The long-in-development piracy game finally has a date

Skull and Bones will finally set sail this year. Ubisoft's Skull and Bones is launching on November 8, 2022 for PS5, Xbo?x Series X|S, PC, and cloud streaming services.

First up in today's gameplay reveal of Skull and Bones was a cinematic trailer, which showed the general set-up ?of the game. You start out as just another person awash at sea, in a region inspired by the Indian Ocean. Over time you build up resources, get bigger boats, and take on bigger r?isks for greater rewards.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=8i2eHxj5NMU

As shown in the gameplay deep-dive, Skull and Bones allows players to set out for plunder on the high seas. They won't be alone, however. There's the ability to take on neutral,? AI-controlled ships like merchant caravans or even fortresses, or you can sail with friends. In ??PvP servers, you can even run into and fight with other players.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_c7F4PHzcc

It's got some extraction vibes, similar to games like Escape From Tarkov. Get in, loot, get out. As time goes on, the player can craft new and better ships with different playstyles?. If the ship goes down, the player will head back to the most recent outpost with most of their cargo recovered, though some will be set out at sea for you—or other players—to recover.

A pirate's life for me

Skull and Bones has had a long, and reportedly strenuous, development timeline. But today's reveal seems like it's confirming that Skull and Bones is doing what it originally set out to do: expand the sailing of Black Flag out into a full, multiplayer game. And I'm pretty in??trigued. Building up a massive dreadnaught with cannons, armor, ballista, rockets, and a rowdy crew seems like an enjoyable time.

We'll see if Skull and Bones can bring it all home when it launches on November 8 for PlayStation 5, ??Xbox Series X|S, Stadia, Luna, PC via Epic, and Ubisoft Connect.

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Gary Bowser receives further penalties

In a lawsuit that refuses to reach terminus, Team Xecute??r as?sociate Gary Bowser has agreed to pay an additional $10 million USD to publisher Nintendo for their part in the creation and sales of various hardware and software hacking tools.

Bowser, who was arre??sted in the Dominican Republic in Sep?tember 2020 following an FBI investigation, faced felony charges for the distribution of “jailbreak�devices such as the SX Core and SX Lite, which allow for the use of bootleg ROMs and game cartridges. Though Bowser had previously responded to all charges �including Conspiracy to Circumvent Technological Measures and the Trafficking of Circumvention Devices �with a plea of Not Guilty, the Canadian national and his defense team opted to instead return a plea of Guilty on October 28 of this year.

While the plea of Guilty alleviated Bowser of various other felony charges, he was still expected to face a fine of around $4.5 million, as well as the possibility of 10 years in pr??ison. However, in this latest turn of events, Nintendo has won a further $10 million from Bowser in a civil case entirely separate from the aforementioned federal lawsuit. This secondary case sees Bowser liable for additional fines and could potentially add further jail time to any potential prison sentence.

At the time of Bowser's initial arrest, the FBI also picked up French national Max L??ouran on 11 felony charges related to Team Xecuter's activities. Louran is currently in Canada, awaiting extradition for trial in the United States. A third Team Xecuter associate, Yuanning Chen from Shenzhen, China, is yet to be apprehended. As part of Bowser's initial plea bargain, he is expected to help authorities locate other associates who worked within Team Xecuter's distribution teams.

The Team Xecuter case is the most high-profile of numerous recent lawsuits which has seen Nintendo increase its efforts to crack down on the piracy of?? its products and seek "zero tolerance" punishment against the individuals responsible.

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Ongoing ROM piracy case continues

Gary Bowser, the associate of long-time hack-maker Team Xecuter, has revised their plea in the ongoing Nintendo piracy lawsuit. The 51-year-old Canadian defendant is facing $4.5 ??million USD in fines, as well as?? a possible prison sentence.

Bowser was arrested in the Dominican Republic i??n September 2020 following an FBI inves??tigation. After being extradited to the United States, Bowser, who is also known online as "GaryOPA," faces felony charges for the alleged creation and distribution of Nintendo Switch “jailbreak�devices such as the SX Core and SX Lite, which allow for the use of bootleg ROMs and game cartridges. Bowser put in a plea of Not Guilty to all charges, which include Conspiracy to Circumvent Technological Measures and the Trafficking of Circumvention De?vices, but altered his plea on October 28, 2021.

"Defendant, Gary Bowser knowingly and willfully participated in a cybercriminal enterprise that hacked leading gaming consoles and that developed, manufactured, marketed, and sold a variety of circumvention devices that allowed the enterprise’s customers to play pirated versions of copyrighted video games, commonly referred to as 'ROM,'" reads the plea agreement. "Mr. Bowser’s role was to market the enterprise’s products??, post news releases about new products and updates to products, and work with retailers who distributed the enterprise’s products. Mr. B??owser would also post replies to inquiries from customers of these illegal circumvention devices on [website] Maxconsole.com."

At the time of Bowser's arrest, the FBI also collared French national Max Louarn. Louarn, who faces 11 felony charges related to the case, is currently in Canada, with the U.S. still seeking extradition. A third associate, Yuanning Chen from Shenzhen, China, has yet to be located for arrest. It is posited that Team Xecuter had earned "tens of millions" of dollars from the sales of piracy devices, netting its organizers six-figure salaries. The Team Xecuter case is one of a number of?? lawsuits pursued by Nintendo in recent years, as the publisher attempts to crack down on the piracy of its products.

Team Xecuter's Gary Bowser pleads guil??ty to criminal charge?s [TorrentFreak]

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Android activists lower defenses

It seems that Square Enix has removed the controversial Denuvo DRM measures from its PC edition of NieR Replicant. A new listing on the Steamdb App History suggests that the anti-piracy software was disabled yesterday, arou??nd six months on from the title's release.

