There’s been a few solutions to the issues of multiplayer cheaters in games, but much of them like Valve Anti-cheat, Punkbuster and so on are software solutions. They can be coded around. Now, there’s a hardware solution to the problem being suggested.

Game:ref is the name of a prototype piece of hardware that can be connected to a PC to help detect cheats. The way it works is that it reads incoming data from your mouse and compares it to the data of what’s taking part in game to see if they match up, if they don’t then it knows there’s a good chance its caught a cheater. The makers claim that it is able to catch 100% of input-based hacks.

At first you wonder what good it is to have an anti-cheat device that only the cheater can see the feedback from, but then you consider tournaments and realise that there this could be a good thing if it works as well as it’s claimed to. If all computers were fitted with one and use was mandatory to take part, it’d give faith that all players were probably playing fairly.

The device is going to be open-source, with the idea of making collaboration with developers much easier. The project is planning to come to Kickstarter soon, hoping to raise the money to get the prototype turned into a real product.

I only hope it is as accurate as they say, otherwise it could cause a lot of confusion.

Here at Sanitarium.FM Towers, many of us have long believed that the reign of Flash was over and that use of Flash applets on the internet would soon die out. Youtube’s latest announcement may have just guaranteed this eventuality by hitting it where it hurts, as Google announce it is dropping it as a standard video delivery format for Youtube in favour of HTML5.

HTML5 has long been heralded as the natural successor to Flash, as its presence as a standard all modern internet browsers strive to follow removes the need for external plugins; making it both more efficient and better supported across all of today’s most relevant platforms – especially smartphones, some of which do not come with Flash support at all, but which DO have HTML5-capable browsers. HTML5 will also become the default delivery method for videos streamed using Safari 8, Internet Explorer 11, Chrome and the latest versions of Firefox.

However, just being capable of showing video out-of-the-box and on more devices, with less requirements than Flash doesn’t seem to have been the only reason for the move. On the YouTube blog, YouTube Engineering Manager Richard Leider said that HTML5’s adoption of adaptive bitrate (ABR) technology, which allows YouTube to dynamically alter video quality to suit the bandwidth available, was the real nail in the coffin for Flash support; as previously this was a capability of Flash alone. With HTML5 now able to adjust quality on the fly, videos should load quicker; and users should find themselves staring at a “buffering” icon much less often than before.

Moving to HTML5 will also allow YouTube to use the VP9 codec, which will allow 4K HD quality video running at 60FPS on capable hardware. Combined with WebRTV support for easy sharing of videos and video broadcasts, Flash’s days may well finally be numbered. And that’s a win-win for everyone – except the technology’s owners, Adobe, who no doubt are having an urgent meeting as we speak.

After writing off unsold stocks of previous models and causing numerous jokes about whether profit would ever surface for Surface, Microsoft’s most recent earnings report seem to suggest the company’s fortunes are finally turning around. Microsoft claim that its Devices and Consumer group’s revenue grew 8 percent year over year in the last calendar quarter of 2014, thanks in no small part to healthy Surface and Xbox sales. Though Microsoft refuse to reveal exact shipment numbers, revenues from Surface Tablets are said to have increased by 24% from Fiscal Quarter 2 in 2014 compared to this year – which Microsoft credits, as you may expect, mainly on the popularity of the Surface Pro 3.

And as for the XBox? Though the figures are less rosy, they remain still quite healthy. Microsoft state 6.6 million Xbox systems were sold during the rush to Christmas 2014. In the same quarter last year, Microsoft shifted 7.4 million consoles, so this represents a small decline. While last year’s figures were broken down into 3.9 million XBox Ones and 3.5 million XBox 360s, Microsoft refused to offer any such breakdown this year; so it is hard to determine if the decrease is due to reducing sales of the older or the newer consoles – however, all indications suggest the new system represented a significantly larger chunk of sales compared to last year, in part due to the new console’s game selection improving over the last year; as well as aggressive price cuts by Microsoft. Sony was quick to say that it sold 4.1 million PlayStation 4s just during the last month of holiday shopping, so it’s apparent that there was at least a fierce fight between current-generation platforms.

