If you’ve ever hung out in the Twitch chat of even a moderately popular streamer, you’ll have realised what a madhouse it can sometimes be in the chats. Those without a good modbot, moderators or an engaged slowmode can quickly become unreadable. Now there’s a new hazard that’s going around, that Twitch Support have warned users about in their tweets.

Security PSA: Do not click the “csgoprize” link in chat. This is a phishing attempt to install malware and compromise your Steam account.^JM

— Twitch Support (@TwitchSupport) September 12, 2014

The hazard, which is a chatbot that asks users to follow a link for the chance to win CS:GO items in-game. It leads to a site that asks for the user’s name, e-mail and permission to publish their name. Of course it does nothing of the sort, instead installing malicious software that compromises the user’s Steam account, taking screens, adding friends, placing items from the user’s account onto the market at reduced prices and being able to purchase other items and trade them. The point of the software is to use the victim’s common items to gain enough points to buy rarer items and then trade them over to another recently added ‘friend’ Steam account as well as empty the victim’s account of anything else of value.

The ruse uses the victim’s own machine to avoid getting caught by Steam’s own ‘new machine’ security features that prevents other such methods of accomplishing the same results and Twitch are currently working to block out the chatbots and protect against the malicious links.

With the acquisition of Mojang by Microsoft, many have questions and concerns about the future of Minecraft. Some people are even downright hysterical. I fear we may have to lock PredictedCyborg in a padded room for a while. (Just kidding Cy. But seriously, the padded room is the third door on the left past the breakroom.)

The staff here at Sanitarium.FM represents a wide range of gaming tastes and attitudes, so I’ve gathered them all up – sometimes with a cattle prod – to get their opinions on Mojang joining Microsoft.

Digmbot – Station Manager, IGS Host, Loves Putting TNT In Your Basement

A lot of people think that this might be the end of Minecraft as we know it. However, Microsoft and Mojang have both said that Minecraft will continue on all platforms – PC, Android, iOS, Xbox and PlayStation. Of course, this makes perfect sense. Restricting the reach of a game as popular as Minecraft would literally be a case of killing the Golden Goose. I don’t see Microsoft doing that after dropping $2.5 billion dollars to acquire the studio. What does worry me is what else Mojang will be asked to do. Microsoft will clearly want the studio to make other games at some point, and to date Mojang has really only done work on Minecraft. There is also the specter of microtransactions. While I doubt that Microsoft could implement this in the PC version due to the open nature of that community, its already a thing on the console versions with various themed skin packs. I don’t see that ending anytime soon. And, the recent implosion of Bukkit already had implications for the mod community that makes Minecraft so versatile. Will Microsoft continue to allow that extensive community to do what it does so well, or will they try to lock the game down more? Only time will tell.

Bottom line: I would have preferred for Mojang to remain independent. But this also frees up Notch to pursue other projects. As Mojang said: He won’t be working on anything Minecraft related, but it will probably be cool.

Thats enough for me for now.

PredictedCyborg – DJ, Writer, IGS Host, Nyan Cat

I am… not sure if I’m honest. As alluded to above at first I wasn’t a fan of the news, but after a breather… well, I’m still not a fan but I can certainly see how this could BENEFIT Minecraft and Mojang.

As long as the community’s mod-making isn’t restricted and Minecraft itself becomes loaded with “Buy this!” stuff we could be fine. Personally I will choose to carry on as I have done previously UNTIL Microsoft do something that affects the reasons I enjoy Minecraft.

I originally got Minecraft during my university days, purely because I really wanted to use the Creative option to make a floating island with a windmill on it. True story. After I’d made it though I asked myself “What do I do now?” and then dived right in. I love modpacks, I love modded survival, I love making bases out of caverns. That is the spirit of Minecraft for me and it’s different for every player of the game. I hope that Microsoft don’t try to narrow that down in any way.

At least for now the other versions and the Mojang staff we know via Twitter are staying as they are. In future, who knows? We need to watch and see.

Lonesamurai – Station Owner, Top Ten Show Host, Big Kahuna

So…   Microsoft bought Mojang?   I’m actually not surprised by this.

Minecraft has now taken the crown from World of Warcraft of highest selling video game ever (per unit).   And annoyingly, as a proud member of the PC Master Race, Minecraft is the highest selling game on XBox Live…   Both on 360 and soon, XBox One.

Yes, it sells well on Playstation too, but, unlike Microsoft, Sony does NOT have their own game studios.

Yeah ok, people are going to shout about RARE, and yes, I miss Conkers as well (actually I don’t), but RARE is a different case.   ALL the staff from RARE left when Microsoft bought them, whereas only the senior team are leaving Mojang so far, the team of grunts behind Minecraft and Scrolls is staying- THIS is what Microsoft are buying and its pretty shrewd of them.

