Crackdown
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China's video game regulator hasn't approved any new titles since July 2021
Reports from China suggest that the country's war against video games is now targeting the source.
Three men have been charged with leaking movies for nearly a decade
Law enforcement arrested three men involved with a global film and TV piracy ring.
Amazon may get law enforcement involved in more counterfeit cases
Amazon has been waging a war against counterfeits for years. The company has tried everything from charging high fees in order to sell big names to letting brands issue takedowns. Now, Amazon is planning to give more data on counterfeits to law enforcement, in hopes that will lead to more crackdowns, a source familiar with the program told Reuters.
FTC crackdown targets operations responsible for one billion robocalls
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and its law enforcement partners are cracking down on robocallers. Today, the FTC announced that it's filed 94 actions against organizations responsible for more than one billion illegal calls. As part of "Operation Call it Quits," the FTC has opened four new legal cases and three new settlements, bringing the number of cases the FTC has filed against robocallers to 145.
'Crackdown 3' lets you team up with friends in Wrecking Zone
Crackdown 3's signature Wrecking Zone mode should now be decidedly livelier. After a brief round of testing, Sumo and Microsoft have released an update that adds Squad support to the destroy-everything multiplayer feature. If you have Crackdown-loving friends, you can partner up with them instead of having to fly solo.
'Crackdown 2' is free on Xbox One ahead of updates to its sequel
Just because you're playing Crackdown 3 doesn't mean you've played its predecessor -- in fact, that's not too likely when the second game launched nearly nine years ago. The developers want to plug that hole in your gaming history. In addition to teasing some updates to the current game (more on those in a moment), they've revealed that Crackdown 2 is now free as an Xbox One backwards compatibility title. It's not the revelation that the first game was, but it will show you how the series evolved before its big hiatus.
'Crackdown' is available for free -- and playable on Xbox One
The original Crackdown was an early hit for Xbox 360 -- packed-in access to the Halo 3 beta didn't hurt -- and now Xbox players can revisit 2007 for the low, low cost of nothing. With no explanation or fanfare the game has had its digital price zeroed out, although it's possible this could be tied to the XO18 event in Mexico this weekend where Xbox chief Phil Spencer will appear. It will include a two-hour Inside Xbox stream on Saturday at 4 PM ET with news about Crackdown 3, Minecraft, Sea of Thieves, State of Decay 2 and Forza Horizon 4, a dozen Game Pass announcements and "a surprise or two." It's been a while since we've heard from Crackdown 3 and giving folks a taste of the original could help drum up hype for a new entry in the series that's now due to arrive in 2019. After delays and some lackluster showings, it certainly can't hurt. Anyway, agents, Crackdown has been available in backwards compatibility for Xbox One -- and upgraded once again on the more powerful Xbox One X -- since February, so just hit the link and give it a download.
What you need to know about Apple, VPNs and China
On July 29th, Apple began notifying VPN companies that their apps would shortly be pulled from the App Store in China. In a statement, ExpressVPN said that the move was "surprising and unfortunate" and that it was "disappointed in this development." But is this a case of Apple essentially capitulating in a privacy and censorship fight with the Chinese government?
'Crackdown 3' lives in the shadow cast by 'Agents of Mayhem'
Microsoft's biggest hurdle with Crackdown 3 isn't its rumored troubled development cycle, it's that Agents of Mayhem exists and is coming out first. Both share a similar premise: You're a superpowered human given free reign over a cartoony open world. There are plenty of physics-based shenanigans that result from shooting harpoon rifles at snipers and black hole guns at gang members in both, and each has a familiar structure of taking out a crime syndicate from the bottom up. The difference lies in the execution: There are a lot of cooks working on Crackdown 3 -- some brand new to the franchise -- while Mayhem's team is a group of seasoned open-world veterans.
'Crackdown 3' hits Xbox One in 2016
Crackdown is back and as boom-tastic as ever. The first gameplay video for Crackdown 3 shows off a futuristic, neon-tipped city that acts as a sprawling sandbox once players dive in. The game features online co-op and competitive play -- that's up to four players for co-op. Crackdown 3 hits the Xbox One, and only the Xbox One, in summer 2016.
