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Battlefield 6 Dev Apologizes For Requiring Secure Boot To Power Anti-Cheat Tools

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Par :BeauHD
29 août 2025 à 23:20
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Earlier this month, EA announced that players in its Battlefield 6 open beta on PC would have to enable Secure Boot in their Windows OS and BIOS settings. That decision proved controversial among players who weren't able to get the finicky low-level security setting working on their machines and others who were unwilling to allow EA's anti-cheat tools to once again have kernel-level access to their systems. Now, Battlefield 6 technical director Christian Buhl is defending that requirement as something of a necessary evil to combat cheaters, even as he apologizes to any potential players that it has kept away. "The fact is I wish we didn't have to do things like Secure Boot," Buhl said in an interview with Eurogamer. "It does prevent some players from playing the game. Some people's PCs can't handle it and they can't play: that really sucks. I wish everyone could play the game with low friction and not have to do these sorts of things." Throughout the interview, Buhl admits that even requiring Secure Boot won't completely eradicate cheating in Battlefield 6 long term. Even so, he offered that the Javelin anti-cheat tools enabled by Secure Boot's low-level system access were "some of the strongest tools in our toolbox to stop cheating. Again, nothing makes cheating impossible, but enabling Secure Boot and having kernel-level access makes it so much harder to cheat and so much easier for us to find and stop cheating." [...] Despite all these justifications for the Secure Boot requirement on EA's part, it hasn't been hard to find people complaining about what they see as an onerous barrier to playing an online shooter. A quick Reddit search turns up dozens of posts complaining about the difficulty of getting Secure Boot on certain PC configurations or expressing discomfort about installing what they consider a "malware rootkit" on their machine. "I want to play this beta but A) I'm worried about bricking my PC. B) I'm worried about giving EA complete access to my machine," one representative Redditor wrote.

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Millions Flock To Grow Virtual Gardens In Viral Roblox Game

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Par :BeauHD
9 août 2025 à 01:25
Grow a Garden, a Roblox game created by a 16-year-old in just a few days, has shattered records for the most concurrent players in gaming history, surpassing Fortnite with over 21.6 million concurrent players at once. The Associated Press reports: Grow a Garden is as simple as its name suggests -- players can fill a plot of land with plants and animals, harvest and sell, trade or steal each others' bounty. The game is low stress, with an aesthetic reminiscent of Minecraft and a soundtrack of soothing classical tunes such as Mozart's Rondo Alla Turca playing in the background. Its popularity has further cemented Roblox' place not just in the gaming world but in popular culture -- for better or for worse, it's where the kids hang out. Coincidence or not, Grow a Garden soared to popularity around the same time that Take-Two Interactive announced it would delay the launch of its wildly anticipated Grand Theft Auto 6 until next year. In late June, the gardening game logged 21.6 million concurrent players, surpassing Fortnite's previous record of 15.2 million according to Roblox. Analysts who follow Roblox's stock say Grow a Garden is helping boost the company's revenue and will push the company's quarterly earnings numbers above Wall Street's expectations. While it's not clear if the GTA audience flocked to this simple gardening game to pass the time until then, the timing reignited the age-old debate about who gamers are and what titles are taken seriously by the video game establishment. It happened with Candy Crush, with puzzle games, with Animal Crossing. Are people who play cozy games true gamers? Or is the title reserved for the folks who shoot enemies in Call of Duty or drive around creating mayhem in GTA?

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Digital Foundry, the Most Trusted Name in Game Console Analysis, is Going Independent

✇Slashdot
Par :msmash
7 août 2025 à 15:30
Digital Foundry, the gaming hardware analysis publication known for its technical console breakdowns, has separated from IGN ownership as of today, with founder Richard Leadbetter purchasing the outlet and its complete archives. Leadbetter, who retained 50% ownership since selling half to Eurogamer in 2015, acquired an additional 25 percent from IGN while investor Rupert Loman, Eurogamer's original co-founder, purchased the remaining quarter. The five-person team will operate independently, maintaining its YouTube channel with 1.5 million subscribers and Patreon support generating approximately $200,000 annually. The publication plans to develop a full website for its written content and expand coverage while keeping most content free.

