The sheer volume of games available via Apple Arcade has meant that we’ve had to try and take a different approach to coverage. Richard’s ‘Arcade Roulette’ was an idea we came up with that would allow us to look at a range of games all at once, but in less detail than what would be typical.

After-all, if you’ve already committed to paying the subscription, you’ve got 80+ games at your finger-tips you can try out for free. If you’ve not, our bet is that you don’t necessarily need full-reviews of every game in order to sway you one way or the other.

Apple’s very committed to getting themselves to 100 games as part of their initial line-up, and at the pace they’re going it’s not going to take them long to get there. At least four new games have been added to the service over the past few days, and we actually managed to try out a few of them before they were due to go live.

Consider this a ‘bonus’ episode of the review roulette – please note that I wasn’t able to give them a full work-out like Richard would typically do. I was only at the event for about an hour, but here are some initial impressions anyway to help you decide whether these one are worth your time. I haven’t decided yet if I’ll keep these in the potential pool for a full Roulette entry, so they may turn up again with a more comprehensive overview (and a score).

Monimals

Monimals at first glance seems like a bit of a run-of-the-mill game, but it’s got some interesting additional applications it hope will earn it a bit more longevity on devices.

It’s a puzzle/platformer where you must navigate a sound jack underwater through levels to try and find ‘Monimals’, creatures that embody a single musical note. There’s the usual array of hazards and light level manipulation, with a ‘boss’ fight in the end that can help you win the monimal.

Each Monimal represents a single note or sound across lead guitar, bass and drum, and as you collect them you can then jump into the game’s ‘other’ mode and use the collected monimals to create your own music. It’s a simple drag and drop interface that lets you place a sound and define its length, as well as other typical tools you’d need for something like this. You’re not likely to create masterpieces, but you can create some pretty decent tunes. You can also have those songs play in the background as you go back into the ‘game’ part and find more monimals.

The developer’s have said that players will own the IP rights to everything they create within the app, but that it’s against the terms of service for someone to recreate a piece of music that already exists. They don’t sound too keen on trying to police that though, and they’re also working on ways for players to be able to share their music amongst themselves online.

Lifelike

This one stretches the definition of the term ‘game’, but it was still a really neat little app that I can actually see being great for young children. You are in charge of a little dot – the Diver – and you’re able to use simple swipe controls to guide it around a sparse open space inhabited by brightly coloured creatures that look a bit like swarms of fish.

The whole game is partly inspired by the lead designer’s experience with diving, but it also uses meditative techniques to give a very calming and relaxed experiences as you wander around. You can ‘discover’ a species by hovering over a specific point, and then that swarm will start interacting with you. Sometimes you can lead them, sometimes they lead you. There are lots of different levels, species and music to experience.

This one’s the least ‘game-y’ of the three, but I really appreciate how colourful the swarms are, and the way they move and flow about the map is quite mesmerising.

Hogwash

This one was definitely the most ‘fun’ of the three. I don’t want to say ‘enjoyable’ because given the breadth of apps available, something like ‘enjoyment’ is actually pretty relative to both a person’s tastes and the intent of the app to begin with (e.g. Lifelike).

This was definitely one you can imagine sitting down with some friends to have a couple of rounds. It’s got that ‘party game’ feel, even if it doesn’t quite support the numbers for it, being limited to only four players. One person plays as a farmhand, the three as pigs. The pigs need to run around the game map, getting themselves dirty, and then trying to make the Farmer’s prized possessions so dirty they can’t be cleaned.

The farmer, armed with only a simple (tho, unlimited) water hose, must chase after the pigs – they can wash clean anything that hasn’t been ‘maxed out’ in terms of dirt, and they can also try and catch the pigs and hogtie them (only another pig can free them). If the farmer catches all three he wins, otherwise it becomes a kind of ‘top score’ determined by how dirty/clean everything is, and then either the Farmer or the Pigs win.

It’s good clean (dirty?) fun, and has both a single-player mode against an AI (which is no slouch) and online multiplayer.

Make sure you check out our master game list to keep on top of new & upcoming releases!

Today we’re sharing that the Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center has recently tracked significant cyberattacks originating from a group we call Strontium, also known as Fancy Bear/APT28, targeting anti-doping authorities and sporting organizations around the world. As the world looks forward with anticipation to the Tokyo Summer Games in 2020, we thought it important to share information about this new round of activity.

At least 16 national and international sporting and anti-doping organizations across three continents were targeted in these attacks which began September 16^th, just before news reports about new potential action being taken by the World Anti-Doping Agency. Some of these attacks were successful, but the majority were not. Microsoft has notified all customers targeted in these attacks and has worked with those who have sought our help to secure compromised accounts or systems.

