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Video Game Industry Thread: transfarrin' to a new thread

cloudeaglecloudeagle Registered User regular
edited June 2011 in Games and Technology
Hi! Welcome to the video game industry thread. Here we discuss things like sales figures, game development, studio closures, executive quotes, marketing and general business stuff. Also poop jokes.

E3's right around the corner. This should bring loads of industry news, but that likely won't slow down the inevitable:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoCZ07hwoZ4

And now, April's information.

NPD Group's U.S. Games Industry Sales (New Physical Sales Channel*) - April 2011

5-week tracking month; Reporting Period 4/3/11 through 4/30/11

Mortal Kombat 2011 (PS3, 360)** 1 Warner Bros. Interactive
Portal 2 (360, PS3, PC) 2 Electronic Arts
Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars (Wii, NDS, 360, 3DS, PS3, PC) 3 LucasArts
Call of Duty: Black Ops (360, PS3, NDS, Wii, PC)** 4 Activision Blizzard
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters (360, PS3, Wii)** 5 Electronic Arts
Crysis 2 (360, PS3, PC) 6 Electronic Arts
Just Dance 2 (Wii) 7 Ubisoft
Michael Jackson The Experience (360, Wii, PS3, NDS, PSP) 8 Ubisoft
Pokemon White Version (NDS) 9 Nintendo
NBA 2K11 (360, PS3, Wii, PSP, PS2, PC) 10 Take 2 Interactive

Xbox 360: 267,000
Wii: 172,000
3DS: 194,000
PS3: 204,300

Top 10 Individual SKUs include: (Gamasutra And Anita Frazier Below)
-Mortal Kombat (360)
-Portal 2 (360)
-Crysis 2 (360)
-Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters (360)
-Michael Jackson: The Experience (360)
-Pokemon White (NDS)
-Pokemon Black (NDS)
-Just Dance 2 (Wii)
-SOCOM 4 (PS3)
-And Presumably Mortal Kombat (PS3)

Software LTDs:

Kinect Sports - 3+ Million Worldwide
Dance Central - 2.5+ Million Worldwide

Switch: 3947-4890-9293
cloudeagle on
«13456762

Posts

  • cloudeaglecloudeagle Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    So guess what? PSN got attacked again.
    Just a heads up, Sony may have had a major password hack exploit on their password reset page as recently as yesterday. Whether true or not, it should already be fixed.

    http://sony.nyleveia.com/2011/05/17/warning-all-psn-users-your-accounts-are-still-not-safe/
    I want to make this clear to ALL PSN users. Despite the methods currently employed to force a password change when you first reconnect to the PlayStation network, your accounts still remain unsafe.
    A new hack is currently doing the rounds in dark corners of the internet that allows the attacker the ability to change your password using only your account’s email and date of birth.

    It has been proven to me through direct demonstration on a test account, so I am without any shadow of a doubt that this is real.

    I would suggest that you secure your accounts now by creating a completely new email that you will not use ANYWHERE ELSE, and switching your PSN account to use this new email. You risk having your account stolen, when this hack becomes more public, if you do not make sure that your PSN account’s email is one that cannot be affiliated with or otherwise traced to you.

    While we originally assumed this was a poor hoax designed only to stir the community into another frenzy, the individual who we are in contact with requested just two pieces of information from us: this being an account email and the date of birth used for that account. We promptly created a new account via us.playstation.com and provided the individual with the email address and date of birth used.

    Roughly a minute later they requested that we try to login with the password we used for the account (which they did not know at any point), and sure enough, we were presented with an invalid username and/or password prompt.

    In addition to this, within a few minutes we received an email from Sony stating the following:

    This email confirms that your PlayStation(R)Network password account has been changed successfully.

    If you did not change your password…
    This email has been sent to you because the password for the relevant PlayStation(R)Network account has been changed.
    If you did not change your password, please contact Customer Support at the following address:

    networksupport@uk.playstation.com

    The PlayStation(R)Network Team


    While we will not reveal specific details regarding how the exploit is performed for obvious reasons, we can say that the exploit involves a vulnerability in the password reset form currently implemented, not properly verifying tokens.

    UPDATE: In the interest of sidestepping the naysayers and getting the warning out there, if someone working for a larger, more well known site (Kotaku, Destructoid, IGN, etc) wants to contact me for a live demonstration that this exploit is the real deal, you can do so at nevada@nyleveia.com.

