Month: October 2019

Mobile giant Zynga has acknowledged a data breach by “outside hackers” that has reportedly resulted in the personal information of 200 million accounts becoming exposed.

In a statement, Zynga said cyber attacks are “one of the unfortunate realities of doing business today.” The FarmVille and Words With Friends studio said it recently became aware that “certain player account information” might have been “illegally” obtained by hackers.

The San Francisco-based company said it launched an investigation “immediately” and brought on outside forensic teams to help. Additionally, Zynga said it has been in contact with law enforcement officials regarding the breach.

Zynga said it believes no financial information was obtained in the hack, though some “account information” was exposed. The company said it already launched security campaigns on behalf of accounts that might have been compromised, and right now seems like a good time to change your Zynga password if you have an account there.

“The security of our player data is extremely important to us. We have worked hard to address this matter and remain committed to supporting our community,” Zynga said.

The company added that Facebook, iOS, and Android passwords were likely not exposed in this breach because Zynga does not collect these passwords in the first place.

According to Hacker News, a hacker from Pakistan has claimed responsibility for the Zynga breach, which specifically targeted Words With Friends and Draw Something. As part of the breach, the hacker reportedly gained access to more than 218 million user accounts. Players names, email addresses, login IDs, passwords, phone numbers, and more information might have been accessed in the breach.

Check out this Zynga support page to find out how to change your password.

When looking at the recent trailer for The Last of Us Part II, it’s clear that Ellie is in for a tough fight against the new threat coming from the Wolves. Add Clickers on top and there’s certainly a lot for her to deal with. But she won’t always be alone in her struggle as, just like in the original game, Ellie will encounter a variety of characters who will join her on her journey.

Unique characters are part of what made The Last of Us such a stellar game from a storytelling perspective. However, it was a common occurrence during combat situations that companion characters weren’t as helpful as they could have been. In The Last of Us Part II, the developers at Naughty Dog wanted to address this concern from the original. Speaking with The Last of Us Part II co-director Anthony Newman, he explained why allies would have a more significant impact during combat in the sequel.

“I can’t get too much into the exact ratio of time you spend alone. I’d say the game is definitely a blend of being by yourself as you were in the second part of the demo, and being with an ally,” he said. “Allies are at the core of Naughty Dog games. We get a lot of great stuff out of them in terms of this back and forth as you were pointing out.

“I think, as you may have noticed in the first part of the demo interacting with Dina, our allies can do a lot of pretty exciting new stuff where they can get stealth kills independently. They have their own pretty nuanced melee system where they can interact with enemies in melee and also help you out and rescue as they did in the first game. They’re a little bit more flexible and nuanced this time around.”

In our recent hands-on impressions of The Last of Us Part II, editor Phil Hornshaw talked about how handy the companions were during the many fights he got himself into. In one instance, he noticed that shots from companions posed a more tangible threat to enemies. In these cases, he’d rely on their shots landing, which allowed him to finish off the weakened enemies with his attacks. There seems to be a lot more nuance to how the companions operate, which is undoubtedly appreciated this time around.

Destiny 2 has gone into server maintenance mode to prepare for the upcoming release of Shadowkeep. But you can start preparing yourself now, with pre-loading of the update available on PS4 and Xbox One. Bungie has sent notice that it is now pre-loading across all regions. And seemingly because the expansion download is part of the incoming 2.6.01 update, you can pre-load Shadowkeep without pre-ordering.

Pre-loading this update now will allow you to start playing the new content the moment it goes live on October 1 at 10 AM PT. Pre-loading of the full game, including the free New Light version, has been available on Steam since last week.

Destiny 2: Shadowkeep And New Light Launch Time

• October 1 @ 10 AM PT
• October 1 @ 1 PM ET
• October 1 @ 6 PM BST
• October 2 @ 3 AM AET (October 2)

Shadowkeep will introduce several big changes to Destiny 2, including nerfs to some of the current best guns, significant refinement of the loot grind, and the swapping of pinnacle weapons for new “ritual weapons.” Its release coincides with that of New Light, the F2P portion of the experience that’s open to everyone and includes a substantial amount of existing content, as well as upcoming events and more.

Meanwhile, Bungie says it is preparing to become more than just the Destiny studio. It has plans to release a new, non-Destiny game sometime in the next several years.

Something is afoot in Pokemon Go, and it appears to be related to Team Go Rocket, the villainous group who made their debut in the mobile game–alongside Shadow Pokemon–earlier this summer. The official Pokemon Go Twitter account has shared a series of distorted images that seem to tease the arrival of some new characters.

The images, which you can see below, appear to be profiles showcasing three unfamiliar characters who are presumably involved in Team Rocket. Aside from their silhouettes, it’s difficult to make anything out in the images, but you can see Team Rocket’s iconic R next to each of the characters, suggesting they’ll have something to do with the evil group. The tweets read:

“Professor Willow has started to recover files from the corrupted folder, and he’s uncovered these images. One of the photos is still being restored… Could these files be left over from Team Go Rocket’s recent take-over? Who are these people?!”

Team Rocket first began appearing in Pokemon Go back in July following numerous teases, but up until now, players have only been able to encounter generic Rocket Grunts at Poke Stops. The mainline Pokemon series has featured higher level members of the team called Rocket Admins, so it’s possible the three new teased characters will fill a similar role in Go, although nothing has been confirmed.

Giovanni, the leader of Team Rocket, has also previously been teased for the game. During the Pokemon Go Fest event that took place in Yokohama, Japan earlier this year, the Team Rocket boss would photobomb pictures that players took at the venue. While he hasn’t yet appeared in the actual game, these teases suggest that players certainly haven’t seen the last of the evil team.

In other Pokemon Go news, the Legendary Giratina recently returned to Raid Battles, and this time you’ll be able to encounter a Shiny variant. A handful of Gen 5 Pokemon are also still available in the game, while a Gen 3 monster, Trapinch, will be the star of October’s Community Day, which takes place next Saturday, October 12.