Tag: gaming

Categories
Mobile Syrup

YouTuber makes Wordle playable on Game Boy

If the once-daily limit on Wordle is too restrictive, one YouTuber might have a solution for you.

Over the weekend, stacksmashing posted on Twitter that he’d gotten the popular word puzzle game up and running on a Game Boy. You can see the fruits of his labour below:

However, his version of Wordle isn’t exclusive to a Game Boy; while it’s available on the retro handheld and Analogue Pocket as a ROM, you can also access it online in a browser. The browser version works on mobile as well. He’s also published the code, should you wish to peruse it.

That said, Wordle is a bit limited due to ROM size, which prevented him from having a big wordlist of “‘real’ words,” says stacksmashing. “Instead I’m using a bloom filter to check (with, admittedly, currently a very high error rate) whether an entered word is one of the 8000 most common English words,” he explained.

As it stands, it’s unclear what the future is for the real Wordle. Last week, it was announced that The New York Times had acquired the game from creator Josh Wardle. The company confirmed it would eventually shift the game over to its own platform, at which time it would be free. However, it’s unclear whether it will remain free permanently.

Image credit: stacksmashing

Via: The Gamer

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Canadian Nintendo hacker Gary Bowser could face up to 5 years in jail

The U.S. government wants Canadian Nintendo hacker Gary Bowser (yes, that is his real name) to face a five-year prison sentence for creating and selling devices that allow the Japanese gaming giant’s consoles to play pirated games.

As first reported by Eurogamer, a recently uncovered court document argues that Bowser should be sentenced for five years, with three years of supervised release to “recognize the harm” of his crimes. Bowser pled guilt to two piracy charges last year.

Bowser’s legal team understandably aims for a much shorter sentence and argues that their client is the “least culpable and only apprehended defendant from this indictment.” With this in mind, his legal team is asking for a far shorter 19-month sentence.

Bowser has admitted that he earned “tens of millions of dollars” from the hacking devices he sold, but only actually took home roughly $320,000 USD (about $405,360 CAD) over seven years.

Though Bowser initially denied Nintendo of America’s allegations against him following his extradition from the Dominican Republic in 2020, he eventually pled guilty to being involved with Team-Xecuter, the hacking group allegedly behind the project.

Team Xecuter has sold hacking devices for Nintendo consoles like the Switch, the 3DS and even the NES Classic. The group is best known for making hardware and software mods that allowed users to play pirated titles on the Switch. Though similar groups have existed and released similar tools in the past, the scale at with Team Xecuter manufactured and sold its products caught the attention of the U.S. government.

Bowser faces a $4.5 million USD (about $5.7 million CAD) fine from the U.S. government and a $10 million USD (roughly $12.6 million CAD) fine from Nintendo’s civil lawsuit.

Via: Eurogamer

Source: U.S. Government 

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Canadian Nintendo hacker Gary Bowser could face up to 5 years in jail

The U.S. government wants Canadian Nintendo hacker Gary Bowser (yes, that is his real name) to face a five-year prison sentence for creating and selling devices that allow the Japanese gaming giant’s consoles to play pirated games.

As first reported by Eurogamer, a recently uncovered court document argues that Bowser should be sentenced for five years, with three years of supervised release to “recognize the harm” of his crimes. Bowser pled guilt to two piracy charges last year.

Bowser’s legal team understandably aims for a much shorter sentence and argues that their client is the “least culpable and only apprehended defendant from this indictment.” With this in mind, his legal team is asking for a far shorter 19-month sentence.

Bowser has admitted that he earned “tens of millions of dollars” from the hacking devices he sold, but only actually took home roughly $320,000 USD (about $405,360 CAD) over seven years.

Though Bowser initially denied Nintendo of America’s allegations against him following his extradition from the Dominican Republic in 2020, he eventually pled guilty to being involved with Team-Xecuter, the hacking group allegedly behind the project.

Team Xecuter has sold hacking devices for Nintendo consoles like the Switch, the 3DS and even the NES Classic. The group is best known for making hardware and software mods that allowed users to play pirated titles on the Switch. Though similar groups have existed and released similar tools in the past, the scale at with Team Xecuter manufactured and sold its products caught the attention of the U.S. government.

Bowser faces a $4.5 million USD (about $5.7 million CAD) fine from the U.S. government and a $10 million USD (roughly $12.6 million CAD) fine from Nintendo’s civil lawsuit.

