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E3 2017: The Last Night revealed, shows off an incredibly stylized Cyberpunk world GameZone With all of the big game announcements that were made at Microsoft's E3 2017 presser, a little game called The Last Night debuted in what is perhaps the most stylish trailer of all. The Last Night is described as a post-cyberpunk cinematic platformer ...

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E3 2017: The Last Night revealed, shows off an incredibly stylized Cyberpunk world - GameZone

A designer on The Last Night, one of the buzziest indie titles shown during Microsofts E3 2017 press conference yesterday, has become the subject of an escalating backlash on social media, as Twitter users dig into some of his more political past tweets.

Tim Soret is founder of Odd Tales, which is working on the cyberpunk action game. Following The Last Nights debut trailer during the Microsoft presser, those familiar with his social media presence resurfaced several of his tweets dating from 2014 to April of this year. These posts included references to anti-feminist ideals and identity politics; most notably, Soret expressed sympathies for the hate-mongering GamerGate movement during its height in 2014.

The Gamergate people are for journalistc integrity, honest debate, transparency, inclusiveness, & egalitarianism [sic], Soret wrote in September 2014, in one of the tweets that prompted the most discussion.

Im against feminism, because its getting more and more skewed, he tweeted just before that, in July 2014. I am for egalitariasm [sic]. I dont care, boy, girl, alien.

In response to celebrity scientist Bill Nyes new Netflix show, Soret said this past April that injecting identity politics under the cover of science, it's not gonna end well.

As screenshots of Sorets tweets circulated across Twitter, some whod been excited about The Last Night began to express serious reservations. The games premise, as described on its Steam page, further stoked their ire.

Stabilised by universal income, people struggle to find their calling or identity, and define themselves by what they consume, rather than what they create, it reads. Players assume the role of a man named Charlie, who finds himself disaffected in this technological, socialist dystopia.

In response to the growing discontent, Soret posted a series of messages saying that hed changed his stance.

Controversy time, he wrote in the first of three tweets. That's fine. Let's talk about it, because it's important. I completely stand for equality & inclusiveness.

In no way is The Last Night a game against feminism or any form of equality, he continued. A lot of things changed for me these last years. The fictional setting of the game does challenge techno-social progress as a whole but certainly not trying to promote regressive ideas.

We reached out to The Last Nights publisher, Raw Fury Games, Sunday night about Sorets tweets. The company responded with a lengthy statement later that evening:

We at Raw Fury believe in equality, believe in feminism, and believe everyone has a right and chance at the equal pursuit of happiness. We would not be working with Tim Soret / Odd Tales at all if we believed they were against these principles in any aspect.

The comments Tim made in 2014 are certainly surprising and dont fit the person we know, and we hope that everyone reading this who knows us at Raw Fury on a personal and professional level knows that we wouldnt tolerate working with someone who portrays the caricature of Tim going around the internet right now.

The wording of his statements toward feminism in 2014 was poor, and his buying into GamerGate as a movement on the notion that it represented gamers against journalists was naive, but in the same year he also cheered the rise of women in gaming. In a similar situation as the one happening now, folks on the IdleThumbs forums found questionable tweets and Tim took it upon himself to address them. What came from that was a dialogue where different viewpoints were considered and debated in a purposeful way.

Here is a link to everything including his tweets, his response, and the response of the forum; we hope youll take the time to read through it.

Side note: Debating Anita Sarkeesians efforts toward highlighting sexism in the games industry is touchy, and though Tims post back then was naive we felt that he wasnt being malicious like so many others have been to Anita in the past, so we share all of this with the hope people can see that first hand. We understand that no matter what there will be people who will not look at Tim the same again and we respect that, too.

A lot can change in three years, including viewpoints, and Tim has assured us that The Last Night does not spout a message steeped in regressive stances. We trust Tim and know that he is an advocate for progression both in and outside of our industry, and we hope that this will be apparent moving forward.

A representative for Odd Tales also told Polygon that the studios relationship with Raw Fury Games and Microsoft has not been affected by the outrage.

Weve contacted Microsoft about Sorets tweets and the backlash, and will update when we hear back.

The Last Night is set for a 2018 release on Windows PC and Xbox One.

Update: Soret apologized for his past tweets while talking about The Last Night onstage at the PC Gaming Show.

I want to apologize for those [tweets], Soret said. They dont in any way represent where I am today or what The Last Night will be about.

