Return Dates Set for Boardwalk Empire and Treme

Return dates have just been announced for HBO's Boardwalk Empire and Treme, which are both back for their third seasons.

Boardwalk will debut its 12-episode season on Sunday, September 16 at 9pm ET/PT. Treme, meanwhile, launches its 10-episode season the week after that on Sunday, September 23 at 10pm ET/PT.

Stay locked in to IGN TV for more info on HBO's upcoming fall lineup.

Source : ign[dot]com

Blizzard Responds to Myriad Reports of Hacked Diablo 3 Accounts

Blizzard has said it is taking reports about a wave of hacked Diablo 3 accounts "extremely seriously".

Since Sunday there have been a growing number of reports that many people are logging into the game to discover their gold, items and even characters missing.

Community Manager Lylirra said, "Historically, the release of a new game - such as a World of Warcraft Expansion - will result in an increase in reports of individual account compromises, and that's exactly what we're seeing now with Diablo III.  We know how frustrating it can be to become the victim of account theft, and as always, we're dedicated to doing everything we can to help our players keep their Battle.net accounts safe."

Whilst issues like this have been plaguing World of Warcraft and other MMOs for years, what's most troubling is that some people have said Blizzard's authenticators haven't protected them.  The authenticators, which are available in physical form or as iPhone and Android apps, work by randomly generating a unique code tied to your account that expires within two minutes each time you try to log in.  It means only people with your phone or authenticator can ever log into your account... in theory.

When Blizzard changed the rules for authenticators late last year, it caused quite a stir; while you used to have to input a code every time you logged in, you now only have to do it if you log in from an unfamiliar location for the first time.  Many people are speculating that the recent wave is down to hackers managing to mimic IP identifiers and slip past Blizzard's authentication servers.

But Blizzard is refuting these suggestions, with Community manager Bashiok stating, "We've been taking the situation extremely seriously from the start, and have done everything possible to verify how and in what circumstances these compromises are occurring.  Despite the claims and theories being made, we have yet to find any situations in which a person's account was not compromised through traditional means of someone else logging into their account through the use of their password.  While the authenticator isn't a 100% guarantee of account security, we have yet to investigate a compromise report in which an authenticator was attached beforehand."

The good news is that Blizzard has over eight years of experience dealing with hacked accounts, so most players who contact Blizzard are getting swift resolutions.  Often Blizzard can 'rollback' the character to before the hack took place, but this can sometimes mean that progress or items are lost.

Blizzard is offering a wealth of advice for protecting your account over on its forums, but if you're yet to invest in an authenticator or register for the SMS protect system, with these reports flying around, it's a good idea to do so now.

Have you been hacked, or known someone who has been?  Let us know in the comments below.

Source : http://www.ign.com

YES! YES! YES! It's IGN's Interview with WWE's Daniel Bryan!

Daniel Bryan goes head to head with CM Punk for the WWE Championship at this Sunday’s Over the Limit Pay-Per-View. I had a chance to talk to the WWE Superstar, and former World Heavyweight Champion, about his “Big Gold Belt” title reign, his upcoming match with Punk, what Vince McMahon thinks of him being a vegan, his storyline with AJ and more.

IGN: The last time I spoke with you, you hadn’t even cashed in your Money in the Bank case yet to win the World Heavyweight Title.  What have the past six months been like for you professionally?

Daniel Bryan:  It’s been crazy.  It’s been a lot of fun.  I went from being a guy who was sparingly being used on television to being the World Heavyweight Champion and the focus of a lot of the storylines on Smackdown.  And now I’m in a big match for the WWE Championship on a Pay-Per-View and it’s unreal.

IGN:  Those of us who anticipated you becoming a World Champion in the WWE expected you to be having matches with guys like CM Punk.  Guys similar to your stature.  Did you ever think that your very first championship feuds would be against guys like Big Show and Mark Henry?

Bryan:  No, I never thought that if I was going to be the champion in the WWE that those would be my first opponents.  My first feuds.  Especially because I also felt like I didn’t match up very well with those guys.  But then it seems to me that both of those feuds went very well.  And I was thrilled to wrestle those guys because it forces me to go outside my usual box.  You know, I could go out there and wrestle CM Punk and have a fantastic match, but that’s along my normal line of thinking.  Wrestling someone like Big Show requires and totally different style.   And for me that was fun.    

From WWE.com, the Anaconda Vice vs. The Yes! Lock.

IGN: Will we see the “Code of Honor” this Sunday?

Bryan:  I suspect not.  It’s interesting because in our first match in the WWE against each other, on Monday Night RAW – it was a Champion vs. Champion match – and we did it.  We shook hands before the match.  And for some reason, I don’t think that’s going to happen on Sunday.

IGN: Are you yourself surprised, given your indie history and legacy, that you’re now a part of a major high-profile relationship storyline with AJ?

Bryan:  [laughs] Definitely.  And you know what’s funny is that I feel like – not since I started with WWE, but since I got fired and then brought back - they had this storyline with me and the Bellas.  Then it was me and Gail Kim.  And now it’s me and AJ.  It seems like I’m always in these stories with these Divas.  And I don’t know what the deal is.  Maybe they just see me as someone who’d be funny to pair up with them.  Like “Yeah, it would be funny to put him with the Divas.”   But I really have no idea.

IGN:  It seems though, that in your story AJ, you’ve been able to move past that nerd-persona that they gave you.  Would you agree?

Bryan:  Yeah, I do.  But I think the origin of me and AJ was part of the whole nerd persona.  The idea that we were both nerds.  Because it started before I was the World Heavyweight Champion and they just started throwing these little thing at me and her backstage and we were supposed to be really awkward.  So the idea still started with “Oh, he’s a nerd.”  But now it’s evolved into something that’s way better.

Daniel Bryan, playing mind games with AJ.

IGN:  How long have you been a vegan?

Bryan:  Since December of 2009.

IGN:  Did you ever think that being a vegan would draw this much heat from large crowds?

Bryan:  No, I didn’t know actually.  And I do it for health reasons, you know.  Not for entertainment reasons or anything else.  So for me it wasn’t even an issue of bringing it up on TV.  Other than “Oh, that’s an interesting fact about this guy.”  And the idea that you can tell people you’re a vegan and get everyone to go “BOOOO!” is crazy.  It’s interesting because the first experience I had with that wasn’t even with the crowd but it was with Vince himself.  And Chris Jericho loves telling me this story about how he had gone back to Vince and said “This guy’s good.”   It was after the first match I had on TV, and it was against Chris, and he told Vince I was good.  “He can get the people behind him,” he said.  And Vince said [in Vince voice] “Yeah, but who doesn’t eat steak?”  He thought people wouldn’t buy into a guy who didn’t eat steak.  And that’s when I kind of realized that there are a lot of people out there who just think it’s completely foreign for me to not eat animals.

More from Daniel Bryan, including the origin of the "YES!" chants, on page 2...

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/05/19/yes-yes-yes-its-igns-interview-with-wwes-daniel-bryan