League of Legends cracks down on more bad seeds
Riot Games has announced its next level of enforcement for problematic players in the wildly popular League of Legends. After working toward player reform over the last few years, the studio is now looking at a more aggressive approach. In cases of "extreme toxicity" (i.e. racism, death threats, homophobic remarks, etc.), troublesome players can expect a more severe penalty ranging from a 14-day ban to a permanent ban from the game. In the case that an "unfair ban" comes into question, Riot says they will now be fully transparent with chat logs and post the exact log that led to the player's ban. Intentional leavers/AFKers are also a concern for Riot as they plan to address these problems in the future.
Crackdown returns as open-world Xbox One exclusive [Update: Trailer added]
Microsoft has revealed a new entry in its Crackdown franchise, one "powered by an army of dedicated servers" that offers the sort of open-world superheroic police warfare the series has been known for. Series creator David Jones introduced a short vignette, before confidently stating that "we have the right team to build the game." Scant gameplay details were offered, but the game features both the de rigueur open-world campaign, as well as multiplayer and co-op. So far there's no word on when Crackdown might arrive, though when it does it will be exclusive to the Xbox One.
Crackdown, Dead Rising 2 are the August 'Games with Gold' specials
Xbox Live Gold members can leap their way across Crackdown or chop their way through Dead Rising 2 for free in August. As part of Microsoft's "Games with Gold" program, starting tomorrow, August 1, Crackdown will be free to agents through August 15. The only cost is how much of your life will be consumed by hunting orbs. Starting August 16, both Dead Rising 2 and its prologue, Dead Rising 2: Case Zero, will be gratis through the end of the month. Xbox Live Gold members still have until the end of that day to grab and take a stab at Assassin's Creed 2.
Gravity Rush started life as a PS3 title, inspired by Crackdown
When Sony's internal Japan Studio set out to work on Gravity Rush (Gravity Daze in Japan), the game was positioned as a PlayStation 3 title. According to an interview with the US PlayStation Blog, the team "came across PS Vita along the way" and realized it was "perfect for the game."That's not the weird part, though. The game's primary influence is cited as Realtime Worlds' 2007 Xbox 360 game, Crackdown. "I really like the aspect of unlocking skills and becoming more powerful, and achieving a higher level of freedom as you become more powerful," one team member said. "I enjoyed moving in that game." Given that Gravity Rush is an open world game in a third-person view with an upgradable character, the comparison makes sense. Both games feature unrealistic art styles accentuating the fantastical gameplay, making their crossover even clearer.While Gravity Daze has been out for a bit in Japan, Gravity Rush won't float to US shores for another few months.[Image credit: PlayStation Blog]
Reports of iOS developer account shutdowns may be erroneous (Updated)
A report from Karthikk.net alleges that Apple has begun shutting down the accounts of iOS developers who have sold "slots" on their accounts to users wanting to run iOS 5 betas on their devices without paying the US$99 yearly development fee. For a while now, developers have been offering to attach device UDIDs to their accounts for a fee; iOS dev accounts allow for a hundred devices to be associated with one account. Some unscrupulous developers have turned a modest-to-hefty profit by selling those slots off. (Incidentally, if you're one of those devs and try to drum up sales in our comments, the banhammer will fall upon you without mercy.) Although the shutdown has been reported in a couple of places already, we've been unable to verify these reports. Normally if such a thing happened, our tip line would be flooded with emails from users who had illicitly gained access to the beta and subsequently had their devices remotely disabled, but so far we haven't heard credible reports from even one user or developer that's been affected by this alleged crackdown. Karthikk claims that "many developers" have received a letter from Apple saying their accounts have been identified as a UDID clearinghouse and are subject to shutdown, but the site offers no direct evidence that such letters exist. We've reached out to the developer community to find out if any developers have been affected by the supposed crackdown. Not one has replied so far. We've also reached out to Apple for comment, but we've received no response yet. Crucially, the first two iOS 5 developer betas expired recently. Reading through forum comments on various sites shows that only those running the now-expired iOS 5b1 or 5b2 have had their devices shut down on them. Those running the current iOS 5 beta (5b4) do not appear to have been affected. We never heard of Karthikk.net before today. The scant evidence they offer for the "crackdown" isn't compelling enough for us to take it at face value. At this point, with various developer and jailbreaking communities saying they've heard nothing else on the matter other than the echo chamber effect of various sites reporting on it, we're inclined to believe that Karthikk's report is an erroneous interpretation of the first two iOS 5 betas expiring. If you do have your iOS device or developer account disabled as a result of this supposed crackdown, please send us feedback. Update: In the time since we first posted this story, we've heard from a handful of developers who say they have indeed had their accounts shut down because they were selling UDID slots. The confusion underlying the original reporting of this story on various sites may have been due to the first two iOS 5 betas expiring at the same time as the dev account takedowns took place. Some of our sources indicate this timing was accidental or coincidental, as Apple has been issuing takedowns of obvious UDID clearinghouse accounts for quite some time. Although the crackdown does not appear to be as widespread as initial reports indicated, some UDID clearinghouse accounts have recently been deactivated, and users with devices associated with those accounts can expect their iOS devices to revert to an unusable state once their current iOS 5 betas expire. The lesson here is twofold: If you're a developer, don't try to sell beta access to non-developers. If you're not a developer, don't try to buy access to betas.