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Call of Duty's Anti-Cheat Will Require TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot for PC Players

✇Slashdot
Par :msmash
6 août 2025 à 18:10
Activision will require PC players of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 to enable Trusted Platform Module 2.0 and Windows Secure Boot when the game launches later this year. The company begins testing these anti-cheat measures with Black Ops 6's Season 5 on Thursday without enforcement. TPM 2.0 verifies untampered boot processes while Secure Boot ensures Windows loads only trusted software at startup. Both features perform checks during system and game startup but remain inactive during gameplay. Activision has also pursued legal action against 22 individuals who developed and sold cheats.

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Itch.io Starts Returning the Free Games It Removed From Its Store

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Par :EditorDavid
3 août 2025 à 07:42
"Digital storefront Itch.io is reindexing its free adult games," reports Engadget, "and is talking to its partnered payment processors about plans to gradually reintroduce paid NSFW content..." In a statement included in the Itch.io update, Stripe said it hasn't closed the door on the possibility of being able to support adult content again in the future. In the meantime, Itch.io says it is talking to its other payment partners about accepting the card payments Stripe is currently no longer able to process. Itch's founder told the gaming news site Aftermath that it was a notice from Visa that led to the sudden deindexing of so many games. But Aftermath notes that Visa and Mastercard have now "both released statements effectively washing their hands of the situation but also, paradoxically, justifying any actions they might have taken." - Visa: "When a legally operating merchant faces an elevated risk of illegal activity, we require enhanced safeguards for the banks supporting those merchants..." - Mastercard: "Our payment network follows standards based on the rule of law. Put simply, we allow all lawful purchases on our network. At the same time, we require merchants to have appropriate controls to ensure Mastercard cards cannot be used for unlawful purchases, including illegal adult content." Aftermath's take? The part where the two companies act as though their hands have been tied by the long arm of the law is, frankly, bullshit. None of the games removed from Steam or Itch were illegal. They depict actions that are perfectly legal in other mediums. To re-quote Mike Stabile, director of policy at the Free Speech Coalition: "The stuff [companies] are talking about is entirely legal. It's legal to have in a book, it's legal to have in a game. They are making decisions based on their brand, based on public pressure from anti-porn groups, and that can be reversed." Meanwhile, gamers are still pushing back: It's difficult to say just how many people have spent the past several days tying up the lines of card companies and payment processors, but the movement has made itself visible enough to gain support from larger industry bodies like the Communications Workers of America [the largest communications/media labor union in America] and the International Game Developers Association.

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Epic Games bat Google : le Play Store va changer sur Android

✇Numerama.com - Magazine
Par :Hugo Bernard
1 août 2025 à 09:25

Nouvelle victoire pour Epic Games : la cour d'appel fédérale de San Francisco a confirmé un verdict où Google était reconnu coupable d'abus de position dominante avec son Play Store. Fortnite et l'Epic Games Store vont pouvoir revenir sur le Play Store.

ChatGPT Loses in a Game of Chess Against Magnus Carlsen

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Par :EditorDavid
26 juillet 2025 à 19:34
The world's best human chess player beat ChatGPT, reports Time magazine. Magnus Carlsen posted on X.com earlier this month that "I sometimes get bored while travelling," and shared screenshots of his conversations with ChatGPT after he beat the AI chatbot "without losing a single piece." ChatGPT lost all its pawns, screenshots the Norwegian grandmaster shared on X on July 10 showed. ChatGPT resigned the match... "That was methodical, clean, and sharp. Well played!" ChatGPT said to him, according to the screenshots Carlsen posted. Carlsen told the AI bot that he thought it "played really well in the opening," but ultimately "failed to follow it up correctly." He went on to ask ChatGPT for feedback on his performance. "Your play showed several strong traits," ChatGPT told him... About a week after Carlsen posted that he beat ChatGPT in the online chess match, he lost the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour in Las Vegas to teenage Indian grandmaster Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa.

