Posted by: xSicKxBot - 07-18-2020, 09:30 AM - Forum: Lounge
- No Replies
Russo Brothers' New Netflix Movie Will Have Its Biggest Budget Ever?
Deadline is reporting that Netflix's adaptation of the Mark Greaney novel series The Gray Man, which will be directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, has set a record-breaking budget upwards of $200 million. Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans are attached to co-star in the film, which will be the Russo brothers' first major blockbuster since 2018's Avengers Endgame. The intention, Deadline says, is to "create a new franchise with a James Bond-level of scale."
The source material should offer plenty to tee that up, and there's already a proven track record in Greaney. He co-authored Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan novels, and after Clancy's death in 2013, he took over as the sole author for the series. Jack Ryan, before being adapted for an Amazon Prime series in 2018 starring John Krasinski (The Office), has had his adventures in books turned into movies, TV shows, and video games dating back to 1987's Patriot Games, starring Harrison Ford.
Like the Gray Man novels, the movie will be an action-thriller duel "between killers as Gentry (Gosling) is hunted across the globe by Lloyd Hansen (Evans), a former cohort of Gentry's at the CIA." The expectation is that Gosling will return to play Gentry in further, though unannounced, entries in an adapted series.
Tales of Crestoria’s monthly subscription costs $75
It’s no secret that mobile games occasionally have silly prices for gems and various other in-game items. We see single microtransactions go over the $100 mark pretty often, and there’s, quite frankly, very little micro about that sum. But Tales of Crestoria, Namco Bandai’s latest entry in the Tales franchise, is just adding to the silliness with its monthly subscription model.
Tales of Crestoria offers two different subscriptions, which it markets as ‘Reward Passes’, and these cost $7.99 and $38.99 respectively. The cheaper of the two provides you with eight days worth of 50 Gleamstones (the game’s equivalent of gems) and six of 100, which totals at 1,000. The more expensive offers 20 days of 250, which totals at 5,000.
Taken on their own, individual terms, these subscriptions provide you with four and 20 summons over their own periods respectively, and represent a saving of around 50-60% when compared to purchasing the Gleamstones directly. But it’s when you consider how much you can end up paying for both over a 30 day period that it starts to look a bit silly.
The first calculation is easy. If you purchase the cheapest twice, that’s a total of $15.98 over 28 days. The second is trickier, as you need to calculate it 1.5x to represent 30 days. That’s $58.49. Add the two together, and we get $74.47 for both subscriptions over a 30 day period. To be clear, this represents you logging in every single day for 30 days and grabbing the rewards, as the subscriptions either last 24 or 30 days respectively, but end early once you’ve collected the maximum number of daily rewards.
In other words, the total cost is hiding in plain sight. We find this a lot more distasteful than a $75 microtransaction (which also exists, by the way) as at least the latter is upfront. Besides, you can put any price tag you want on an item, it doesn’t mean that people are going to spend it.
But the deliberately obtuse nature of this system is that you’re giving the players the illusion that they’re spending a lot less. You may lack sympathy for the player that chooses to spend this, but the entire business model of mobile relies on this sort of shotgun spending. You hit a paywall and you reach for your wallet.
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Besides, subscriptions are usually designed to offer value. Take AFK Arena’s options, for example. For $5 you get 12 summons per month, while the $15 provides you with 47. Purchase both and you’re getting over 20 more summons than Tales of Crestoria’s $75 subscription for around a quarter of the cost. AFK Arena’s subscriptions also offer a $44 and $180 saving versus outright purchasing the gems, which is a considerably higher saving than Tales of Crestoria’s variants.
Lawsuit claims Apple ‘perpetuates’ iTunes gift card scams
A class-action complaint lodged on Friday claims Apple not only enables iTunes gift card scams, which have become increasingly widespread over the past few years, but also profits from the activity.
Filed with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, the suit alleges Apple is at fault for allowing iTunes gift card scams to continue despite their relatively straightforward and predictable nature.
Further, Apple’s control of the App Store, iTunes and backend payments processing system supposedly affords transparency into, and veto power over, fraudulent transactions. The company is able to end scam transactions at multiple points in the process, but fails to act in the interest of its customers, the complaint argues.
In support documents, Apple notes scams typically follow a “formula” in which an attacker persuades a victim — sometimes under duress — to send them money in the form of an iTunes gift card. With a card number in hand, scammers can redeem the funds by making in-app purchases in apps they control. Alternatively, scammers can resell the card number on the black or gray markets.
