Midweek Breakdown - Tomb Raider Hits PC, Evo2016 Announcement, And More

Hello out there, and welcome back for another Midweek Breakdown. Where I throw some fun nerd news bits at your faces in a naive attempt to end your weekly purgatory. 

Scheduled to hit PC tomorrow (1/28) is Rise of the Tomb Raider. This title has been received well by gaming critics. With the capabilities of gaming PCs, this game is sure to stun on the platform. Sorry PS4 gamers, but you'll have to wait until the end before you can have a go.

If you enjoy ninjas that just happen to be adolescent mutated turtles, you might be very happy with the next bit of news. Unbeknownst to may people including myself, Platinum Studios in conjunction with Activism have been working on a TMNT game. The trailer just dropped. Not a lot of details available yet, but the game appears to be scheduled for a release this summer. Check out the video below:

Street Fighter V, Super Smash Bros. Melee, Mortal Kombat X, Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR, and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Head over to the official site; here for more details.

IGN recently got their hands on the new trailer for Justice League vs Teen Titans. I recommend that you check it out.



That's about all the content for now, but stay check back in next Wednesday for more.

Thank you again for stopping. Please share if you liked what you read. I hope this made waking up a bit easier for you. If there's anything I missed or you have some feedback be sure to let me know via Twitter, Facebook, Google+, or in the comment section below. As always I'll see you later.

-Chali Baicunn

EA's Battlefront Update: Legit, PR Bullshit, Damage Control?

Hello and welcome back again! Thanks for stopping by. Brand new Star Wars Battlefront news just released, and oh boy is it good-ish news. I'm trying to be hopefully optimistic, but with the shit stain that EA keeps leaving in my life it's going to be hard to do. I have not hidden my feelings about this game. I have been more than disappointed. As an interesting side note, I did not lock down my PSN account, and over the weekend, myself and my 5 year old became the owners of the Season Pass. Although this was my fault and I do not expect any refunds, I am now $115 deep in this... So I'm going to keep posting on it, and calling out the bullshit when I see it, and give praise when it's deserved. With that said, this post and any future posts about Battlefront and it's Developer/ Publisher will be subjective, but I will present logical & possibly inflammatory arguments to support my opinion. You'll also see several times in my posts that I refer to EA and DICE interchangeably, and that's because EA owns DICE and so as a concept they are the same thing. So let's not delay any further and jump right into the post. 

Battlefront is finally getting an update today, and EA is being a little more transparent. All of the details are outlined on in a post titled "The Road Forward" written by Sigurlina Ingvarsdottir; Senior Producer for Star Wars Battlefront. And with this update comes a bit of renewed cynical optimism for me. I'm honestly not sure that EA/ DICE can save this title, as they are going to be restricted to what the engine can do. Also at this point, any of the changes asked for by the community are completely dependent on EA's ability to listen to it's audience.

First we'll start with the really bad. If you remember in last weeks Midweek Breakdown, I had mentioned that Battlefront Community Leader; Sledgehammer70, had congratulated the community in smashing the Christmas Holiday Community Challenge. He was so pleased to tease us with a special gift for the community, in the following post made on the Battlefront Community Page:

"Just before the holidays, we kicked off the first Star Wars Battlefront community event, where we asked you to play 500,000 hours as Han Solo and Luke Skywalker. 

Today, we’re happy to let the community know that you smashed the 500,000 hours played mark, playing over a total of 1.2M hours as Luke Skywalker and Han Solo between START and FINISH. Most impressive.

This achievement is worth a special reward that directly ties to Han Solo and Luke Skywalker. What could this reward be? In true Jedi fashion, it will be revealed in the coming update this month. You will want to look to Hoth to show the fruits of your labor once the January update has been released. Stay tuned to our official channels for more details."  

This tease left many in the community to speculate that the gift would be playable tauntauns. Well the wait is over. The update is coming today, and do you know what these def bastards gave us? Mother fucking Luke and Han themed outfits when playing as either on Hoth! Fucking really?! You know and I both know that the tease was masterful execution of PR bullshit.

To be fair though, there are more updates being released today. (Link to the release notes at the bottom of this post.) Along with some pretty significant balancing tweaks, we're also getting some well needed spawn adjustments. We can also now play Blast, Droid Run, Drop Zone, Hero Hunt, and Heroes vs Villains multiplayer modes on Raider Camp. This is the same map used in Tatooine Survival. EA also made the following promises in their announcement:

"In February, we will continue to add more free content for all players, including a new Survival mission on Hoth, and a brand-new Hoth multiplayer map that will support our larger game modes including Walker Assault, Supremacy, Fighter Squadron and Turning Point. Speaking of Turning Point, we are also excited to make this popular mode available on all maps that currently support Walker Assault and Supremacy in the February update.

In March, we will be adding another exciting new multiplayer map on Endor that will support Walker Assault, Supremacy, and Turning Point, and an additional Tatooine Survival map."

So it looks like we'll be getting a bit more free content. I believe these kinds of changes are great steps in the right direction. And I will even thank EA and DICE for do these things. But wait there's still more...

The other major parts of today's update have to do with adding private match functionality, Community Events, and Daily Challenges. I currently do not know how well or even the mechanics of private match making. I have so far been unable to find information on the number of players allowed, or game mode restrictions. I know people have been asking for it, but it does little for me as most of my friends have abbandoned this sinking wreck due to hollowness of the game. It's probably safe to say they won't be coming back just for private matches, a few maps, and some added balance.

