Welcome to Beyond Co-Op, a weekly piece that talks about industry stories that may or may not be related to co-op gaming! We like to take a look around the industry and see what news and links may interest you in the world of gaming.
This week we are featuring stories about:
Can Hacker's get credit card details off used Xbox 360s?
GAME Saved?
IGN Round Up Playstation 4 Rumors
Can Hacker's get credit card details off used Xbox 360s?
Drexel University have discovered what they believe to be a major fault with Xbox 360s that allows hackers access to information on supposedly wiped HDDs. This means that anyone trading in or selling an old 360 may actually be providing their bank details that were supposed to be deleted.
Researcher Ashley Podhradsky said:
Microsoft does a great job of protecting their proprietary information, but they don't do a great job of protecting the user's data. I think Microsoft has a longstanding pattern of this. When you go and reformat your computer, like a Windows system, it tells you that all of your data will be erased. In actuality that's not accurate - the data is still available... so when Microsoft tells you that you're resetting something, it's not accurate.
Microsoft has already replied to these allegations:
We are conducting a thorough investigation into the researchers' claims. We have requested information that will allow us to investigate the console in question and have still not received the information needed to replicate the researchers' claims. Xbox is not designed to store credit card data locally on the console, and as such seems unlikely credit card data was recovered by the method described. Additionally, when Microsoft refurbishes used consoles we have processes in place to wipe the local hard drives of any other user data.
We can assure Xbox owners we take the privacy and security of their personal data very seriously.
Whether the allegations are true or false, questions over security are always worrisome, let's hope Microsoft know what they are doing.
Source: Eurogamer
GAME Saved?
The parent company behind electronic company Comet have agreed terms with various banks to save the ailing UK retail chain GAME. 333 stores are going to be saved and discussions have already started with various publishers to get the newest games back in the stores.
Richard Wilson of the trade group TIGA welcomed the news, but suggested that GAME would need to diversify and improve their online services:
It's important for the company to change to consumer spending habits, and it's really vital that GAME also appeals to video game developers. Many video game developers in the UK are of course selling online as well. GAME is going to have to change its strategy but that doesn't mean it's impossible, and the fact that Game has got this new backing behind it, this new management, I think that's all for the good.
Source: CVG
IGN Round up Playstation 4 Rumors
The start of April 2012 has brought two things; loads of annoying April Fools and rumors about Playstation 4. It’s the weekend and Co-Optimus is far too busy playing games to round up all these rumors. Luckily then that IGN have already done so! The round up includes potential cost, CPUs and even what games may be released: Next Gen Naughty Dog game anyone?
Let's hope they have changed the design of the controller ...
Source: IGN