    UPDATE 2: Web based PSN login / Password recovery is now down for maintenance, hopefully as a result of our contact with SCEE. And more importantly, hopefully to fix the security issue.

    UPDATE 3: To clarify the situation, we had confirmed ourselves the method used last night, and contacted SCEE, SCEE have acted upon this information, we felt the information previously provided in our tweets and this article may have been a little too revealing to the vulnerability, thus we “dumbed down” the explanation of the security hole. We have provided SCEE with a detailed description of the security hole.
    While it’s unclear at this time if they will actually patch the flaw while they have the system taken down, I can also confirm that the system went down approximately 15 minutes after I received a response from SCEE on the matter.

    We for rather obvious reasons do not want to elaborate further on the exact details of the exploit, on the off chance that when the web based interface for PSN is restored the exploit has not been patched.

    UPDATE 4: Last update on the topic most likely, i notice a lot of people are saying that we should not have posted this information and simply contacted Sony, and you’re right in thinking this, however we contacted SCEE as soon as we had confirmed that the exploit was in fact real, the problem was that at the time there was a good 8-9 hour stretch where SCEE would not see our messages and given the rate at which the exploit method was spreading in the dark corners of the internet, we felt as though we needed to publicise the exploit advising users to change the emails used for their PSN accounts to secure them until Sony could patch the security hole.

    Originally we posted rough details on how the exploit operated, to give further evidence to users that it was a valid reason for them to change their passwords, as with most news like this on the internet, people tend not to believe something until hoards of users have been affected, we posted an article on N4G advising PSN users to switch their email addresses which was promptly reported as spam/lame/fake by several users who refused to believe the news due to our site just being a small news outlet.

    All along our main priority and focus has been to assist Sony and PSN users in keeping their accounts safe. If the current downtime for the web based forms results in the exploit being patched then our job is done and the potential thieft of countless user accounts has been nipped in the bud as early as humanly possible.

    Thank you to everyone that has taken our warnings seriously and acted upon it, and to SCEE for their swift response to the matter.

    If it means anything to anyone, the more specific method they had previously posted that hinted at the hack said this:
    While we are hesitant to reveal too many details regarding how the exploit is performed, for obvious reason, we can say that the exploit specifically involves the web address https://store.playstation.com/accounts/reset/resetPassword.action?token When used in combination with another web address (normally used for password recovery) certain key details can then be extracted and used to trick the server in to allowing the password of an account to be changed without a valid Sony-issued security token.

    Sony's latest tweets on the subject, that appear to be trying to hide the real purpose of modifying the page:
    "Clarification: this maintenance doesn't affect PSN on consoles, only the website you click through to from the password change email."
    "Fortunately we have got ISPs to release outstanding emails; unfortunately, a small amount of maintenance is required to improve this process"

    Good goddamn.

    cloudeagle on
    Switch: 3947-4890-9293
  • CadeCade Eppur si muove.Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    So PSN is up, how awesome was that.

    Did you know there was an exploit already?
    This guy on twitter ( http://twitter.com/#!/Nyleveia ) was claiming there was an exploit on the password recovery page that allowed anyone with a matching PSN login address and Date of Birth could change your password without you confirming it. Personally I didn't believe him so I gave him my login and dob. He didn't reply for a long time so I went to sleep. This morning however I got these 2 emails.

    And yes it did work basically, Sony has been made aware of the problem and the page he used is down.

    Still, one flaw already discovered, what else is out there?


    Gah, posted at the same time but bested with a better version, a pox upon your bowels good sir!

    Cade on
  • Capt HowdyCapt Howdy Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    This shit is getting old. How does a corporation as big as Sony screw the pooch like this? This many times? Just secure you're shit Sony!

    Capt Howdy on
    Steam: kaylesolo1
    3DS: 1521-4165-5907
    PS3: KayleSolo
    Live: Kayle Solo
    WiiU: KayleSolo
  • ZerokkuZerokku Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Is it time to bring lolsony back into fashion? God damn.

    Zerokku on
  • Skull2185Skull2185 Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Zerokku wrote: »
    Is it time to bring lolsony back into fashion? God damn.