Community Events and Daily Challenges are a whole other beast. Honestly this announcement makes me think that DICE/ EA are not really in touch with the realities of gaming. Especially when we look at what the follow section of their public announcement says:

"The introduction of Daily Challenges and Community Events. These are designed to rally the Community around certain goals and objectives, giving players the chance to earn credits and unlocks even faster. We'll have more news regarding Community Events and Daily Challenges in the days ahead."

Just let that sink in for second... If you've played Battlefront for any extended periods of time, you should realize that at some point credits become useless and stop adding any depth to the game. After unlocking ever gun and ever Star Card, the only thing to spend credits on are skins. As I and many other reviewers have pointed out, the skins are lazy and add nothing to the game. Many people have even argue that they may even take away from the game, as most of the alternative skins simple remove the helmet from the stormtroopers, and this is not ok with many a Star Wars fan. 

So we've established that more credits are kind of meaningless in the macro-scope of the game. Then if history repeats, and we assume that community rewards for completing challenges and events will be more character skins. So this equation would then apply:

 More Credits + More Skins = 0 Net Gain

This is speculation at this point. But it feels par for course when it comes EA and its subsidiaries, and is absolutely the dumbest way to reward people play for playing the game. It adds no depth or substance to the core game, and only pisses of those of us who purchased a over hyped product with high expectations. This shallow attempt at appeasement, will only further decrease interest. Thus setting up a scenario where EA cuts its losses and stops truly supporting the title.

The final bit of news released with the update announcement was details about the Season Pass DLC. As expected the DLC will be released quarterly, with expected releases in March, Summer, and Fall of this year, and one more release sometime in early next year. The following list and descriptions are taken directly from the update post:

"Star Wars™ Battlefront™ Outer Rim (March 2016) - Fight among the factories of Sullust and battle within Jabba the Hutt's palace on Tatooine
Star Wars™ Battlefront™ Bespin (Summer 2016) - It's hunt or be hunted in this action-packed experience set in the Cloud City of Bespin
Star Wars™ Battlefront™ Death Star (Fall 2016) – That’s no moon! One of the most iconic locations in the Star Wars universe makes its debut in Star Wars Battlefront.
Star Wars™ Battlefront™ Expansion Pack 4 – Title TBA (Early 2017) – We will have more details to share about this exciting new expansion pack in the coming months."

Many of these changes seem to indicate that EA and DICE are listened; at least some what listening to the community. But they've had since November to address these issues and have not. So why now? Is it because the swell of Christmas noobs that have beaten down the forums with complaints? Is it because of the hordes or vocal and disappointed reviewers? IDK...

EA ends their announcement with the following:

"At DICE, we're passionate about what we've created with Star Wars Battlefront, and are committed to supporting not only the game but all of our fans over the months ahead. We can’t wait to keep traveling through the galaxy far, far away, with all of you."

The above statement just really rubs me the wrong way. Yeah it's a great sentiment. It makes people feel warm and fuzzies. But, after personally witnessing at least a decade of EA's consumer abuse. In their slowly escalating extortion campaign of releasing what can only be described as underwhelming and incomplete titles with pay for DLC. Each proceeding title worse than the last, in content and in sales. It really just seems like EA and it's subsidiaries are seeing just how far they can push the line before gamers revolt.

So here are some parting thoughts for EA/ DICE: How many people in the Battlefront community have to tell you that they want substance, not skins? How many people have to complain about your lack luster performance before you supply their needs? And honestly you wouldn't be so bad if your marketing hype machine wasn't so good, and your business model so opaque. Again, I'll admit that you took baby steps today, but is it that you cannot provide for the wants your fan base due your inability to deliver? Or does your failure come from some morally abstract authoritarian concept that you alone may be the gatekeeper of the needs and wants of your customers? I'm personally leaning towards the latter. Your names have become synonymous with a concept of everything that is wrong with the gaming industry. If I'm wrong prove it! Own your mistakes, make good on your hype, and earn back the respect of not just your customers but the greater gaming community.

At this point, I'm a bit more hopeful. However, I'm not holding my breath. EA has screwed the pooch so far,  I can't expect much more for the fixes. And with that I'm done for now.


Thank you guys for stopping by. I really appreciate your suppose. So what do you think. Am I over reacting? Should I take it a bit easier? Let me know on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or in the comments sections below. Please share, and as always, I will see you later. And as I said earlier you can expect more Battlefront content in the future. I'm going to beat this dead horse until it becomes a horse zombie, and starts trying to change other horses into zombie too. (Well that an excessively convoluted metaphor, but I think it works.)

-Chali Baicunn

2016 GDC Awards: The Nominees Are In

Hello people of the Internet! Thank you for stopping by! I hope that you're all having a fantastic day! Yesterday we talked about the Independent Game Festival Awards, and today I have a list of the nominees for the Game Developers Choice Awards. You'll see that even some of the nominees for the IGF made it into the running for the GDC. Hope you enjoy, and I'd like to get your feedback on the nominees.


The 16th annual Game Developers Choice Awards will be presented on March 16th starting at 6:30PM PT. The event will be hosted by Robin Hunick. Known for her work on Journey, Boom Blox, MySims, and The Sims 2. As well as being to co-organizer of the Experimental Gameplay Workshop at Game Developers Conference. This year both The Witcher 3 and Metal Gear Solid V managed to snag 4 nominations. Check out the whole list of nominees below. However, the nominees for the Lifetime Achievement, the Pioneer, and the Ambassador Awards have note been announced yet. Be sure to tune in at 6:30PM PT on Twitch (here) to watch the awards. Make sure you keep watching after the GDC Awards, as the IGF Awards are scheduled to start immediately after on the same channel.   


