Bungie and Ubisoft have filed a lawsuit against five individuals alleged to be connected to Ring-1, creator and distributor of cheat software (thanks TorrentFreak via Kotaku). The Ring-1 Website sells cheats for games like Destiny 2, PUBG, and Rainbow Six Siege, and citing copyright and trademark infringement (among other things), the lawsuit seeks financial damages (among other things). The "prayer for relief" (legalese can be so entertaining) includes demands that the Ring-1 operation be shut down, the award of $300,000 in infringement damages, as well as statutory damages, compensatory damages, attorney's fees, exemplary and punitive damages, restitution, and "other and further relief as this Court may deem just and appropriate."  Here's the preliminary part of the suit's preliminary statement:

Bungie and Ubisoft are the owners, or owners of certain exclusive rights, and publishers of two of the most popular online multiplayer video games currently on the market: “Destiny 2” and “Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege” (“R6S”) (collectively, the “Games”). Plaintiffs bring this lawsuit in order to put an immediate stop to the unlawful, for-profit sale and distribution of malicious software products designed to enable members of the public to gain unfair competitive advantages (i.e., to cheat) in the Games. Such products impair and destroy not only the game experience, but also Plaintiffs’ overall businesses and their reputation among their respective player communities

Apex Legends security guru Conor Ford tweets about a banwave in Apex Legends for "dashboarding" and exploiting lower-level lobbies in the battle royale shooter (thanks Eurogamer). Dashboarding involves players protecting their MMRs by force-quitting at the end of losing matches. Interestingly, a vast majority of these bans were PlayStation 4 players:

Banned 2,086 players early this morning for abuse of an RP loss forgiveness exploit (dashboarding) and abuse of a matchmaking exploit allowing high-rank players into Bronze lobby to farm. Breakdown is as follows:

PC-44
PS4- 1,965
Switch- 15
Xbox- 62

This tweet celebrates the successful launch of Tribes of Midgard (thanks Reddit). Word is the survival action/RPG has already attracted over a quarter-million Vikings:

We are very excited to announce that Midgard has been protected by over 250,000 Vikings!

Thank you to our growing community for your continued support and for helping us achieve this amazing milestone.

Eric Baptizat's LinkedIn Profile confirms speculation that the Assassin's Creed veteran's recent hiring by EA Motive is to work on the upcoming Dead Space remake (thanks VGC). Eric's current project descriptions succinctly spills the beans:

Game Director on Dead Space at Motive Studio

Wake the kids! Phone the neighbors! Valve's latest accounting of the bestselling titles for the previous week is now available. Is one game holding the top two spots in back-to-back weeks some sort of New World record?

1. Pre-purchase New World.
2. Pre-purchase New World.
3. Save 10% on The Ascent.
4. Tribes of Midgard.
5. Orcs Must Die! 3.
6. Valve Index VR Kit.
7. Grand Theft Auto V.
8. Save 88% on Battlefield 1.
9. HITMAN 2 - Gold Edition.
10. Mini Motorways.

Chrome Unboxed has details on new and cheaper ways to get your streaming game on via Google's Stadia service. Word is the price of the Stadia Premiere Edition with a Stadia controller and a Chromecast Ultra is permanently lowered by $20.00 to $79.99. This paves the way for a new Play and Watch with Google TV Package that also includes a Stadia controller. This will normally cost $118.99, but carries an introductory price of $99.99.

• Save 50% on Maid of Sker on Steam.

• Call of Duty: Warzone shard drops hotfixed.

• How to Trade in Diablo 2 - DiabLoL 2 Ep26.

• Creative Director Wojciech Pazdur Interview- Chernobylite.
• Episode 69: A Nice Time - The Devolver Digital Forkcast.

• Google Stadia on 5G works well with AT&T, reluctantly.
• Grab This Playable Clone of Pokémon for the Pebble Smartwatch Fast. Thanks Slashdot via Ant.
• Your ancient Android Gingerbread phone is about to become even more useless.
• Apple Watch titanium models are largely unavailable.
• Exploring Massless Energy Battery Breakthrough (video). Thanks Simon.