Scammers net a diminished take of the gift card’s value in the above scenarios, but Apple comes out ahead with its customary 30% share of App Store purchases. This money is not returned to victims, the lawsuit notes.
As purveyor of iTunes gift cards and the App Store, Apple has unique insight into fraudulent dealings and can monitor, halt and reverse such processes with minimal effort, according to plaintiffs.
As noted in the complaint, Apple knows where gift cards are purchased, the Apple IDs to which card values are applied and where the funds are spent. The company also holds iTunes gift card payments for approximately 45 days before transferring the money to third-party app makers, a window that could be used to investigate complaints and reverse fraudulent transactions.
The case further claims Apple misrepresents its ability to deal with iTunes gift card scams. The company in its support documentation says, “Once [card] numbers are provided to the scammers, the funds on the card will likely be spent before you are able to contact Apple or law enforcement.” Terms and conditions outlined by the company attempt to limit its liability when cards are lost or stolen. Today’s suit in part challenges those claims.
“Even if that limitation of liability applied by its terms – which it arguably does not – Apple cannot disclaim liability for loss or damage resulting from scams which it intentionally aids, abets, and perpetuates,” the filing reads. “Any attempt by Apple to disclaim liability for loss or damage resulting from iTunes gift card scams would be unconscionable and unenforceable in light of its role in those scams and the profit that it makes and retains from such scams.”
Losses from victims who reported iTunes gift card scams to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission exceeded an estimated $93.5 million between 2015 and 2019. While exact numbers are unknown, the suit asserts only a small percentage of affected consumers report incidents to the FTC. If the true value of collective scam operations hit $1 billion, for example, Apple would have retained some $300 million in commissions.
Plaintiffs claim violation of the California Consumers Legal Remedies Act, violation of the California Unfair Competition Law, violation of the California False Advertising Law, breach of contract, unjust enrichment, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, aiding and abetting intentional torts, violation of the California Elder Abuse Law, violation of the Elder Abuse Laws of Other States, and violation of the Oregon Elder Persons and Persons with Disability Abuse Prevention Act. They seek class certification, damages and court fees.
Sometimes you can’t connect to an SSH server from your current location. Other times, you may want to add an extra layer of security to your SSH connection. In these cases connecting to another SSH server via a proxy server is one way to get through.
Squid is a full-featured proxy server application that provides caching and proxy services. It’s normally used to help improve response times and reduce network bandwidth by reusing and caching previously requested web pages during browsing.
However for this setup you’ll configure Squid to be used as an SSH proxy server since it’s a robust trusted proxy server that is easy to configure.
The squid configuration file is quite extensive but there are only a few things we need to configure. Squid uses access control lists to manage connections.
Edit the /etc/squid/squid.conf file to make sure you have the two lines explained below.
First, specify your local IP network. The default configuration file already has a list of the most common ones but you will need to add yours if it’s not there. For example, if your local IP network range is 192.168.1.X, this is how the line would look:
acl localnet src 192.168.1.0/24
Next, add the SSH port as a safe port by adding the following line:
acl Safe_ports port 22
Save that file. Now enable and restart the squid proxy service:
2D Open-World Crafting Game Forager Receives A Major Update
If you love games like Minecraft, Stardew Valley, Terraria now might be the perfect time to take a look at Hopfrog’s 2D open-world crafting game, Forager.
The game arrived on the Switch eShop roughly one year ago and has just received a major update across all platforms. Here’s the full rundown from Humble Games:
Forager on consoles is getting massive updates TODAY! The list of features is comprehensive, but this should give you a taste of all the exciting updates you can expect to see:
New Game Modes
New Biomes
New Gear and Item Tiers
New and Improved Weather System
Improved Combat
Improved Boss Fights
New Enemies and Bosses
Pets
Secret Trader NPC (Sells Rare Items)
New Inventory and Crafting Menus
Nuclear Powered Structures
A Host of Community Requested Bug Fixes
and SO much more!
We gave this game nine out of ten stars when it was released and said it was one that all Switch owners should look into adding to their collection. Will you be returning to Forager to try out this update? Leave a comment below.
Merge Games Delays Its All-Star Indie Brawler Bounty Battle
At Nintendo’s Indie World Showcase in March, publisher Merge Games revealed the indie brawler, Bounty Battle.
The Dark Scree- developed multiplayer brawler, is inspired by games like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate but replaces all of the famous industry mascots with indie icons. The game was scheduled to arrive on the Switch next week, but will now experience a “slight” delay.