This is not the first time Strontium has targeted such organizations. The group reportedly released medical records and emails taken from sporting organizations and anti-doping officials in 2016 and 2018, resulting in a 2018 indictment in federal court in the United States.

The methods used in the most recent attacks are similar to those routinely used by Strontium to target governments, militaries, think tanks, law firms, human rights organizations, financial firms and universities around the world. Strontium’s methods include spear-phishing, password spray, exploiting internet-connected devices and the use of both open-source and custom malware.

We’ve previously announced separate Strontium activity we’ve seen targeting organizations involved in the democratic process and have described the legal steps we routinely take to prevent Strontium from using fake Microsoft internet domains to execute its attacks. Additionally, the data and information we learn from our disruption work is used to improve the security and security features of our products and services.

As we’ve said in the past, we believe it’s important to share significant threat activity like that we’re announcing today. We think it’s critical that governments and the private sector are increasingly transparent about nation-state activity so we can all continue the global dialogue about protecting the internet. We also hope publishing this information helps raise awareness among organizations and individuals about steps they can take to protect themselves.

You can protect yourself from these types of attacks in at least three ways. We recommend, first, that you enable two-factor authentication on all business and personal email accounts. Second, learn how to spot phishing schemes and protect yourself from them. Third, enable security alerts about links and files from suspicious websites.

Tags: anti-doping, cyberattacks, cybercrime, cybersecurity, Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center, phishing

Wireguard is a new VPN designed as a replacement for IPSec and OpenVPN. Its design goal is to be simple and secure, and it takes advantage of recent technologies such as the Noise Protocol Framework. Some consider Wireguard’s ease of configuration akin to OpenSSH. This article shows you how to deploy and use it.

It is currently in active development, so it might not be the best for production machines. However, Wireguard is under consideration to be included into the Linux kernel. The design has been formally verified,* and proven to be secure against a number of threats.

When deploying Wireguard, keep your Fedora Linux system updated to the most recent version, since Wireguard does not have a stable release cadence.

Set the timezone

To check and set your timezone, first display current time information:

timedatectl

Then if needed, set the correct timezone, for example to Europe/London.

timedatectl set-timezone Europe/London

Note that your system’s real time clock (RTC) may continue to be set to UTC or another timezone.

Install Wireguard

To install, enable the COPR repository for the project and then install with dnf, using sudo:

$ sudo dnf copr enable jdoss/wireguard

$ sudo dnf install wireguard-dkms wireguard-tools

Once installed, two new commands become available, along with support for systemd:

• wg: Configuration of wireguard interfaces
• wg-quick Bringing up the VPN tunnels

Create the configuration directory for Wireguard, and apply a umask of 077. A umask of 077 allows read, write, and execute permission for the file’s owner (root), but prohibits read, write, and execute permission for everyone else.

mkdir /etc/wireguard

cd /etc/wireguard

umask 077

Generate Key Pairs

Generate the private key, then derive the public key from it.

$ wg genkey > /etc/wireguard/privkey

$ wg pubkey < /etc/wireguard/privkey > /etc/wireguard/publickey

Alternatively, this can be done in one go:

wg genkey | tee /etc/wireguard/privatekey | wg pubkey > /etc/wireguard/publickey

There is a vanity address generator, which might be of interest to some. You can also generate a pre-shared key to provide a level of quantum protection:

wg genpsk > psk

This will be the same value for both the server and client, so you only need to run the command once.

Configure Wireguard server and client

Both the client and server have an [Interface] option to specify the IP address assigned to the interface, along with the private keys.

Each peer (server and client) has a [Peer] section containing its respective PublicKey, along with the PresharedKey. Additionally, this block can list allowed IP addresses which can use the tunnel.

Server

A firewall rule is added when the interface is brought up, along with enabling masquerading. Make sure to note the /24 IPv4 address range within Interface, which differs from the client. Edit the /etc/wireguard/wg0.conf file as follows, using the IP address for your server for Address, and the client IP address in AllowedIPs.

[Interface]

Address = 192.168.2.1/24, fd00:7::1/48

PrivateKey = <SERVER_PRIVATE_KEY>

PostUp = firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-port 51820/udp && firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-masquerade

PostDown = firewall-cmd --zone=public --remove-port 51820/udp && firewall-cmd --zone=public --remove-masquerade

ListenPort = 51820 [Peer]

PublicKey = <CLIENT_PUBLIC_KEY>

PresharedKey = LpI+UivLx1ZqbzjyRaWR2rWN20tbBsOroNdNnjKLMQ=

AllowedIPs = 192.168.2.2/32, fd00:7::2/48

Allow forwarding of IP packets by adding the following to /etc/sysctl.conf:

net.ipv4.ip_forward=1

net.ipv6.conf.all.forwarding=1

Load the new settings:

$ sysctl -p

Forwarding will be preserved after a reboot.

