Code Retard

Rockstar hasn’t said anything yet, but ESRB ratings have been assigned to Grand Theft Auto III and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City on the PS3. It’s hard to tell what form these games will take in this early stage, but they will probably be PSN downloads. On the other hand, HD remixes of these games would certainly be welcome on store shelves – especially if they were packaged together in a collection.

Believe it or not, this year marks the 10-year anniversary of Vice City, and October was the 10-year mark for GTA III. Damn I feel old.

Would you welcome the return of Claude and Tommy Vercetti?

To celebrate, let’s all watch Dave Chappelle’s classic tribute to Grand Theft Auto. “I need this!”

Over the past year we have regularly covered new malware threats that have emerged for OS X, which included attacks like MacDefender, BlackHole RAT, Flashback, and Revir, among a number of others.

While our coverage of these threats may make them appear significant, when looking at the overall
Mac malware scene in review it’s apparent that despite the increase in Mac malware prevalence, the threats for the Mac platform are still quite minimal. Additionally, data suggests Mac malware trends may not follow market share as many suspect it does.

Recently security company F-Secure released an analysis of the Mac malware that was released Q2 through Q4 of last year. Overall, there were a mere 58 new variants that were released between April and December of 2011, most of which were Trojan horse or backdoor attempts, and none being viruses or worms.

The breakdown of the malware shows that as with other platforms, social engineering is the primary means of spreading malware, but the main observation is that the overall number of 58 threats is nothing when compared to other platforms. According to UK-based security company GData, starting in 2009 the number of new malware threats for computers and Web-based services has surpassed 1,000,000 per year. Therefore, even though the threat level for OS X is higher than it has been in past years, when compared with the rest of the industry malware on the Mac is almost negligibly minuscule.

F-Secure’s analysis shows two general time frames where Mac malware was released last year, suggesting a break from an expected continuous rise that follows market share.

(Credit:

F-Secure)

An interesting point of argument that F-Secure’s data does bring up is to the notion that the number of threats to the Mac platform will increase as its market share rises. While it might seem logical to expect that as the Mac becomes more popular one would see an increase in attacks, the data from F-Secure suggests this may not be the case.

F-Secure’s analysis clearly shows two time frames where malware has been released for OS X: one instance around June and another instance around October of last year. F-Secure describes these as “opportunistic bubbles” sandwiched between periods of inactivity. This is different from the steady rise in the Mac’s market share in the past year, which according to NetApplications has increased by 17 percent from February 2011 to 6.36 percent worldwide, and which has recently surpassed 12 percent in the U.S., according to Gartner.

This bubblelike malware trend in the face of steadily increasing market share counters the idea of a continuous rise in malware releases that one might expect from a steady rise in Mac malware; however, this interpretation may be a bit premature.

While it is possible that Mac malware could maintain a release pattern of “opportunistic bubbles,” it is entirely possible that these bubbles could start increasing in prevalence and eventually blend into each other to form a steady increase of malware that is more continuous in nature.

So far there is not enough data to either support or refute this possibility, since right now we’re observing this bubble trend with only 58 samples strewn out over the course of a year. Additionally, it’s worth noting that successive releases of malware variants for one or two malware programs contributes to these bubbles, and not the release of multiple independent malware programs. For instance, BlackHole and FakeMacDef variants were released around June, and a number of Flashback and Revir variants appeared around October.

Some additional considerations against the notion of malware being released in “bubbles” is that this suggests malware developers somehow work in conjunction with each other to release their attacks in coordination, which is likely not the case. Additionally, it suggests that malware is released seasonally, which besides holiday scams, would be highly unlikely and does not parallel with the continuous nature of malware release on other platforms.

Despite these considerations, right now the data we have shows that Mac malware was released in two general timeframes, though whether this trend will continue remains to be seen.

Overall while these observations are interesting, ultimately it is important to keep in mind that despite the reports of malware throughout the past year, the level of malware for OS X continues to be minuscule when compared with the millions of malware programs released through the year.

Questions? Comments? Have a fix? Post them below or e-mail us!
Be sure to check us out on Twitter and the CNET Mac forums.

Masahiro Sakurai is a developer given to excess. His Super Smash Bros. fighting games are some of the most feature-packed, info-dense videogames ever attempted, filled to bursting with characters, stages, musical tracks and trivial references to Nintendo’s gaming past. It’s practically absurd just how much he crams into each one of them. Should we have imagined, then, that Kid Icarus: Uprising would be any different?

Nintendo showed a playable version of this 3DS shooter, loosely based on the cult classic 8-bit game, at E3 last year. But that small sliver of a demo didn’t even begin to convey the staggering cornucopia of options that will be packed into the final game, which is to be released on March 22.

In the original game, the little winged cherub hero could shoot arrows at enemies. In Uprising, you can choose from Blades, Bows, Cannons, Arms, Claws, Palms, Staffs, Clubs or something called “Orbitars.” And that’s not the half of it. Let’s say you want a club. Well, you could have a Babel Club, a Halo Club, a Black Club, an Ore Club or a Skyscraper Club, and that’s just what they put in the demo version. Who the hell got all this Skyrim in my Kid Icarus?