A Microsoft spokesperson told Polygon, We dont support comments that fail to reflect our commitment to diversity and inclusion, which are part of our everyday business and core values.

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Designer of cyberpunk indie The Last Night speaks out as Twitter history causes stir - Polygon

By Ms. Smith, Network World | Jun 11, 2017 7:50 AM PT

Ms. Smith (not her real name) is a freelance writer and programmer with a special and somewhat personal interest in IT privacy and security issues.

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With E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) starting this week, we can expect a flood of gaming news. It remains to be seen if the person or people trying to extort Polish game developer CD Projekt Red will choose this week to leak stolen Cyberpunk 2077 game files.

Instead of staying quiet about an extortion attempt, CD Projekt Red, the developers behind The Witcher 3, got out ahead of any potential leak by tweeting:

An unidentified individual or individuals have just informed us they are in possession of a few internal files belonging to CD PROJEKT RED. Among them are documents connected to early designs for the upcoming game, Cyberpunk 2077.

A demand for ransom has been made, saying that should we not comply, the files will be released to the general public. We will not be giving in to the demands of the individual or individuals that have contacted us, which might eventually lead to the files being published online. The appropriate legal authorities will be informed about the situation.

The documents are old and largely unrepresentative of the current vision for the game. Still, if youre looking forward to playing Cyberpunk 2077, it would be best for you to avoid any information not coming directly from CD PROJEKT RED.

When the time is right, you will hear about Cyberpunk 2077 from us officially.

The developers posted the same notice on its Cyberpunk 2077 forum.

Cyberpunk 2077, which has been in the works for years, was first announced in 2012. Its supposed to be an RPG set in the open world of Night City. The game is based on the cyberpunk role-playing game Cyberpunk 2020. CD Projekt Red said it was working closely with Mike Pondsmith who wrote the original pen-and-paper game. In 2013, a teaser video was released.

But since then, CD Projekt Red released The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. The wildly popular 2015 release is a fantastic game and it apparently changed everything for developers.

When you release a game like The Witcher and create the expansions, the perception is not the pre-Witcher 3 expectation, CD Projekt Red co-founder Marcin Iwinski told Eurogamer. The bar is higher and its externally and internally as well.

I cannot talk about plans but we have to adjust to it and also adjust our own ambitions, Iwinski added. If CD Projekt Red releases a new game and it is not better than Witcher 3, people [will say], Hmm, wow, why is it not better? Witcher 3 set a certain bar and we definitely cannot go lower. Its always about improving and making new, pretty stuff, [and] storytelling games and mechanics and what not.

With that in mind, its not entirely impossible that the stolen internal documents about Cyberpunk 2077 would have little to do with the direction CD Projekt Red took the game after the Witcher 3 release. The documents may indeed be old and largely unrepresentative of the current vision for the game as the developer claimed.

The developers did not say what the blackmail amount was, when or how the game material was stolen. Earlier this year, The Witcher fans received breach notifications after the CD Projekt Red forum was compromised. About 1.9 million CD Projekt Red accounts were exposed; the developers said the accounts came from an old database which was compromised in March 2016.

One of my first thoughts was wondering if The Dark Overlord hacking group was involved; the hackers who were responsible for leaking 10 new Orange Is the New Black episodes after Netflix refused to be extorted. But after releasing unaired episodes of ABCs Steve Harveys Funderdome, most of the groups tweets revolve around A Business A Day which has so far involved dumping records from doctors and dentists unwilling to be blackmailed. So far, theres no mention of CD Projekt Red.

It remains to be seen if whomever is responsible does follow through and leak info related to Cyberpunk 2077 and if that will happen amidst all the gaming news which pour out this week from E3.

Ms. Smith (not her real name) is a freelance writer and programmer with a special and somewhat personal interest in IT privacy and security issues.

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Witcher 3 developers won't bow to extortion for stolen Cyberpunk 2077 files - Network World

Now Playing: GS News Update: Cyberpunk 2077 Design Documents Are Being Held For Ransom

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Documents related to the development of Cyberpunk 2077, the upcoming game from The Witcher developer CD Projekt Red, have somehow found their way out of the studio. Now, they're being held for ransom, with someone (or some group) threatening to release them if CD Projekt doesn't pay up.

The developer revealed this news in a message posted on Twitter today. It describes the documents as "a few internal files belonging to CD Projekt Red. Among them are documents connected to early designs for the upcoming game, Cyberpunk 2077."