The controversial Denuvo software is an industry-standard anti-tamper measure, that operates live during the playing of a video game to prevent hackers from gaining access to the title's source code and other integral elements. However, the security measure is frequently the source of chagrin from players, and has been known to adversely affect the performance of video games. Arkane Studios' recent shooter Deathloop has had some of its stumbles blamed on Denuvo, while tech-heads also found direct links to Denuvo and performance issues within the PC port of Capcom's Resident Evil Village.

The removal of Denuvo in NieR Replicant has been a quiet affair, and was only spotted thanks to a savvy Resetera user. Th?e DRM tweak follows a major June update that saw the PC port boosted to 60 FP??S �two patches that should produce a little more stability and smoothness in the enhanced RPG release. Given the industry's understandable concern about piracy, DRM is unlikely to vanish from major Steam titles anytime soon, but hopefully, a less resource-hungry alternative can be found in the very near future.

NieR Replicant is available now on PS4, PC, and Xbox One. You can check out Chris Carter's review right here.

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There's no more ROM in there

Nintendo cont?inues its relentless ??legal pursuit of website RomUniverse and its owner, Matthew Storman.

As previously reported, Nintendo first filed suit against the ROM-selling site back in late-2019, after numerous Switch releases were made available to purchase to owners of hacked Swi?tch hardware. Nintendo originally sought damages to the tune of $15 million USD �which equated to $95,000 for each of RomUniverse's 49 available Nint?endo products. A Californian courtroom's Judge Marshall eventually ordered Stormare to pay a fine totaling $2.1 million, with an additional $400,000 in trademark damages. Not the result Nintendo was looking for, but still a substantial sum of money.

Incredibly, however, that wasn't the end of it. Ordered to pay the $2.1 million at an almost comical $50 a month, Storman found themselves on the receiving end of a permanent injunction request from Nintendo after missing the very first payment. Nintendo also believed that, despite the court's declaration, that Stormare intended to keep RomUniverse in operation, a move that Stormare speci?fically avoided disputing during the court proceedings.

And so, in the latest chapter of this ongoing saga, Judge Marshall has changed the verdict and granted Nintendo its permanent injunction request against RomUniverse, forcing the definitive closure of the site and demanding that Storman ?destroy all their illegal Nintendo ROMs and products. Stormare has until August 20 to certify th??ese actions with the court or risk charges of perjury. As noted before, while the $2.1 million is a drop in the ocean for Nintendo, this case is about sending a "zero tolerance" message to other ROM-selling sites, the likes of which have been troubling Nintendo and other video game publishers since the internet's very existence and �despite these rulings �will continue to do so.

Court orders RomUniverse to destroy all pirated Nintendo ?games and stay offline [TorrentFreak]

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Nintendo going back for Round 2

Nintendo is taking further legal action against Switch ROM-selling website RomUniverse, with whom the publisher previously filed suit in 2019, in the case that saw the site's owner order?ed to pay Nintendo $2.1 million in damages.

As reported by Pocket Gamer, Nintendo has filed a new request for a permanent injunction, after RomUniverse owner Matthew Storman allegedly missed their first monthly payment of $50. Nintendo sees Storman's failure to meet the payment as a sign of the defendant's disregard for the court's orders. Furthermore, Nintendo believes that Storman intends to relaunch RomUniverse, and is thus seeking a permanent inj??unction against the? site and its owner.

"This failure to make even the modest $50/month payment, an amount that he proposed and agreed to, demonstrates that Nintendo has no adequate remedy at law for Defendant's past or future infringement and underscores the need for a permanent injunction," reads Nintendo's new filing, also noting "[The] De??fendant'?s threat to continue to operate RomUniverse to distribute videogame ROMs, using the same website he used for the past several years to mass-infringe Nintendo's copyright and trademark rights, necessitates the entry of an injunction."

Back in? May, presiding Judge Marshall ordered the closure of RomUniverse, ordering Storman pay Nintendo trademark damages of $400,000 USD, as well as $35,000 for each Nintendo ??product listed on the website, for a total of $2.1 million.

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Nintendo sends stark message to piracy sites

There's an old saying in law that a man who represents himself in court has a fool for a client. I wouldn't know, I'm too squeaky clean to have been in that situation, but it's an axiom that wasn't heeded by a ROM-site owner when they stood against Nintendo in a recent copyright infringement suit. As reported by TorrentFreak, a judge has ruled in Nintendo's favor to ??the tune of a staggering $2.1 millio??n.

The suit was filed by Nintendo way back in late-2019, after the publisher alleged that website ROMUniverse was responsible for the uploading of and profiteering from Nintendo copyrighted material, including Switch game ROMs. Site owner Matthew Storman, who chose to defend himself in court without an attorney, argued that not only was the site legal in the eyes of the law, but that they had never personally uploaded any of the site's available ROMs. It was later discovered that Storman had previously admitted to uploading said ROMs ??in a previous courtroom deposition.

While Nintendo originally sought? a grand total of $15 million in damages from Storman �equating to $95,000 USD for?? each of ROMUniverse's 49 available products �presiding Judge Marshall decided upon a smaller, but still hugely significant sum of $2.1 million �or $35,000 per product. Additionally, Storman will pay Nintendo $400,000 in total trademark damages.

Of course, Nintendo doesn't need this money, but this is the latest in a long line of examples of the publisher going above and beyond in order to protect its assets and send stark messages to anybody else considering the same behavior. Nintendo clearly hopes that the ruling will dissuade further ROM-selling sites from engaging in the distribution of its products, lest they find themselves next in the dock ?and facing an equally frighting punishment.

ROMUniverse, unsurprisingly, has closed down.

