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

XCOM: Enemy Unknown Is Noob Approved

Confession: I've been bored as hell with all this XCOM talk. Saw the first-person shooter years ago and wasn't impressed. Proofread IGN Editor Anthony Gallegos' XCOM: Enemy Unknown March preview and didn't give it a second thought. Got assigned to see XCOM: Enemy Unknown at a pre-E3 event and wasn't all that excited.

Then, I played the introduction. Now, I can't wait to get my hands on the final product.

My problem leading up to playing was simple: I just didn't know anything about this franchise. A PC gaming staple, the original XCOM is known as one of the best strategy games around and as IGN's greatest PC game of all time. Nice accolades, but not something that means a lot to folks buying consoles in 2012.

Firaxis and 2K are counting on that. The E3 demo I played is the optional training folks can jump into -- it's built for the un-indoctrinated and walks you through deploying your four-person squad, navigating the Shadow Complex-like map that acts as your homebase, and how to fund research projects. The minutia of being able to dedicate resources to one add-on over another, to name the individual members of your squadron (who can then get killed in action never to return), to tackle missions exactly the way I want to: this stuff intrigues the hell out of me, and I know from titles such as Valkyria Chronicles and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker that it keeps me playing for dozens of hours.

The intro mode also doles out the story. Alien ships have smashed into Earth and are disintegrating the public while moving in their forces. Your four-person team is dispatched to a crash site, and you soon find a group of aliens packing mind control and laser guns.

Now, Anthony's already broken down how gameplay works and the details you'd want to know, but I actually got to play it on a PC -- with a controller. As a game that's also coming to Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, the controller's a big deal, and it works really well. Remember, there are no more "time units;" now, you get two actions like moving and attacking for each squad member each turn. When it's time to control a character, a movement grid pops up, you move the cursor, and you see the path your soldier will take. You can move them into cover or right into battle.

It was easy to wrap my head around, and it didn't feel like I was playing something that was meant for a mouse. Triggering an attack, tossing a grenade or firing a rocket was a cinch.

Yes, yes -- loot the gas station.

If there's a downside to XCOM: Enemy Unknown right now, it is the fact that it doesn't look that great. Environments are fine, but character models are a bit vanilla and not packing much detail. I think that might be because upgrading and outfitting is so important (a fully decked out dude was shown fighting a "Sectopod," which I hear is a big deal), but I won't know until I get more time with.

What I do know is that Firaxis is targeting a new audience with XCOM: Enemy Unknown, and it's working because all I want to do is play more, and this is from a guy who couldn't even tell you what this game was about a week ago.

Source : http://www.ign.com

Tekken Tag Tournament 2 Release Date And Pre-Order Bonuses

Namco Bandai has revealed that Tekken Tag Tournament 2 will be released September 14th in Europe and September 11th in the US.

The upcoming fighter will also contain exclusive DLC fighters, depending on where it's pre-ordered from.

In the UK, pre-ordering at ShopTo unlocks Michelle Chang and Angel, while those who place an order with Zavvi before the September release will get Kunimitsu and Ancient Ogre.  Also announced is the 'We are Tekken' edition, which will be exclusive to GAME.  It'll come in a metal case and contain the original soundtrack of the game, a remix CD, an art book and a behind the scenes video.

Tekken Tag Tournament 2 will be released on both Xbox 360 and PS3.

Source : http://www.ign.com

House "Everybody Dies" Review

SPOILER ALERT: If you haven't seen the final episode of House, please watch before reading this review. Full episode spoilers follow.

One of the most difficult things in television is to deliver a series finale that summarizes the message of an entire show, ties up loose ends, and gives a satisfying conclusion to the folks who have poured hundreds of hours of their lives into following the story. With that much pressure on a single episode, it's no wonder that many series finales are often divisive or mediocre.

That said, it's doubtful that the final episode of House will inspire much controversy, and that's a bit of a shame. For a show that often pushes buttons and boundaries (or at least features a title character that does), the series finale played things very safe. It didn't ultimately betray the time investment of its audience, but it didn't take any risks, either.

After a prank that threatens to put House back in jail after violation of his parole, House finds himself in a burning building next to a dead body. The episode constantly returns to this location as we flash back to find out what put House in this situation. The gist of the main story is that House takes one last case, a drug addict (James LeGros) who finds more joy in taking drugs than living. House saves the addict (momentarily) even though the man, thinking he has nothing left to lose, offers to take the fall for House's prank. In saving the patient, House damns himself, proving he is less selfish than he claims... at least for the time being.

House takes up with the addict and eventually ends up waking from a heroin haze to find himself in the abandoned building with the dead addict. The main problem with this story line is that ultimately, House's bad behavior end up killing the patient, which undercuts his sacrifice back at the hospital (a main motivating factor in his decision making later in the episode). Of course, it's all just set-up to put House in a life-or-death situation in the burning building (it's never explained why the building is on fire), so he can start reflecting back on his life as the flames creep closer.

This allows the show to trot out a litany of familiar faces in a Scrooge-esque analysis of House's life: each ghost emerges to dig deeper into House's motivations for self-destruction in light of Wilson's impending death. The carousel of guest stars has long been a series finale cliche, but here it feels unnecessary. For some, it may provide closure to see Kal Penn or Olivia Wilde or Andre Brauger return, but it feels like a move that is made purely because this is the last episode of the series, and not because it is essential to bring these characters back to tell this story.

Having everyone back also puts a harsh light on the absence of Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein) in this finale. She exited the series between seasons and never got a satisfactory farewell, so it was disappointing that among all of the characters we see, the one who needs her story wrapped the most, and one of the folks who could have helped explore House's fractured psyche the best, does not get a swan song of her own.