Game of the Year
Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks)
The Witcher 3 (CD Projekt RED / CD Projekt)
Metal Gear Solid V (Kojima Productions / Konami)
Bloodborne (FromSoftware / Sony Computer Entertainment)
Rocket League (Psyonix)
Honorable Mentions: Her Story (Sam Barlow), Super Mario Maker (Nintendo EAD Group No. 4 / Nintendo), Undertale (Toby Fox), Splatoon (Nintendo EAD Group No. 2 / Nintendo), Life is Strange (Dontnod Entertainment / Square Enix)
 
Innovation Award
Her Story (Sam Barlow)
Super Mario Maker (Nintendo EAD Group No. 4 / Nintendo)
Undertale (Toby Fox)
Splatoon (Nintendo EAD Group No. 2 / Nintendo)
The Beginner’s Guide (Everything Unlimited Ltd.)
Honorable Mentions: Rocket League (Psyonix), Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes (Steel Crate Games) Cibele (Star Maid Games), Life is Strange (Dontnod Entertainment / Square Enix), Metal Gear Solid V (Kojima Productions / Konami)

Best Debut
Studio Wildcard (ARK: Survival Evolved)
Toby Fox (Undertale)
Moon Studios (Ori and the Blind Forest)
Moppin (Downwell)
Steel Crate Games (Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes)
Honorable Mentions: Asteroid Base (Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime), Question (The Magic Circle) Thomas Happ (Axiom Verge), Dinosaur Polo Club (Mini Metro), MidBoss (Read Only Memories)

Best Design
Rocket League (Psyonix)
Metal Gear Solid V (Kojima Productions / Konami)
Bloodborne (FromSoftware / Sony Computer Entertainment)
Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studios/ Bethesda Softworks)
Splatoon (Nintendo EAD Group No. 2 / Nintendo)
Honorable Mentions: Her Story (Sam Barlow), Super Mario Maker (Nintendo EAD Group No. 4 / Nintendo), Undertale (Toby Fox), The Witcher 3 (CD Projekt RED / CD Projekt), Ori and the Blind Forest (Moon Studios / Microsoft Studios)

Best Handheld/Mobile Game
Lara Croft: GO (Square Enix Montréal / Square Enix)
Fallout Shelter (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks)
Downwell (Moppin / Devolver Digital)
Her Story (Sam Barlow)
AlphaBear (Spry Fox)
Honorable Mentions: Prune (Joel McDonald), The Room Three (Fireproof Games), Subterfuge (Ron Carmel and Noel Llopis), Pac-Man 256 (Hipster Whale and 3 Sprockets / BANDAI NAMCO), Sage Solitaire (Zach Gage), SteamWorld Heist (Image and Form), You Must Build a Boat (EightyEight Games)

Best Visual Art
Ori and the Blind Forest (Moon Studios / Microsoft Studios)
The Witcher 3 (CD Projekt RED / CD Projekt)
Star Wars Battlefront (DICE / Electronic Arts)
Bloodborne (FromSoftware / Sony Computer Entertainment)
Splatoon (Nintendo EAD Group No. 2 / Nintendo)
Honorable Mentions: Metal Gear Solid V (Kojima Productions / Konami), Rise of the Tomb Raider (Crystal Dynamics / Square Enix), Batman: Arkham Knight (Rocksteady Studios / Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment), The Order: 1886 (Ready at Dawn / Sony Computer Entertainment), Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture (The Chinese Room / Sony Computer Entertainment), Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks)

Best Narrative
Her Story (Sam Barlow)
The Witcher 3 (CD Projekt RED / CD Projekt)
Life is Strange (Dontnod Entertainment / Square Enix)
Undertale (Toby Fox)
The Beginner’s Guide (Everything Unlimited Ltd.)
Honorable Mentions: Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture (The Chinese Room / Sony Computer Entertainment), Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks), Until Dawn (Supermassive Games / Sony Computer Entertainment), Cibele (Star Maid Games), Soma (Frictional Games)

Best Audio
Star Wars Battlefront (DICE / Electronic Arts)
Ori and the Blind Forest (Moon Studios / Microsoft Studios)
Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture (The Chinese Room / Sony Computer Entertainment)
Metal Gear Solid V (Kojima Productions / Konami)
Crypt of the NecroDancer (Brace Yourself Games)
Honorable Mentions: Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks), The Witcher 3 (CD Projekt RED / CD Projekt), Life is Strange (Dontnod Entertainment / Square Enix), SOMA (Frictional Games), Bloodborne (FromSoftware / Sony Computer Entertainment), Splatoon (Nintendo EAD Group No. 2 / Nintendo)

Best Technology
Metal Gear Solid V (Kojima Productions / Konami)
The Witcher 3 (CD Projekt RED / CD Projekt)
Star Wars Battlefront (DICE / Electronic Arts)
Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks)
Just Cause 3 (Avalanche Studios / Square Enix)
Honorable Mentions: Rise of the Tomb Raider (Crystal Dynamics / Square Enix), Batman: Arkham Knight (Rocksteady Studios / Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment), Splatoon (Nintendo EAD Group No. 2 / Nintendo), Super Mario Maker (Nintendo EAD Group No. 4 / Nintendo), Halo 5: Guardians (343 Industries / Microsoft Studios)

Thanks again for stopping by! What do you think? Do you agree, do you not? Let me know on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, or in the comment section below. I'm currently getting everything organized, so that I can bring you more content with more substance. Make sure you share if you like what you see, and I hope to see you back here in the future.