    Ha Ha Ha

    Skull2185 on
    Everyone has a price. Throw enough gold around and someone will risk disintegration.
  • CadeCade Eppur si muove.Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    I suppose this was what Japan was talking about not letting them have it back up in the area until they made sure this crap wouldn't happen again.

    But the rest of you don't worry, I'm sure your accounts will be fine.

    Just fine.

    And your money too.

    Cade on
  • Cameron_TalleyCameron_Talley Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Zerokku wrote: »
    Is it time to bring lolsony back into fashion? God damn.

    Like jeans, lolsony never really goes out of fashion.

    Cameron_Talley on
    Switch Friend Code: SW-4598-4278-8875
    3DS Friend Code: 0404-6826-4588 PM if you add.
  • LewiePLewieP Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    someone post the laughing man.

    LewieP on
  • SkutSkutSkutSkut Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    LewieP wrote: »
    someone post the laughing man.

    All I could find on short notice

    f31e63fb44a241c62a345391d03cfbd2b01ac2dc0ac9385f8b25e4d431d1cea96g.jpg

    SkutSkut on
  • Warlock82Warlock82 Never pet a burning dog Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Sony... what the hell? Seriously, this is just getting sad.

    Warlock82 on
    Switch: 2143-7130-1359 | 3DS: 4983-4927-6699 | Steam: warlock82 | PSN: Warlock2282
  • -SPI--SPI- Osaka, JapanRegistered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Kaz Hirai a week from now: "How about... three games?"

    -SPI- on
  • cloudeaglecloudeagle Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Right now Sony just disabled the ability to change passwords.

    But if they have to pull PSN down AGAIN to deal with this... dear lord.

    cloudeagle on
    Switch: 3947-4890-9293
  • SheepSheep Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
    edited May 2011
    Probably just the web front end. Maybe they have an actual DMZ this time.

    Sheep on
  • JepheryJephery Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    LewieP wrote: »
    someone post the laughing man.

    You mean the GitS: SAC Laughing Man logo?

    Laughing_man_logo.jpg

    The next time they hack Sony they should replace everything with this.

    Jephery on
    }
    "Orkses never lose a battle. If we win we win, if we die we die fightin so it don't count. If we runs for it we don't die neither, cos we can come back for annuver go, see!".
  • XagarathXagarath Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    So, Sony muck up sending out the initial emails through volume, meaning I am unable to change my password and log into PSN at all.
    As soon as that's stopped, an exploit pops up that means they instantly take the password-changing service down.

    .... PSN is, for me and many like me, effectively still down because we have no way of logging in. This is ridiculous.

    Xagarath on
  • UncleSporkyUncleSporky Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    It's speculated that this hack might still be possible on PS3 and PSP, just not via PC browsers anymore.

    UncleSporky on
    Switch Friend Code: SW - 5443 - 2358 - 9118 || 3DS Friend Code: 0989 - 1731 - 9504 || NNID: unclesporky
  • SigtyrSigtyr Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Sony's E3 is going to be fantastic.

    Sigtyr on
  • cloudeaglecloudeagle Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Sigtyr wrote: »
    Sony's E3 is going to be fantastic.

    At this point they should start praying that PSN is finally 100% up and unhacked by then.

    cloudeagle on
    Switch: 3947-4890-9293
  • JihadJesusJihadJesus Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    They're past the point of praying. I think by now they've moved on to animal sacrifice; only blood will appease the demons that infest PSN now.

    JihadJesus on
  • darleysamdarleysam On my way to UKRegistered User regular
    edited May 2011
    JihadJesus wrote: »
    They're past the point of praying. I think by now they've moved on to animal sacrifice; only blood will appease the demons that infest PSN now.

    Is there a new God of War on the way?

    darleysam on
    forumsig.png
  • cloudeaglecloudeagle Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Honestly this mess is largely within "insult to injury" territory at this point, since the exploit got caught relatively quickly. Well, we THINK it's caught. I'm assuming it's caught. Please be caught.

    But if PSN goes down again for whatever reason, even if it's just for a day or two, it's really going to give the impression Sony doesn't know what the hell they're doing and overall trust on Sony will take a huge hit.

    cloudeagle on
    Switch: 3947-4890-9293
  • KyanbuKyanbu Digital Artist Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Oh Sony... Shit just keeps happening, doesn't it? -_-

    Kyanbu on
  • ColorlessGreenColorlessGreen Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    cloudeagle wrote: »
    Honestly this mess is largely within "insult to injury" territory at this point, since the exploit got caught relatively quickly. Well, we THINK it's caught. I'm assuming it's caught. Please be caught.