Via: Eurogamer

Source: U.S. Government 

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Rockstar finally confirms GTA VI is in development

Despite now appearing across three generations of video game consoles, Grand Theft Auto V was first released eight long years ago. With this time frame in mind, the franchise is long overdue for a new entry.

While it’s been assumed for years that GTA VI was in development on some level, Rockstar has finally officially confirmed that the title is “well underway” in a post on the company’s blog:

“With the unprecedented longevity of GTA V, we know many of you have been asking us about a new entry in the Grand Theft Auto series. With every new project we embark on, our goal is always to significantly move beyond what we have previously delivered — and we are pleased to confirm that active development for the next entry in the Grand Theft Auto series is well underway.”

Reports from last year cited that the game was in development and scheduled for a 2024 to 2025 release date. Beyond this, however, not much is known about the GTA VI, with speculation pointing to the title possibly making a return to Miami-inspired Vice City.

Given GTA V still has a player base of roughly 155 million thanks to GTA Online, it’s not surprising that Rockstar isn’t in a rush to release a sequel to one of the best-selling games of all time.

While GTA V was a technical marvel at the time, I’d really like to see the series return to a small, more detailed world and a grounded plot in the vein of GTA IV.

Rockstar’s recently released GTA Trilogy received a unanimously negative reception from critics and gamers due to its strange glitches and shoddy visuals. Subsequent updates to the collection have reportedly fixed many of the issues the games experienced at launch.

Image credit: Rockstar 

Source: Rockstar 

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Stadia reportedly deprioritized as Google shifts focus to selling streaming tech

Despite hardcore Stadia fans’ sometimes naive best efforts, a new report indicates that Google is deprioritizing the game streaming service to focus on selling the underlying tech that powers it as a white-label platform.

According to Business Insider, Google was in talks with Bungie to use its white-label streaming technology, ‘Google Stream,’ with Destiny 2. However, Sony’s acquisition of the developer likely killed those talks. The Destiny developer would have owned the “content and control the front-end experience,” with Google Stream being the underlying architecture that powers it.

Google is also reportedly in talks with Capcom regarding utilizing Google Stream technology. Outside of the gaming space, the report mentions that Peloton could take advantage of Google Stream to bring gaming-related content to its fitness equipment.

According to the report, “about 20 percent” of the Stadia team’s efforts are currently focused on the consumer side of the business, with the rest of the division working on Google Stream. Lastly, Business Insider says that Google failed to reach its one million monthly active users goal for Stadia by “about 25 percent,” with retention being a critical issue.

In a statement to Business Insider, Google says that it’s “still focused on bringing great games to Stadia in 2022.” If you’ve been following the news surrounding Stadia for the best few years, this report isn’t the least bit surprising. Google’s lack of interest in making Stadia a real contender in the video game industry became apparent when the tech giant closed its internal studios early last year.

Of all the major streaming video game platforms, I did find that Stadia performed the best on a technical level. That said, Stadia Pro is a tough sell in the face of Microsoft’s excellent all-in-one Game Pass Ultimate platform that also includes Xbox Game Streaming (formerly called xCloud).

Source: Business Insider 

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Steam brings back ‘Games From Quebec’ sale, featuring 150+ titles

Last year, Steam ran its first-ever “Games From Quebec” sale to offer discounts on a slew of games from French-Canadians.

Now, the storefront, in partnership with GamePlay Space and La Guilde du jeu vidéo du Québec, has brought Games From Quebec” back to spotlight 150-plus released and upcoming Quebec-made titles. It should be noted, though, that some games are featured at regular price, although many are discounted.

See below for some the deals:

The deals run from February 3rd to 7th.

If you weren’t aware, Quebec is Canada’s leading province by far when it comes to video game development, housing more than 290 studios in total. This makes it one of the top five game development hubs in the entire world.

Image credit: EA

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel now available on Android and iOS

Konami’s Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel has launched on Android and iOS.

The free-to-play competitive card game debuted on PlayStation 4/5, Xbox consoles, Nintendo Switch and PC on January 18th.