-Chali Baicunn

IGF: Let's Talk Indie Awards

Hello and thanks for stopping by! Hope the internet is working in your favor today! Today, I want to raise awareness about the Independent Games Festival Awareness. Let's be honest; indie games don't get much press, and to be fair some indie titles suck. (Just putting that out there.) The IGF Awards are a great way to start looking for the next great indie titles that don't suck.

The competitors have been thinned from the original 750 into 7 distinct categories by 400 industrial insiders. Up for grabs is over $50,000 in prizes plus $30,000 for the Seumas McNally Grand Prize. Check out the following list of the nominees and honorable mentions taken directly from igf.com. The 18th Annual IGF Awards will be hosted March 16th from the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, immediately following the Game Developers Choice Awards. Be sure to tune on Twitch via the live stream found here on March 16th starting at 6:30PM PT to watch both the Game Developers Choice Awards and 18th Annual IGF Awards.

(The following is taken directly from the IGF Announcement page)

Excellence in Visual Art

• Mini Metro (Dinosaur Polo Club)
• Panoramical (Fernando Ramallo & David Kanaga)
• Gnog (KO_OP)
• Armello (League of Geeks)
• Oxenfree (Night School Studio)
• Darkest Dungeon (Red Hook Studios Inc.)

Honorable Mentions: Forkride Grilltime Sloth (Black Pants Game Studio [Sebastian Stamm]); Epistory - Typing Chronicles (Fishing Cactus); Kingdom (noio & Licorice); Alto's Adventure (Snowman); Future Unfolding (Spaces of Play); Astroneer (System Era Softworks)

Excellence in Narrative

• The Beginner's Guide (Everything Unlimited Ltd.)
• Black Closet (Hanako Games)
• That Dragon, Cancer (Numinous Games)
• Her Story (Sam Barlow)
• Undertale (Toby Fox)
• The Magic Circle (Question)

Honorable Mentions: Oxenfree (Night School Studio); Orion Trail (Schell Games); Cibele (Star Maid Games); Contradiction  (Tim Follin / Baggy Cat Ltd); The Writer Will Do Something (Tom Bissell and Matthew S. Burns)

Excellence in Design

• Mini Metro (Dinosaur Polo Club)
• Kingdom (noio & Licorice)
• Her Story (Sam Barlow)
• Keep Talking & Nobody Explodes (Steel Crate Games)
• Superhot (SUPERHOT)
• Infinifactory (Zachtronics)

Honorable Mentions: Gang Beasts (Boneloaf); Imbroglio (Michael Brough); Duskers (Misfits Attic); Chaos Reborn (Snapshot Games); TIS-100 (Zachtronics); Soft Body (Zeke Virant)

Excellence in Audio

• Mini Metro (Dinosaur Polo Club)
• Panoramical (Fernando Ramallo & David Kanaga)
• That Dragon, Cancer (Numinous Games)
• Darkest Dungeon (Red Hook Studios Inc.)
• Lumini (Speelbaars)
• Undertale (Toby Fox)

Honorable Mentions: Heart Forth, Alicia (Alonso Martin); The Beginner's Guide (Everything Unlimited Ltd.); Gnog (KO_OP); Oxenfree (Night School Studio); Kingdom (noio & Licorice); Inside My Radio (Seaven Studio)

Nuovo Award

• The Beginner's Guide (Everything Unlimited Ltd.)
• Panoramical (Fernando Ramallo & David Kanaga)
• Fantastic Contraption (Northway Games & Radial Games)
• Orchids To Dusk (Pol Clarissou)
• Her Story (Sam Barlow)
• Cibele  (Star Maid Games)
• Keep Talking & Nobody Explodes (Steel Crate Games)
• Progress (Tim Garbos, Martin Kvale and Joel Nyström)

Honorable Mentions: Enough (cabbibo); Sentree (Glitchnap); Affordable Space Adventures (KnapNok Games and Nifflas' Games); Vignettes (Pol Clarissou, Armel Gibson); Future Unfolding (Spaces of Play); Sage Solitaire (Zach Gage); TIS-100 (Zachtronics)

Best Student Game

• Pitfall Planet (Bonfire Games)
• Ape Out (Gabe Cuzzillo)
• Beglitched (Jenny Jiao Hsia & Alec Thomson)
• Circa Infinity (Kenny Sun)
• Orchids To Dusk (Pol Clarissou)
• Chambara (team ok)

Honorable Mentions: Anarcute (Anarteam); Gathering Sky (A Stranger Gravity); Not Everything is Flammable (DAM: David Shiyang Liu, Alex Hu and Mac Lotze); FAR (Mr. Whale's Game Service); Sumer (Studio Wumpus); Bad Blood (Winnie Song)

Seumas McNally Grand Prize

• Mini Metro (Dinosaur Polo Club)
• Darkest Dungeon (Red Hook Studios Inc.)
• Her Story (Sam Barlow)
• Keep Talking & Nobody Explodes (Steel Crate Games)
• Superhot (SUPERHOT)
• Undertale (Toby Fox)

Honorable Mentions: The Beginner's Guide (Everything Unlimited Ltd.); Panoramical (Fernando Ramallo & David Kanaga); Affordable Space Adventures (KnapNok Games and Nifflas' Games); Twelve Minutes (Luis Antonio); Oxenfree (Night School Studio); That Dragon, Cancer (Numinous Games); Cibele (Star Maid Games); Soft Body (Zeke Virant)

I am personally interested in checking out several of these titles. I've included a short list of games that I will be checking out in the future. I've also included the descriptions that were submitted with the entries into the IGF Awards:

Her Story:
Her Story is a crime fiction game for PC, Mac and iOS that takes place entirely on the desktop of a 90s era police computer. Players search through a database of interview room video footage to piece together the story of a woman questioned seven times by the police.