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F.B.I. swoops on Team Xecuter

The Department of Justice has announced that three prominent members of long-time hack-maker Team Xecuter have been arrested, as Nintendo continues its fight against the selling and re-selling of "jailbreak" dev???ices for its range of hardware.

Canadian Gary Bowser, Chinese national Yuanning Chen, and French National Max Louarn were apprehended by the F.B.I. in September. The trio face a total of 11 felony charges for the creation and distribution of Swit?ch hacking devices such as the SX Core and SX Lite. Louran will be extradited to the U.S. to stand trial, while Bowser - who was deported from the Dominican Republic - appeared in a New Jersey federal court on Friday.

This news follows a successful lawsuit which saw hack seller Uberchips ordered to pay $2 million in damages to Nintendo for stocking Team Xecuter's devices. Nintendo are currently investigating at least eig?ht other retailers for similar offences, but due to the underground nature of the piracy market, the publisher is still to ascertain the identities of the store holders.

You can read the Department of Justice's full report on the recent arrests right here.

Two mem?bers of piracy group Team Xecuter have been ?arrested [MyNintendoNews]

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Shiver me timbers

Nintendo has won a UK-based court case that ef??fectively forces several ISPs in Britain to ban access to websites that facilitate piracy on Nintendo Switch. Four specific sites have already been locked out, with the new ruling taking immediate effect through internet providers SKY, BT, EE and Virgin Media.

Speaking with Eurogamer, a Nintendo spokesperson related the company's satisfaction with the outcome. "Today, the UK High Court found the sale and distribution of 'circumvention' devices for the Nintendo Switch unlawful. Nintendo is pleased that the UK High Court has confirmed that dealing in devices or ??software that enable piracy on Nintendo Switch systems is unlawf??ul.

"Thi?s decision will help protect the UK games industry and the more than 1800 developers worldwide that create games for the Nintendo Switch platform, and who rely on legitimate sales of games for their livelihood and to keep bringing quality content to gamers."

UK's video game trade body UKIE also took the opportunity to express their delight at the result, with communication head George Osborne stating "UKIE fully supports the ?ruling and wishes to reiterate the strong stance of the UK video games industry against illegitimate operators. The case represents one of multiple industry endeavours to prevent bad actors from infringing upon and exploiting the intellectual property rights associated with games."

N?intendo wins UK high court case to block?? piracy websites [Eurogamer]

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One grand prize winner, five runners-up

In today's contest, we've got copies of VR title Battlewake up for grabs -- as well as a PSVR unit!

It's not often we get a prize as cool as a brand new PSVR unit. In fact, we've never gotten one. A real shame! VR?? has some really, really cool stuff, and I think it'd be awesome if more people were able to get their hands on a unit.

Well, good news! Our friends over at Battlewake decided they want you to play their game, so they've given us a PSVR bundle for you to give their g?ame a s??pin. Isn't that lovely of them?

Take to the high seas in the brand new virtual reality pirate game. In Battlewake, you'll control one of four legendary pirates as you captain your ship in epic 10-player PvP ship battling action. Fighting other players not your thing? There's also an immersive 20-chapter story campaign for you to take to the high seas as a solo captain. Fight enemy ships, the elements, and aw shit is that a giant squid?! I knew it was too good to be true! Why they gotta add scary crap like ?that, man?!

Read these game features while I google how to get rid of ?a giant sq??uid.

• Powerful ultimates and abilities 

  • Play as four Pirate Lords (Diego, Rev, Calavera and Zhang) and channel ancient magics for special and ultimate attacks only recalled from tall tales. Unleash mi?ghty tsunamis, send your enemies’ ships flying in stormy maelstroms, and literally release the Kraken.

• Solo, Co-op and PvP Modes

  • Navigate the epic 20-chapter story of the Pirat??e Lords’ quest to discover an ancient seat of power in solo/co-op Campaign Mode, work together to complete objectives in dynamic Warfare Mode (up to 4 players), or embrace the pirate’s life in free-for-all PvP deathmatch (up to 10 players).

• Fully-Armed, Upgradable Warships:

  • Thirteen different ship-based weapons draw inspiration from naval battles both real and imagined. Command flak cannons, ballistae, axe-throwers and?? more.

• Player Progression

  • From your Captain’s Quarters, spend gold earned from matches to boost your ship’s stats and arsenal, as well as levelling up your own Pirate Lord skills and abilities to turn the tides in ?your favor.

• Technology:

  • No sea-sickness: From Raw Data’s teleshift to Sprint Vector’s fluid locomotion, Survios has made great strides in c?hallenging the standards of VR movement. Battlewake marks Survios’s first venture ??into vehicular locomo??tion and combat in VR, with a proprietary technology coined the Immersive Vehicle System. Using Adaptive Physics and Peripheral Effects subsystems, players can focus on the battle at hand and take on the wildest waves, while limiting the common triggers of sea-sickness.

  • Re??active Water: the sea turns from peaceful to extreme as c?omets and tentacles blast into the water, bosses arrive and send out shockwaves, ultimates transform water into whirlpools, tidal waves and maelstroms to make truly epic battles.

So, that's the game. As mentioned, ??they've also included a PSVR bundle including the headset, PS Camera, t?wo Fun Wands (that's what they're called, right?), and the 87 wires required to hook up to your console! This is a brand new unit, so if you've got a PS4, you'll be able to plug in and hop right into the game. After you set it up and download everything, of course. 2019!

Ok, so to enter to win the grand prize use the widget below to leave your name and email address. You can enter daily. For bonus chanc?es, follow Dtoid and developer @Survios on Twitter, and share our contest post with your friends.

To enter to win just a digital copy of Battlewake, help me get rid of these ??damned giant squids. Like, what am I supposed to do, here? I can't get seem to banish them from the mortal realm. Did I hit the wrong button? Tell me in the comments below.