Ok, we hope that this only means Minecraft will carry on growing and, in my own opinion, I hope we get the in house version of CraftBukkit we’re now waiting for, but I actually suspect MS are looking to use the team and the game engine for other projects in the future too.

Either way, it’s an interesting time.

Crimsonshade- Server Wizard, Orderlybot Wrangler, MC Server Admin-because-no-one-else-bothered-to-learn-how

People on Twitter keep on making jokes comparing this to what happened with Rare. I can understand why. In the Nintendo 64 era, Rare Games LLC was extremely talented and made some of the best videogames ever to grace Nintendo consoles, to the point Nintendo eventually considered them officially “second-party developers”. Then Microsoft bought them out and all the talent went to waste. “History repeats itself”, everyone says – and given Microsoft’s track record, is it any wonder people worry about Microsoft potentially ruining Minecraft?

The thing is though, way back in the 90s Microsoft had a slogan for Windows: “What would you like to do today?”. Though they don’t use it any more, the slogan captured the focus of Windows at that time: Offering a system which was simple, customisable and allowed the majority of people to do whatever they could put their mind to. The same vision fuels Minecraft – at its heart, Minecraft is a glorified sandbox rather than an actual “game”; but therein lies its appeal – with its simple construction methods and tools; straightforward gameplay; and easy-to-understand rules regarding monster spawning, survival, life and death, Minecraft offers a huge amount of creativity with relatively few limitations, allowing people to do whatever their imagination takes them – even to the extent that people have built their own storylines, or even whole new games within it.

Pairing Minecraft’s customisability with Microsoft’s “easy for everyone” approach to Windows, therefore, actually makes a ton of sense and could prove to be a clever strategy for Microsoft. Plus, with Microsoft attempting to converge Windows for PC, Windows for Tablets and Windows Phone – which as of yet doesn’t HAVE a Minecraft port – into one single ecosystem means soon enough, Minecraft will be playable on any device wherever you may be – and who better to spearhead this approach than Microsoft itself? Nevertheless, one DOES hope Microsoft will not change Minecraft beyond recognition from the game it is now; and given the opportunities now open to Microsoft, one also hopes they do not resort to microtransactions or sneaky tactics to spin more money out of their new acquisition either… time will tell.

Thay – Indie Game Blogger, Gamer, Quietly Doing Her Thing

To tell you the truth I’m not quite sure what to think on the news of Microsoft buying Mojang. Honestly I haven’t really played much of the game recently. I definitely don’t play it as much as i used to. But i do love the game and had some wonderful times playing it and I’ve met some awesome people playing it. I hope Microsoft realizes the importance of the community in Minecraft, and hopefully they don’t mess something up that makes people mad.

Personally I kind of expected this to happen sooner or later considering Notch’s attitude  toward Minecraft in recent years. I hope he and the other founders who are leaving the company go on to do what they love and hopefully we will get some cool games out of it 😉

If i had any worry about the buyout it would be Microsoft’s view on people making money off their games. While I don’t personally post videos on Minecraft i know plenty of people who do. Microsoft’s current Terms of Use for games content clearly state that you can post videos or other content of their games but cannot make money off advertising from it. This is quite the opposite of Mojang’s view. They encouraged people to make videos of Minecraft and allowed people to make money off their game this way. It’s the reason Minecraft got so big. Well hopefully Minecraft will stay exempt from Microsoft’s current terms of use for gaming content.

Personally I think if Microsoft was smart about it, they will let Mojang continue to run its own way. And hopefully something cool comes out of this.

Novindus – DJ, eSports Writer, (#BlameNovindus)
Personally I do not know what to think about this change, minecraft has never been hugely important to me and frankly I don’t think it ever will be. I personally dabble in Minecraft and I respect the reasoning behind the sale. Microsoft’s acquisitions paint an interesting picture and a rough path to this day and it will always be that way in my opinion. So if Microsoft leave Mojang to do their thing and simply supplement their staff and budget then I’m all for this change, if not then it is not a huge loss to me. Personally I just want to see people satisfied and positive about the change instead of grabbing their pitch forks before the winds have risen.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments!

Seems that the rumours were true. Today Microsoft, Mojang and Notch himself have all confirmed that Mojang now belongs to Microsoft.

In a blog post Mojang said “remember that the future of Minecraft and you – the community – are extremely important to everyone involved” before answering a number of the most regularly posed questions fans might have about the acquisition. About the Playstation and other game editions that fall outside of Microsfot’s area or might represent some conflict of interest they said “There’s no reason for the development, sales, and support of the PC/Mac, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4, Vita, iOS, and Android versions of Minecraft to stop”, although they did note that they couldn’t predict the decisions of another company with regards to it. The main reason they were sold up is obviously down to Minecraft and because no one had ever expected it to grow as big as it did upon its original alpha release. Simply, it grew too large for Notch to handle. They also reassured everyone that “Stopping players making cool stuff is not in anyone’s interests.”