Darkest Dungeon:
Darkest Dungeon is a challenging gothic roguelike turn-based RPG about the psychological stresses of adventuring. Recruit, train, and lead a team of flawed heroes against unimaginable horrors, stress, famine, disease, and the ever-encroaching dark. Can you keep your heroes together when all hope is lost?




Oxenfree:
Oxenfree is a single player adventure game that's equal parts coming-of-age tale and supernatural thriller. You play as Alex, a bright, rebellious teenaged girl who brings her new stepbrother Jonas to an overnight party on a decommissioned military island. The festivities are framed by a dangerous sneak to a forbidden beach, celebrating with friends and navigating prickly situations with enemies. But the night takes a horrifying turn when you unwittingly open a ghostly rift spawned from the island's cryptic past. How you deal with these events, your peers, and the ominous creatures you've unleashed is up to you.




Thanks again for stopping by. Keep dropping by for more updates on all things nerdy. If you think something isn't getting enough coverage, hit me up on twitter or using the contact form on the home page. As always, please share and comment, and I hope to see you in the future.

-Chali Baicunn

Dishonored 2: Ooooo Shiny! And 344 Days Away ;(

Hello, and how's it going out there! Thanks for stopping by. Today we are bringing another archival post from E3 2015, out of the vault. I've taken the liberty of updating the post some, and included some new info, and videos. Enjoy!

-Chali  

From Bethesda's E3 2015 Showcase, the world was given it's first look at Dishonored 2, from Arkane Studios. In the next chapter of the Dishonored series, you'll be returning to the Empire of the Isles. Playing either as Corvo Attano, from the original title, or as the former princess Emily Kaldwin. The Empire is under attack again, this time by an "otherworldly usurper". Your return to the Empire take 15 years after the events in Dishonored, on the island of Serkonos. It's been revealed that this island is Corvo's birthplace. Arkane has promised that the new title will keep the original mechanics; allowing players the freedom of choice in the sandbox environment that they enjoyed in Dishonored. Arkane even announced that it will be possible to complete the game without kill anyone.The title originally was slated for a Spring 2016 release. However, the release has been postponed until December 30, 2015. Now strap yourself in, and let your optical cortex be assaulted the beautiful game trailer below:


Official E3 Trailer


What did you think? I think it's very pretty! Now what are we going to do for pretty much a full year?... Well shit! I guess while we wait for a year here's some more Dishonored 2 videos.

Who Is Emily Kaldwin


Welcome to Karnaca



Thanks again for stopping by. I'm sure there'll be more details released by the end of E3 2016. Keep checking back for more details. Please comment and share. I really appreciate all of the support the site has received. As always hope to see you in the future.

-Chali Baicunn

PSA: Tamper With A IoT Doorbell -> PWN A Network

Hello out there, and thank you for stopping by again! I'm coming to you today with a fun little factoid, and to point out a larger issue with IoT or Internet of Things devices. Hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think. 

Recently IoT devices have taken off in popularity. I'm sure you're all familiar with the networked power adapters that provides power control over your home network to devices connected to AC power. (If not see the picture of the Belkin WeMo.) The market since the introduction of these kinds of devices has exploded.

Belkin WeMo

The deluge of cheap ready to use, plug and play IoT devices seems to have saturated every corner of the online retail market. From pages of Amazon to the bid sniping battles of ebay. It seems that every electronics manufacture out there is rushing to have you buy their next great gimmick. From thermostats, to lighting, to even security systems, all connecting directly to your home network. Forget to turn the heat down? Do it with your phone. Didn't turn off the lights? There's an app for that. Want to keep your house safe while you're away? There's a system for that. You're probably thinking your life couldn't be safer or more convenient with IoT, right? Then you're thinking wrong.... Well wrong-ish. And this takes us to the following example.

Ring with mounting plate

The fine researchers over at Pen Test Partners (their site here) recently discovered a novel hack, that let's you steal WiFi encryption keys. Through one of these new IoT devices. Introducing; Ring Doorbell from ERA Home Security. This little device appears pretty innocuous at first glance. In fact it has some nice features. Basically, it acts like an automated doorman of sorts. Ring is meant to mount outside your home, and send alerts to your cellphone whether at home or away. It's equipped with an on-board camera that will broadcast to your mobile device and allow you to interact with the person at your door. Sounds like an extra layer of security right? Well it would be if not for 2 flaws in its design.

Ring mounting screws

The first flaw is in it's construction and installation. Home users want ease of installation. To provide this for their users, Ring provides an easy to install mounting plate. Once the mounting plate is in place the Ring unit drops in and is secured to the mounting plate by 2 torx (see pictures). Ring is offered with a free replacement if stolen, so theft of the unit is really a non-issue. And none of these construction flaws really matters if it weren't for a software flaw that is exploited through the use of the GIGANTIC ORANGE setup button on the back of the Ring. When depressed the Ring goes into an AP (access point) setup mode. Then you can connect to it with ease and pull the SSID (network name) and wireless passcode in plain text from a simple URL in the Ring's interface. All that needs to be done after that is for the doorbell to be put back in place, and for the tamperer to walk away with your creds.