    But if PSN goes down again for whatever reason, even if it's just for a day or two, it's really going to give the impression Sony doesn't know what the hell they're doing and overall trust on Sony will take a huge hit.

    To be clear, the exploit got caught because someone with a white hat saw the black hats talking about it and told Sony, not because Sony actually has a functional security team or anything like that.

    ColorlessGreen on
    Hearthstone (NA, EU, Asia): Ceegee#1473 - spectators welcome.
  • KorKor Known to detonate from time to time Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Sigtyr wrote: »
    Sony's E3 is going to be fantastic.

    I'm willing to wager currency that one of their bullet points at E3 will be the new stability/security of an updated PSN.

    Kor on
    DS Code: 3050-7671-2707
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  • CadeCade Eppur si muove.Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    darleysam wrote: »
    JihadJesus wrote: »
    They're past the point of praying. I think by now they've moved on to animal sacrifice; only blood will appease the demons that infest PSN now.

    Is there a new God of War on the way?

    Yes and no.

    They are taking the two PSP GoW games and making them into a PS3 version.

    So probably better looking but basically the same game one those systems.

    Cade on
  • Blue mapBlue map Hello darkness, my old friend. Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    At this point I'm wondering if/how Sony is going to compensate third parties effected by this ordeal, since publishers who had plans to release games through PSN are probably less than amused with Sony's nonstop incompetence at this point.

    Blue map on
    My Steam profile thing: http://steamcommunity.com/id/Blue_map/ Battlenet: BlueMap#1493
  • CadeCade Eppur si muove.Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Compensate third parties, why? They are working for the almighty Sony, they should be privileged, honored, only those who shame themselves do not work for Sony and deal with the devil Microsoft who steals mens soul.

    Cade on
  • JihadJesusJihadJesus Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    I don't imagine they 'compensate' third parties so much as third parties try to sue their asses for damages. How succesful they'll be is hard to say, though.

    JihadJesus on
  • darleysamdarleysam On my way to UKRegistered User regular
    edited May 2011
    cloudeagle wrote: »
    Honestly this mess is largely within "insult to injury" territory at this point, since the exploit got caught relatively quickly. Well, we THINK it's caught. I'm assuming it's caught. Please be caught.

    But if PSN goes down again for whatever reason, even if it's just for a day or two, it's really going to give the impression Sony doesn't know what the hell they're doing and overall trust on Sony will take a huge hit.

    I'm still trying to get my head wrapped around how they didn't spot this coming up. To generate a new password for your account, you just need your email address and date of birth! Luckily, no-one else should have access to th..

    I would love to have a picture of Bono Trask to go here, but no.

    darleysam on
    forumsig.png
  • Skull2185Skull2185 Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Cade wrote: »
    Compensate third parties, why? They are working for the almighty Sony, they should be privileged, honored, only those who shame themselves do not work for Sony and deal with the devil Microsoft who [strike]steals mens soul.[/strike] makes it rain.

    In da clubz

    Skull2185 on
    Everyone has a price. Throw enough gold around and someone will risk disintegration.
  • cloudeaglecloudeagle Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Cade wrote: »
    darleysam wrote: »
    JihadJesus wrote: »
    They're past the point of praying. I think by now they've moved on to animal sacrifice; only blood will appease the demons that infest PSN now.

    Is there a new God of War on the way?

    Yes and no.

    They are taking the two PSP GoW games and making them into a PS3 version.

    So probably better looking but basically the same game one those systems.

    I'm guessing you weren't around for the GoW2 launch party that involved a goat sacrifice. :P

    cloudeagle on
    Switch: 3947-4890-9293
  • GyralGyral Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    I'm thinking Yakety Sax is probably running on the Muzak in the Sony offices.

    Though I'm actually not surprised that this came up.

    Gyral on
    25t9pjnmqicf.jpg
  • The_ScarabThe_Scarab Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    LewieP wrote: »
    someone post the laughing man.

    Oddly with minor tweaks this eerily works...

    http://i53.tinypic.com/2s6wkk6.jpg


    As for the outage, how could they not have expected every hacker the world over looking to make a name for themselves to have been on PSN the moment it went back up. That is honestly one of the reasons I figured it was down so long. They'd have to contend with patchy service from the rush of people logging on and overloading the systems too.