Notch himself talked about the deal on his own site, saying that he felt he’d become a ‘symbol’ and that was not what he wanted to be. He described himself as “not an entrepreneur… I’m a nerdy computer programmer who likes to have opinions on Twitter” and said that he wanted to break away from Minecraft so that he could focus on smaller things again, citing that despite leaving the development to Jeb a while back he still got a wave of hatred in the wake of the EULA episode a few months back. He thanked the fans for helping the game to grow but said that despite that he couldn’t be responsible for the game and its grown community anymore. He said that even though now Microsoft technically owned Minecraft that it’d always belonged to the community more and that the deal was less about the money but his own sanity at this point.

Microsoft issued a press release as well to announce the deal saying about the game “Minecraft inspires millions to create together, connects people across the globe, and is a community that is among the most active and passionate in the world.” They then talked more about how Minecraft added some diversity to their portfolio of titles and that “we see great potential to continue to grow the Minecraft community and nurture the franchise.” They also said that they planned to continue with making Minecraft available to all the platforms it is currently on.

The news will probably come as a shock to some, or you might be in favour of this development. The future for mojang and Minecraft though is as of yet is unknown.

Mojang “Yes, we’re being bought by Microsoft”: [x]
Notch “I’m leaving Mojang”: [x]
Microsoft “Minecraft to Join Microsoft”: [x]

Despite gamers being somewhat more mainstream and not as ‘weird’ as in the past few decades, we’ve kind of gone out of focus as the subjects of documentaries exploring the lives of “this strange group of human” who is in some way “other” to the “average person” (notice my sarcastic quotation marks). Unless the documentary maker wants to rehash the age old “video games make you violent” argument.

However, FilmNova have made a docufilm entitled An Alternative Reality: The Football Manager Documentary that will have a limited one-night-only showing at a handful of cinemas across the UK some time next month. So maybe there is still something worth looking at.

According to Sports Interactive’s Miles Jacobson, “The documentary isn’t our story—it’s the story of the people who escape to the alternative reality of being a football manager, and the effect this has had on their lives. …But it’s not just for people who play—it’s also for people who’ve ever wondered why others spend so much time escaping into this world.”

This could hopefully be a documentary that aims to truthfully portray why people game as they do, using a simulator series that maybe isn’t out there in our faces a lot but has been and continues to be quietly successful under the vast and colourful scene that is the lively gaming community. I’ve even played some Football Manager in the past (the 2003 version), and for myself, my younger brother and my Dad it was a chance to play a game together. We voted on decisions, we rotated players, we purchased improvements for the stadium and we did this for hours. It sounds strange, but it was an activity we enjoyed doing together and the fond memories I have of those times makes me hope that the documentary will be fair to the players.

The docufilm will be shown at these Vue cinemas on the night of Tuesday October 7th. And only that night. So if you want to see it, better get making plans…

• Aberdeen
• Birkenhead
• Birmingham Star City
• Bolton
• Bristol Cribbs
• Bury the Rock
• Cardiff
• Cheshire Oaks
• Doncaster
• Edinburgh Omni
• Fulham
• Gateshead
• Glasgow Fort
• Islington
• Leeds Light
• Manchester Lowry
• Oxford
• Piccadilly
• Plymouth
• Portsmouth
• Reading
• Sheffield
• Swansea
• Watford
• Westfield White City
• Westfield Stratford

In today’s digital-distribution rich gaming environment a physical boxed copy of a game is becoming a rarity or at least not the sole consideration upon releasing a game. An indie game usually would never bother with one for example.

However Subterranean Games have managed to gain enough interest in their top-down dungeon simulator game to allow for the release of the digital copy AND a special edition boxed copy named the Underlord Edition. The Underlord Edition will come with the game, a soundtrack, a digital artbook, and two additional dungeon themes in-game to tempt players to consider purchasing the physical version of the game.

The boxed copy will be released thanks to Subterranean’s partnership with Sold Out, a UK-based company that is also responsible for other boxed copies of games that includes Snipe Elite III. Their Sales Director James Cato said of the project “Subterranean Games’ massive success with its Kickstarter campaign underlines the powerful desire that exists out there for the next big dungeon management game. The team has put an unbelievable amount of time, effort and passion into making sure War for the Overworld will more than satisfy that demand – and we’re delighted to be able to work with them to bring together a special edition which will retain pride of place in any collection.”

The initial Kickstarter for the game, which took place at the beginning of last year was funded about £50k over its target and has since been proceeding strongly. War For the Overworld takes cues from many games, including Dungeon Keeper which it is often considered to be a spiritual successor to.