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[4/7/13] - HF News

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The edition you are currently reading is the 137th full edition. To read any older editions of HF News, please go here.

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Aprils Fools Filled With Trolls
First off, Happy April fools from the News Team. It looks like we got a lot of you with the last edition of the news, though, we didn't expect the amount of flame we received towards the Writ3rs, especially the News Team. A lot of people didn't really see it as a joke and started to criticize our work. All jokes aside, we aren't going anywhere; not for a long time at least. We enjoy what we do, and we do it all for fun. We don't get anything in return for publishing our articles in the HF news each and every week. 

Official Empire group owner Tibit also pulled an April Fools joke. Tibit claimed that they were closing and selling The Empire to former staff member bugga. It looks like this was done because a lot of people didn't like how bugga moderated the forum, so they thought it would be a great April Fools prank. You may read the official thread located here: http://bit.ly [WARNING: potentially infected]/ZEJaTq.

Official group Graphics Masters also pulled quite an amusing Aprils Fools prank. They posted a wall of graphics that were meant to look terrible. The "Graphics Masters | Show Case can be found here: http://bit.ly [WARNING: potentially infected]/Y3G4sY. 

Site owner Omniscient had also pulled a prank. There was a green notification in the header of Hack Forums which guided people to read their PMs. The PM was allegedly sent out from the Hack Forums server, and took awhile for people to receive as there were so many members to send it to. A lot of people didn't receive it and this still remains a mystery. The official thread posted by Omniscient may be read here: http://bit.ly [WARNING: potentially infected]/10BNrdK.

All YouTube Awards Granted
Site owner Omniscient has announced that all YouTube awards have finally now been granted. Omniscient also said, "If you have not gotten the award please PM me the original data. But I must see the upload date for the video between Dec 28, 2012 and Jan 1, 2013. Otherwise you will be denied the award.". Omniscient claimed he gave out around 350 YouTube awards which took hours upon hours of work. He doesn't think he will ever do something like this again. It took him about three months to finish all of the awards, but he did it, so we can be thankful he didn't throw it under the rug. If you would like to see the official thread, feel free to do so by clicking here: http://bit.ly [WARNING: potentially infected]/14L0D4h.

Hack Forums Member #Skyline Makes the Australian News Headlines
Well known Hack Forums member #Skyline has made it into the Australian News headlines. As most of us know, #Skyline spends a lot of time around Remote Administration Tools. A reporter from one of the most popular news sources, The Sydney Morning Herald, asked #Skyline if he would like to be interviewed on Remote Administration Tools, and he agreed to do so. The reporter did an interview over Skype, which to our knowledge was the method of communication. The article is titled "How hackers can switch on your webcam and control your computer".. You can read the article on "The Sydney Morning Herald" by clicking here: http://bit.ly [WARNING: potentially infected]/XZyPq7.

New Sponsored Products and Services Forums
Two more sections have been added under New Sponsored Products and Services Forums. These include, Grim Booter & Grim API with the forum description: "Grim Products - Providing top notch quality at a fraction of the cost." This sub-forum is owned and moderated by DeltaDude. The second sub-forum purchased this month goes by Cyber-Software with the forum description: "Cyber-Software products, software that fits your needs." This is owned and moderated by Prince of Persia. For those interested you may purchase your own sub-forum for a current fee of $300 per month. You can read more here: http://bit.ly [WARNING: potentially infected]/YQQe0b.

HF MRT Pulls a Massive Troll
RDCA and T3h Hack3r claimed they have been working with Avast for over a year now, and claimed they have done so undercover and under the spotlight. They also claimed they released information about stressers, and took a lot of products on Hack Forums down with the excuse that these tools were being overly abused by members. They said, "We have targeted several HF products, and released information as to the location of these so called 'stressers'. These are tools which are constantly being abused." Needless to say, they got a lot of people and claimed they targeted sticky products on the marketplace. Unfortunately it being April 1st, a lot of people had a feeling that was a troll. Good effort RDCA and T3h Hack3r. You may read the official thread here: http://bit.ly [WARNING: potentially infected]/ZETmv2.

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User News
Cody8295, Tando and Eternal‎ ‎‎ hit the 1,000 reputation mark. Congratulations.