We have one grand prize package featuring a PSVR bundle and a digital PS4 NA copy of Battlewake; five runners-up will receive a digital PS4 NA copy of the game, chosen from the comments below. You must have a United States shipping address in order to qualify for the grand prize. Winners will be drawn Monday, September 16. Make sure to comment using a Dtoid account with your current name and email address on fi?le.

Battlewake is available now for PS4, as well as PC platforms, exclusively in VR. Head over to our sister site PlayStation Enthusiast for more chances to win the game!

Contest: Win a PSVR bundle, and a copy of Battlewake?? to play on it!

The post Contest: Win a PSVR bundle, and a copy of Battlewake to play o??n it! appeared first on Destructoid.

What does that even mean?

Epic Games has dropped a tweet hinting at the upcoming new season in their licence-to-print-dollar battle royale phenomenon, Fortnite. And it looks like Ramirez and friends might be getting set to walk the ??pla?nk...

The super-cryptic teaser merely features an orange image along with the words "Fortnite Season 8" and a cropped image of what is clearly a hook hand, which of course instantly brings to mind the pirates and buccaneers of yore. Accompanying the image is a cute sea shanty: "X marks the spot, treasu?re abound, loot that has been lost, can always be found."

Despite the fact the third line is clearly one word too long, all of this points to pirate-themed content coming to the, erm... dry land-based video game. The final day of the current Fortnite season takes place this week, on February 27, so we'??ll be hearing mo?re about these new adventures very soon. Arrr.

Fortnite is av?ailable now on PS4, PC, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and mobile devices.

'X' Marks The Spot
Treasure abound
Loot that has been lost
Can always be found.
4 days to Season 8. pic.twitter.com/1U8n7x4pQQ

— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) February 24, 2019

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Straight from the horse's chat support

Set TV sounds too goo?d to be true, and it turns out it is. They offer a ca??ble alternative where a measly $20 a month gets the user over 500 channels, including premium services such as HBO. Not only does that sound like a bargain, but they promote the ability to watch movies that are still in theaters. Nothing shady here, nothing at all. 

While the likes of Netflix and Amazon Prime Video are generally seen as competitors, there is a coalition binding Hollywood creatives against the common foe of piracy. The enemy of my enemy and all that.  The coalition, dubbed ACE (Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment), filed the lawsuit at the end of last week against the subscription service and are seeking $150,00??0 per copyright infringement. It's probably a safe bet that Set TV wouldn't be able to avoid bankruptcy if found at fault, but a quick conversation with one of their customer support reps reveals they fear no repercussions.

Honestly, a response at all to my questions wasn't expected, and for this particular employee t??o express extreme confidence is commendable loyalty to an extent. 

Netflix and Amazon both have pockets deeper than the Mariana Trench, and with the backing of Hollywood, it would be a major surprise if Set TV walks over the hot coals unscathed. Jason Labossiere, Set TV's head honcho, was previously involved in a dispute with Google in regards to a claim that Labossiere's then company--Exo Level--was squatting an Android web domain and selling equally shady set-top TV boxes. It didn't work the first time, so he tried it again. He's like the Michael Scott Paper Company. 

Aside from the copyright infringement penalty, ACE is also looking to completely shut down Set TV, as well as round up the boxes and any other pre-loaded devices used to watch the pirated material. The cord-cutting constituents continue to grow and piracy is just as prevalent as ever??, and the outcome of this particular lawsuit could set a precedent for Hollywood and its war against illegal streaming for the future. 

Amazon and Netflix Are Suing a Shady Streaming Service?? for $1??50,000 Per Copyright Violation [Gizmodo]

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Mate, I can get you Golden Axe for three quid

Hope you're all enjoying your SNES Classics, that I'm not-at-all jealous and bitter of. I wonder how many of you right now have leapt straight into the unreleased flying-furry sequel, Star Fox 2?

Well, several folk ?hav??e not only leapt straight into it, but they have already succeeded in ripping the ROM and burning it to original SNES carts, before sticking them up for purchase on auction sites and elsewhere on the Information Superhighway.

I'm not eve??n sure why a collector would want a bootleg of said game. It obviously doesn't come with replicated packaging to look snazzy on your bookshelf. Many ROM hustlers would gladly just have the ripped game sitting in their SNES emulation folder. But, for around $60, you can have an unauthentic version of the sci-fi adventure that never was.

I'm sure The Big N have zero problem with this practic?e, and in no way will be coming down on anyone engaging in selling the of the SNES Classic's rarest ROM, less than 24 hours from its frenzy-inducing store release.

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Nothing stops the space pirates

On July 6, BioWare released a new update for the PC version of Mass Effect: Andromeda. The release notes at the time indicated that the patch was going ?to focus primarily on improving facial animations and stability, along with numerous other issues. It would also add a new Platinum difficulty to the games multiplayer mode, along with other tweaks meant specifically for the platform.

After it's release, people digging through the files of ??the updated game discovered that Denuvo, the controversial DRM, has been removed from t??he game.

The relationship between Andromeda and Denuvo seemed to be a rocky one since the release of the game. At launch, Andromeda was using an older version of Denuvo, and was cracked within 10 days as a result. Later on, the first patch for the game added in a newer version of Denuvo, which at the time was used only by Dead Rising 4 and Nier: Automata. However at that point, the ??damage was done, as the cracked software had been floating around for some time, and smart pirates can accept having a lesser version if it means it's still free.

BioWare likely dropped the anti-tamper tech for two reasons. The first is that Mass Effect: Andromeda has reached the sales they were exp??ecting, or has slowed down to the point where the DRM is no longer needed. The other is that Denuvo became useless for the game, as not only was the vanilla release cracked, but also the previously mentioned games were eventually cracked as well. Meaning those responsible for cracking al??ready had an idea of how to open up the updated DRM that a previous patch added, and likely did.