    I think the worst part of this is that PSNs problems are going to, in some people's minds, validate the cost associated with Xbox Live. Which I think is unfair. Steam, for example, offers essentially the exact same service as both but is free and has far less downtime. While Xbox Live is undoubtedly more robust, I don't think it is because you pay for it that it is this way, it's simply Microsoft's expertise in Software showing through.

    The_Scarab on
  • Lindsay LohanLindsay Lohan Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    I wonder why Gamestop emailed me a coupon for $100 off a PS3 recently? I can't imagine why they'd need to boost sales of the system...

    Here's a dumb question - I recently grabbed Borderlands for the 360. Gamestop accidentally gave me the Game of the Year edition which I noticed later sells for $15 more used. However, it seems from the packaging that all the GOTY addon stuff was one time downloads which my copy didn't include - so exactly why would they charge more it in theory? Is there some other content I don't know about?

    Lindsay Lohan on
  • bfickybficky Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Blue map wrote: »
    At this point I'm wondering if/how Sony is going to compensate third parties effected by this ordeal, since publishers who had plans to release games through PSN are probably less than amused with Sony's nonstop incompetence at this point.

    If/When the PSN Store comes back, Sony needs to have a huge PSN sale, with everything half-price, but state that the game developers will receive their pre-sale cut of the money. It'll get people back on the store (using point cards instead of CCs, but whatever) and the developers can make up for lost sales.

    bficky on
    PSN: BFicky | Switch: 1590-9221-4827 | Animal Crossing: Brandon (Waterview) | ACNH Wishlist
  • Skull2185Skull2185 Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    So I was checking to see if I won the Microsoft "We fucked up your console" lottery, and I got an e-mail from gamestop

    MW3 pre-order bonus is an "Exclusive 2-sided poster, with important game information on it"

    Skull2185 on
    Everyone has a price. Throw enough gold around and someone will risk disintegration.
  • RuinsRuins Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    I wonder why Gamestop emailed me a coupon for $100 off a PS3 recently? I can't imagine why they'd need to boost sales of the system...

    Here's a dumb question - I recently grabbed Borderlands for the 360. Gamestop accidentally gave me the Game of the Year edition which I noticed later sells for $15 more used. However, it seems from the packaging that all the GOTY addon stuff was one time downloads which my copy didn't include - so exactly why would they charge more it in theory? Is there some other content I don't know about?
    Later copies of the GOTY come with the extra bonus content on the disc. Unless you bought it used, in which case the dude probably used all the codes and Gamestop screwed you.

    Ruins on
    ach.png
  • ColorlessGreenColorlessGreen Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Ruins wrote: »
    I wonder why Gamestop emailed me a coupon for $100 off a PS3 recently? I can't imagine why they'd need to boost sales of the system...

    Here's a dumb question - I recently grabbed Borderlands for the 360. Gamestop accidentally gave me the Game of the Year edition which I noticed later sells for $15 more used. However, it seems from the packaging that all the GOTY addon stuff was one time downloads which my copy didn't include - so exactly why would they charge more it in theory? Is there some other content I don't know about?
    Later copies of the GOTY come with the extra bonus content on the disc. Unless you bought it used, in which case the dude probably used all the codes and Gamestop screwed you.

    Maybe they didn't accidentally give you a GOTY edition so much as sell the GOTY edition as a non-GOTY edition because it didn't have the GOTY content in it.

    ColorlessGreen on
    Hearthstone (NA, EU, Asia): Ceegee#1473 - spectators welcome.
  • darleysamdarleysam On my way to UKRegistered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Skull2185 wrote: »
    So I was checking to see if I won the Microsoft "We fucked up your console" lottery, and I got an e-mail from gamestop

    MW3 pre-order bonus is an "Exclusive 2-sided poster, with important game information on it"

    The entire story, copy/pasted from Kotaku.

    That, or a CD key so you can run the thing.

    darleysam on
    forumsig.png
  • cloudeaglecloudeagle Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    The fact that special editions come with codes for the DLC rather than the actual DLC on the disk is just damned silly.

    Is there some sort of agreement with the publishers to keep downloads flowing through their services? Or are they just too lazy to alter the disks slightly?

    cloudeagle on
    Switch: 3947-4890-9293
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