"A demand for ransom has been made, saying that should we not comply, the files will be released to the general public," CD Projekt's message continued. It said it has contacted the authorities and does not intend to pay the ransom, which it acknowledges might result in the files making their way online. It did not say what the ransom entails.

"The documents are old and largely unrepresentative of the current vision of the game," it said. "Still, if you're looking forward to playing Cyberpunk 2077, it would be best for you to avoid any information not coming directly from CD Projekt Red."

It's a somewhat bizarre situation, as it's not often that leaks manifest themselves in this way. One of the more famous leaks in the industry involves Half-Life 2, which saw its source code leaked following a Steam hack prior to the game's release. This also led to the public release of a playable version of the game. Valve would later attempt to lure the hacker into being arrested by the FBI under the guise of a job interview, though he was first arrested in Germany.

Little has been shared about Cyberpunk 2077 since its announcement; you can see a 2013 teaser trailer above. The RPG is slated for release on PC, PS4, and Xbox One at some point in the future. CD Projekt Red's message concludes, "When the time is right, you will hear about Cyberpunk 2077 from us--officially."

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Cyberpunk 2077 Design Documents Being Held For Ransom, CD ...

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Why it matters to you

If you're looking forward to Cyberpunk 2077 and want to dissuade this sort of action in the future, if and when the documents are released, don't look at them.

CD Projekt Red (CPR), the developer of The Witcher series and founder of GOG.com, has shrugged off blackmail attempts by hackers who claim to have stolen documents relating to its still-in-development gameCyberpunk 2077. The nefarious individuals have demanded a ransom, which CPR is refusing to pay, according to USGamer.

Inspired by the pen-and-paper RPG with a similar name, Cyberpunk 2077 is the next game being developed at CPR. While it has been in production for some time, much of it is still shrouded in secrecy. No doubt the person or people behind this hack are banking on the developer wanting it to stay that way. CPR, however, is not playing ball and has gotten ahead of the problem by announcing the blackmail publicly.

It released a statement on Twitter highlighting that the ransom demand had been made, but stated categorically that it would not be paying it.While those behind the attack have threatened to release the internal documents if that is the case, CPR claims that they are not representative of the final game.

Due to thedevelopers stance on the matter, there is a possibility the documents will see the light of day. If that turns out to be the case, CPR urges anyone interested in playing Cyberpunk 2077to not view the documents, lest it spoil portions of the game for them.

When the time is right, you will hear about Cyberpunk 2077 from us officially, CPR said in its statement.

Cyberpunk 2077 has no specific release date yet, though a funding application to the Polish government suggested a potential 2019 debut. When it does arrive, however, it will support Windows PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4.

More recently, CPR has been focusing on the launch of its digital card game, Gwent, which could provide real competition for giants of the industry, like BlizzardsHearthstone.

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Hackers threaten CD Projekt Red with stolen Cyberpunk 2077 ...

Well, this is interesting. Cyberpunk 2077 is the next game from CD Projekt Red, developers of the beloved The Witcher series. We don't know much about it other than the fact that it will be released before the end of 2021, vague as that promise may be. However, it sounds like we might see some illegally procured information about the game in the near future.

This news comes straight from CD Projekt Red, with the company Twitter account addressing the issue matter-of-factly in a prepared statement.

In short, someone stole internal files about Cyberpunk 2077 and asked for a ransom, lest they be publicly released. CD Projekt Red decided the leaked assets aren't worth giving a payout to some hackers and won't be complying. Legal action may or may not follow depending on how things go, but in the meantime, you should understand that any leaked materials you see represent an older, less refined version of the game than what exists now.

Video game developers usually wait until after leaks have come out before they address them, and that's only if they feel like acknowledging the leaks at all. It's a bit unusual for CD Projekt Red to get out ahead of the publication of leaked materials. Maybe this stuff is so unfit for public consumption that CD Projekt really wants you to know not to judge the game by what you see.

Based on the fact that the company released a statement, it seems like this is legit. We'll see if the data thieves decide to release what they've acquired or choose to back down. All we can say right now is this is a very appropriate thing to happen to a game called Cyberpunk 2077.

Check out the latest from Mic, like this essay about the sinister, subtle evils lurking in rural America that Far Cry 5 shouldn't ignore. Also, be sure to read our review of Tekken 7, an article about D.Va's influence on one Overwatch player's ideas about femininity and an analysis of gaming's racist habit of darkening villains' skin tones.