Back of device

So what?! Someone can get free WiFi... What's the big deal? Well here's the point. You bought something to make your home more secure, and in turn you left your home network vulnerable. It may not seem like much, but chances are you're transmitting a lot of secure data on your home network. Stealing your data potentially has way more value and far less risk than anything that could be physically stolen from your home. With anytime access to your home network in the wrong hands, you're screwed!

(In the interest of full disclosure, Ring did fix the software within three weeks of Pen Test Partners reporting it to them, and a simple firmware update will eliminate this particular exploit. Go HERE for the full write up on the exploit mentioned above.)

So now we're to the end, and this is where I make my point. A lot of IoT devices have these kinds of issues. The Ring is no exception, it was merely the latest example. Most of the exploits found in IoT devices have been due to a complete lack of thought being put into security. Many manufactures in their rush to release a visually appealing device into the market, have accepted sloppy/ bad coding. I have followed many IoT exploits, and I make no claim to be a good coder. But the fact is that I'm a shit programmer, and have been able to spot the errors in the code of exploited devices.

If you're going to use IoT, please research the devices you plan to purchase before you do. Make sure it's made by a reputable company. Google search for known exploits for that device. Once you've deployed IoT at home, check for firmware updates regularly. Connect your IoT devices to a separate network in your house than the one you do everything else on. This will require another router to be purchased, but a router is cheaper and easier than trying to clean up your credit later.

Thanks again for stopping by, and reading. Hope you found the post informative and entertaining. Please, share and comment. As always, have a good day, and hope to see you in the future. 

-Chali Baicunn 

Paradox Girl: The Hero We Need

Hey folks! Thanks for stopping by! I hope you had a great last couple of days, and that Monday isn't sucking all the joy out of the awesomeness that was your weekend. So let's start the week off with something new. Hope you enjoy!

-Chali



It's not everyday that we get a new kind of heroine. A heroine that is unique in both their origin and in their approach to dealing with their situations. Comic books have a long history of female characters that are fully developed, but unfortunately they sometimes feel forced.

Today we have that new heroine story with Paradox Girl (PG). Written by Cayti Bourquin, and illustrated by Yishan Li, with editorial provided by Peter Bensley. PG is not your typical heroine let alone your typical super hero. Although time travel is no mysterious mechanic to comics; PG deals with it in the most unique way I have seen. She's funny, quirky, and unique. PG doesn't have a typical origin, as she has slipped forward and backwards so many times, that this is hard for her to even pin down what that is. Spending a good portion of her time literally living with and interacting with her past and future selves. With a brilliant layout that easily illustrates both non-linear and multi-linear storytelling. The artwork just feels right for this series, and with the standout narrative; You're not going to want to miss out on this series.

I was lucky enough to get a full copy of issue one to review, and do an email interview with Cayti and Peter. Check that out below:

Chali: The first thing that struck me about the Paradox Girl issue I read was the dialogue, art, and timeline. It felt kind of like a mix of Quinton Tarantino story telling with Axe Cop flair. This may all be in my head, so; What is the real inspiration for PG?


Cayti: That's an interesting if unconventional comparison.  It's sort of great how different people approach art and what they see in it.  It's a difficult question to answer I think.  My writing style and creativity is a cumulative mix of the stories and storytellers I've been exposed to and the anxieties and issues of my personal life.  I think that's probably true for all writers.  I didn't sit down and think 'gosh, I want to make something like X with a bit of Y'.  I know that the biggest influence on me has always been the late Satoshi Kon.


Chali: The first issue does a great job of laying out the pretext, and method for how a heroine with Paradox Girl's powers would use them. As well as making it clear, that her origin is lost even to her. But how did she get her powers, or is that just apart of the mystery?

   Cayti: It's not really even a mystery to be explored.  There's a hundred true stories, and at any given minute it could change.  Paradox Girl doesn't really have an origin point anymore, which is ridiculous of course, but such is her nature.  In pop culture time travel stories, we see impossible situations (such as the birth of John Connor) arise and wonder 'what happened the first time through?'  PG is like that, but in a constantly refreshing loop.  She gave herself the powers for all I know. 

Chali: I noticed that she gets knocked around a bit throughout the story. Does PG have any other powers besides time travel?

   Cayti: I think PG's power over time sort of creates a time immutable state where, sure, she can be injured; but it's just another time jump away to stop her from being hurt in the first place.    Even in the first issue we see her save herself from getting crushed, -which results in her being able to save herself from being crushed.  We never get to see what happens if she hadn't done that. Seems silly typing it out, but in the book it really works.  I think cause and effect are sort of broken when it comes to PG so expect lots of side effects from that in the future.

 

I bet she wishes she could shoot laser beams or something though.

    Peter: Regarding PG getting knocked around - I recall that Cayti and I discussed that PG probably has some kind of danger sense arising from not being anchored in time. She never jumps into the past or future and finds herself inside solid rock. The same sense may tell her to jump away when her present is about to become immediately fatal. So she can be injured, but that instinctive awareness may protect her from anything that would obliterate her outright.


Chali: I really appreciated the layout and art styling that was used to communicate the non-linear and multi-linear timeline. In particular the "purple time string" that would travel out of one frame and into another with PG as she jumps through time. What is the real name for that?