Mass Effect: Andromeda marks the second game from EA to remove Denuvo, following Titanfall 2 which removed it back in March. So far 10 games have removed the DRM, however many g??ames, despite the likely chance they?'ve obtained the majority of their lifetime sales, continue to retain it. Hopefully more developers consider removing it as time passes on, especially for games that are older than 2 years.

Bioware ??has removed the Den??uvo anti-tamper tech from Mass Effect: Andromeda [Dark Side of Gaming]

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Start your engines

You'd be hard p??ressed to find a category of hardware (outside of the PC) that's ha??cked or homebrewed more than Nintendo portables. But after all these years, Nintendo is going to make a marked attempt to stop it.

Partnering up with HackerOne (a San Francisco based security firm), the publisher is now effectively offering up to a $20,000 bounty for "highly skilled researchers" to uncover vulnerabilities for the 3DS that could "jeopardize its environment." While a lot of folks are probably going to be up in arms about their attack on piracy, note that Nintendo also wants to ?stop cheating, and "dissemination of inappropriate content to children."

The bounty starts at $100 (US), and ranges all the way up to the aforementioned $20,000, so if you think you're qualified, it might pay to get involved. Unfortunately, since Nintendo "doesn't d?isclose how the reward is calculated," they can technically just judge every case arbitrarily. Well, at least they're trying rather than just prosec??uting folks.

Nintendo launches vulner??ability reward program f??or Nintendo 3DS [HackerOne]

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Clever and resourceful... for a wall of meat

Allow me to introduce you to Duke Grabowski, mighty pirate. He's a lunkheaded, musclebound mouth-breather who used Int as his dump stat, and prefers punching to talking his way out of problems. He's also the protagonist in his own game, a throwback tribute to the Monkey Island&n?bsp;series tha?t's available on Steam right now. 

So, who here likes Monkey Island games? I know I do. I have a framed, signed print of Steve Purcell's artwork from Tales of Monkey Island displayed prominently in my home. I've played through every game in the serie?s multiple times, and I often find myself quoting memorable lines (That's the second-biggest Q-tip I've ever seen!). I've always loved the implication that the hero, Guybrush Threepwood didn't seem to be really good at what he was doing, but prevailed through persistence and a willingness to try anything to get closer to his goal.

I wasn't really aware of Lucasarts games until the third installment, The Curse of Monkey Island. That was a great game to start with, though, containing full voice acting, gorgeous hand-drawn animation, and a long, involved quest with scalable difficulty (basically, adding extra steps to some of the puzzles). There's no doubt in my mind that Curse was one of the finest adventure games ever made, and should be held up along with other Lucasarts games like Sam and Max hit the Road and Day of the Tentacle when talking abo?ut the adventure genre's glory days.

After playing through Curse, I tracked down copies of the earlier games in the series, and happily bought them when they were remastered. I also bought and enjoyed playing through the later games in the series, though I thought Escape From Monkey Island was hurt somewhat by its transition to 3D. Eventually, Telltale got the rights to do an episodic Monkey Island series, but that's the last we've heard from the franchise since it wrapped up in 2009.

A little while ago, I got a private message here on the site from somebody affiliated with Venture Moon Industries, the team behind Duke Grabowski, Mighty Swashbuckler. They'd seen my writeup on Thimbleweed Park, an upcoming game based on Maniac Mansion and Day of the Tentacle from The Secret of Monkey Island's director, Ron Gilbert. They invited me to try out their game, since it seemed like I was a fan of Lucasarts-style adventures. Duke is heavily inspired by the Monkey Island series, and even has Bill Tiller on staff, who helped make Curse of Monkey Island when he worked at Lucasarts.

Duke Grabowski is a loving tribute to the latter Monkey Island games, and wears its influence on its sleeve. It may sound a little unfair to compare Duke Grabowski to the Monkey Island series, but as you can probably tell from my earlier statements, I mean it as a compliment. Duke's visuals?? are lush and colorful, and the Caribbean-flavored music is spot-on. What's more, every interaction Duke has with his environment triggers a unique voice line, and the acting is well above average. One thing I appreciate is that it's not possible to get yourself into a failure state, something I particularly enjoyed about Lucasarts' offerings. It's easy to imagine Duke having a parallel adventure somewhere close to Guybrush, neither crossing the other's path.

Duke's story sees him vying to become the captain of his ship after his former captain has expired. His fellow pirates don't really respect him, but he tends to get violent when he doesn't get his way. So one of the other crewmen, a pirate called Slew Face, tells? him that to become their leader, he should demonstrate his ability to woo some ladies, as their former captain had something of a reputation as a Don Juan. Really, all he's doing is getting Duke to leave the others alone for a while, but Duke's not especially gifted in the brains departme?nt, so he takes Slew Face at his word. 

Duke can move around his environment and interact with anything he sees. The three possible interactions with every object are context sensitive, and Duke can use his eyes, mouth, or hands when he wants to do something. Usually he'll just look, talk to??, or interact with an object, but occasionally the mouth icon can mean he tries to eat or lick an object, or the hands icon will indicate you want to punch something. It's a clever way of presenting interactions, and sets up some funny scenes.

While Guybrush is punier than your average pirate, he's usually the smartest guy in whatever room he enters. As I mentioned above, Duke is quite the opposite, so he has a different approach to the pirate themed puzzles he encounters. As an example, in one puzzle Duke needs to get past a group of zombie pirates who are well stocked with cannons and cannonballs. While Guybrush might disguise h??imself as a woodland creature or find an alternate path, Duke's solution is to rip a tree out of the ground and use it as a bat to knock the cannonballs back at the enemy's position.