I exaggerate: It’s not my Kid Icarus. It might be yours, but then you’d be in the rather small group of diehard fans who have been patiently waiting for the last 20 years, each E3 expecting that a new game in the “series” was right around the corner. It’s been so long since a Kid Icarus game that the name is a total blank slate. And Sakurai wants to fill every single square inch of that slate with miniature writing.

At a recent demo of the game, I played Chapters 1, 2, 3, 6 and 8. Nintendo representatives, with their characteristic reticence, did not tell me how many chapters total will appear in the game. Using simple logic we can deduce that it is greater than 8 and fewer than ?. Sakurai, of course, wants us to play each of the game’s chapters approximately ? times each.

Sick of bows and arrows? How about a gigantic drill instead?
Image: Nintendo

Kid Icarus: Uprising does not have a difficulty switch. It has a difficulty slider, which goes all the way from 0.0 up to 9.0. Before you begin each level, you can make minute adjustments to the difficulty. This has a wide variety of effects. As you make the levels more difficult, you will get more Hearts, the game’s currency. You will find better items and weapons in the treasure chests. And you will also get your ass kicked.

To raise the difficulty level, you need to wager a small amount of your Hearts. If you die, the difficulty level will go down by 1.0 and you will lose some of those Hearts. For instance, I tried Chapter 1 with difficulty cranked to 9.0. I died almost instantly. By the time I finished the level the difficulty had fallen to 6.0. But it was still a net benefit for me, since I won a great deal more Hearts than I would have on the 2.0 standard setting, and won better weapons.

I was also able to enter an “Intensity Gate,” which are doors in the levels that only open if your current difficulty setting is equal to or higher than the number on the door. In the case of Chapter 1, behind the door was a massive tank with a weak spot on its back. The Nintendo representative helpfully let me know that he had sent me in there with a heavy Cannon weapon, which would cause Pit to move more slowly and thus make it much more difficult for me to circle-strafe the tank.

You may find miniature centurions in treasure chests to help you out.
Image: Nintendo

Each level is divided into two segments. The first is flight combat, in which Pit takes down enemies while soaring on a controlled path through the air. The second is on land, which gives you the freedom to run around and shoot in a less linear environment. It’s a complex game. You have to move Pit out of the way of enemies with the circle pad, aim your shots with the stylus and touch screen and fire shots by pressing the L trigger.

If you’re left handed, you’re probably SOL unless you buy the helpful Circle Pad Pro attachment, which will let you control Pit with your right thumb. (But it doesn’t allow for dual-analog play, Nintendo said.)

But even for the right-handed, this may quickly become a painfully crampy position. Hence, Nintendo is including a plastic stand with every copy of the game that will let you prop your 3DS up on a table. I played both with and without the stand. I can go either way, although I should point out that without the stand I just ended up resting the 3DS on my leg.

If you can get past figuring out how exactly you’re going to play it without developing carpal tunnel, Kid Icarus: Uprising is a fun and funny game. The graphics are gorgeous, the writing is surprisingly amusing. Pit and the goddess Palutena, along with a variety of supporting cast members, keep up a running chat during each level which is also displayed in text on the lower screen.

There seemed to be many different features in Kid Icarus which we aren’t even able to discuss at all yet. So whether people fall in love with it or are turned off by having to prop their 3DS up on a stand to play it, one thing is for sure — people who really like Kid Icarus will play it for a long, long time.

It can be frustrating to receive an attachment or find a file online that you can’t open. Maybe you don’t have the latest version of MS Office, or maybe you just don’t know what program is required. Open Freely is a great, free tool that lets you peek inside many popular file types. Here’s how to use it: 

1. Download and install Open Freely here. 
2. When confronted with a file you can’t open, launch Open Freely and click the open icon in the top left, then browse and select your file. (You may want to check the list of supported file types here first.) 
3. Open Freely offers simple editing tools for documents, spreadsheets, and other such files. These should be familiar to most users. They’re not as advanced as those you’d find in Office or similar suites, but they’re functional. 
   

   Step 3: Review and edit document.

4. It’s also easy to print using Open Freely. Just click the printer icon at the top and you’re all set. 

That’s all there is to it. It’s easy to enjoy media files or to review documents even on computers that aren’t set up to handle the right file type.

Thanks to GHacks for the link!

Star Wars: The Old Republic is pretty big to say the least. That said, it isn’t all fun and games with BioWare as they are pretty adamant with upholding their Terms of Service.

According to the Terms of Service, nobody under 13 can have an account, and they managed to target down one user being underage, and subsequently permanently suspended his account. You’re probably wondering how they found out his age, and that’s the fun of the story.

The user whose name is withheld had made a post on the BioWare forums for The Old Republic, giving his identity away. The post said ‘I’m 12 and what is this.’

For those who aren’t up in the grimy underworld of 4chan and memes, that phrase is a meme that originated when porn was uploaded to YouTube under the guise of children’s shows by 4chan users, thus exposing unknowing children to porn. One of the comments read ‘I’m 12 and what is this.’

BioWare are obviously a bit busy making games to be up on the internet jokes, but still, they should have known better.

