damning that the winner of Fortnite’s recent solo World Cup can be instantly killed with almost no effort.

Fortunately, Epic has begun toning down the frequency of mechs in the competitive Arena and Tournament playlists.

In a post on Reddit, Epic detailed how it’s altering the regularity with which mechs will now appear.

“We’ve lowered the spawn rates of the B.R.U.T.E. per Storm circle in Arena and Tournament playlists. We will continue to monitor the impact of this change in advance of next weekend’s Champion Series event.

Beginning of Match

• 21.5% chance that between 1-3 B.R.U.T.Es will spawn

  • Previously was 100% chance that between 2-4 B.R.U.T.Es would spawn

Storm 1

• 44% chance that between 1-4 B.R.U.T.Es will spawn

  • Previously was 100% chance that between 2-4 B.R.U.T.Es would spawn

Storm 2

• 40% chance that between 1-2 B.R.U.T.Es will spawn

  • Previously was 100% chance that between 1-3 B.R.U.T.Es would spawn

Storm 3

• 40% chance that between 1-2 B.R.U.T.Es will spawn

  • Previously was 66% chance that 2 B.R.U.T.Es would spawn

Storm 4

• 10% chance that 1 B.R.U.T.E will spawn

  • Previously was 50% chance that 1 B.R.U.T.E would spawn

Storm 5

• 3% chance that 1 B.R.U.T.E will spawn

  • Previously was 10% chance that 1 B.R.U.T.E would spawn”

It’s a positive move for those frustrated by the inclusion of a powerful vehicle. Epic has said they will monitor these changes ahead of the Champions Series event next weekend, but whether or not they’re applied to other game modes remains to be seen.

Nerfing the mech’s damage output and health will take more time if Epic decides to take that route. But for now, reducing the frequency with which they appear is a step in the right direction.

Fortnite Season X Coverage

• Fortnite Season 10 Battle Pass: Skins, Price, How It Works, And More
• Fortnite Season 10 Battle Pass Rewards: Skins, Emotes, Back Bling, Pets, And More
• Fortnite Season 10 Update Notes: BRUTE Mech, Rift Zones, And More
• Fortnite Season 10: Big Changes To How Daily & Weekly Challenges Work
• Fortnite Season 10 Map Changes: Rift Zones, Comet, Skeleton, And More
• Fortnite 10.00 Content Update: Titled Town, Automatic Sniper Rifle, And More

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/fortnites-overpowered-brute-mechs-spawn-less-frequ/1100-6469050/

Quantic Dream has never been a first-party studio, despite its deep association with the PlayStation brand ever since the release of Heavy Rain in 2010. With recent PC ports for the aforementioned title, plus Beyond: Two Souls and the upcoming release of Detroit: Become Human, the French developer is looking to break away from Sony’s platform to develop and publish games for other systems.

Earlier this year, NetEase Games, the gaming division of Chinese internet giant NetEase, acquired a minority stake in Quantic Dream–hot on the heels of investing $100 million into Bungie to create non-Destiny games. While David Cage and Guillaume de Foundaumiere maintain control of the studio, the money invested by NetEase will go to “support the studio’s vision of becoming a global, multi-franchise entertainment company, and to develop advanced technologies and games for the future.”

The fruits of this labour have already been seen with the PC ports for Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls arriving on the Epic Games Store, with Detroit: Become Human releasing later this year. Now, in a recent interview with DualShockers, studio head David Cage has detailed the company’s intentions to break away from PlayStation exclusivity to “work on different platforms and reach players all around the world”.

“After having worked exclusively with PlayStation for 12 years, we thought it was the right time for us to put our money where our mouth is,” Cage revealed. “We also felt that the landscape would change in the coming years, with the emergence of new platforms, 5G and Cloud Play.”

Not content to simply release its own games on other platforms, Cage also shared Quantic Dreams’ aspirations to become a “boutique publisher” over the next few years, working as an independent publisher by “backing few titles and championing originality and high quality, while providing tech and industrial support.” This came to fruition through the studio’s investment from NetEase, with Cage explaining that the Chinese giant “understood the ambition we had for the studio. We felt there were some very interesting strategic synergies between our companies.”