Not all of the puzzles can be solved with brawn, however, and for those that require a more subtle touch, Duke can ask for help from one of his companion characters. When they join him, their special skill will be added to Duke's inventory, and he can "use" them to help with puzzles, sort of like how Sam used Max as an item in Hit the Road. 

The game does have a few issues. The text shadows sometimes don't line up with the text, so a strange ghosting effect shows up under some of the dialogue lines. There isn't support for cloud saves, so if you move from one computer to another, you'll have to start the game over. There's a little less polish than you might expect if you've played Monkey Island games, but that's forgivable considering the a?mbition of the project and the size of the? team that's made it. Adjust your expectations going in, and you should be fine.

I enjoyed my time with Duke Grabowski, even though he's initially sort of hard to like as a character. I found that the more I played, the more he grew on me. I think I might know where his last name came from, and that was a nice touch. The team said that they'd like to make more games in the series, provided the first does well. It's available on Steam right now, so if you're interested in a new Monkey Island game, this is as clos?e as you can get for the time being.

_{[This preview was based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

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This is how you turn pirates into paying customers

For those of you not in the know, the Vita has been hacked wide open with homebrew?, emulators, and even pirated copies of games, all of which can be used as long as you have firmware 3.60 or below; 3.61 is the current latest firmware that?? fixes the hack.

Pirates have been pirating and sharing every Vita game they can get their hands on including the fantastic music game Superbeat Xonic. Oddly enough the developers of that game aren't mad, quite the contrary, they have thanked the pirates for the attention and have extended an olive branch. After finding copies of its game bei??ng shared PMStudios sent the following message to pirates:

"Hello everybody!

We feel honoure?d that you enjoy our game SUPERBEAT XONiC so much, we would like to invite you to take this opportunity to purchase it on sale at the Playstation Store. You can enjoy the original game ?and show support to the team for just $15.99 (60% off), no Playstation Plus required! 

Have a nice day!"

What a class act! From the looks of it, many pirates?? are considering to buy the game if they haven't already. Turns out if you treat pirates like humans, many of them will do the right thing. Meanwhile, companies that put draconian DRM on their PC games only encourage paying customers ??to become pirates to avoid issues.

Also, if you have a Vita and don't own Superbeat Xonic it comes highly recommended by yours truly??, it is a fantastic little music game with ?a ton of content. 

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Oh dear

Oculus Rift’s most recent anti-piracy update has only served to make piracy on ?the VR headset easier. 

The new update for the Ocu??lus Rift hardware had intended to curb piracy, directly targeting the Revive mod which enables gamers to play Oculus-exclusive games on non-Oculus headsets. But by addressing the loophole, the ‘fix’ has permitted pira??cy via other means, and potentially locks out gamers who have legitimately purchased Oculus games to play on other headsets like Vive.

"The original version of Revive simply took functions from the Oculus Runtime and translated them to OpenVR calls," Revive’s creator, Libre VR, told Motherboard (via Kotaku). "The new?? version of Revive now uses the same injection technique to bypass Oculus’ ownership check altogether. By disabling the ownership check the game can no longer determine whether you legitimately own the game."

"I really didn't want to go down this path, but I feel there is no other way," he added on Reddit. “This [Revive] release bypasses the Oculus Platform DRM in Unr??eal Eng??ine games, so the entitlement check doesn't fail because the headset isn't connected.”

"I still do not support piracy, do not u??se this library for pirated copies."

Only a few months ago, Oculus boss Palmer Luckey told Redditors "I don't care if they mod a game from us, I don&rsquo??;t?? care if they mod it to run on whatever they want."

“As I have said a million times (and counter to the current circlejerk), ?our goal is not to profit by locking pe?ople to only our hardware."

Hmm.

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Errr, on-the-eye

If pirates are going to act the part, they may as well look the part too. That's apparently a mantra over at Remedy Entertainment. People who are running an unlicensed copy of Quantum Break&??nbsp;are finding themselves with a brand new accessory? -- one that reminds them of their misdeed.

As reported by Eurogamer, Remedy has given Quantum Break protagonist Jack Joyce an eye patch on all illegal versions?? of the game. However, it may pop up for some people with legitimate copies in the event that they aren't logged into their Microsoft account before loading the game. In that case, just reboot the game -- unless you like the eye patch enough to keep it around, of ??course.

This isn't the first time Remedy has saddled pirates with an eye patch. Alan Wake did the exact same thing. Sounds like that's standard operating procedure for the developer. As far as piracy punishments go, there's a lot worse.

Quantum Break makes pirates wear an eye-patch [Eurogamer]

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Heart-warming end to GDC

In a much more tender (than poop-suicide) end to the Game Developers Conference, at today's post-mortem talk on the first Diablo, writer Shivam Bhatt stepped up during the Q&A session of the talk to apologize to Diablo creator David Brevik for pirating the ga??me as a teenager in 1997.

Bhatt gave Brevik some cash in a part symbolic, part class move simply out of the atmosphere of yours truly, the man who saw an abandoned, 3/4ths-drunk 40 o?z Cobra sitting in a subway station this week and thought, "I could probably drink the rest of that."

GDC can really be a saccharine, nice-as-hell time? with good people for as much snark as I'll drop about utilikilts, virtual reality, and albatross-around-the-nec??k badge spotting sometimes miles from the convention center.

I?? hope Brevik plans to split the cash with all his former Blizzard North co-workers putting everyone on track towards buying 1/3 of a Cobra.

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To see the impact

After an "internal meeting," piracy group 3DM (the same group that couldn't crack Just Cause 3)&?nbsp;has decided that it will not crack any single-player games "for a year," so that it can "look at the situation in a year's time to see if genuine sales have grown" -- but stopped short of saying what will happen if they do grow.