Here’s the reason behind this decision, courtesy of the official press release:
We’re sorry to say that we’ve had to make the unfortunate decision to delay the launch of our upcoming All-Star Indie Fighter, Bounty Battle.
Our goal to provide an amazing couch co-op experience to our community is within reach, but we felt that we still had significant improvements to make that we simply could not achieve without a slight delay.
Our community’s experience is of utmost importance to us, so keeping that in mind we decided that we needed more time to deliver Bounty Battle as intended and intact.
This means that Bounty Battle will no longer release on the 23rd July as previously announced. We will update the community as soon as we have a new release date to share with everyone!
We would like to take the time to thank you all for your patience and understanding in this matter.
As noted, Merge will update the community as soon as it sorts out a new release date for Bounty Battle. The physical release of this game in North America has also reportedly been cancelled (thanks, GoNintendo).
Do you like the look of Bounty Battle? Leave a comment below.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 07-18-2020, 03:18 AM - Forum: Lounge
- No Replies
New Pokemon Sword And Shield Raid Event Now Live, Features Shiny Wailord
A new Max Raid event has begun in Pokemon Sword and Shield. This one only runs for this weekend, until Sunday, July 19, and it features a variety of different Water-type Pokemon, including Shiny Wailord.
Throughout the event, Kingler, Sharpedo, Pyukumuku, Jellicent, and Mantine will appear in Max Raids much more frequently than normal. Wailord will also be a common sight, and you'll have a chance to encounter a Shiny variant of it in five-star Raids. You'll need to be pretty persistent to find one, however, as it has lower odds of spawning than the other featured Pokemon.
The Sea Pokemon Max Raid event ends at 4:59 PM PT / 7:59 PM ET / 11:59 PM UTC on July 19. Before the Pokemon can start appearing in your game, you'll need to refresh your Raid dens. You can do so either by connecting the Y-Comm online or going into Mystery Gift from the menu screen and selecting Get the Wild Area News.
This week at Bungie, we are extending Season of Arrivals.
The launch date for our next expansion, Destiny 2: Beyond Light, has been moved to November 10, 2020. If you missed the full announcement, you can check it out here. We’ll wait until you’ve given it a read…
… Up to speed? While we’re sad to keep the secrets of Europa under wraps for a few extra weeks, our dev team is putting in the work to deliver an adventure that is worthy of your bravery. Doing that work from our homes finds us very far away from our usual ideal of working together in a studio – currently still quarantined. So we’re taking the time we need to do it right under the most challenging of conditions.
With the extra time between September and November, we have some plans to make the most of the suddenly longer Season.
Moments of Triumph will be extended to November 10, 2020. Cutting it close on some of those tougher Triumphs? Here’s a little extra time to finish them off.
The show must go on: Festival of the Lost will now take place during Season of Arrivals, beginning on October 6.
We’re planning a handful of ritual activity modifiers to look forward to:
Increased Valor
Increased Infamy
Increased [REDACTED]
A few additional Iron Banner events between September and November.
And more…
We know that no amount of extra Infamy or Valor will keep your hunger satiated, but we will have a few more surprises to share on the road to launch. Stay tuned.
In the meantime, the pages that appeared on the day we revealed Beyond Light have been updated with all of the new and relevant information. Bookmark ‘em or pass ‘em along to your friends. Some in-game UI elements will not reflect the new launch date until a future update.
Maybe We Are Conquerors
Contrary to what Zavala believes, many among you became Conquerors last Season with the introduction of Grandmaster difficulty Nightfalls. Even though we turned the challenge up to 11, you were able to smash through the ranks of enemy combatants and earn your prize.
While this Season will follow the same flow, completing all available Nightfalls on Grandmaster difficulty to earn the Conqueror title, we made some adjustments to activity rewards to make things feel a bit more fruitful.
Nightfall: The Ordeal
Increase Masterwork material drops for Grandmaster Nightfall difficulty.
Grandmaster completion at Platinum, Gold, and Silver levels now have higher chances of dropping an Exotic armor item.
Grandmaster completion at Platinum level now guarantees one Ascendant Shard (with a small chance at one additional), and four Enhancement Prisms (with a moderate chance at 1-2 additional).
Grandmaster completion at Gold level now guarantees two Enhancement Prisms (with a moderate chance at two additional).
Grandmaster completion at Silver level now has a small chance at two Enhancement Prisms.
So, if you’re on the hunt for that perfectly rolled Exotic armor piece, or if you’re trying to fully masterwork as many armor pieces as possible, it’s almost time to put your skills to the test. Slay the Darkness, claim your loot.
