Four Player Co-op 01.18.12: X-Box hacking, Gaming backlogs, SOPA, More

Posted by Stephen Randle on 01.18.2012

Has the month of huge releases left us backlogged on completing major games like Batman: Arkham City and Skyrim? Has Microsoft responded appropriately to the Xbox Live hack? Is SOPA finally dead and gone? The 411 Staff debates these topics and more in this week's 4PC!



Adam Larck has joined the game.
Todd Vote has joined the game.
Dan Watson has joined the game.

Quizmaster

Greetings, and welcome to another edition of Four Player Co-op, the game that's funkier than a Funkasaurus. Which is impossible, but we do it anyway. I'm the Quizmaster, they are my willing test subjects, and this is where we see what their opinions are. Then I mock their opinions.

Start the game!

QUESTION ONE: Apparently there's somebody who, after somebody hacked his X-Box Live account, spent some time trying to figure out exactly how it might have happened. Well, long story short, he may have found a way, using X-Box.com and a script to avoid the dreaded CAPTCHA anti-bot tool in order to give himself unlimited tries at figuring out passwords. This has been replicated by other sources, but Microsoft says there's nothing they can do because such "brute force" attacks are an industry-wide problem that apparently nobody can truly prevent. Now that the issue is out in the open, is Microsoft's stance the correct one?

Adam Larck

Sometimes, honesty just isn't the best policy. Microsoft is trying to be honest here saying that hacks on passwords like this will always happen. However, at least give the appearance of trying to figure out what's going on. Honestly, though, what bugs me the most about this is the amount it's happening. They call it industry-wide, but you don't hear Sony or Nintendo or a lot of other companies having this problem right now, do you? This seems to be something deeper in Microsoft's network that seems to be amiss, and Microsoft needs to at least do a bit more digging before just throwing out a statement.

Todd Vote

Hell no Microsoft's stance is not correct on this. Nothing they can do because the attacks are industry wide. If they are industry wide, that should drive the ENTIRE industry to do something about it. Don't just sit back and throw your hands up. That's practically telling the hackers that they win. They can change the way the set up the security settings, there are plenty of things that can be done, I'm sure of it.

Dan Watson

This has kind of been my outlook for a while. The reason is because if there is a will there is a way. Every company can say they have the best security and it may be but there is a reason that every year Norton has a major update and you are to update your security files every week. If there was a system that was perfect at preventing these issues, someone would find a way to break it. I think Microsoft has the right idea here, saying listen, we respect these guys (hackers and such) enough to not even challenge them in hopes of them moving on to other companies. Classic idea of play dead when a bear is attacking.

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Quizmaster

Adam gets 60 points for the answer I'm looking for: whether or not they can fix the problem, is it too much to ask that they at least pretend to try? What are we paying them for, anyway?

Well, I'm not paying them, I don't have an X-Box. But my point is still valid!

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QUESTION TWO: A new world record has been set for fastest perfect Pac-Man game, as the previous holder beat his own record by just over 55 seconds. Which gets me to thinking about a long-obsolete video game concept: points. Every video game, whether it made sense or not, used to have point totals and related high score lists, a holdover from the arcades. When you think about it, it really made no sense because there wasn't even an Internet to share scores on easily, you had to take photos and send it to gaming magazines to try and get recognition. Now it's all "Achievements" and "Trophies", half of which can be earned without even trying. Do you ever miss the old ways?

Adam Larck

We still have the old ways in most games. Sure, you don't have to take a photo and send it in, but online leaderboards have essentially replaced that feature with high scores. You can always tell the cheaters in the bunch due to how outlandish the score may be compared to the next few spots, but there are still plenty of people you can compare yourself and compete against. Honestly, though, high scores have never been a big thing for me, except in Pac-Man CEDX. Normally I just try to beat a game and move on, because that's really all I have time for anymore.

Todd Vote

Not really, no. I honestly cannot ever think of one time that I played a game with the intention of trying to get high score. When I had the old green monster of a Gameboy, even playing Tetris, our competition would be based on number of lines deleted, not overall score. Besides, you said it yourself. Bragging rights now fall on trophies and achievements. That is the new high score, and I am okay with that.

Dan Watson

I do not miss the old days. Could someone explain to me why points in Mario Bros. even mattered? Sure it was great for competition against friends or family that would come over but the only part that is really sad is you cannot put your name as Azz or Fuk or Tit anymore. Instead we have these crazy gamerstags like Sk8r4life or Gngbng1. In the end I just don't miss the old days of points or anything like that.

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Quizmaster

Todd loses 823 points for preferring achievements, because when I can earn a trophy for reaching the next chapter in Final Fantasy, I can't help but feel like I didn't really earn it. The points in Mario Bros may have made no sense, but at least you had to do something more than watch twenty minutes of cutscenes.

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QUESTION THREE: The last few months have been huge for gaming releases, and between the sheer volume of AAA titles and the hectic nature of the holiday season, you'd be lying if you didn't admit that you have a backlog of games lying there, needing to be finished, or even started. So, where's your gaming backlog at?