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[Rumeur] Un faisceau d’indices laisse penser que MachineGames travaillerait sur le prochain Indiana Jones

✇NoFrag
Par :Estyaah
18 juillet 2025 à 15:44

Le 14 juillet dernier, nos confrères de Tech4Gamers découvraient que MachineGames avait publié une offre d’emploi pour un Senior Concept Artist en Suède. Les journalistes pensent que les nombreuses références à une expérience dans l’industrie du cinéma présentes sur la fiche indiquent que le studio rempile pour la suite des aventures d’Indiana Jones. Il faut dire qu’Indiana Jones et le Cercle Ancien a eu un très bon succès critique – nous aussi, on l’a beaucoup apprécié –, et le DLC L’Ordre des Géants est prévu début septembre. Les dates pourraient donc concorder avec la mise en pré-production d’un nouvel opus, surtout que MachineGames n’aurait pas grand-chose d’autre à faire. En effet, on a découvert fin mai dernier qu’un projet sur lequel il travaillait en début d’année avait été annulé. Enfin, notre bon Phil Spencer a annoncé il y a quelques mois que « nous pensons que cette franchise a encore de beaux jours devant elle, et je m’en tiendrai là ». Il n’en faut pas plus pour que les professionnels du secteur relient les points avec des fils de laine rouge sur un tableau de liège.

À la rédac, on ne s’avancera pas sur la probabilité de la chose, mais on serait très content d’apprendre qu’une suite est en développement : on adore les fouets.

Non, GTA 6 ne générera pas 7,6 milliards de dollars en 2 mois ?

✇Numerama.com - Magazine
Par :Maxime Claudel
18 juillet 2025 à 07:38

Un analyste travaillant pour une société d'investissement a partagé des prévisions invraisemblables à propos de GTA 6. Selon lui, le titre de Rockstar Games va générer 7,6 milliards de dollars en seulement 2 mois. Soit quasiment autant que GTA 5 en... 10 ans.

Steam Now Bans Games That Violate the 'Rules and Standards' of Payment Processors

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Par :BeauHD
16 juillet 2025 à 21:50
Steam has begun banning games that violate the payment rules of banks and card networks, targeting adult content in particular -- especially titles with extreme or controversial themes. Engadget reports: The new clause states that "content that may violate the rules and standards set forth by Steam's payment processors and related card networks and banks, or internet network providers" is not allowed and could result in removal from the platform. In other words, if credit card companies get mad about something, they could actually have the power to ban a game. The clause goes on to say that this will affect "certain kinds of adult-only content." This has likely already resulted in many games being pulled off the platform. SteamDB doesn't give a reason for these removals, but the timing does match up.

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'Stop Killing Games' Consumer Movement Hits Major Milestones

✇Slashdot
Par :BeauHD
3 juillet 2025 à 22:50
The "Stop Killing Games" movement, led by YouTuber Accursed Farms, has gained serious momentum as it pushes back against the practice of game publishers shutting down access to titles consumers have paid for. Recent milestones include a UK petition surpassing 100K signatures and an EU initiative nearing its 1 million goal. GamingOnLinux reports: In the UK, the newer petition has flown past the 100K signatures (126,066 at time of writing) needed for it to be considered for a debate in Parliament. That doesn't mean it will happen, just that it now needs to be considered by the UK government to potentially have it mentioned. A good step though, with signatures still flowing in until July 14th, showing there's demand for change. On the EU side, things are also going well there now too. Against the needed 1 million signatures, it's now hit 977,864 (at time of writing). According to the official Accursed Farms X account, they've had reports of "non-citizens spoofing signatures on the EU initiative" so it may be a little inflated.

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Nouveau casting, date de sortie… Tout savoir sur le prochain film Hunger Games

✇Numerama.com - Magazine
Par :Salammbô Marie
30 juillet 2025 à 10:03

Après le président Snow, c'est au tour d'Haymitch d'être le héros de son propre préquel, nommé Lever de soleil sur la moisson. Casting, date de sortie, histoire... Voici tout ce que l'on sait déjà sur le prochain film de la saga Hunger Games.

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