Client

The client is very similar to the server config, but has an optional additional entry of PersistentKeepalive set to 30 seconds. This is to prevent NAT from causing issues, and depending on your setup might not be needed. Setting AllowedIPs to 0.0.0.0/0 will forward all traffic over the tunnel. Edit the client’s /etc/wireguard/wg0.conf file as follows, using your client’s IP address for Address and the server IP address at the Endpoint.

[Interface]

Address = 192.168.2.2/32, fd00:7::2/48

PrivateKey = <CLIENT_PRIVATE_KEY> [Peer]

PublicKey = <SERVER_PUBLIC_KEY>

PresharedKey = LpI+UivLx1ZqbzjyRaWR2rWN20tbBsOroNdNnjWKLM=

AllowedIPs = 0.0.0.0/0, ::/0 Endpoint = <SERVER_IP>:51820

PersistentKeepalive = 30

Test Wireguard

Start and check the status of the tunnel on both the server and client:

$ systemctl start wg-quick@wg0

$ systemctl status wg-quick@wg0

To test the connections, try the following:

ping google.com

ping6 ipv6.google.com

Then check external IP addresses:

dig +short myip.opendns.com @resolver1.opendns.com

dig +short -6 myip.opendns.com aaaa @resolver1.ipv6-sandbox.opendns.com

* “Formally verified,” in this sense, means that the design has been proved to have mathematically correct messages and key secrecy, forward secrecy, mutual authentication, session uniqueness, channel binding, and resistance against replay, key compromise impersonation, and denial of server attacks.

Photo by Black Zheng on Unsplash.

With the bear and bird now perfectly playable in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the love for Banjo-Kazooie has felt particularly strong as of late. You’ll no doubt be aware of the original N64 game, its sequel Banjo-Tooie and more, but did you know that the series almost received a 2D platformer on the Game Boy Color?

The cancelled game has been covered on the DidYouKnowGaming YouTube channel by video game researcher and archiver, Liam Robertson. In the video, he explains that the game – which would have been known as Banjo Kazooie: Grunty’s Curse – was actually a title that would go on to become Banjo Kazooie: Grunty’s Revenge, a spin-off of sorts which released on the Game Boy Advance in 2003.

The scrapped Game Boy Color title has some similarities with the game which eventually released on the newer hardware, but there are noticeable differences to be found within its storyline and levels, with some ideas sadly never making it across. We won’t spoil too much here as the video’s well worth watching, but feel free to dive in to learn more and see original design documents which go over some of the ideas had by the talented folks at Rare.

Do you wish you could have had the chance to experience this game? Give us your mightiest “Guh-huh!” in the comments below.

News | Bungie.net”> News | Bungie.net”>

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Yesterday, Mojang announced the future of the rendering engine for Minecraft (Java Edition is not included in this list).

You can find their full announcement here, which also includes screenshots:

https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/article/render-dragon-and-nvidia-ray-tracing

Minecraft is on so many platforms, and the great thing about that is that it opens up so many fun possibilities about how we can change the experience for each one. We added touch controls when we developed the mobile version, put you ​inside ​Minecraft on Gear VR, and enabled multiplayer across consoles and devices with our Better Together update!

Today we’re announcing two new ways we’re taking advantage of existing and updating hardware. One, we’re expanding the scope of Minecraft on bedrock platforms with our new engine, ​Render Dragon. ​Second, we’re pushing the graphical possibilities of the game by ​partnering with NVIDIA to bring real-time ray tracing to Minecraft. ​Prepare your eyes!

NVIDIA RAY TRACING

We couldn’t be more excited to take advantage of the new ray tracing technology from NVIDIA. It’ll be playable on Windows 10 with devices that are capable of DirectX R, such as with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX GPU (and we plan to expand it to future platforms that support DirectX R raytracing).

With the capabilities of this tech, you’ll be able to experience your Minecraft worlds with realistic lighting, vibrant colors, , realistic water that reflects and refracts naturally, and emissive textures that light up. What does ‘emissive’ mean? It means you’re about to see Minecraft like you’ve never seen it before! 