Then there's the matter of the ending. Again, if you do not want to be spoiled, do not read further. Just as House has chosen to live, and change his life (it's Scrooge's revelation without the happy running through the streets hugging Tiny Tim bit), the building he is in explodes. Wilson and Foreman have tracked House to the warehouse and are there to see it go up, and by the time all the flames are out, virtually the entire staff is collected outside the smoking building waiting to hear House's fate. Eventually, a stretcher is wheeled out and later House is identified as the body. Dental records confirm it. But it's a little too coincidental that there was another body in the building that is never discovered, and so by the time we get to House's funeral, it's already pretty obvious he is pulling a Huck Finn.

Of course, there is nothing fundamentally wrong with the false ending, or with House faking his death to avoid jail time and hang out with Wilson in his last days... it all just feels a bit tidy and safe. There is a braver ending out there, but not one that is as audience-pleasing, perhaps.

And the mere fact that the episode is safe does not make it bad; it just does not make it transcendent. But it does cap a comeback season; after getting bogged down in some wacky, wayward episodes last season, House snapped back to form this season and delivered a solid suite of farewell episodes.

This show has been a great success due to clever writing and great performances, especially the anchoring presence of Hugh Laurie, who has been excellent throughout the show's run. House has become one of the most memorable and unique characters in TV history, in large part due to Laurie. Despite a somewhat disappointing finale, the show will be missed. There's nothing on TV quite like it.

Source : http://www.ign.com

Warlock: Master of the Arcane Review

War--what is it good for? In Warlock: Master of the Arcane, war is good for absolutely everything. Warlock focuses on the "exterminate" portion of the 4X (explore, expand, exploit, exterminate) strategy formula, with rudimentary diplomacy and research systems, leaving a fun and sometimes intense turn-based strategy game that's all about throwing armies of high-fantasy creatures into conflict. While the game's enemy great mages (aka the "AI") could use a better grasp of their own systems, Warlock provides a satisfying challenge, provided you play on its higher settings.

These hills give the archers a bonus. Too bad simply clicking on the space doesn't tell you this.

The turn-to-turn gameplay is similar to Civilization and other 4X games--you send out units across the map, build and expand cities, or fight (or all three, depending on the turn). Warlock is set in Ardania, the land of the Majesty series of fantasy sim games. Your goal is to become the strongest of the great mages and establish a mighty empire. The game has three factions: the humans, which feature units such as warriors, archers, and mages; the monsters, who have goblins, ratmen, trolls, and the donkey knights (yes, donkeys are one of Warlock's many resources); and the undead, who sport the usual assortment of skeletons, ghosts, and vampires that you'd expect--along with ghost ships like the Flying Galleus. Each turn, you decide where to explore, move units, attack, and, depending on where you are, research new spells or construct new buildings.

The game looks and plays a lot like Civilization V, with hexes, one unit per hex, similar-looking formations, and so on. But where it diverges from Civ is in management; all you need to worry about (besides the enemy and aggressive neutrals) are four resources: gold, food, mana, and research. You don't have to worry about pollution, about happiness, about diplomacy--just maintaining and providing for your army. And this makes Warlock refreshing. The game puts you into combat quickly, generally starting your first city near some sort of enemy, be it a neutral city (which can be any of the three factions) or a neutral monster generator that spews enemies on a regular basis (such as cockroaches, rats, and spiders--and even stronger creatures, like bears and ogres).

Warlock works because of balance--each faction has strengths and weaknesses. Take the undead. Their death magic makes them powerful, and their ghosts are immune to most forms of damage. But this is counterbalanced by the life magic of the human faction, which can shred through the undead. The monster faction has strong units that use spirit magic but are costly to maintain.

What's great about the faction is that while they're balanced well against one another, they each feel different. When you're playing as the monsters, your tanklike trolls feel different from the other factions' heavy melee units. The Flying Galleus of the undead is distinct from the galleon of the humans. One thing that helps make the units and factions distinct is voice-overs. A number of units speak when you click on them, and each line fits the faction. The lines of many of the monsters are funny (goblin archers sometimes screech "Best archers in the world!"), and most of this dialogue adds flavor, such as the ghostly captain voice of the Flying Galleus. It doesn't grow tiresome, even after dozens of hours of playtime.

Hmm…building a craftsmen district boosts gold production, but a group of minotaurs could help bash someone's brains in.

A group of neutral units may also complement your armies. You may recruit minotaurs and halberdiers--and even dragons--by building on spaces that spawn such creatures. Spells let you summon some low-level monsters and, later, elementals. When you take over a foe's city, you can't raze it. You instead make it yours, but you keep the other faction's buildings and units (which is how you may end up with mages of the human faction backing your ghosts). You may also set up your game with portals to other worlds. These planes are stocked with powerful monsters, but if you establish a foothold, you can recruit some of the most powerful units in the game. This variety is invigorating: you may play the same faction several times in a row but wind up relying on different unit makeups.

Your units also gain access to various upgrades and perks. Combat earns experience, and when a unit reaches a new level, it receives a new perk. These can boost offense, defense, range, sight, or the rate at which you regenerate life or acquire experience. Be savvy in how you use these perks--if you choose carefully, you can develop low-level units into threats. Upgrades come from special buildings you construct on resources, such as iron and magic nodes. It costs some gold to implement an upgrade, but it's worth it; like with perks, you can buff your units in a variety of ways.

Source : http://www.gamespot.com