This is a notable launch for Android and iOS, given that the previous Yu-Gi-Oh! mobile game, Duel Links, features a streamlined version of the popular trading card game (TCG). Master Duel, meanwhile, plays exactly like the real game, featuring the same rules and cards (at least, 10,000+ of them). Unlike Duel Links, though, this isn’t based on the popular Yu-Gi-Oh! anime adaptations.

Master Duel also features cross-play and cross-saves between the different versions of the game. If you’re a new or lapsed player of the TBG, the game also offers various tutorials to ease you in.

Of course, as with most free-to-play mobile games, Master Duel features in-app purchases. Specifically, you can spend real money to buy in-game currencies used to unlock new cards and other in-game content. These currencies can also be earned over time.

Image credit: Konami

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Blizzard confirms Warcraft is coming to mobile this year

While a Warcraft mobile game has been rumoured since as early as 2017, we haven’t gotten any official word yet — until now.

During its Q4 2021 earnings report, Activision Blizzard confirmed that a mobile iteration is indeed coming in 2022.

No other details were provided, such as how the game will play or even what it will be called. Nonetheless, this is significant news, given the popularity of World of Warcraft.

It was also inevitable; in 2020, Activision Blizzard confirmed that all of its franchises would get new mobile entries. Over the past few years, we’ve seen that happen with the likes of Call of Duty Mobile, Crash Bandicoot: On the Run! and the upcoming Diablo Immortal. Call of Duty Mobile alone made $1 billion USD (about $1.27 billion CAD) in 2021, per the Q4 earnings report.

It’s worth noting, though, that this news comes via a press release. That’s because the company skipped holding an earnings call. While a specific reason for that wasn’t provided, it’s likely due to a couple of factors.

Firstly, the company has been embroiled in significant controversy since last summer due to a California lawsuit. Following a years-long investigation, Activision Blizzard was accused of fostering a toxic work culture that led to the regular abuse of female employees. CEO Bobby Kotick has also come under fire for reportedly working to cover up these misconduct scandals. And most recently, Microsoft announced plans to acquire Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion (about $87 billion CAD).

Given these factors, it’s likely that the company didn’t want to respond to any inquiries during an earnings call. Ultimately, the next several months will be significant for Activision Blizzard, especially as the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigates the acquisition. It remains to be seen whether the deal will even be approved, but assuming it does, Microsoft has said it doesn’t expect it to close until “fiscal year 2023,” which could be up to 18 months from now.

Image credit: Blizzard Entertainment

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Apex Legends Mobile soft launch is coming soon, but not in Canada

Apex Legends Mobile is finally entering the pre-registration stage for a soft beta.

Unfortunately, Canadians will have to wait for the full version of the anticipated mobile take on the popular battle royale franchise.

The soft launch will only be available on Android in the following regions according to a recent tweet from Respawn: Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Indonesia, Malaysia, Phillippines, Singapore, Australia and New Zealanl.

The above tweet notes that iOS players will need to “stay tuned” for more information.

Not much is known about the mobile version of Apex Legends beyond the fact that it won’t feature cross-play with the PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X and Nintendo Switch iterations of the tile.

Source: Respawn

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Nintendo says it isn’t interested in acquiring other game studios

During a recent investor’s call, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa stated that the Japanese gaming giant has no interest in buying other game studios.

“Our brand was built upon products crafted with dedication by our employees, and having a large number of people who don’t possess Nintendo DNA in our group would not be a plus to the company,” said Furukawa, according to Bloomberg.

This isn’t the first time Furukawa has alluded to this strategy. Back in November, Nintendo’s president said that it plans to spend 100 billion yen (about 1.1 billion CAD) on its own developers rather than investing in new studios.

That said, Nintendo does have some history with studio acquisitions. For example, last year the company acquired Vancouver-based Next Level Games, a developer that has worked on Nintendo titles for more than a decade, including, most recently, Luigi’s Mansion 3.

The video game industry has experienced a bit of an arms race lately when it comes to acquisitions. For example, Microsoft recently announced plans to acquire Activision blizzard in a deal valued at $68.7 billion USD (roughly 85.96 billion CAD), and just this week, Sony revealed that it’s purchased Bungie for $3.6 billion USD (roughly $4.6 billion CAD).

Given that Nintendo’s platforms have always been best known for the company’s own iconic franchises, including the Mario and Zelda series, it makes sense that the Japanese gaming plans to continue to stay the course in the increasingly consolidated gaming industry.

Source: Bloomberg