Rockstar Pirated Their Own Game. - GameLinked Sept. 7, 2023

[RILEYISMYNAME]

 

NEWS SOURCES:

 

MAINS

 

CRACKED UNDER PRESSURE

Rockstar has been selling pirated versions of their own games on Steam for YEARS

https://nichegamer.com/rockstar-games-caught-selling-cracked-games-on-steam/

Most recently discovered in Midnight Club II by Silent on Twitter https://twitter.com/__silent_/status/1698345924840296801

Inspired by YTer Vadim M, who showed that, originally on Steam, two games were cracked copies:

-          Max Payne 2 https://youtu.be/WfDg7BidsY4?t=2856

-          Manhunt https://youtu.be/WfDg7BidsY4?t=2904

Games had two layers of DRM on disk versions, apparently Rockstar got lazy and used cracked versions to not have to remove DRM themselves

https://www.techdirt.com/2010/05/12/rockstar-using-pirated-copy-of-max-payne-2-on-steam-to-remove-drm/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfDg7BidsY4&t=188s

After caught, they “replaced” game exe with archive disk copy and just deleted 1 DRM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfDg7BidsY4&t=2904s

Absence of that DRM triggers other DRM, anti-piracy measures that break game(s) https://www.thegamer.com/rockstar-max-payne-manhunt-cracked-versions-on-steam-anti-piracy/

 

NO WORD ON THE NINTENDO RESISTOR

Nintendo demoed Switch 2 to external devs

https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/report-nintendo-is-introducing-external-developers-to-switch-2

Report by Eurogamer https://www.eurogamer.net/nintendo-demoed-switch-2-to-developers-at-gamescom

Corroborated by VGC https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/sources-nintendo-showed-switch-2-demos-at-gamescom/

One demo was higher-res, higher framerate BotW https://www.polygon.com/23862810/switch-2-gamescom-zelda-botw-demo

Also The Matrix Awakens, a UE5 tech demo (via DLSS) https://lmg.gg/rky1f (Polygon)

 

I’M STILL CONFUSED

Nintendo finally explains to Charles Martinet what a Mario Ambassador is

https://www.eurogamer.net/miyamoto-explains-what-charles-martinets-mario-ambassador-job-actually-entails

Three days ago Martinet had no idea https://nintendoeverything.com/charles-martinet-mario-ambassador-not-retired/

In video, Miyamoto thanks Martinet https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2023/09/shigeru-miyamoto-thanks-charles-martinet-for-being-the-voice-of-mario-in-heartfelt-message

Role clarified in video; seems it’s just that he’s allowed to meet fans at events and conventions

https://twitter.com/NintendoAmerica/status/1699784766932029753

 

QUICK BITS

 

ALL MK FIGHTERS PAST EXPIRY DATE

Entire MK1 roster spoiled after copies leak early

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/mortal-kombat-1-copies-leak-early-spoilers-and-final-characters-are-out-there/1100-6517507/

Switch version is garbage https://mp1st.com/news/report-mortal-kombat-1-roster-leaks-via-physical-copies-out-in-the-wild-switch-version-called-terrible

Leaks reveal Nether Realm pulling a Warzone and putting Megan Fox in game https://www.avclub.com/megan-fox-mortal-kombat-nitara-vampire-1850811105

jk they announced it themselves (she sounds good, actually) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ah8VyRhiWiE

 

DEJA VU-BISOFT

Skull and Bones loses THIRD creative director

https://kotaku.com/skull-bones-release-date-beta-delay-union-ubisoft-1850808766

https://gamerant.com/skull-and-bones-third-creative-director-lost/

b-roll @ 4:27 https://youtu.be/fgy4WZ9ta7E?t=267

quote https://lmg.gg/bQFhW

 

BLIZZARD MOVES OFFICE TO FOURTH CIRCLE OF HELL

Diablo IV adopting Destiny expansion model, allegedly (ie an expansion every year) https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2023/09/06/diablo-4-confirms-it-is-doing-destiny-2-style-annual-expansions/?sh=273321d37e3d https://www.pcgamer.com/blizzard-bigwig-seems-to-offhandedly-confirm-diablo-4-is-adopting-destinys-expansion-model/

Fans so excited, they threaten to uninstall the game in celebration /s https://www.charlieintel.com/diablo/diablo-4-fans-threaten-to-uninstall-following-annual-expansions-announcement-270921/

Concerned about annual fee, though price hasn’t been officially announced https://www.reddit.com/r/diablo4/comments/16biwrm/ive_been_generally_happy_with_the_game_but_im_not/

 

NO MASTER CYCLE ZERO 2?

There will be no DLC for Tears of the Kingdom

https://kotaku.com/zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom-dlc-expansion-nintendo-botw-1850807807

https://www.eurogamer.net/nintendo-has-no-plans-for-zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom-dlc

Game director says there’s nothing more to possibly add https://lmg.gg/qaqH3 (Automaton)

 

XBOX USERS TASTE UNLIMITED POWER

Starfield Xbox Players are using Xbox Play Anywhere to get console commands

https://www.ign.com/articles/starfield-xbox-players-are-using-cross-platform-saves-to-gain-access-to-pc-console-commands

Console commands on PC allow cheats to mod game https://www.videogameschronicle.com/guide/starfield-console-commands-what-are-the-best-starfield-cheats/

Commands block achievements, but there’s a mod for that lol https://www.vg247.com/starfield-achievement-enabler-mod

Here it is https://www.nexusmods.com/starfield/mods/252