In today’s news story about how companies increasingly own your data, a judge has ruled in favor of video game publisher 2K, which was being sued because two guys didn’t like the idea of having their facial scan data kept on servers indefinitely. This case would have been a lot more interesting if there wasn’t an EULA involved and went beyond the mere issue of proving damages, as it could have been an opportunity to see what the judge really thought about how far companies may go in terms of keeping sensitive data such as biometrics. Funny enough, the game did a crappy job of duplicating your face to begin with.



Take-Two was hit with a lawsuit in October 2015 over the “MyPlayer” feature of its NBA 2K series of games. To create avatars, the system uses cameras connected to PS4 and Xbox to scan the gamer’s face and head. The process takes about 15 minutes, and gamers doing this have to agree to terms and conditions noting that the face scan will be visible to others. Afterward, Take-Two allegedly stores the biometric information indefinitely on its servers. In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs claimed the company had failed to obtain their informed consent. They alleged not fully understanding Take-Two’s practices with respect to biometric information upon purchase and not having any recourse to return the game once they did. Even if they could get back their money, the suing gamers say that Take-Two failed to inform them in writing how the facial scans would be retained and disseminated.

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Source: [H]ardOCP – 2K Beats Lawsuit Over Biometric Face-Scanning

Out with the old, in with the new—especially if the old didn’t perform that well. I feel like it was just yesterday that I was pondering getting the Zelda: Wind Waker bundle, but I am pretty sure I will not bother at this point. The original story was that the Wii U was only terminated in its home county, but Gamespot got a spokesperson to admit that the system is being killed off globally. Nintendo is obviously shifting all their attention to the Switch, which is supposedly seeing a boost in production to meet pre-order demands…



…Nintendo confirmed last year that Wii U production would end soon in Japan. At the time, Nintendo also said that, as of November 2016, it had sent all of its Wii U shipments to North American retailers for the current fiscal year, which ends in March 2017. It’s no secret that the Wii U has come up short. The system, which went on sale in November 2012, has sold 13.56 million units around the world as of December 31, 2016. This compares to more than 101 million units sold for the Wii. The Wii, of course, was a massive, global hit, and matching that success was always going to be a challenge for the Wii U.

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Source: [H]ardOCP – Nintendo Has Killed The Wii U

Those of you with CD Projekt RED forum accounts better check this story out, as 1.8 million accounts have allegedly been leaked from the site. The compromised information includes usernames, emails, and passwords—although there is some “good news,” in that the latter was encrypted. Interestingly, the developer did post about this predicament back in December, but some folks are mad because it was “tucked away” in a sub-forum. There is also the fact that the hack supposedly happened way before that, in March 2016…



Polish game development studio CD Projekt RED has had more than 1.8 million user credentials stolen from its online forum, according to data breach notification website ‘Have I Been Pwned?’. The studio, which is famous for developing the highly successful Witcher franchise, was breached in March 2016 when hackers targeted its online forum, leading to a leak of usernames, passwords and email addresses. Those signed up to notifications through Have I Been Pwned? were alerted to the breach by email this morning, with users recommended to change their passwords “immediately.”

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Source: [H]ardOCP – Witcher 3 Dev Forums Hacked, 1.8 Million Accounts Stolen