Here’s hoping the suspension is revoked.

The thread is viewable to forum members here

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These are instructions on how to perform an untethered jailbreak of your iPad 2 running iOS 5.0.1 using Absinthe for Windows.

Warning***: Before you continue make sure to do a backup of your device in iTunes as you may lose your Camera Roll during this process.

Step One
Download the latest version of Absinthe from here.

Step Two
Double click to extract the downloaded archive and launch the Absinthe application.

Step Three
As prompted, connect your iPad 2 to the computer via USB. Make sure to remove any passcodes or VPN settings you’ve previously set.

Step Four
Click the Jailbreak button to begin

Step Five
The application will take you through several steps of the jailbreak: Sending initial data, waiting for reboot, waiting for device to finish booting, Preparing jailbreak data, and Sending payload data.

Step Six
You will be informed that the jailbreak is ‘Almost done’.

Step Seven
On you device, locate the Absinthe icon and press it to complete your jailbreak. It could be on any homescreen.

If the server is down and you get an Error establishing a database connection message then tap the Settings icon on your springboard and turn on VPN.

You will get a configuration error; however, after about a minute your device will reboot.

Once your device restarts you will be jailbroken with Cydia on the Springboard!

Loading Chrome extensions based on your needs will spare some system resources and keep you on task.

It’s so easy to grab extensions for Twitter, Facebook, and even music services. Unfortunately, while these extensions are great for socializing and surfing, they may be resource hogs or distracting you with animated icons while attempting to be productive. There is one extension that can help solve this conundrum for you: Context. Basically, this extension groups your other extensions for situational use. So if you’re working, shopping, or just surfing for fun, you can load only the relevant extensions. Here’s how to get started:

Steps 1 and 2.

(Credit:
Screenshot by Nicole Cozma)

Step 1: Head to the extension page for Context in the Chrome Web Store.

Step 2: Click the blue Add to Chrome and then press Install on the pop-up that follows.

A small tutorial will load to show you how to use the add-on (steps also provided below).

(Credit:
Screenshot by Nicole Cozma)

Step 3: Click the New Context button in the bottom left-hand corner. Name the context and choose an icon to represent it. You can repeat this as many times as you like until you have all of your contexts created.

(Credit:
Screenshot by Nicole Cozma)

Your contexts can be organized by dragging their tiles with the move arrow in the top right-hand corner. So if you want extensions for work to be listed before extensions for shopping, it’s an easy fix.

Step 4: Drag your extensions from the list at the top to the correct Context in the area below. If you make a mistake, simply click the X on the right side of the extension’s tile.

Extensions in their respective Context groups.

(Credit:
Screenshot by Nicole Cozma)

In some cases, you may want an extension to load for all contexts–like a theme for Chrome or your Gmail checker.

Step 5: Press the Save button at the bottom of the screen. Now you’re ready to get started using the Context extension.

All you need to do is click on the small, white puzzle piece in your Chrome toolbar to choose which Context group you want to load. There’s also an option to load all extensions, if you want everything available.

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I wrote yesterday about Android reaching 11 billion downloads, and if that wasn’t reason enough to pick up an Android device, the guys over at XDA-Developers have been working on porting Counter-Strike to the system. The video below shows the game being played on a smartphone and a tablet.

The game is available to download for free now at the XDA-Developers website, and apparently the game has over 600 players online. Not bad for an in-development port. That said, the controls seem…not exactly perfect. Touch screen? Mobile device? Not the ideal setup for an FPS, especially a competitive online one.

Nonetheless, this does show decent hope for future ports and apps. The game is powered by Unity 3D and all the download links, information and an FAQ are available from the game’s official thread here.

Are you interested in this or are the controls enough to put you off?

The Entertainment Software Association, the trade association that represents most major producers of videogames in the United States, dropped its support of the controversial proposed bills Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect IP Act on Friday.

Here’s the full statement that the ESA mailed out to the press:

From the beginning, ESA has been committed to the passage of balanced legislation to address the illegal theft of intellectual property found on foreign rogue sites. Although the need to address this pervasive threat to our industry’s creative investment remains, concerns have been expressed about unintended consequences stemming from the current legislative proposals. Accordingly, we call upon Congress, the Obama Administration, and stakeholders to refocus their energies on producing a solution that effectively balances both creative and technology interests. As an industry of innovators and creators, we understand the importance of both technological innovation and content protection and are committed to working with all parties to encourage a balanced solution.

This comes several hours after Congress said it would indefinitely delay votes on both SOPA and PIPA.

Many pundits and journalists have criticized both proposed bills, which could allow the U.S. government to shut down sites it suspects to contain copyrighted content. On Wednesday, sites across the Internet including Reddit and Wikipedia blacked out to protest the bill. Wired.com censored the headlines on its front page.

Earlier this week, Firefall developer Red 5 Studios called upon the videogame industry to boycott the ESA-run Electronic Entertainment Expo conference this year to protest the ESA’s support of SOPA. Other game studios, including Gears of War developer Epic Games and League of Legends developer Riot Games, have also spoken out against SOPA in the past few weeks.