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A second breach of Sony's internet security? [Updated]

Larry Everett — Mon, 02 May 2011 18:20:00 EST

Filed under: MMO industry, News items, Miscellaneous

We have all heard that Sony's PlayStation Network was compromised nearly two weeks ago. The online services for the PlayStation 3 have yet to recover or come back online since the incident. This morning, Sony's PR director Patrick Seybold claimed that there was no truth to the rumor that credit card information was stolen by hackers. However, SOE cautioned gamers to be vigilant nonetheless.

It has now come to light via Nikkei.com that there was a reported second security infraction in Sony's gaming network. Nikkei claims that nearly 12,700 credit card numbers were stolen from Sony Online Entertainment this past Sunday in a second attack. As we reported this morning, all SOE sites have been brought offline because of "an issue that warrants enough concern for [SOE] to take the service down effective immediately," according the the site.

Michele Sturdivant, a spokeswoman for Sony, countered this allegation in The Wall Street Journal. "We temporarily took down SOE's services as part of our continued investigation into the external intrusion that occurred in April," Sturdivant affirmed. "This is not a second attack."

[Update: SOE has posted a security update to The Station.com. "We are today advising you that the personal information you provided us in connection with your SOE account may have been stolen in a cyber-attack. Stolen information includes, to the extent you provided it to us, the following: name, address (city, state, zip, country), email address, gender, birthdate, phone number, login name and hashed password." The notice further suggests that "information from an outdated database from 2007 containing approximately 12,700 non-US customer credit or debit card numbers and expiration dates (but not credit card security codes) and about 10,700 direct debit records listing bank account numbers of certain customers in Germany, Austria, Netherlands and Spain may have also been obtained" but that the "main credit card database" was not compromised in the attack. It appears this is part of the larger PSN attacks and not a separate security breach.]

A second breach of Sony's internet security? [Updated] originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 02 May 2011 18:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PlayStation Network credit card info appears to be safe: 'No unauthorized activity relating to Sony'

Justin Olivetti — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 17:30:00 EST

Filed under: MMO industry, Legal, Miscellaneous

It looks like the beleaguered Sony finally caught a break. The company, which has struggled for over a week following a hacker attack that stole massive amounts of player information, says that it looks as though user credit card information remains secure and encrypted. It turns out that Sony had encrypted some personal info but not all of it.

Gamespot also reports that several financial companies, including MasterCard, WellsFargo and American Express, have witnessed "no unauthorized activity relating to Sony."

Sony's Patrick Seybold passed along the positive news: "The entire credit card table was encrypted and we have no evidence that credit card data was taken. The personal data table, which is a separate data set, was not encrypted, but was, of course, behind a very sophisticated security system that was breached in a malicious attack."

Sony's PlayStation Network is still offline while it's rebuilt with a higher level of security. The company saw its shares drop 4.5% today on the Tokyo exchange to $27.71.

PlayStation Network credit card info appears to be safe: 'No unauthorized activity relating to Sony' originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 28 Apr 2011 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Stinkweed and stars: Wizard101's latest update improves the quality of life

Justin Olivetti — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Patches, Free-to-play, Wizard101, Family

Budding magicians will find Wizard101 a friendlier and more colorful place following the recent February update to the game. Topping the list of additions are two new castles: a cash shop-only tropical island and a craftable Celestial Observatory. The Observatory represents a truly monumental undertaking for the crafting set, although some would argue that the result is well worth the time spent on it.

The update's other major focus is on smoothing out some of the lumpy bits of in-game gardening, which now should be much more user-friendly for those with green thumbs. We can safely speak for everyone when we say, "Thank goodness that Stinkweed now grows faster!"

Wizard101's also started a membership program for anyone who uses a credit card for their subscription during the previous 30 days. As a reward to players who use this form of payment, KingsIsle will refill their energy faster, increase the size of their backpacks, expand their friends list, and quicken their hatching and crafting timers.

You can read the full update notes over at Wizard101.

Stinkweed and stars: Wizard101's latest update improves the quality of life originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 01 Mar 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Daily Grind: What's your preferred payment method?

Tateru Nino — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 08:00:00 EST

Filed under: Opinion, The Daily Grind

Credit cards (including debit cards), Paypal, Microsoft Points, game-time cards. Every payment method has its positives and negatives. As a famous and profitable social-media personality, you probably have more dollars in your Paypal account than you do on your credit card. You can get a Paypal debit card for that, that you can use pretty much anywhere you'd use regular plastic.

Microsoft Points or game-time cards? They've got definite advantages - you can buy them when you've got a little extra cash in your account, and use them when you need them rather than getting awkwardly billed on the very day of the month your mortgage payment is due (two days before you get paid each month - oh, yes. We've been there!)

Given a variety of payment options, how would you prefer to pay for your MMOG subscriptions, if you had the choice?

The Daily Grind: What's your preferred payment method? originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 01 Oct 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Paul Barnett predicts the decline of future asset-heavy MMOs

Brooke Pilley — Tue, 26 May 2009 19:30:00 EST

Filed under: MMO industry, Opinion

Mythic Entertainment's Creative Director for Warhammer Online, Paul Barnett, was recently interviewed by Ablegamers and had some interesting things to say about the current state and future of online gaming and asset-heavy MMOs.

To illustrate why he thinks online games are becoming much more mainstream, Paul uses a personal and generational example. His mother is hesitant to buy anything on credit because her generation believes credit is evil. Paul himself is wary of online purchases because of the potential for fraud and identity theft. His son, however, believes there is little difference between buying something online and buying something from the corner store.

He also talks about the iPhone generation and how he believes asset-light games that provide shorter bursts of fun are going to have the widest appeal moving forward because they're cheap, mobile, entertaining, and disposable.