Well, actually, ‘emissive’ is a technical adjective that means ‘having the power to radiate something, especially light, heat, or radiation’ but shhh don’t ruin the moment — watch the below video of ray tracing in action instead:

We’ll have more news to share later this year, as well as the technical requirements. Naturally, we want your feedback through every step of this process. That’s why we plan to enable you to preview the new ray tracing features by turning on “Optional graphics with RTX” in the settings screen of Minecraft in a future beta. You can expect that feature in the new year. We also plan to enable some of these new features, such as improved emissivity and directional lighting, on other Bedrock platforms! Speaking of which…

RENDER DRAGON  

You’ll see individual Minecraft Bedrock platforms update in the months ahead as we learn the capabilities of our lovely new game engine, Render Dragon. You may have already seen a preview of Render Dragon in action if you watched ​Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference on-stage when we demoed Minecraft Earth.

It featured edge highlighting and new lighting techniques, which is just the start of the visual and performance upgrades we’re planning to make with Render Dragon. Render Dragon supports a range of graphics features, depending on what your device is capable of. Not all devices will support ray tracing, but we will have some graphics enhancements on most devices.  Again, it’s all about taking advantage of different hardware to offer the smoothest Minecraft experience possible, no matter what device you’re playing on!

We’ll have more news to share soon, so you can start trying out new ways to play!

The second chapter of Fortnite wasn’t exactly a well-kept secret – with leaks all over the internet, but that hasn’t stopped Epic Games from taking legal action against one particular individual who allegedly broke a non-disclosure agreement after he revealed information he learned as a user experience tester.

Epic filed the lawsuit at a North Carolina court on Friday, accusing Ronald Sykes (@invisiblellama9) of spoiling “surprises” the developer had planned for the community:

He did so at the expense of Epic and those in the Fortnite community who were anxiously awaiting the new season of Fortnite only to have some of Epic’s planned surprises spoiled by Sykes’ leaks

Sykes first played this new content in late September. Three days later he told another user on Twitter that he had “played S11” (season eleven). He then tweeted from a separate account – revealing players would be able to swim in the second chapter and went as far as sharing an image of the new map.

Epic Games is now asking for injunctive relief and maximum damages for Skye’s alleged breach of contract and “misappropriation” of trade secrets.

Sykes cashed in on what he learned as a user experience tester for Epic.

You can read the full lawsuit over at Scribd.com, courtesy of Polygon.

We know you’re busy and might miss out on all the exciting things we’re talking about on Xbox Wire every week. If you’ve got a few minutes, we can help remedy that. We’ve pared down the past week’s news into one easy-to-digest article for all things Xbox! Or, if you’d rather watch than read, you can feast your eyes on our weekly video show above. Be sure to come back every Friday to find out what’s happening This Week on Xbox!

The Division 2 Gets New Updates and Releases Episode 2 – Pentagon: The Last Castle
The latest free update to hit The Division 2 is out now on Xbox One. Episode 2 – Pentagon: The Last Castle adds new missions that bring the fight for Washington, D.C. to the Pentagon, along with a raft of gameplay updates (including a new loot-targeting system)… Read more

A Peek into the Creation of the Cinematic Platformer Stela, Releasing Today on Xbox One
I’ve been working on games for over 15 years and playing them non-stop since I was a little kid. My dad brought home my very first adventure game (Space Quest I if you’re wondering) and I’ve been absolutely hooked ever since. I’ve always loved exploring game worlds… Read more

Xbox and Taco Bell Partner for the Biggest Console Giveaway of the Year
Xbox and Taco Bell are teaming up for the third year in a row to give fans the chance to win the most craveable kit yet: an Xbox One X Eclipse Limited Edition Bundle. And with a winner every 10 minutes on average, this is also the largest Xbox console giveaway of the year… Read more

Celebrate Rock Band 4’s Birthday on Xbox One with Free Songs
Of all the birthdays, the 4th birthday may be the best. You’re old enough to know what you want but young enough to get away with being bratty. It’s awesome. When we reflect on Rock Band 4’s first four years, RB4 feels like a 4-year-old. Rock Band has grown… Read more

Raid the Fort of the Damned in October’s Free Sea of Thieves Content Update
Get ready for Halloween with the free October content update for Sea of Thieves! Now live for all Sea of Thieves players with Xbox Game Pass, on Xbox One and on Windows 10 PC, Fort of the Damned encourages you to seek out a fearsome fortress and take on our… Read more

The Inspiration Behind The Jackbox Party Pack 6
Athena sprung from the head of Zeus fully-formed. That’s rad. We wish we could say games emerged from our skulls in the same way, but it’s a much more complex, lengthy process. We thought it would be cool to share the inspiration behind our games, to shed some light… Read more