It’s otherwise a mixed quarter for Microsoft, whose total income this quarter shows a rare loss for the company – an operating loss of $243 million. Microsoft’s move to offer Windows licences for free to smaller devices as long as they promote Bing as standard – and a generally slow-moving PC market which hasn’t warmed to Windows 8 OR 8.1 – has cut revenue from Windows licences by 13%; however the promotion seems to have worked as revenues from the company’s online services have mostly mitigated this loss. The main cause of the losses seems to be more down to the costs of both its massive restructuring plan and integrating Nokia’s former mobile team. Speaking of which, Microsoft also appears to have turned around declines under Nokia’s tenure, selling 10.5 million Lumia phones in the last year. All of this points to a company for which a PC Operating System – while still important – may not be as make-or-break as it once was.

If you’ve been experiencing random disconnection with your Xbox One’s controller, there may be relief in site, according to a Major Nelson blog post. The latest preview features a controller update that’s supposed to fix “(stability) issues submitted by customers and preview participants.”

We’re not sure if that means it specifically addresses the disconnection problem, but we’ve asked Microsoft for more info. Meanwhile, the controller will also connect to the Xbox in around two seconds now instead of five, a boon only to the truly impatient. Preview members can get the fix by downloading the console update, then connecting their controller to the console with a USB cable and following the instructions here.

Say goodbye to Club Nintendo. Nintendo’s long-standing loyalty program that allowed people to register their games and consoles, collect points (deemed Stars or Star Points in most territories, although America boringly used “Coins” instead), and spend them to claim exclusive merchandise, will be shut down this Summer after many years of service.

Nintendo have decided to phase out Club Nintendo to make way for a new, more modern loyalty scheme after reviewing its current business strategy; and after user feedback supposedly suggested many were dissatisfied with the current service – which makes sense, given that complaints were often made by users on the need to fill in a survey for EVERY game and console redeemed on the service to claim the stars and the annoyance this often caused. Part of the reason for the move may also be down to the belief that the service failed to catch on to a widespread audience in territories outside America, although this was not mentioned by Nintendo.

North Americans will have their service phased out first: Products released after January 20th will not contain registration cards; and from March 31st all Club Nintendo members will not be able to register any products or collect coins at all, nor will any new members be accepted to Club Nintendo. The Club Nintendo program shuts down in North America on June 30 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time and all Coins will be deleted when Club Nintendo accounts are closed on July 1, 2015.

As for those of us in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, we have been granted a little more time to prepare for the phase-out, with the removal of registration cards in new products delayed until after April 1st. The schedule for these regions is described by Nintendo thus:

April 1st 2015: From this date, Nintendo will no longer include product registration cards with its packaged products, so such products cannot be registered in Club Nintendo. You may still find product registration cards in products that were in stock before this date, however.

 

April 20th 2015: Termination of the registration of digital products downloaded from Nintendo eShop. Digital products obtained from Nintendo eShop after this date will no longer appear in the My Registered Games & Systems page in Club Nintendo. In addition, surveys for download software titles will no longer be available.

 

September 30th 2015: End of Club Nintendo programme. All Club Nintendo features, such as signing up as a new member, logging in as a registered member, earning Stars, and exchanging Stars for items from the Stars Catalogue will no longer be possible from this date.

Nintendo are so far saying little about the service that is planned to replace Club Nintendo, though state the company expects to share more information about the new scheme and its launch date in the near future. What is known however is that it will exist as a service completely separated from the old Club Nintendo system; and thus no data is being moved over. Therefore, in order to encourage users to use up their remaining Star (or Coin) balances before the service expires, dozens of downloadable games and “a limited quantity of exclusive reward items” will be added to the catalogue before its termination.

As an added incentive, the company plans to give out a new version of Flipnote Studio – Flipnote Studio 3D – for free to existing Club Nintendo members. Club Nintendo members in North America will receive a free download code for Flipnote Studio 3D in February 2015 automatically, most likely on launch date; for other regions, Nintendo state the code will be available as a welcome bonus for members who sign up to the new loyalty scheme in the first few weeks following its launch, with full details to come at a later date.

As a result of the closure, Nintendo have announced that the soon-to-be-released “New Nintendo 3DS” handheld consoles cannot be registered to Club Nintendo. These, it appears, will be rolled into the new system instead. However, Nintendo 3DS games – including those intended mainly for the New Nintendo 3DS – may still be registered if they have been or will be released before the registrations cards are phased out.