Monthly Archives: August 2015
Firefox Security Flaw Puts Files at Risk, Update Out Now
If you're a fan of the Firefox web browser, it's time to update it to protect your precious files.
Firefox developer Mozilla recently discovered a pretty nasty vulnerability in its browser involving an advertisement on a Russian news site. The exploit would allow the site to sift through a user's files and would then upload them "to a server that appears to be in Ukraine."
The vulnerability utilized Firefox’s PDF Viewer and JavaScript and would inject a script that allowed it to search and upload certain files. And similar to the Android Stagefright flaw, it leaves nothing behind that would inform someone of the attack.
9 New Details About American Horror Story: Hotel
Ryan Murphy gave television reporters a double dose of himself heading into the weekend, appearing at the summer TCA (Television Critics Association) press tour for Scream Queens on Thursday and for the upcoming season of American Horror Story: Hotel on Friday. At the latter, cast members and executive producers Brad Falchuk joined him to share some rare pre-season details.
Here are nine details we learned:
1. Jessica Lange isn't gone permanently
When the actress announced she would no longer be a part of the anthology series, fans believed it was a permanent move. Not so, according to Murphy. "She decided she wanted a year off to do a play. Which I offered her stupidly," he told press.
App Store Update: August 7
Every day hundreds of new apps make their debut on the App Store, and hundreds more are updated or reduced in price. We have sifted through the noise and highlighted those select few that might be worth your attention.
Note: The prices and deals compiled below are accurate at the time we published this story, but all are subject to change.
Loot & Legends – (Freemium)
"An epic tale of Adventure, Glory and Pizza! Take a trip to a time when battles were set atop tables and magic was limited only by your imagination! Collect powerful cards to crush your competition in an immersive cardboard universe!
Daily Deals: Star Wars Blu-Rays, Witcher 3 $23 on PC, PlayStation Camera
$8 Off New Star Wars Blu-ray Steelbooks
These new Star Wars Steelbooks were just announced yesterday and Walmart is already discounting them. They're $25 each on Amazon, but $17 from Walmart. These Blu-rays are not new cuts, nor are they the unaltered theatrical versions, but they're the first time the original films have been sold individually, instead as part of a three-film collection.
27 Million PCs Could Be Running Windows 10
Windows 10's install base has reached a new high, and has reportedly been installed on nearly 27 million devices.
Neowin, citing its own sources, claims they've been told of the operating system's new install count, saying the recent release has "surpassed 25 million and may be as high as 27 million." Just last week, shortly after Windows 10's debut, Microsoft revealed that 14 million devices had already been upgraded to the latest OS.
This Tomb Raider Cover Features a Fiery Lara Croft
Dark Horse Comics has provided us with an exclusive first look at the cover to Lara Croft and the Frozen Omen #2. Where Dark Horse's ongoing Tomb Raider series focuses on the rebooted version of Lara, this comic is a spinoff from games like Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris and features a more classic take on the globetrotting adventurer.
Gamescom 2015: Lara Croft Go Feels Like Classic Tomb Raider
Check out art Jean-Sebastien Rossbach's cover below:
Hitman Brings Back the Best of Blood Money
Hitman’s Paris fashion show level is absolutely teeming with people. There are models, stylists, private security, waiters, guests, and oodles of others. Hitman: Absolution featured around 30 to 40 NPCs within levels, in addition to the game’s crowd system. For Hitman, due December 8 this year, developer Io Interactive has dialled this number up to 300, on top of the crowd system. It’s a truly huge increase in headcount.
Coupled with the immense scope of the Paris level itself the amount of options this affords players tackling the hit here is extensive. There’s a loading dock filled with equipment, rigging, and contractors. There’s the catering area, packed with hospitality workers. There are the dressing rooms and make-up tables. There’s the main hall and catwalk, private quarters, secret rooms, a basement and a large attic. Io Interactive describes that levels in Hitman are like Swiss cheese, full of holes 47 can use to infiltrate and work his way through them. It’s abundantly clear as I watch 47 negotiate his way through parts of this massive area that delivering on the spirit of 2006’s Hitman: Blood Money while retaining the more nuanced controls of 2012’s Hitman: Absolution is the key aim here.
Final Fantasy XV May Borrow Tech from Just Cause 3
Square Enix has confirmed that it’s in talks with Avalanche Studios to use Just Cause 3 tech in Final Fantasy XV.
In an interview with IGN at Gamescom, Final Fantasy XV director Hajime Tabata revealed that conversations have begun about a collaboration between both studios’ development teams.
“We’re talking to their central technology team based in Stockholm in Sweden about a certain collaboration we might do with them and the Final Fantasy XV team,” Tabata told IGN via a translator.
“We’ve got really great hopes for this discussion. What we’re going to be talking about is possibly being able to use their really unique, really high level amazing technology they have in their studio and using it as an add-on to enhance the quality of a certain specific part of our Final Fantasy XV game,” he explained. “We really think something very special may be coming out of that.”
8 Best Things We Saw at Gamescom
We've spent all week in the lovely city of Cologne, eating the knuckles of pigs (it's a thing, look it up), drinking tiny beers, and playing lots and lots of glorious video games.
In the podcast, Alex, Krupa, Gav, and Dan – yes, Dan – pick our highlights of the show, from Dan's fresh take on Mafia 3 to Dan's embarrassing revelation. As always, you can watch the video up top or listen down below.
IGN UK Podcast #292: 8 Best Things We Saw at Gamescom - 44.3 MB
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Get Ready to Watch Microchipped NFL Players on Xbox One
Back when the Xbox One first debuted, Microsoft heavily pushed its new console as the ultimate NFL device. It was a smart idea, as the National Football League is America's most-viewed sport by a large margin, but we haven't heard much about the NFL on Xbox One as of late. That's likely due to the games-first tack Microsoft has adopted since, but the developers at NFL and Microsoft haven't forgotten about Xbox's biggest sports app: game-changing updates are on their way.
The biggest new upgrade involves data pulled from micro-chipped players (hopefully the tech is in their uniforms and not under their skin)—or as Microsoft and the NFL are calling it, “Next-Gen Stats.” Thanks to those chips, the location and speed of every single player is being monitored, and can be used in some pretty amazing ways. During a demo of "Next-Gen Replay," I watched an instant replay on the upper-right hand of the screen shown in sync with moving icons representing each player. (It was very reminiscent of Doom's map moving simultaneously with the first-person lead.) When a wide receiver cut right on his route to get in position for a catch, so did the icon. When the replay restarted, the icons on the football field display did, too.