Established asset-heavy games may not see a huge initial decline, but he does predict a decline in the start-up of these types of games because they are extremely costly and require large teams to make. They are also traditionally geared more toward a heavy investment of player time. If asset-heavy games are to continue successfully, Paul believes they'll have to allow for more flexible "time control."

[Via: When casual can get too casual]

Paul Barnett predicts the decline of future asset-heavy MMOs originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 26 May 2009 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Daily Grind: Will that be cash, credit, or...?

Krystalle Voecks — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 08:00:00 EST

Filed under: Business models, Opinion, The Daily Grind

With as many people as are concerned about credit card fraud these days - or who just don't want to run up a credit card bill at all - there are all manner of ways to pay for MMOs. Sure, we've had game time cards for a while now, which are really handy for those who prefer to go month-to-month rather than recurring. You have debit cards, but those work pretty well the same as credit cards; Visa logo and all that. Another option recently added to the payment plans for some MMOs has been PayPal, which is great for those who like to use online payments but like an extra layer of security. And in terms of interesting ideas - EVE Online players have the option of turning their hard-earned (or ocasionally easily-swiped) ISK into game time codes through player trades handled on the EVE website. These are by no means the extent of it when you look at options people have around the world.

With that, this morning we figured we'd ask - how do you prefer to pay for your MMO subscriptions? Are you into monthly subscriptions, do you head out for the game time cards, or perhaps you prefer paypal? Is there a system out there that you wish the gaming companies would look into? Do you look forward to the day when you can walk into a store and just swipe your cellphone to pay for things too?

The Daily Grind: Will that be cash, credit, or...? originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 18 Jan 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Linden Lab misuses Reuters employee credit card

Tateru Nino — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 07:00:00 EST

Filed under: News items, Second Life, Virtual worlds

What's worse than having a service provider slap a fat charge on your credit card that's not supposed to be there? It's having it happen a second time, after they've assured you that your credit-card details have been expunged from their records.

News agency Thomson Reuters employee, Evan Maloney, is in just that position in his evocatively titled email to the public regapi list "Linden can't be trusted with your credit card information". Maloney's been slapped with the US$500 fee for the Reuters Second Life surname not once, but twice. Last time it took many weeks to sort out -- Maloney isn't eligible for customer support, not being a premium account -- so trying to reach someone at Linden Lab via the mailing list seems to be his primary support option for getting things fixed.

Continue reading Linden Lab misuses Reuters employee credit card

Linden Lab misuses Reuters employee credit card originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 03 Dec 2008 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PlayNC store expands payment options by adding PayPal

Matt Warner — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 21:00:00 EST

Filed under: Business models, MMO industry, News items

NCsoft wants to make it easier for their PlayNC shoppers looking to buy one or more of the following MMOGs in their stable: Tabula Rasa, CoX, Guild Wars, and other digital-boxed goods. They've gone so far they are now accepting PayPal as a payment option. PayPal has a variety of different payment and transfer methods linked to one's PayPal account. The new payment option is only available for digital code purchases and not NCcoin or subscriptions. Support for Euros and British pounds will be added tomorrow.

The pay-to-download business is booming, more and more MMOG companies are taking advantage of alternative non-credit card payment options. It sure beats driving down to the local big-box store.

PlayNC store expands payment options by adding PayPal originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 01 Jul 2008 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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RuneScape dev: buying MMO gold is like funding prostitution

Mike Schramm — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 21:00:00 EST

Filed under: Game mechanics, MMO industry, Making money, PvE, Opinion, RuneScape

And not just because somebody gets screwed. No, RuneScape's Imre Jele tells Eurogamer that gold trading is like prostitution because the worst part of it isn't necessarily the problem itself (most games can deal with gold trading in their economy), but all the other problems that come along with it-- gold farmers, illegal purchases, and so on. Jele says that stolen credit cards are often used to buy gold, and we've all heard of the working conditions and pay of many gold farmers out there.

Jele also says that he's taken steps to stop the gold trading by making unbalanced trades illegal in his game, and has called out other industry players to do the same. But finally, he lands on the real matter at the heart of the problem-- we have to aim at the reason players want to cheat in the first place. If you make games fun, says Jele, players won't need to cheat at all. We're not quite sure exactly how the prostitution metaphor holds up in there, but he has a point.

[Via gamesindustry.biz]

RuneScape dev: buying MMO gold is like funding prostitution originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 06 Feb 2008 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Turbine is holding your credit card hostage

Mike Schramm — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 16:44:00 EST

Filed under: Lord of the Rings Online, Business models, Economy, Legal

MMOCrunch has a customer service horror story up about trying to get their credit card info back from Turbine. After Mike canceled his Lord of the Rings Online account, he tried to get his credit card information off of Turbine's servers, but they told him that if he did that, he would never be able to play his copy of that game ever again. They told him that once he "deactivated the account," he would never, ever be able to reactivate it again.

Now, there aren't that many companies out there that will actually delete your credit card information and let you keep your account-- I'm told that NCSoft will let you "remove card" from your account, but that's pretty much it. So Turbine's inability to remove the card from the account isn't surprising. What is surprising, however, is that by deactivating your account, they remove the ability to ever play with that disc's key again. Turbine's LotRO EULA says nothing about canceling your account, either, although it does say that if they "are unable to verify or authenticate any information you provide to us," then they can "terminate your license to the Software."

But whether it's legal or not, what's the point of spending $50 on a game disc when, after canceling your subscription, that disc becomes a coaster? Not cool for Turbine to break the game you paid for just because you'd like to keep your credit card information as safe as possible.

Turbine is holding your credit card hostage originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 01 Nov 2007 16:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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