    Cayti: Thanks!  One of the joys when writing the first script was being able to play with the format.  Some of this ties back to your question about inspiration, and Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves is absolutely where that idea came from.  The pages of the book themselves are not just the canvas, but part of the story itself.  In the script it's just referred to as 'teleport in' or 'teleport out', which is sort of a boring name isn't it?  Let's call them Paradox Skips.



Chali: A certain amount of attention has been placed on the sexualization and subordination of female characters to male characters in pop culture by some lately. PG obviously needs no man to save her, but have you caught any flack about her fighting monsters and crime in a short skirt and heels? And if so what do you have to say to haters?

    Cayti: Not yet, but it's not unforeseeable.  I guess my response is: she also fights giant monsters with a whisk, so she's not the most practical or sensible person anyway.  Nor does she need to be.  I certainly didn't imagine her to be oversexualized, just a woman who's confident in her appearance and likes business suits.  If someone hates the fact that she has legs or breasts or other anatomy or clothing that they object to, I hope they can enjoy the comic anyway.  It certainly wasn't my intent to upset them.

I think there is progress to be made in racial and gender equality and certainly to reduce as said, 'the subordination of female characters'.  I want to be part of that progress, but that doesn't mean we all agree on how that should be done.  I hope I'm making the right steps, but unfortunately I'm not Paradox Girl and cant' remember the future.

Chali: As of right now, your Kickstarter campaign has 263 backers and you've reached $8,571 of your $10,000 goal with 25 days to go. What are your plans for PG when this campaign is over? Will you continue to sell the issues outright from your site, selling them to the wider market through distributors, or will you be introducing a subscription style service?

   Cayti: It's rather unbelievable to me that so many people would want to read the things I've written.  Yishan has done an absolutely amazing job in breathing life into PG and getting her onto the page.  I want to be able to continue to share stories and bring laughter (and tears) to people.   I'm grateful to Hana Comics and to the Kickstarter community for giving me the opportunity to do so.Thank you!

   Peter: I can field the question about future plans. Assuming this campaign is successful - and it's sure looking that way - we plan another campaign for issues 3-4, and then issues 5-6. At that point we'll be able to look at a TPB, which is much easier to get into stores than individual issues. The point of these campaigns, as well as to raise funds for production, is to connect PG with her potential fanbase. Depending on what that fanbase looks like when this round of campaigns is over, we'll make a decision about where to go from there - whether it's direct sales, selling through comic shops, more Kickstarter, something more web-based - we'll be looking at all the options to find what works best for both our character and her readers. It's all on the table.
 

I recommend that you go check out Paradox Girl. Go here to get a preview. And if you like what you see, please head on over to the Kickstarter campaign here. The campaign backer packages are pretty sweet! You can also checkout the official Paradox Girl website here.


Thank you for stopping by! I cannot thank you guys enough for your support. I was really concerned that since migrating to a new host took so long, that the site traffic numbers would have fallen off completely, but you guys have been coming back and providing feedback on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. Your feedback means the world to me, and I'm always surprised that you guys actually like reading what I write. 

I also want to give a shout out to Cayti and Peter, for giving me the opportunity to review and cover their work. Please follow @hanacomics to follow along for more updates!

-Chali Baicunn

Doom: A Promising Return To It's Roots

This is another archival post from BaicunnPress's E3 2015 coverage. Gameinformer is covering the newest iteration of Doom in their February 2016 issue, and with the title slated to be released sometime in the first half of this year; I thought this would be a great time to bring back this post. I've tied on a link to gameinformer's Doom coverage at the bottom. I typically don't care for their hype generating GameStop marketing style, but they have the exclusive currently, and I want you guys to be well informed. Let me know what you think. Please comment, and share. Your support and shares really help us build our following.

-Chali Baicunn



At Bethesda's first ever E3 Showcase, the first 20+ minutes were dedicated to the pure adrenaline. The Doom showcase, featured 2 game play trailers separated by a little intermission of game feature delight. The video starts by dropping you in as a lone marine on a UAC lab on Mars. From the the first cut slapping on the Helm. To the grip and rip melee. The game play trailer delivered a truly impressive visceral experience. The mechanics and imagery feels like classic Halo turned up to 14. Powered by the idTech 6 engine, the visual delivery felt more action FPS rather than survival horror.

The first weapon shown is the trusty pump action and the first few minutes demonstrated the effectiveness of this can opener of a gun, and the interactivity of the environment. Shortly into the video the hero picks up up the "ol' trusty" the double barrel shot gun, from a lab member who appears to have chosen the business end of his gun rather than the horde of demons beating down the doors. To me feels like it will be the most gratifying in game gun in a long time. Literally bisecting enemies with a single pull of the triggers.

At one point, our hero hits a dead end. Unable to gain security clearance with a palm scan, he swiftly moves to a holographic video playback unit and follows a trails of carnage and blood to a human corps. Unable to move forward and willing to retreat, our hero has but one option... He promptly removes the left arm of his fallen comrade to gain the required clearance.

The melee fighting in this game also appears to be highly gratifying. With a shocking number of grapples and finishers, and enough variety that it appears that you'll never get bored. My favorite is where you pull and an enemy unit down by his leg and then use the foot of said leg as a skull splitter. And chainsaw?... Oh I forgot to mention it... You may be asking yourself why is there a chainsaw in a UAC lab on Mars. Simple answer really.... Because CHAINSAW! But all joking aside the chainsaw appears to be a hoss of a melee weapon. It has the power from the first swing to vivisect even the most suborn of the demon armies. The first video sequence ends with our lone hero being beaten to death with his own separated limbs.