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'Cyberpunk 2077' Leaks: Hackers steal internal files from CD ...

In an incredible moment of transparency and openness, CD Projekt Red have just released a statement that the theft of internal documents and that a ransom is being demanded for them to be kept secret. The company, which is best known for The Witcher series,state that these documents include early designs for the upcoming and long in development Cyberpunk 2077. Further, they state that these documents do not represent their current game designs and that you should wait for official information which will be released when the time is right.

Posting on Twitter, the statement reads as follows:

Dear gamers,

An unidentified individual or individuals have just informed us they are in possession of a few internal filed belonging to CD PROJEKT RED. Among them are document connected to early designs for the upcoming game, Cyberpunk 2077.

A demand for ransom has been made, saying that should we not comply, the files will be released to the general public. We will not be giving in to the demands of the individual or individuals that have contacted us, which might eventually lead to the files being published online. The appropriate legal authorities will be informed about the situation.

The documents are old and largely unrepresentative of the current vision for the game. Still, if youre looking forward to playing Cyberpunk 2077, it would be best for you to avoid any information not coming directly from CD PROJEKT RED.

When the time is right, you will hear about Cyberpunk 2077 from us officially.

CD PROJECT RED Team

Whether through hacking, theft or other means, this is not the first time that a game company has had their work stolen. By far the most prominent instance was that of Half Life 2s source code leaking in 2003, butwith hacking on the rise, themost recent parallel would be how Netflix and a number of other TV and film studios were sent ransom demands back in April.

Either way, good on CD Projekt Red for being so open and refusing to meet the demands of criminals.

Source: Twitter

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CD Projekt Red Defy Ransom Demands For Early Cyberpunk 2077 Design Docs - TheSixthAxis

Metro

CD Projekt RED's Cyberpunk 2077 game has been hacked by real cyberpunks Metro In what may be the ultimate example of life imitating art, the creators of The Witcher 3 are being held to ransom by hackers. Cyberpunk 2077 is intended as the follow-up to The Witcher 3 but almost nothing has been seen of it in public so far, and it's ... CD Projekt Red: Hackers Are Ransoming Stolen Game DataExtremeTech CD Projekt Red Reveals It's Being Blackmailed For Stolen 'Cyberpunk 2077' FilesForbes Cyberpunk 2077 assets stolen by actual cyberpunksEurogamer.net Polygon -Engadget -Twitter all 96 news articles »

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CD Projekt RED's Cyberpunk 2077 game has been hacked by real cyberpunks - Metro

Forbes

CD Projekt Red Reveals It's Being Blackmailed For Stolen 'Cyberpunk 2077' Files Forbes There are few developers more beloved than CD Projekt Red after the release of their epic RPG The Witcher 3, and everyone has been eager for new information about their next project, Cyberpunk 2077. But today, CD Projekt Red took to Twitter to publicly ... Cyberpunk 2077 assets stolen by actual cyberpunksEurogamer.net Witcher dev says Cyberpunk 2077 internal files being held for ransomPolygon CD Projekt Red: Thieves Stole Cyberpunk 2077 Documents, Asked For RansomKotaku Engadget -IGN -Twitter all 74 news articles »

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CD Projekt Red Reveals It's Being Blackmailed For Stolen 'Cyberpunk 2077' Files - Forbes

The most tantalizing predictions of cyberpunk never came true. There are no gangs of cyborgs ruling shantytowns in New York City and there are no corporations larger than the federal government. But the sci-fi subgenre envisions such dystopias being underpinned by something subtler: the state of mans soul when there are no longer limits.

The 1980s provided fertile ground for the piercing new vision of science fiction pioneered by William Gibson and his contemporaries. The global capitalism of Reagan and Thatcher ceded agency from nation-states to nation-agnostic corporations. Less obvious but just as important was the fact that the space race was over and Star Treks naivety was laid bare. Computers, not spaceships, would become the measure of progression towards the future. The sleek, utopian vision of the mid-century futurism was further discredited by soaring crime in urban centers.

Modernity that was once expected to bring matching space unitards instead brought radical self-expression. The overabundance of choice, these authors suggested, leads to decadence, decay and a society where people cant see clearly without losing their humanity.