Free Play Days – Tom Clancy’s The Division 2, Age of Wonders: Planetfall, and Stellaris: Console Edition
This weekend, Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members can play Tom Clancy’s The Division 2, Age of Wonders: Planetfall, and Stellaris: Console Edition for free on Xbox One during this weekend’s Free Play Days! The Free Play Days event begins… Read more

Dungeons & Dragons Classic RPGs Baldur’s Gate I & II, Planescape: Torment, and Icewind Dale Now Available on Xbox One
I wanted to start this post by saying thank you to everyone for your amazing support as we bring these venerable games to new platforms. The release of these titles represents the culmination of, in some cases, over 20 years of work building and improving these games… Read more

New Smite Update Brings Yemoja, Goddess of Rivers, to the Battleground
Control the might of water and trap your foes between waves as Yemoja, Goddess of Rivers, in the newest Smite update, now available on Xbox One. Every river must have its beginning, and that beginning is Yemoja. The Goddess of the Ogun River… Read more

Get Ready to Pig Out in Pig Eat Ball, Available Now on Xbox One
Hey all, I’m Nathan Fouts, lead developer at Mommy’s Best Games, creators of Shoot 1UP and Serious Sam DD XXL for Xbox 360. Pig Eat Ball was my crazy idea—how to create an “arcade adventure”? I wanted to make something that felt like a series of arcade games… Read more

Designing and Adapting Characters in The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics, Coming Soon to Xbox One
Bringing characters into a game from an existing IP is always challenging, but when you’re dealing with a big and beloved world like “The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance,” it’s important not only to make them playable, but not to lose any of what makes them fan favorites… Read more

Halloween Update Adds Spooks and Scares to Black Desert on Xbox One
This Halloween, the massive world of Black Desert on Xbox One is being invaded by magical forces that might give you a trick or a treat. New ghost and witch bosses offer the chance to win special items and craft new costumes – read on for more details about new Halloween content… Read more

Prepare for a Galaxy-Spanning Adventure in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Coming to Xbox One November 15
Never has it felt more satisfying to strike down a stormtrooper with a lightsaber. I mean, in a game of course. At a recent hands-on event to preview Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, we experienced just how well developer Respawn has captured not only the power of the saber and the Force… Read more

Celebrate Halloween in Defiance 2050
Double, double toil and trouble, the Hulkers have returned to paradise! They bring with them a plague that has come to wipe out all Arkhunters. Get ready to put down these diseased plaguers and hulkers with extreme prejudice, or else you may become one of them…. Read more

Putting You in Control of Your Gaming Experience
At Xbox, we are investing in building a positive gaming community. We believe that gaming should be inclusive and welcoming for everyone, which means creating experiences and communities that invite everyone to play safely and responsibly. Since we launched Xbox Live… Read more

5 Survival Tips for Open World Adventure Stranded Sails – Explorers of the Cursed Islands, Available Now on Xbox One
Ahoy there adventurers! Now that Stranded Sails – Explorers of the Cursed Islands has arrived on Xbox One, get ready to set sail with five key survival tips for life in the open-world pirate adventure now that’s available now on Xbox One. Build and manage your crews… Read more

All-New Heroes and Villains are Available Today in Gears 5
It’s been just over a month since Gears 5 celebrated its worldwide launch with Xbox Game Pass, and today we’re evolving your Gears 5 multiplayer experience with four new characters: the COG Gear, the DeeBee, the Warden and General RAAM, the ruthless Locust military leader… Read more

Next Week on Xbox: New Games for October 21 to 25
Welcome to Next Week on Xbox, where we cover all the new games coming soon to Xbox One! Every week the team at Xbox aims to deliver quality gaming content for you to enjoy on your favorite gaming console. To find out what’s coming soon to Xbox One, read on below and click on each of the game profiles for pre-order details (dates are subject to… Read more

The 2019-23 budget revealed by Alberta’s United Conservative Party government this week eliminates the Interactive Digital Media Tax Credit, a program that aimed to encourage the growth of Alberta’s game industry through a refundable tax credit.

According to the Calgary Herald, the Interactive Digital Media Tax Credit is one of five business tax credits completely eliminated in the budget.

In that plan, the UCP suggests choosing to instead lower the corporate tax rate by 4 percent over the next several years will yield better results in job creation and economic growth than focused, industry-specific tax credits.

Set up in 2018, the Interactive Digital Media Tax Credit offered game studios operating out of Alberta a 25 percent refundable tax credit for labor costs, along with an additional tax credit of up to 5 percent for teams that participated in an optional diversity and inclusion program. The goal of the short-lived program was to attract tech talent to Alberta and support growth in the province’s interactive digital media industry.