Repfucks
Bans
Awards
  • #Sultan received the Master Donator award.
  • #Sultan received the Ninja award.
  • amus3d received the Turkey award.
  • Vazity received the Master Donator and The Alien awards.
  • Teh Afro received the Master Donator, Cool and Brony awards.
  • Froggy received the Speaker of the House award.
  • adampelletgun received The Protector award.
  • Astonish received The Hustler award.
  • Odin the Wanderer received the Mad Scientist award.
  • Plaтiпuм received the Gamer award.

Group Leadership Changes
  • KyleWTF is no longer a leader of The Empire

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Vіnnie - THIS IS NO APRIL FOOLS TROLL - #SKYLINE IS A HACK3R L0L
Vazity - [❤] Vazitys Birthday Contest [❤] Multiple Prizes [❤] All Members [❤] 8th of April [❤]
PinkBow - If you had $2,000,000 and you can to buy just 2 items.
 

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Interview - D3xus (Click to View)

Interview - Vazity
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Minecraft 2.0
Last week Mojang announced a major release titled Minecraft 2.0, a "2-years-in-development game which would revolutionize blocky simulators." This announcement was, of course, made on April Fool's day however the joke was very well played out; Mojang asked select youtubers, such as each member of the Mindcrack network, to release a video showing Minecraft 2.0 in action. They even made a fake Minecraft 2.0 client to elaborate on the joke! The fake change log which was released on Mojang's website is huge, with ridiculous changes such as 'ultra realistic 4D graphics' and 'turn based PVP' which can only be fought with captured monsters. Although this joke was ridiculously overdone, many Minecrafters fell for it; although this might be due to the fact that much of the Minecraft community is under twelve years old. To read more about Minecraft 2.0, click here.

Griefing Section: New Moderator and Crackdown on Trolling
Omniscient recently posted a thread titled "LQP Crackdown on Trolling" in which he addressed the huge amount of trolls in the griefing section. He said the griefing section was no place for LQP and that staff would ban anyone trolling in that section for a week without warning. In hopes of reducing the amount of trolls and increasing the quality of posts, Emylbus was promoted to moderator of the griefing section. When asked about the position, Emylbus said, "I've only been in the position for a few days, but I think people would agree that the extra attention of a second dedicated moderator has only improved the section and hopefully has lessened the work for the staff. I do find myself handling a lot of trolls (this is the griefing section after all and that's what we specialize in) and low quality posters, however I feel that I have been saved the worst of it due to the massive crackdown Omni led on the section a few days before I was promoted." It seems as if our new moderator along with Omniscient's statement have drastically increased the quality in the griefing section.

Planet Beacon: Chadlana falls apart
Chadlana, which was previously one of the biggest and most prominent factions on Planet Beacon, was recently disbanded. This all happened in a matter of minutes over a dispute between bugga and another member. Tozza (otherwise known as Phytrix), who was a very active player on HackerCraft and the owner of Wolves, recently rose from the dead and decided to log in to Planet Beacon. Phytrix was added to Chadlana as well as a Skype call with various Chadlana members; because of her history with Phytrix, bugga wasn't happy. She left Chadlana along with TheHackersLove and Judge Dredd. The trio joined Rogue, leaving Chadlana disbanded. The rest of Chadlana split apart, with most members joining either Conspiracy or TheCompany.

Featured Server of the Week: ScavengerCraft!
This week's featured server is Scavenger Craft! Scavenger Craft is an extremely active PVP server, peaking at around 400 players each day. It features a great economy, factions, a mob arena, spleef, and more! To join, log into scavengercraft.com or play-sc.net

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New Xbox "always-online" Sources + Twitter Drama
New source reports and disappointing Twitter drama you must read. Microsoft's upcoming Xbox is back in the spotlight with fresh "always-online" drama. Sources claim that the next-generation console will require an internet connection to boot-up. A source contacted Kotaku explaining that if the connection goes offline for more than three minutes, any game or application will be suspended, which means you may be greeted with the Xbox dashboard. "Unless something has changed recently, Durango consumer units must have an active internet connection to be used," the source said. After this information shed light, Microsoft Studios creative director Adam Orth argued against the drama with "always-on" internet connection. Adam on his personal Twitter account account (which was recently set to private after the drama), argued "sorry, I don't get the drama around having an 'always on' console. Every device now is 'always on'. That's the world we live in. #dealwithit". "Did you learn nothing from Diablo III or SimCity? You know some people's internet goes out right? Deal with it is a sh***y reason," replied BioWare gameplay designer Manveer Heir. "Electricity goes out too," said Orth in response. "The mobile reception in the area I live in is spotty and unreliable. I will not buy a mobile phone," Orth said as a joke. What is going to happen now? No one knows, however the next-generation Xbox should be announced within the next two months, where the "always-online" situation will finally be dealt with.