A brief intermission was taken between game play videos (I assume to prevent heart failure from young children and senior citizens.), to discuss one of the coolest in game features that I have seen in very long time; Doom Snap map. Doom Snap map promises to help players create complex, unique, and expansive mission maps, ranging from single player "zombie" like missions to 4 player death match. All custom made and sharable cross platform.



The last game play video released was a trip to hell.... Literally Hell. After dropping off a cliff, our hero proceeds to pit fit with the armies of the damned. Surrounded on all side by the hordes, fighting for every inch, every imaginable weapons is employed from rocket launchers, to assault rifles. With the crescendo coming by way of grenade ripped from the chest of a Mancubus and shoved down its gullet for safe keeping. There's not much more to say. Just watch the video below.




As we would expect from any game worthy of the title Doom, the level of gore and carnage would make an ordinary man pass out. The majority of your supplies are obtained from the corpses of your slaughtered enemy. With the available 8 slot quick weapons swap menu, weapon changes seem to be effortless. idSoftware promises more information later this year, with a release of Spring 2016. We'll keep an eye on this title and update you as updates become available.


Thank you again for stopping by today. Hope you found this archival post imformative and entertaining! If you like the article, please comment and share. As always have a good day and hope to see you in the future. 

-Chali Baicunn

Pinned below, you'll find a links:

Bethesda's Doom Community Page:
http://bethsoft.com/en-us/games/doom

gameinformer "Doom Hub":
https://www.gameinformer.com/p/doom.aspx

Why, Dice? - A Lamentation of Battlefront 3

We have a fantastic archive post for you today from our previous site. It's by a contributor Luke Putnam AKA @PonStory . Luke and I had opposing views on Battlefront 3 on the announcement of its release. Suffice it to say, I think he may have been correct in his assessment. Read on and let him know what you think.

-Chali Baicunn





The internet is abuzz; not just with the recent reveal of the newest trailer for Star Wars Episode 7, but also for the first official Battlefront 3 reveal trailer. Gamers have reason to be excited, for sure. The only problem is that the reason stinks. Check out the trailer below to catch a glimpse of why that is.



My first criticism involves the fact that no gameplay was shown (after all, we are talking about a video game, not a movie), but that's an easy shot at EA. I'd rather point out the lesser-known facts regarding Battlefront 3, which design director Niklas Fegraeus came out and proudly admitted today.

First, let's hear the good news. Thankfully, Battlefront 3 will feature a leveling system, plenty of customization, new gadgets (like Halo 3's bubble shield), it runs at 60 frames per second, and even retains its split-screen functionality, with a maximum of 40 players online. But come on... we were kind of expecting all of that anyway. What we weren't expecting was for Dice to limit all battles to the original trilogy, throwing out the clone wars entirely. That means we won't be playing as any droids, either. Just stormtroopers and rebels. Yeah. I was hoping to actually get, I don't know, like... maybe something MORE than Battlefront 2? I honeslty wouldn't even settle for the same content being published again without anything new. I'm buying Battlefront 3 because I see where Battlefront can be improved and added upon! If I wanted to go back and play Battlefront 2, I would. I wanted to play as all manner of aliens, modified droid units, republic commandos, and jedi during the purge of Order 66!

But that's not even the bad news. If you're a Star Wars fan, you probably already scoured the internet a long time ago for any and all Battlefront 3 news, back when Free Radical (the creators of Timesplitters) were developing it. Even though their version of the game was cancelled, we were still treated with - and tantilized by - alpha footage depicting seamless transitions between ground and space combat. In addition, the developers even said that actual star destroyers and separatist flagships were piloted by actual players! Now THAT would have been awesome, especially if it were improved upon.



So naturally, I was very much looking forward to seeing whether Dice implemented what was possible on the PS3 almost a decade ago (and also on the PSP, if you count Star Wars: Renegade Squadron). But guess what? Dice has officially informed us that there will be no seamless transitions between land and space. Okay, I'm disappointed. But at least I'll get an updated version of Battlefront 2, right? Unfortunately, that's not the case either. Niklas Fegraeus officially announced that there will be no space battles whatsoever.

All right, things are getting crazy now! What other essential components of Battlefront have you gotten rid of, Dice? Well, players will no longer be able to grab vehicles like AT-ST walkers from the start of the match and go to war against others. Instead, Dice is implementing a scorestreak system where players must first get a number of kills in order to earn powerful vehicles... which I'm sure will lead to even more points, leading to more vehicles, leading to even more unbalanced circumstances where one team has an abundance of vehicles while the other... doesn't.

Why is Dice doing this? Don't they know that this is both unbalanced and contrary to Battlefront's tried-and-true design? Some of my greatest memories from the original Battlefront games come from me joining up with my buddies (in four-player split-screen) and forming a barrage of vehicles to attack an objective - ranging from walkers, to speeders, to flying ships, to tanks, to you name it. Limiting vehicles to scorestreaks will completely ruin the core idea of a battlefront at the start of the match, where the main action is taking place between two sides!

But I fear that these are the first of more saddening revelations to come. It seems that developers are more concerned with aesthetic nuances like high framerate and flashy graphics than they are with creating the game we'd all like to play. I'm sure I'll buy Battlefront eventually, but I have no reason to be excited for it. Not anymore.

BY Luke Putman AKA PonStory