Grandmaster difficulty becomes available on Tuesday, July 21, at 10 AM PT.
Farming With Dogs
Last week was pretty crazy. Bungie Day brought an update to Destiny 2, unlocking a new Exotic quest, new Umbral Engrams, and more. Five raids also entered “featured” status, losing their weekly loot lockouts. In other words, players can play the featured raids multiple times a week to grind out high-stat armor and raid Exotics that they may not have earned yet! If you’ve been taking a swing at the Moments of Triumph objectives this year, you may have also noticed that the Contender’s Ghost Shell from Prestige Leviathan has become available through a Triumph.
In the last few days, an issue came to light that the Contender’s Shell perks also lost their loot lockouts. Combined with some raid encounters that could be completed in under five minutes, this led to an incredibly quick way to earn Bright Engrams, which further increased Legendary Shard and Glimmer earn rates.
As such, the Seeker of Brilliance perk has been temporarily disabled. Our current goal is to have a hotfix in early August that adds the weekly lockout back to this specific perk. Once we have more information on an expected patch date, we’ll let you know via @BungieHelp on Twitter.
As a note, the Seeker of Opulence perk remains active. If you’re looking to round out your Exotic collections or earn better rolls on Exotic armor, equip this Ghost Shell before jumping into Leviathan raids!
Continued Support
Earlier this week, Destiny 2 Hotfix 2.9.1.1 was released, addressing a collection of issues that impacted controller inputs and general gameplay. The Player Support team has a quick list of high-frequency issues that were resolved, and a collection of other bugs that we’re tracking.
This is their report.
BEYOND LIGHT RELEASE DATE
As announced previously, the new release date for Beyond Light will be November 10, 2020. With this change, the end dates for Season of the Arrivals and Moments of Triumph have also been moved to November 10, 2020 at the weekly reset. The implementation of related systems, such as the moving of certain activities to the Destiny Content Vault and the effect of Max Power Level through Infusion, have also been pushed back.
RESOLVED ISSUES
On Tuesday, July 14, we released Hotfix 2.9.1.1. to players. This hotfix included the following resolved issues:
Witherhoard’s projectiles appeared randomly on screen when using abilities or when stowed away.
The reassigned Interact button didn’t revive players on custom controller scheme.
When Glide Jump cancelling, Warlocks and Titans auto-jumped after landing.
Hunters kneeled after dodging when using Hold Crouch, but stood when using Toggle Crouch.
The Fencing Salute Emote allowed players to get out of the environment.
The Emissary Whisperer Triumph has been removed.
Players could get stuck in the Prophecy Dungeon’s hallway between the Wasteland and Hexahedron areas.
CURRENT KNOWN ISSUES
While we continue investigating various known issues, here is a list of the latest issues that were reported to us in our #Help Forum:
The Contender’s Ghost Shell’s “Seeker of Brilliance” perk has been temporarily disabled.
Some players can’t progress the “Means to an End” quest. While we continue our investigation, players can progress this quest by using an alternate character or joining another player who has already started the mission.
Players who didn’t claim the reward for completing the “Means to an End” quest in one previous week will be locked out from acquiring and completing it the following week. Players will be able to acquire the quest again the week after the blocked week.
Players unable to launch the “Interference” mission may be able to play through and complete it by joining someone else already in the mission.
We continue to investigate the BEAVER error code appearing frequently on the Steam platform.
For a full list of emergent issues in Destiny 2, players can review our Known Issues article. Players who observe other issues should report them to our #Help forum.
Subtweeting
A few weeks back, I challenged Cozmo to write better headlines for the Movie of the Week section. His answer? “Plays Adapted For Movies.”
This was an obvious reference to our favorite musical recently hitting a streaming service, but I still think he could do better. Now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, let’s get to watching some Space Magic Movie Magic.
Movie of the Week: Come on and SLAM.
Honorable Mention: Is this how you UwU?
If you’re looking to score a Movie of the Week emblem, make sure to submit your movie to the Creations page on Bungie.net. Throw a link to your Bungie.net profile in the description, and we’ll shoot you an emblem for your troubles if you’re creation is chosen.
A major announcement like the one we dropped today creates new questions. We know you also want answers to some of the other questions you’ve been asking since the original reveal of Beyond Light.
Those answers were hard to come by in recent weeks while we refactored our deadlines and development cycles. The good news is that now we have more time to tell you everything you need to know about how this expansion will change Destiny 2. In the weeks and months to come, we’ll share all the information you need to plan your game time leading up to November 10.
