‘FIFA’ hackers guilty of ‘mining’ $16 million from EA

We tend to think of ‘wire fraud’ as a white collar crime perpetrated against a banking institution, but in a world with virtual currencies and online marketplace, the reality can be a bit more complex. Take the case of Anthony Clark, a 24-year-old man from Whittier, CA, who was found guilty of a conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He didn’t defraud a major US bank — he and three others mined $16 million worth of FIFA Coins from EA Sports’ popular series of soccer games.

This isn’t the first time there have been legal charges surrounding the EA games’ digital currency — earlier this year some popular YouTube streamers got in trouble for violating the UK Gambling Act by creating online lotteries with FIFA Coins. Compared to this hacker group’s efforts, however, that was almost nothing: According to the Justice Department, Clark and his team created software that tricked EA’s servers into thinking their accounts had played thousands of FIFA Soccer matches in seconds, causing the game’s normally small FIFA Coin payouts to be multiplied exponentially. Over time, the group sold these ill-gotten winnings on secondary coin markets for millions.

The feds closed in on Clark and the rest last year, seizing money, cars and a house, before things ended this week when a jury convicted Clark on one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The rest of the group pleaded guilty earlier, and all four are currently awaiting sentencing. Check out the Justice Department’s official statement for more details.

Source: Department of Justice

‘Uncharted,’ ‘Firewatch’ dominate The Game Awards nominations

The Game Awards show has made it a point to recognize more than just the usual blockbuster hits, and it looks like that will remain true when the 2016 ceremony takes place on December 1st. Geoff Keighley’s outfit has unveiled its nominees for this year, and there’s a healthy mix of triple-A titles and indies. It won’t shock you to hear that big names like Battlefield 1, Doom, Overwatch, Titanfall 2 and Uncharted 4 are up for multiple awards, of course. However, smaller projects like Inside (up for game of the year), Hyper Light Drifter and Firewatch make up a large chunk of the selections.

Both Firewatch and Uncharted are particularly notable given how thoroughly they dominate the acting, art and storytelling nominations, in some cases picking up multiple nods in the same category. It’s not completely surprising. Both games not only have distinctive visual languages, but go out of their way to create nuanced characters that have lives beyond their immediate adventures.

The 2016 picks are also noteworthy for the sheer range of categories. There are nominees for the best VR game, eSports player, eSports title, fan-made content and trending gamer (think YouTubers like Jacksepticeye or Danny O’Dwyer). The show this year is as much a reflection of gaming’s zeitgeist as it is pure talent — we’re just wondering whether or not there will be any shocking upsets among the winners.

Source: The Game Awards

Your Fitbit stats will earn you a boost in ‘NBA2K17’

The act of logging your steps with an activity tracker is good for meeting personal goals, but what if there was another use for hitting that target. Well, starting November 25th, tallying 10,000 steps with your Fitbit device will help improve your NBA2K17 gaming sessions. Next week, logging said number of steps in a day will earn you a temporary boost to your MyPlayer in the game to offer better on-court performance.

2K and Fitbit see the tie-in as a way to keep their users active in the real world by offering some virtual incentives for physical activity. When the feature goes live next week, Fitbit owners will need to connect their activity tracker with NBA2K17 on Xbox One or PlayStation 4. After doing so, your step total will start counting towards the aforementioned in-game boost.

Once the 10,000 step goal is met, the game will alert you to apply at +5 boost to attributes and success rate to your MyPlayer for the next five games you play that day. We’re talking enhanced performance for things like agility, layups and dunks, and more. It may be a small incentive, but hey, it’s a little more than bragging rights among your friends.

‘EVE Online’ is now free-to-play

After over 13 years of paid subscriptions, EVE Online’s recently revealed free-to-play experiment is now live. In a bid to boost its dwindling player base, CCP’s latest expansion allows both new and existing players to explore the EVE universe for free.

This new pricing model is known as Clone States, and is the headline addition to the game’s latest expansion, EVE Online: Ascension. New players will automatically start off as “Alpha Clones,” with free access to all of EVE’s world, though they’ll be limited to to certain skills and spaceships. Pilots who want the complete EVE Online experience can opt to pay the $10 (£7) a month subscription, upgrading their player state to “Omega Clone,” unlocking the game’s full gamut of skills and spaceships.

One aspect of the expansion, called “Inception,” offers a “revised new player experience,” promising fully voiced mentor characters to ease players into the game, as well as a greater emphasis on story and large scale space battles. Thankfully for long-time players, the new pricing model and a few revisions to the existing gameplay aren’t all that this expansion brings. Ascension also provides players with new sandbox features, buildings, management tools, ships and more immersive ship customization, and let’s not forget the all important space explosions .

With EVE Online infamous for sparking wars that cost players hundreds of thousands of real-world dollars in damages, there’s never been a more wallet-friendly way to dip your toes into EVE’s all-consuming universe. After years of losing players, CCP will be hoping this new way to play does enough to change EVE Online’s fortunes — with the alternative being an Evolve-like fall from grace.

Source: CCP