Operation Pure Wind demolishes over 600 arcade machines... on video!
For a soul-crushing show of government power, one need look no further than this video of six hundred arcade game consoles being destroyed in a public ceremony by the Jinan Municipal Public Security Bureau in the People's Republic of China. The soothingly named "Operation Pure Wind" took place earlier this month, focusing on illegal and unlicensed criminal activity, including pornography and electronic gambling, and resulted in some 165 arrests. Sure, they're only Baccarat games, but who knows? Maybe if they hadn't been brought up in such a terrible environment they'd have grown up to become Galaga or Mappy consoles. Either way, it's quite sad. Video after the break.
Apple warns App Store name squatters
TechCrunch reports that Apple is cracking down on "app name squatters," developers who create an app and reserve a name on the App Store, but don't actually upload files to release and sell the app. Apparently this is an issue -- personally, I can't immediately think of any names that I'd need to have on the App Store (maybe it's something really generic, like iReader?), but there are supposedly a few developers who have a certain name in mind, but can't use it because a squatter has locked it up in iTunes Connect. In fact, our own Victor Agreda foresaw this problem a while back, and now it's popped up on Apple's radar. There's good news, though. Apple will now send out a warning after 90 days of locking up a name with no actual files uploaded, and then 30 days later will delete the record on the App Store. And notices are going out; developers who've sat on a name for more than 90 days already are getting their 30 days' notice now. If that app you're planning to put out there has taken a little longer than expected to go through the final coding process, you might want to get on it. But Apple doesn't say that it will actually check. While the app will need to meet all of the other guidelines (including the rules for minimum functionality), you could probably still release a small app under the name you want, and then upgrade and release the full version later on. We'll have to see what happens with devs who really want to reserve App Store names in the future. [via AppleInsider]
Review: Crackdown 2
As the always astute Chris Hecker once pointed out, the thing video games do best are power fantasies. While we're literally trying to rescue our family or kill the evil guy, the metaphorical (and arguably more important) journey is in watching our character grow from weakling to demigod, whether that's through the collection of the most powerful weapons or the fastest cars. The balance then is in making the literal journey just present enough that the metaphorical one means something. For all its strengths, Crackdown's major failing was in not nailing this balance. Punching, jumping and exploding your way to superherodom was amazing, but the story and missions were so threadbare that there was nothing really pulling you through, there was no momentum. Though narrative was never going to be its strong suit, it needed just a few more breadcrumbs to get you from point A to point B. Disappointingly, Crackdown 2 does not fix the balance between literal and metaphorical journey. In fact, it seems much more content to pretend it doesn't exist. %Gallery-74365%
Crackdown 2 save unlocks Agent 4 in Perfect Dark multiplayer
We're now only days away from the release of Crackdown 2, and in a stroke of corporate synergy, Microsoft Game Studios has hatched a cross-game promotion between Ruffian's impending sandbox shooter and the recent HD remake of Perfect Dark for Xbox Live Arcade. With a Crackdown 2 save on your console, you can unlock a new playable character in Perfect Dark: Agent 4. No codes, no impossible speed runs -- Agent 4 is unlocked in Perfect Dark's Combat Simulator (multiplayer mode) as soon as your Crackdown 2 save is detected. Happy hunting, agents! %Gallery-96777%
New Crackdown 2 prequel short explains origins of the mutants
Ever since we found out that the mean streets of Pacific City had been ravaged by even meaner mutants in Crackdown 2, we've been curious about from whence said mutants sprung. Our curiosity was satisfied by the second episode in the animated "Pacific City Archives" prequel series, which tells of the exploits of twisted ex-Agency medical researcher Catalina Thorne. Check out the episode after the jump to see Thorne's fall from grace and how she introduced the mutant virus into the helpless population of Pacific City. If that's not grounds for reaching archvillain status in Crackdown 2, we're not sure what is.