A common argument of pirates is that "pirating games does not automatically mean a lost sale, because that person could end up buying it." Of course that can happen, but I'm not sure of the efficacy of this experiment -- after all, 3DM is just a small drop in the water when it comes to pirating groups. Plus, how is it measuring growth? Just in general "dollars spent" per year? I think it'd need more support to truly make this work, and that would be an interesting experiment.

Pirate Group Suspends New Cracks [Torrentfreak]

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Popularity isn't always a good thing

The Witness is very popular this week, but popularity and revenue don't always correlate directly. There's a whole subset of people out there who prefer to get their games through nefarious, illegal means and The Witness has found itself as a prime target.

According to lead creator Jonathan Blow, The Witness is the top-pirated video game on a "certain popular torrent site" which he declined to name. Blow lamented that "Unfortunately, this will not help us afford to make another game." In a subsequent tweet, Blow expressed the slightest of silver linings in that more people will be able to play it. Still, that consolation doesn't help his bottom li??ne or his ability to start another project.

It's not a new phenomenon for Blow who stated that Braid, his first game, saw the same degree of illegal downloading. It's enough to make him consider some sort of DRM protective measures for whatever he does next, although Blow said he "[Doesn't] like DRM because [he thin??ks] people should have the freedom to own things."

Undoubtedly, The Witness' piracy popularity is a combination between people being curious because of its critical acclaim, mixe??d with an unwillingness to pay $40 for an "indie" digital-only title. It isn't ideal, but it's also the inevitable cost of doing business on the Internet. The only way to cut back on it, like Blow says, is to implement some sort of DRM for his next title -- hopefully Blowplay or Blowrigin.

@Jonathan_Blow [Twitter]

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Hopefully it won't hurt the performance

The PC releases of both Far Cry Primal and Rise of the Tomb Raider will make use of the controversial Den??uv?o anti-tampering software.

Denuvo isn’t technically DRM because it doesn’t manage content licenses. However, it does provide an extra wall of security to stop the underlying DRM from being cracked. It’s one of the big reasons why games have been getting harder and harder to crack in the last couple of years.

However, it’s also been accused of causing poor game performance. The developer, also called Denuvo, vehemently denies these accusations, but Lords of the Fallen, Batman: Arkham Knight and Just Cause 3 all?? use the system and well… look at how they turned out.

Far Cry Primal will be featuring a particularly persistent version of the software. According to the EULA, some of Denuvo’s?? files will remain on your system ev?en after you’ve uninstalled the game:

T??HE PRODUCT IS PROTECTED BY DIGITAL RIGHTS MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE (“DRM SOFTWARE”) AND DENUVO ANTI-TAMPER PROTECTION TECHNOLOGY (“ANTI-TAMPER TECHNOLOGY”)… CERTAIN FILES OF THE ANTI-TAMPER TECHNOLOGY MAY REMAIN EVEN AFTER THE PRODUCT IS UNINSTALLED FROM YOUR COMPUTER.

Its presence in Rise of the Tomb Raider hasn't been completely confirmed, but its header image has been spotted on a cloud service owned by Denuvo's president, Reinhard Blaukovitsch. Every game that uses Denuvo has an image on that same site, and Square Enix's last major release, Just Cause 3, also uses the system, so it's safe to say Tomb Raider will be getting it too.

For all of its problems, Denuvo is a massively successful way of keeping crackers at bay during that critical? launch period. That means whether paying players (IE the only ones that should actually matter) like it or not, it’s going to stick around and probably pop up on more and more major releases.

Here’s hoping it doesn’t cause too many issues&?hellip;

Far Cry: Primal &am??p; Rise of the Tomb? Raider Will Be Protected By The Denuvo Anti-Tamper Tech [DSOGaming]

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Denuvo

Games are becoming too hard to crack, it seems. According to Torrent Freak, one particular group is finding it tough to solve Denuvo, a new "anti-tamper" technology. The particularly tough games last year involved Dragon Age: Inquisition and Just Cause 3, and it seems like some individuals t??hink that it??'s the end of AAA piracy as we know it.

According to the founder of 3DM, "I still believe that [Just Cause 3] can be compromised. But according to current trends in the development of encryption technology, in two years time I’m afraid there will be no free games to play ?in the world."

Throughout the years, publishers have gotten much wiser as a result of piracy. They've generally made their products easier to attain, and in the case of HBO in particular (where Game of Thrones was the most pirated shows for years), they finall?y caved and allowed people to buy an HBO Now subscription, free of the tethers of a cable package. I wonder how piracy will? continue to influence the industry going forward.

No more ??pirates games in two years, cracking group warns [Torrent Freak]

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PlayStation 4 hacked, what next?

Hacking group "Fail0verflow" -- the same group that hacked the PS3 five year??s ago -- has taken advantage of an exploit in the PlayStation 4 to start messin?g about under its knickers, which is to say I myself know little about hacking and its parlance, but a lot about doing sex stuff.

The group got a custom version of Linux running on the console and has released it publicly. It's here if you're interested. You can see it in action in the above video, showed off last week at the 32nd Chaos Communication Conference. The hacking bit is a cartoonish donut icon and the Pokemon Emerald -- or, "Pokemon PlayStation Vers??ion"? -- starts at about 4:20.

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And potentially a load of games with it

Back in the days before Steam, Origin, or uPlay, the infamous SecuROM and SafeDisc were two of the primary types of DRM developers could use. In the name of “?preventing piracy” (read as “preventing perceived lost profits because of second hand sales” if you want), the software would get right into your system, requiring way more permissions than they really should have needed.

