Software & Gaming

A new study from psychology researchers at the University of Adelaide has lambasted in-game purchases, particularly loot boxes, due to their resemblance to gambling. Dubbing the techniques deployed as “predatory,” it’s possible that this conclusion could factor into the rest of Australia’s investigation into the practice. While microtransactions in general …

FIFA’s Ultimate Team is in a weird position where it’s loot boxes aren’t usually criticised. FIFA’s player base has just come to accept it, and the number of casual players that just play FIFA probably isn’t even aware of the larger discussion surrounding loot boxes. EA is though and will …

Unlike the overwhelming wave of battle royale clones hitting the market, Mavericks: Proving Grounds intends to innovate, with its goal being as many as 1,000 players on the battlefield at once. Such a target needs to be built towards, however, with its upcoming beta limiting tests to just 200-400 players. …

Bethesda and Sony haven’t had the best relationship over the years, with the publisher’s controversial Creation Club mod suite noticeably omitted from launching on the PlayStation 4. It seems that things are still a little rocky, as Bethesda’s very own Todd Howard has blamed Sony for the lack of cross-platform …

Turtle Rock Studios, the developer behind the massively successful Left 4 Dead and not so successful Evolve has begun gearing up for a new project. The studio has just kicked off a hiring spree, seeking out new developers to help work on an unannounced Triple A game based on a …

Data breaches have become more and more common in the news lately. Unfortunately for marketing firm, Exactis, this story has less to do with someone ‘breaching' and much more to do with poor security practices. Exactis is a firm that harvests data on people and businesses, they then store that …

It is hard to argue against the success of the Nintendo Switch. Many people thought the concept would fail but it has revitalised Nintendo's position in the market and given some games new life. Nintendo’s hybrid decision has caught on as intended too, as telemetry data shows that both handheld …

There have been rumours surrounding Google's interest in gaming for a number of years, but it is starting to look like we may finally see the tech giant's plans come to fruition. At this point, most major publishers are interested in some form of cloud streaming for games, and Google …

This year certainly hasn't been short on security scares. We kicked off 2018 with Meltdown and Spectre, which affected a huge number of desktop CPUs and now on the smartphone side of things, we have RAMpage. Currently, RAMpage is thought to affect the vast majority of Android devices releases during …

noblechairs has made a name for itself as a premium designer of gaming chairs, impressing us on both accounts with its Epic and Icon Series. In a bid to outdo itself, the company has bolstered its line-up with the brand new Hero Series, built from the ground up with customer …

Blizzard’s latest Overwatch hero is perhaps the most intelligently designed yet, as Hammond the hyper-intelligent hamster pilots a giant gun-toting mech suit known as the Wrecking Ball. Endowed with the ability to roll around the map at high speeds, paired with a versatile grappling hook, Wrecking Ball is perhaps the …

After Visceral Games was dissolved, EA handed Amy Hennig’s action-adventure based Star Wars title to EA Vancouver. The publisher’s research pushed the new studio to drop the linear approach in favour of something more replayable and lasting, which Hennig describes as “pretty different” from the original vision. Hennig’s position at …

During the initial unveiling of the Xbox One, Microsoft shifted much of its focus on to TV, with one of the big announcements being a new Halo TV series produced by Steven Spielberg himself. Over the years, Microsoft's TV ambitions have died down, but the company has always maintained that …

Loot boxes have been a hot topic for the past year, with governing bodies seemingly divided on relationship between chance-based microtransactions and gambling. Australia is looking to make its own decisions by September, authorising the Environment and Communications References Committee to investigate the practice. The motion was presented earlier this …

Team Xecuter is rather infamous in console hacking circles. Whilst many people feel it should be an open-source and profit-free endeavour, Team Xecuter have always tried to make money with their exploits. Their Nintendo Switch offering is no different costing $25 and containing “brick code” that will brick consoles when …

Anthem is set to continue BioWare’s trend of expansive triple-A titles, carrying the torch from Mass Effect, Dragon Age and even the original Baldur’s Gate. Moving forward, the studio has now expressed interest in using its experience to develop smaller-scale titles, pushing the boat out to be more experimental. BioWare …

Last week, we learned that Bethesda is suing Warner Bros and its partner, Behaviour Interactive, over the Westworld mobile game, branding it as a Fallout Shelter rip-off. Everyone involved in the lawsuit has been fairly quiet since then, but this week, Warner Bros spoke out, expressing its surprise, and calling …

While Microsoft and Nintendo seem to have been cosying up for cross-platform play across a handful of titles, Sony has noticeably been the odd one out, forgoing the practice to protect its profits. Now, it looks like the company is feeling left out, as Sony is currently “looking at a …

Last month, PUBG Corp sought legal action against Epic Games in an attempt to clarify whether Fortnite: Battle Royale violated copyright laws when compared with PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. In a bizarre turn of events, PUBG Corp has now sent a letter of withdrawal to its rival, dropping the lawsuit entirely. Publisher …

It’s safe to say that there’s a lot at stake during Dota 2’s biggest tournament, as The International pits teams against one another for parts of a $15 million prize pool. Unfortunately, Thunder Predator no longer has a shot at the winnings after one of its players was caught cheating …

After being denied classification in Australia last month, the folks behind We Happy Few reassured fans in the region that it was doing everything it could to change the decision of the country’s officials. Luckily, it seems as though the Classification Board has been receptive, announcing that it will be …

Have I been Pwned (HIBP) is a fantastic service that allows you to enter your email address and see every single possible data breach it has been involved in. Many Security services and organisations are looking to implement the service into their tools, and Mozilla is looking to do the …

It wasn’t too long ago that the KRACK Attack essentially rendered every single WPA2 network insecure. Since then, the Wi-Fi Alliance has been working on the successor, and today they finally launched WPA3, which is fully immune from the KRACK Attack. The Wi-Fi Alliance announced the launch of WPA3 via …

People take Overwatch very seriously, but no one seems to take it more seriously than the government of South Korea, thanks to the Game Industry Promotion Law and the Communication Technology Protection Law. We've previously covered videogame cheaters getting into legal trouble in South Korea, and today another story has …

Despite most developers signing non-disclosure agreements to ensure studios can protect their work, leaks have become commonplace thanks to the general accessibility of the internet. Epic Games isn’t one to shy away from legal action against the malpractice, as a former quality assurance tester is now being sued for spoiling …

As Telltale approaches the release of The Walking Dead: The Final Season, it’s only apt that the studio is reportedly set to finally move on from its aging engine. Future projects, starting with the Stranger Things Telltale Series is instead said to run off the significantly more popular Unity engine. …

People tend to make fun of Microsoft’s browsers, but it seems that Edge for iOS and Android are doing very well for themselves. The Android version of the browser has just hit five million total downloads. In addition, Microsoft is also integrating Adblock Plus directly into the browser. MSPowerUser reports …

Divinity: Original Sin 2 is one of the best RPGs currently available on the PC, offering great strategical gameplay, witty and well-written dialogue, and almost endless replay value. Larian Studios is now releasing a Definitive Edition of the game, which packs another 130,000 words of additional dialogue and tons of …

Sony has made headlines since the release of Fortnite: Battle Royale on the Nintendo Switch, thanks to its decision to block cross-compatibility with the PlayStation 4. Both Microsoft and Nintendo have seized the opportunity to take aim at the rival company, releasing a joint advertisement for Minecraft’s cross-play feature. Minecraft …

Microsoft has teased keyboard and mouse support for the Xbox One a number of times over the last few years. It has been a while since we've had an update on that front, but it looks like we could see the feature roll out fairly soon, kicking off with a …