And so the heroes of cyberpunk are outsidersthe punks to which the genre owes half its name. In cyberpunk, there are no more grand narratives about progress and triumph. Humans have nowhere to go and decay is globalized; this is sci-fi without the comforting thought of alien life. Readers experience an Earth where the concept of place has passed its expiration date. Protagonists, like the megacorporations they tangle with, exist across borders, anywhere being as familiar or foreign as anywhere else. Neon Japanese syllabary studs skyscrapers that loom over the crowded downtowns of American cities. Virtual reality is at once a catalyst and a coping mechanism for social breakdown.

What is an individual to do in the face of such brutal atomization? Why, he takes individualism to its perverse conclusions, William Gibsons Neuromancer suggests. Take the following passage:

His face was a simple graft grown on collagen and shark-cartilage polysaccharides, smooth and hideous.

The novel implies that the character might appear a little later with a completely different face. Self was another uncertainty that had been sloughed off by ceaseless momentum. Even the authors jargon serves to impart a feeling of unfamiliarity.

Were starting to live in a time when such terrible and wondrous things are not only technically possible but socially acceptable. Headlines were made last month over a fetal lamb being grown in an artificial uterus. The creature, invaded with tubes, suckles and kicks inside its bulging, rippling enclosure. The juxtaposition of twitching organism and sterile, utilitarian plastic is simply cyberpunk. Gender is going the way of that thugs cartilage-grown face. Male and female is looking more like Coke and Pepsi, with some opting to make their own artisanal cola blends. As rootlessness moves from exception to rule, obligations to others begin to look like hindrances. It isnt difficult to see how three-parent babies in polycarbonate wombs fit into all of this.

Change is fast these days. We can feel acceleration that was once only perceptible between generations. At the same time, the past is more crystallized than its ever been before. Todays everyman, immersed in a data-sphere orders of magnitude more efficient than any library, can see more clearly than ever that things were different in an ever-familiar past. A world with meaning resolves ever sharper as we speed away from it.

But the left-liberal ethic that was once a vantage point from which the genres founders saw so far is now fogging their sight, restricting them to toiling within the status quo. Cyberpunk has come true in ways that makes progressives uncomfortable if they are unpacked. The genres founders married a criticism of corporations to the dreary aesthetic of rootlessness, but progressivism only offers a critique of the former on its own merits. Take away the violence and grit and you get Brave New World, a world that the gender ideologue cant levy an argument against. Consumerization of the body, reproduction and social relations lost their conspicuous ugliness when they were rebranded as liberation. (Outside of sci-fi, the only major literary figure who tackles these issues, Michel Houellebecq, is painted as a reactionary.)

Gibsons upcoming book, Agency, has a plot one would expect from a lesser author: the future is awful because Trump was elected president. This might seem like a perplexing lack of creativity, but consider the intervening third of a century. Gibson was in the business of scrutinizing Frankensteinization when it was a distant flight of fancy. But becoming a Frankenstein monster of hormones and surgery is here and celebration is mandatory. Dialing down ones own ability to notice things to the level of a Daily Kos commenter becomes a matter of survival. This new subject matter reflects the aesthetics of culture that snapped his leash: lifeless and brutal in its insipid repetition.

Stories motivated by political disappointment are doomed to be forgotten as the election cycle resets. Cyberpunk, on the other hand, is more popular now than even during its literary heyday of the 80s. The blockbuster Ghost in the Shell hit theaters earlier this year and will be followed by a sequel to the seminal Blade Runner in October. Their combined budget probably exceeds that of every cyberpunk film that came before (there arent many.) Cyberpunk 2077 is set to cost around $100 million, making it the most expensive role-playing video game ever made. If we put on our cyberpunk goggles, all of this means something. Capitalism is a computer that processes desire.

Cyberpunk is not becoming marketable because it offers a solution for society. The message is clear that, in face of inexorable rot, the individual loses his sanity or loses his soul. What the genre does offer is a third choice: to view breakneck dehumanization as a roller coaster ride. There is grim exhilaration in the acceptance that an awesome decline cannot be stopped. A future that was once dark and hopeless is now dark and beautiful when one dives headlong into it. Ugliness becomes thrilling and alienation becomes adventure. The homogenous, numbing light of Brave New Worlds dystopia is replaced by the dreamy atmosphere of neon-lit alleys. Sisyphus cant change his fate, but he can refuse to nod and clap, blank-eyed, at the worlds loss of meaning.

Robert Mariani is the opinion editor at The Daily Caller and the co-founder of Jacobite, a magazine of the post-political right. Follow him on Twitter @robert_mariani

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