The spoiler contains images from Adam Orth's Twitter.
(Click to View)

Battlefield 4 Release Date Revealed...?
Xbox.com slips up sometimes and reveals things that shouldn't be revealed until a later date. Xbox.com may have revealed the Battlefield 4 release date - it was briefly published before quickly taken down, however these short reveals don't go unnoticed and it seems Battlefield 4 will launch on October 29. It was a post on Xbox.com by games editor, Denny Atkin, where he said "Only in Battlefield can players go through a building instead of around it, eject from a jet and take out the enemy mid-free fall, or flip a tank.. DICE, a studio of Electronic Arts, announced that Battlefield 4 will arrive on the Xbox 360 on October 29, 2013." October 29th is a Tuesday which is the normal day games are released in North America. Gamers are going to get very excited, as this is the same date as the release of Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag. We are still waiting for EA to "officially" announce the release date, however this date seems very promising. 

GTA V Boxart Revealed
Rockstar have officially revealed the boxart for their highly anticipated game, GTA 5. It was revealed through the official Rockstar Twitter account, however photographs emerged earlier in the week with a GTA-like cover being painted on a brick wall. Rumours started popping up saying that it was the boxart for the game, and those rumours were right. The cover follows the GTA-boxart tradition with black lines and carefully selected images within. Grand Theft Auto is out on September 17th. You can view the official GTA 5 boxart in the spoiler below.
(Click to View)

Mortal Kombat Komplete Edition Hitting Australia
Australia was recently granted the R18+ rating in January, meaning games could have been re-rated to be launched in Australia. Warner Brothers announced the Australian release date for Mortal Kombat Komplete Edition. The game will hit shelves on May 1st for the Xbox 360 and PS3 consoles, and will retail for $39.95 (a very cheap price when compared to other games, normally being launched at $90-$100). Mortal Kombat was rated as R18+ by the Australian Classification Board for "high-impact violence, blood, and gore". Mortal Kombat was one of the highest profile games to be banned in Australia by the classification board because it was unsuitable to have the maximum M15+ rating. Australian gamers were stoked that the R18+ rating finally hit, and games that were not allowed are now being accepted.

Minecraft PC Hits 10 Million Purchases
Mojang have announced the PC version of Minecraft has now sold over 10 million units. Jeb, the lead designer, tweeted the huge miltestone and he also hinted that horses will be coming in a future update. He tweeted a picture of a horse, which may be a main feature in Minecraft 1.6. The announcement comes after the developer for Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition said the XBLA game has sold more than 6 million copies since launching last year on the Xbox LIVE Marketplace. Mojang also said it will consider porting the game to PlayStation.

Black Ops II Uprising DLC Confirmed
Activision confirmed the upcoming Black Ops II DLC pack, Uprising. The DLC will hit the Xbox LIVE Marketplace on April 18, however it will be available on other platforms later (no date has been announced for other platforms). Uprising will include four new Multiplayer maps (Encore, Magma, Vertigo, and Studio) and a new Zombies mode called "Mob of the Dead" where players will be taken to the iconic island prison of Alcatraz in San Francisco, California. Uprising will be FREE for season pass holders or it will be available separately for $15 dollars.

Upcoming Xbox 360 Game Releases
Apr 16, 2013 - Injustice: Gods Among Us
Apr 16, 2013 - Painkiller: Hell & Damnation
Apr 23, 2013 - Dead Island: Riptide
Apr 23, 2013 - Star Trek
May 14, 2013 - Metro: Last Light
May 21, 2013 - Resident Evil: Revelations
May 28, 2013 - Fuse
May 28, 2013 - GRID 2

Video of the Week
This week's video comes from the popular MrTechnicalDifficult, where he makes another kid rage on Black Ops II. You can submit video ideas by messaging MarkMare.