For Windows 10, this deep embedding SecuROM and SafeDisc used is no longer allowed. According to Mic?rosoft&rs??quo;s Boris Schneider-Johne, it’s due to their massive security loopholes they pose, and that they haven’t been updated to Windows 10’s standards. Courtesy of Rock Paper Shotgun, we have a translation:

Everything that ran in Windows 7 should also run in Windows 10. There are just two silly exceptions: antivirus software and stuff that’s deeply embedded into the system needs updating – but the developers are on it already – and then there are old games on CD-Rom that have DRM. This DRM stuff is also deeply embedded in your system, and that’s where Windows 10 says “sorry, we cannot allow that, because that would be a possible loophole for computer viruses.” That’s why there are a couple of games from 2003-2008 with Securom, etc. that simply don’t run without a no-CD patch or some such. We can just not support that if it’s a possible danger for our users. There are a couple of patches from developers already, and there is stuff like GOG where you’ll find versions of those games that work.

On the one hand, this is a good move. SecuROM and SafeDisc always earne??d the scorn it got from people, due to it being incredibly insecure and at times just didn’t work properly. The fact they’re dead, at least for now, is a good thing.

On the other hand, this means so many older games now just won’t work on Windows 10 – Retail versions of games such as The Sims, Crysis, Mass Effect, BioShock, Grand Theft Auto IV a?nd more use SecuROM. They’ll probably just become unplayable now.

It does feel like we’re potentially losing s??ome actually pretty recent parts of gaming history because of this decision. Either that, or we're thrusting the responsibil?ity of archiving even recent games onto services like GOG, which doesn't feel right to me.

It’s also a concern considering Microsoft&r?squo;s recent stance on pirated software. We don’t know how this policy will apply to games that have been cracked to remove their DRM, so how are players expected to play the games they paid fo?r if every possible option is blocked?

Windows 10 Won’t Run Games Using SafeDisc O?r S?ecurom DRM [Rock Paper Shotgun]

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Definitely doesn't affect any of you

Now, I know this won't be of any importance to any of Destructoid's super well-behaved readership, but let's say for argument's sake s??ome of you pirate games on PC. Well, you might want to be aware of some info in the Microsoft Services EULA. Obviously, none of you will be inconvenienced by the disabling of pirated software, right?

Initially noticed by site Alphr, the Microsoft Services EULA gives Microsoft pe??rmission to scan your Windows 10 machine for pirat??ed software and remove it from your system. There have not yet been any reports of this actually happening in practice, but Microsoft now has the power should it choose to exercise it.

The EULA also gives Microsoft permission to kill drive?rs to unauthorized gaming hardware, like third-party controllers with turbo switches and similar a?dditional benefits. 

But as I said before, I'm sure this won't alter?? your decision to upgrade, right? I mean, you buy ALL of your software legally... Right?

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'Hue, hue, hue, hue,' - pirates

Brazil is known for its blatant piracy, with over 50 percent of software there being pirated. So it should come as no surprise that some electronic stores are offering to install 10 pirated games on? customers PS4s for the equivalent of $100 USD. The process for doing this hasn't been released publicly yet, and seems to need other hardware such as a Raspberry Pi microcomputer. 

Sony has yet to react publicly to this hack. Considering how rampant piracy was on the PSP, I'm sure Sony will be on top of thi?s as soon as possible.

New piracy technique on PS4 in Brazil confirmed to be?? real, Sony might take legal action [Wololo]

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Will there ever be social justice?

Fredrik Neij, co-founder of the copyright-free zone known as the Pirate Bay, has had his Nintendo Entertainment System taken away by prison officials. The Swedish Prison and Probation Service said the c??onsole couldn't be opened without being smashed and could possibly harbor prohibited items. Neij pointed out all they need is a cheap screwdriver to open it. 

So I guess we should all feel bad for him? I mean prison is supposed to be a good time like being sent to your room by your dickhead step dad who doesn't realize all your videogames are there, right? That being said American prison is far different than European prisons; here Neij wouldn't be holding an NES controller but would instead be holding a pocket.

Pirate Bay co-founder denied bid?? to play origi??nal Nintendo in prison [Ars Technica]

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While not encouraging the practice, S?derstr?m makes an exception

Devolver Digital and Dennaton Games' forthcoming title Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number made headlines yesterday after the Australian Classification Board made the decision to refuse the game classification,? effectively banning its sales and distrib??ution in the region.

A concerned Hotline Miami supporter living in Australia named Max Cartwright reached out to Jonatan Söderström of Dennaton in an email to share his concerns about the Classification? Board's decision and to ask if there were alternative methods t??o acquire the game.

"Please, if there is any way for me to pay you directly for a ?copy of your game, I would be delighted," he said via email. "Perhaps you could send?? me a copy of your game and I could donate to your Paypal? Just give me options!"

Söderström responded by saying, "If it ends up not being released in Australia, just pirate it after release. No need to send us any money, just enjoy the game!" Devolver's Fork Parker verified the authenticity of the email over Twitter in this exchange with Polygon's Ben Kuchera.

While the developer's statement may come as a surprise to some, this isn't be the first time the Hotline Miami team has tolerated piracy of their games. Back in October of 2012, Söders??tröm reached out to the Pirate Bay community requesting that its future torrents of the title include the latest patch that he was working on at the time.

When questioned by Polygon about the unusual dec??ision??, Söderström replied, "I've worked very hard on making an interesting experience that I want people to enjoy," adding "Bugs detract from that, and that's worse to me than losing money."

Obviously Denneton would prefer for people to pay for its games and not resort to piracy; but, if left with no other viable optio??n -- as is the case with Australia -- it seems that the team wants gamers to experience its work no?? matter how they have to get it.

_{[Header image by Promadas, published on DeviantArt]}

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