Earlier this week, CD Projekt Red issued a statement that the studio would not be caving to demands of a hacking group that stole source code from Cyberpunk 2077, Gwent, and The Witcher 3. After its statement went public, the hacking group has reportedly sold off the data they obtained.
Kela is a cybersecurity firm that just posted a few screenshots from a forum that revolves around hacked data called Exploit. It is in those screenshots of an auction of the alleged collected data with the result being a request from the buyer in question. According to both Kela and another cybersecurity account called 'vxunderground', the auction is closed and the data has effectively been sold.
Just in: #CDProjektRed AUCTION IS CLOSED. #Hackers auctioned off stolen source code for the #RedEngine and #CDPR game releases, and have just announced that a satisfying offer from outside the forum was received, with the condition of no further distribution or selling. pic.twitter.com/4Z2zoZlkV6
— KELA (@Intel_by_KELA) February 11, 2021
Update: we have confirmed the auction has closed. Someone has indeed purchased the material.
— vx-underground (@vxunderground) February 11, 2021
Image courtesy of @DrFurfagMD pic.twitter.com/TnQVqTiM5w
For context, the news of the data hacking broke on February 9 when CD Projekt Red posted a screenshot of the message it received regarding the stolen data. "We will not give in to the demands nor negotiate with the actor, being aware that this may eventually lead to the release of the compromised data," responded CDPR. "We are taking necessary steps to mitigate the consequences of such a release, in particular by approaching any parties that may be affected due to the breach."
The Polish studio is in talks with local law enforcement and the president of the Personal Data Protection Office as part of an ongoing investigation. It's unclear who purchased the breached data but according to the initial threat, it also includes an unreleased version of The Witcher 3 and documentation that could mean immense harm to the developers that work at the studio.
Also included in the data breach is personal developer information, source coding for the games themselves, and more. The details of the contents aren't public at this time, but this sale could change that in the near future.
[Source: Kela via The Verge]
Last summer, the Street Fighter V team announced the next wave of characters coming to the fifth mainline entry of the classic fighting franchise. We knew Dan, Rose, Oro, and Akira (from Rival Schools) would be joining the roster, but now we have more information of when to expect the first character, Dan, plus a little more insight into how to obtain them.
Season 5, which is the final season of Street Fighter V, will feature the four previously announced characters as well as one final mystery character. You can obtain all of those through the standard Character Pass for the season, which costs $25. The Character Pass also includes all five characters' colors 3 through 10, a PS4 theme or Steam PC wallpaper, and bonus content featuring a new Fighter Profile theme as well as Eleven, the previously non-playable character from Urien's story, as a bonus playable character. On top of that, Character Pass purchasers also get five battle costumes and six titles. If you want more from Season 5, you can drop $40 on the Premium Pass, which includes everything from the Character Pass, plus additional stages, costumes, titles, Fighter Profile themes, and Fight Money.
If you're more of a visual learner, you can check out Capcom's graphic below:
Capcom also announced a new mechanic called V-Shift, which allows characters to enter a brief sequence where they become invincible to throws and automatically evade all body shots and projectiles. If V-Shift is activated at the same time as an attack, both characters will enter slow-motion and the activating character will be invincible until the animation finishes. If the character follows up with a V-Shift-Break, they will perform a special counter-attack. V-Shift-Break attacks can cover a greater distance than normal attacks or can break through an opponent's attack chain. In reaction to the addition of V-Shift, Capcom is making several balance changes based on how various characters' strengths and weaknesses play into V-Shift.
Dan is the first DLC fighter to release as a part of Season 5, hitting February 22. He joins the fight alongside the new V-Shift battle system, new balancing, and a free training stage in that same update.
In addition, DJ and producer Steve Aoki announced a new collaboration with his clothing company Dim Mak for an apparel line, as well as a special Arcade1Up counter cabinet. In addition, the producer announced a special remix of Ryu's theme, which will debut at the Capcom Cup, to celebrate the five-year anniversary of Street Fighter V's launch. You can see one of Dim Mak x Street Fighter sweatshirt designs below.
Street Fighter V got off to a rough start when it launched five years ago, but through various updates has improved. If you haven't had a chance to jump into the fight, Capcom also announced a digital sale on Street Fighter V. If you're still unsure, you can also jump into a free trial, which includes all characters from the first four seasons, before you buy.
Most of us recognize Optimus Prime as the Autobot leader who transforms into a truck. That's the form he's taken in most of the Transformers' stories. His rival, the Decepticon leader Megatron, originally transformed into a gun, but later adopted the form of a menacing tank.
On November 7, 2014, toy manufacturer Takara Tomy dreamed up new transformations for these beloved robots. Optimus Prime adopted a light grey color (similar to Megatron's) that allowed him to transform into a PlayStation console, complete with a controller. Megatron's armor turned to the shiny black of the Sega Genesis (also known as the Mega Drive in other territories). Despite being one of the universe's greatest threats, Megatron's Genesis transformation was a colorful Sonic the Hedgehog cartridge.
These video game versions of Prime and Megatron were released as limited-edition action figures, which you can see in the galleries below:
Optimus Prime x PlayStation
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Megatron x Genesis
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Given just how popular Transformers is as a collectible brand, both of these figures go for big bucks in secondhand markets, and have lately been discussed again in Transformers circles as Hasbro focuses heavily on limited-edition Transformers action figures that are based on popular brands like Ghostbusters, Top Gun, and Back to the Future.
The Transformers returned to video games late last year in Battlegrounds, a turn-based strategy experience for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC. Many fans (like me) are holding out hope that High Moon Studios gets another shot at the Cybertron series it made over a decade ago. At the very least, remasters of War for Cybertron and Fall of Cybertron would be awesome!
Firewatch celebrates its 5th anniversary today, and developer Campo Santo has been reminiscing about the game’s creation on Twitter. In addition to giving insight into the game’s development and sharing rare concept art, the studio revealed a fun Easter egg from the Switch version that seemingly not many people have seen: its own N64-style platformer.
An even more rarely seen piece of Firewatch: How closely have you dug into the Nintendo Switch version of the game? Have you truly completed everything on that cart? pic.twitter.com/CmQGpswzXY
— Campo Santo (@camposanto) February 10, 2021
The hidden mini-game has players take control an adorable park ranger and must collect 100 fire sign tokens within a time-limit. It's a simple game and one that doesn't take long to finish, as you're just running down a course to the finish line. To access the game, players have to complete Firewatch’s story to unlock the free roam mode. The video below provides a full walkthrough showing exactly where to go to access the mini-game and the game itself.
Click here to watch embedded mediaI’m sure some of you are yelling that this is old news (the secret was first uncovered in 2018). That may be, but based on the many surprised responses, it seems fans who only played Firewatch on console or PC had no clue this existed. I certainly didn't. It’s a neat little secret, and it’s always fun to see a cool secret get discovered by a wider audience
Firewatch released in 2016 and is a narrative adventure that puts players in the shoes Henry, a firewatcher stationed in the Wyoming forest. Henry's marriage is on the rocks and during his tenure he forms a friendship with fellow firewatcher, Delilah, and the two bond over the course of the summer. If you haven't played Firewatch, I can't recommend it enough. It's an engaging and beautiful adventure that was one of my favorite games in 2016. As for what's next for Campo Santo, it's hard to tell. The studio postponed development of In The Valley of Gods to work on Half-Life: Alyx. With Alyx out the door, fingers crossed they can get back to finishing that game.