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Italy Promises to Pay Debt
The Italian government has announced that it would repay 52 billion dollars to private firms. The payments are going to take place over the span of a year. Italy's Prime Minister, Mario Monti, said that the debt was "an unacceptable situation that has been accepted for a long time." The decree has been somewhat concerning for the European Union, but the Prime Minister eased worries by saying, "Economic policy is not changing course, and we don't believe that to revive the economy you have to create more public debt," The Italian government has eased their target debt-to-GDP ratio from 1.8 to 2.9. The Economy Minister explained, "We have to follow a path between the two requirements: to help our economy to recover ... and to maintain budget discipline."

Kansas Enacting Pro-life Bill
On Friday night, both the Kansas strongly republican House of Representatives and Senate house passed a bill that strongly restricts abortion rights. The bill defines the beginning of life at conception. It sets a lot more restrictions such as banning abortions on basis of the fetus' gender and not allowing employees of abortion clinics to give sex education. In the event that the bill is actually enacted, it will be only the 8th state to define life as beginning at conception. Elizabeth Nash, state issues manager of the pro-choice Guttmacher Institute "It's a statement of intent and it's a pretty strong statement...should the U.S. Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade or should the court come to some different conclusion, the state legislature would be ready, willing and able to ban abortions."

Five Egyptians Die After Religious Clash
In a city near Cairo, a fight between Christians and Muslims left 5 people died and 8 injured. Out of the 5 deaths, 1 of them has been identified a Muslim, and the 4 others were identified as Christian Copts. In the incident, Christian businesses were vandalized, a Christian daycare was set ablaze, and a Muslim's apartment was burned down. The catalyst of the event seems to be Chistian children writing religious text on a Muslim institute wall. Mahmoud Mahmoud al-Alfi, a Muslim, said, "I saw the kids drawing on the wall after afternoon prayers so I grabbed them and told them to remove what they'd just written." The situation turned hotter when another person came onto the scene and started assaulted the children. After that, another man shot one of the boys--killing them.

China Slaughters Birds
In a poultry-trading area of Shanghai, the Chinese State has killed over 20,000 birds as a result of a odd, deadly strain of the bird flu killing 6 individuals. The government also closed the Huhai agricultural market on Friday morning. The virus has been said to be the  H7N9 avian flu virus. Researchers looking into the virus found a strong similarities between the virus found to be killing individuals and the virus that has been found in the birds.

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Apple
Today a rather popular iOS application known as AppGratis, was removed from the App Store mysteriously. Originally intended to provide news letters and up-to-date information on the current deals of other applications, this application turned for success rather quickly. Evolving from just an idea, the developers behind the application had gotten together with other popular iOS developers and offered free popular iOS applications for only 24 hours, helping the developer get their applications known. Hours after removal, an Apple spokesman had presented the reasoning for the removal of the application with the following:
Apple Spokesman Wrote:2.25: Apps that display Apps other than your own for purchase or promotion in a manner similar to or confusing with the App Store will be rejected;
5.6 Apps cannot use Push Notifications to send advertising, promotions, or direct marketing of any kind.
No further word has been said about fixing this conflict with Apple. -Source

Microsoft
As all gamers are aware, Microsoft's next gaming console is said to be an updated version of the Xbox 360, known as the Xbox 720. Originally rumored to be announced on April 24, the date for the new gaming console has been moved to May 21. The device will not be shown to the public until the official E3 Event in Los Angeles this summer. Rumors about the console are saying that the device will be an 'always on' game system, meaning internet connected will be required at all times. An unknown source has also said that the Kinect, an optional add-on for the current Xbox 360, will be a mandatory addition to the Xbox 720. The source has said that the Kinect must be connected, and calibrated in order to work properly.

Google
Google has been communicating with a company widely known for its social projects, WhatsApp. For about four to five weeks now, the two companies have been talking about the Mobile Application known as "WhatsApp". Rumors are said that Google has been planning to purchase the application for a price just passing 1 billion US$. WhatsApp has been used on all mobile devices, Android, iOS, Windows, and BlackBerry to make instant messaging easier for users. The application eliminates SMS fees, along with cross compatibility issues for other devices.

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Daft Punk
Electro band Daft Punk have started a video series detailing how fans, friends and family have been a major factor in their latest release Random Access Memories.  
Some popular dance musicians such as Giorgio Moroder have been reported to call Random Access Memories 'a step forward in dance music.'