Adam Larck

I'm still on Skyrim, but no surprise there. I've beaten Saints Row: The Third and Sonic Generations. However, progress is still being made on Arkham City, MGS Collection, Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary and even Dead Island. Will I beat all of these games before the next flood of games? I doubt it. But, the only good thing I have going is that there doesn't seem to be a huge list of games on my list this year that I'm looking forward to.

Todd Vote

I do have a backlog, but believe it or not it is not holiday related. I didn't get any gaming related gifts this year outside of a points card from my brother. My backlog is more due to me not being able to move on to a new game just yet. I have the campaign of Battlefield 3 waiting for me, as well as Assassins Creed 2. But they are more waiting because I am still playing WWE '12, and until recently was hooked on Saints Row: The Third.

Dan Watson

It is too deep to really say (that's whats she said). I have gone back to Batman: AC to finish riddler trophies and such as well as New Game Plus and challenges. In addition, Halo, MGS, Hunted, tons of arcade games, Battlefield, and about fifteen or so other games. I haven't even opened up half of them. Hell, Deus Ex still is only about 10 minutes into it for me. I have a ton of games to get back to and hopefully beat while we are in this slow point. However, in about a month I will be at it again with Twisted Metal coming for the PS3.

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Quizmaster

My extensive backlog is held up by the fact that The Old Republic exists, but does contain finishing Uncharted 3 and Arkham City, and starting Bastion, which I've heard nothing but good things about and picked up during the Steam sales. Everyone who didn't use a Michael Scott joke in their answer gets 2361 points.

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QUESTION FOUR: It's another slow week in gaming news, aside from the startling number of game companies, as well as the Office of the President of the United States of America coming out against SOPA. While I know almost nothing about the American political system (other than it's totally screwed up), I'd say that pretty much leaves SOPA dead in the water, doesn't it?

Adam Larck

On the House side, they have said that SOPA is being shelved for now, so I call that pretty much dead for now. Sure, the Protect IP Act is still going in the Senate side, but I see that stopping soon. Honestly, this is a big win for gamers, but it's also a big win for the general public due to the huge restrictions this would have put on the internet in general. I can understand trying to stop piracy, but the law needs to be limited before trying to be presented again.

Todd Vote

Not necessarily. It just means SOPA is going to have to go through some changes before it finally passes. It could be the end if SOPA, but I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see it stick around for some time trying to get approval.

Dan Watson

Man, Stephen you must live in a magical world where what a leader says matters. SOPA is still alive and well in the US. Our President is a lot like the Trix Bunny or Tony the Tiger, he is a visual representation of our product in this case our country. With that said, it really doesn't matter what he agrees with or disagrees with. Our citizens are more focused on trying issues like where the President was born and how many of the President's family members are US citizens. This country has become a joke and it starts with its politics. Nothing really is getting fixed ever and it really feels like we are getting worse off. Can I come move in with you?

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Quizmaster

Sorry Dan, I'd help you if I could, but we're trying to cut down on the number of desperate people streaming over our southern border looking for a better life. Maybe we should build a wall…

Nah, that'd just be silly.

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BONUS QUESTION: Ladies and gentlemen and Todd, I present to you, from Planet Funk, the Funkasaurus.



Any thoughts?

Adam Larck

Well, I'm glad to see Brodus Clay finally make his appearance, and his theme is even amusing enough to kind of harken back to what they did with Rikishi and Mark Henry at one point. However, for now I think you can pretty much write him off as being in contention for any type of title anytime soon. WWE doesn't really like these weird characters as representatives for titles, and until they drop him as the Funkasaurus and try to build him up some other way, he'll just be a gimmick character that will probably be seen more on Smackdown.

Todd Vote

When I first saw this last week, I was completely blown away, and not in a good way. I couldn't believe that they just ruined Brodus Clay that way. They had a potential monster heel on their hands, and they turned him into the groovy love child of Ernest Miller, Flash Funk, and Man Mountain Rock? Then he wrestled, and I'll admit I laughed at the way he would just blurt out random shit like "Did I do that?" Then, I read some of the thoughts of the great writers over in the wrestling zone, like The Wrestling News Experience, and they helped me realize that the 'E is already doing the monster heel thing with both Kane, and Mark Henry. So while I don't think this gimmick has a lot of staying power, it looks like Brodus is going to make the most of it, and I am willing to see where it goes.

Maybe this will be some way to make Johnny Ace look like a bigger tool when Brodus gets mad about the crappy gimmick and blames it all on Ace wanting to be more "exciting, and awesome". Brodus gets pissed about crap, and we could have a Monster Face on our hands. Could work, I suppose.

Dan Watson

Really? This was one of the biggest wastes of talent I have ever seen. Remember the Godfather? Ya this is nothing as good as the Godfather. Remember all the other big guys that had joke gimmicks...me neither none of them ever get pushes until they get pissed off and turn on the fans and go to a generic pissed off large monster. See Mark Henry's current push or previous runs by Big Show. These "crowd" favorites end up wasting everyone's time and then when they turn it gets good. This was a total waste of a decent build. I wonder what option A was before going to this.

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Please wait…Host is calculating scores…

HIGH SCORE

QUIZMASTER WINS
I CHANGED AN OPINION WITH MY WRITING!
EVEN IF IT WAS ONLY TODD'S!
COME BACK NEXT WEEK TO TRY AGAIN

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