As for the transition into becoming a publisher, Cage goes on to say that Quantic Dream “felt there was room for a new publisher that would have an ‘ethical’ approach, offering fair deals and not taking ownership of IP.” So far the studio is “really pleased with the result” of its work on the PC ports for Epic Games Store. As the company’s first foray into publishing, Cage revealed that he’s “very pleased with Heavy Rain’s current figures, which align with our expectations.”

With new platforms like Xbox Scarlett, PlayStation 5, and Google Stadia on the horizon, Cage has made it clear that Quantic Dream is not “exclusive to any platform anymore. So yes, unless there are some specific exclusivity deals on a title-by-title basis, all our games will be released on all platforms at launch.”

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/quantic-dream-intends-to-become-a-multiplatform-de/1100-6469048/

Microsoft revealed the new Xbox Scarlett during its E3 2019 Xbox press conference earlier this year. Seemingly a codename, Xbox Scarlett releases in Holiday 2020 alongside Halo Infinite. The Xbox One has been around since 2013, which, scarily, is six years ago. Console cycles typically last between five and seven years, meaning we should be due a new Xbox pretty soon. However, there’s the complicating factor that this generation included mid-cycle upgrades, the PS4 Pro and the Xbox One X.

There’s still a lot to find out Xbox Scarlett, but Microsoft boasted about the specs being far beyond that of the Xbox One X. Regardless, we know Microsoft is working on the next Xbox console, and there’ve been a fair few details revealed about what to expect. Without further ado, let’s dig into everything we know about the next Xbox.

What is the new Xbox?

While Microsoft discussed its new Xbox during E3 last year, it reiterated at E3 2019 that it’s definitely working on the new console. In fact, it could even be multiple consoles on the way. Xbox boss Phil Spencer said in June 2018 that Microsoft is “deep into architecting the next Xbox consoles where we will once again deliver on our commitment to set the benchmark for console gaming.”

Of course, the pluralizing of ‘console’ could mean Spencer was referring in part to the Xbox One S All-Digital Edition, which was announced just recently. However, the latter half of his quote–about setting the benchmark for console gaming–surely refers to a new generation, where it sounds as if Microsoft wants to come out swinging with the most powerful console available, just as it did with the Xbox One X.

Early reports from Thurrott suggest the new Xbox consoles are being developed under the umbrella codename Scarlett. Two consoles are in the works, say the reports: one is a high-power machine codenamed Anaconda that will be approximately the same price as the PS5, while the other is a budget-orientated machine known as Lockhart. The latter is potentially a streaming-centric device that does not boast much processing power itself; rather, it will ostensibly utilize Microsoft’s nascent xCloud technology to play games via the cloud. Microsoft has so far only detailed one new device, but it could be that a second console is revealed at a later date.

In an interview following E3 2019, Phil Spencer told us that the Xbox Scarlett will focus on high frame rates and fast loading times. He also spoke on the future of cloud gaming, and reaffirmed that Microsoft isn’t working on a stream-only console right now.

When is the new Xbox’s release date?

Microsoft hasn’t spoken about its specific timeline for the new Xbox consoles’ release date(s). However, the consoles are not expected to launch until Fall 2020. For comparison’s sake, we don’t precisely know when the PS5 will launch either, but in May 2018 the then-head of PlayStation, John Kodera, said that the PS5 was “three years” away. However, plans change, and it’s also possible Kodera was merely trying to keep a lid on the rumors that were flying around at the time which were saying the PS5 would be released as soon as 2019.

Do we know the new Xbox console specs and price?

Unlike Sony, Microsoft has so far kept quiet about the internal specifications of its new consoles. However, all the reports point to both Anaconda and Lockhart ditching hard drives in favor of the quicker solid state storage option–a move the PS5 is also making. Of course, if those reports are proven accurate and Lockhart is essentially a streaming box, it’s likely the console will eschew a disc drive and state-of-the-art specs, relying instead on Microsoft’s xCloud streaming service for its playing power. Jeux Video has reported the following specs for the two Scarlett consoles:

The site also reports the Anaconda price will be around $500, which is the same price the Xbox One X launched with in 2017. Unverified rumors from Reddit place Lockhart, meanwhile, at around $250, which would put it at the same price point as the newly-launched Xbox One S All-Digital Edition, which also forgoes a disc drive. These are yet to be substantiated by any reputable source, however.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/everything-we-know-about-xbox-scarlett-the-next-ge/1100-6466640/