The album (which was released on the 17th of May) is one of the best dance tracks the duo have released and can be bought from the iTunes Store here

James Blake and File Sharing
Singer/songwriter James Blake has stated to The Guardian newspaper that he harbours no ill feelings towards people who download his music for free.
In a quote made to The Guardian, James stated:  "My label (Universal) is hoping that on 8 April you'll do the right thing and click the 'Buy' button. You should see what they're doing online just to get people to look at the 'Buy' button. I'm starting not to care, to be honest."
Although he acknowledges that Internet piracy is harming the music industry, he hopes people will still buy his -and other musician's- songs.

Chis Brown's New Albums True Meaning
Rapper Chris Brown has released a statement giving away the much-anticipated meaning to his CBE label acronym. Chris has stated that his label has multiple meanings, the most obvious being 'Chris Brown Entertainment', but also having other meanings such as:
Culture Beyond Your Evolution and/or Culture Beyond Your Experience

When thinking on the label name, Chris said,
"I always use the metaphors and the different meanings. I like to be weird like that,"  

Music video of the week
(Click to View)

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This is basically my own little corner to type up my thoughts and some standpoints on different topics.
I have mixed feelings about the results of our April Fools prank, but I do still feel as though it was a success.

I would also like to thank everyone that messaged me and posted their sorrow on the thread, as well as those who messaged me their gratitude for the HF News.
I will share it with the HF News team.

<3
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"Is there anything you'd like to say to the HF News team?"

"As secluded in your one little section as you appear, you all
provide a great service to the forum by documenting and reporting
the goings on of our community. The news articles are always great
to read, and a real pleasure. That said, I wish a few things would
change about the news... I wish that people wouldn't be so uptight
about the layout of posting in the news submissions section. I wish
that some sections of the HF news would be removed because I
believe so few people read them (Perhaps this calls for a poll?), but
most of all, I wish HF News would stay. I don't believe at all the
DMCA, but if HF News were to disappear for any reason, I would
proudly be the first to say that I miss them greatly."

-Valderino

"The news team on HF does an extraordinary job at
keeping events on HF summarized, and understandable for the
user-base, regardless of whether you're a new member, or you've
been here since the beginning. I feel that the effort a lot of the
Writers in the news put in is impeccable. I respect each member of
the Writers team, especially Sir being the leader."

-Kray

"HackForums has been open to such a diverse set of people, and
has succeeded. One set of wonderful, intelligent, and skilled people
are the HF News team. They have succeeded in writing news for
years now, and have made it something that the members of HF look
forward to every week. My credit and condolences go out to the
HF News team. You have made HF a much more open, interesting
and fun place. With your closing comes great sadness for me and
other members. If I had one thing to say, it would be: Thank you,
and goodbye."

-McDork

"Its sad to hear that the news team will be no more.
Find it kind of stupid how they claimed the news system under copy
right violations. I enjoyed the news, it kept me informed with what
was happening around HF. Plus I really enjoyed the gaming news
section the most, me being a gamer and all. Farewell, you will be
missed."

-Skwillex

The topic for next week is "What did you think of all of Hack Forums' April Fools pranks?"

To send in your entries for the next edition, PM Sir.



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HF News Team
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Excellent edition.

I just woke up so it's a good way to start the day.
Very nice edition, been waiting for this.
(Jul 23, 2022 12:45 PM)Cuthbert Wrote:  You haven't addressed a single argument without resorting to sophistry and satire. Blaspheming the Lord is sending you straight to Hell and if you get intoxicated with marijuana you're most likely going to suffer even more in Hell.
Finally a new addition! Time to get my reading glasses!
I was waiting for this, thanks. Reading it now.

Edit: Very nice edition! Good job on it.
I've really been looking forward to the new edition.

Thanks Sir :)
Very nice looking edition, Going to start reading now :P
Great edition as usual:) I really liked the GFX this week.
Thanks Sir!

Starting to read right now!

Below is me cracking down on grammar. Please, if I get something wrong, call me out on it! I love to get grammar wrong, as that means I inherently learn something!
Spoiler (Click to View)
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I don't recall getting an April Fool's PM. What did I miss out on?
Wow, I feel dumb now lol. Didn't realize it was an April Fools joke. :(

More news! Great edition, as usual.
Great edition of the news. This was an enjoyable read. Great job, News team!
Great edition. Good job guys. I was seriously fooled by the April Fools prank.


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