• Big tech companies are at war with employees over remote work.
• Apple pulls anti-vax social app over misinformation (updated).
• Thanks to the Rickroll, ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ hits 1 billion YouTube plays. Related link.

• Invisibly wants to pay you for your data.
• Gigabyte Releases 1200W PSU with Built-in Color Monitor.
• Robotic police dogs: Useful hounds or dehumanizing machines? Why not both? Thanks Slashdot via Ant.
• The Beetl Is a Roomba-Like Robot That Roams Around Your Yard, Picking Up All The Dog Poop.

• Russia’s New Form of Organized Crime Is Menacing the World (may require registration or subscription). Thanks Cutter.
• Influencer Hayes Grier Arrest: Assaulted Man Say North Carolina Police.

• Death's Door review - PC (via Steam) & Xbox - Destructoid.
• Legend of Mana Review: A Gem Best Left Buried - DSOGaming.

• Headset: Audeze Mobius Review- Audio Immersion - MP1ST.
• Misc: Lexar Professional 1066x SILVER SDXC 256GB & PLAY MicroSDXC 512GB Memory Cards - Nikk Tech.
• Misc: Patriot High Endurance microSDXC 128GB Flash Memory Card Review - Mad Shrimps.
• Misc: Seeed Dual Gigabit Ethernet Carrier Board for Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 Review- Serving Your Needs - Tom's Hardware.

• Iron Meat - A cool looking Contra-Rogue Dawn NES inspiration gets a new PC demo…
• How Blizzard's reputation collapsed in just 3 years…
• The perfect storm striking World of Warcraft…
• MORTAL KOMBAT (2021) - Fight Koreography Featurette…Stuck In a TV…

40 years ago today on August 1, 1981, video killed the radio star, and MTV was born. Working there was one of the best jobs one could ever have, second only to operating a gaming news website. I got to meet some amazing people, many of whom remain friends to this day. So here's to 40 years of MTV. And to, I don't know, almost 20 years of playing music videos? This combines with something else near and dear to my heart. Today is also apparently Spider-Man Day. Though this may technically be a mistake. I'm sure they're right about August being wrong. When I was a kid buying comics, the month of the current issues was always about four months in the future.

Commemorative Round-up
Thanks Ant and Neutronbeam.

Stories

• Four original music video rock icons talk MTV turning 40.
• 10 Classic Rock Acts That Benefited From MTV’s Launch.
• MTV Is Turning 40. Here's How Beavis, Butt-Head And Daria Disrupted Cable. Thanks RedEye9.

Science

• Your bed probably isn’t as clean as you think – a microbiologist explains. Thanks Acleacius.
• International Space Station briefly loses control after new Russian module misfires. Thanks RedEye9.

Image

• Look up! Saturn shines bright, shows off rings as it reaches opposition.

Media

• WATCH: The First 100 Videos Played On MTV - World Cafe.
• Stuck In a TV.
• Overcoming your fears.

A couple of tweets from Joseph Staten on Twitter have a warning from 343 Industries' campaign project lead on Halo Infinite. He cautions that the tech preview build that's now in the hands of some of the public contains data from the main campaign in the upcoming first-person shooter. So be careful about the possibility that there may be previews and other information appearing that could end up spoiling the game for you:

Hey folks, heads up: we unintentionally included a small number of #HaloInfinite campaign files in the tech preview build. Unfortunately, these files contain spoilers.

Leaks like this are painful for the dev team and can ruin the campaign experience for everyone. So please, keep you eyes peeled for spoilers and don't spread them if you see them.

Apparently the Xbox Game Pass edition of The Ascent does not include the ray tracing and DLSS support found in the Steam edition of the just released first-person shooter (thanks Eurogamer). This tweet from Neon Giant is an example of a few where the developer responds to the situation. Word is this is being worked on. It may take a bit longer, as there is a different build process involved, so it's more than just switching storefronts:

We are working with our partners on adressing this as soon as we can! Build processes are different for the two versions, not just a storefront swap.

• This Resident Evil Village Mod replaces Chris Redfield with Bruce Willis/John McClane.

• Firearms Expert Reacts To EVEN MORE Escape From Tarkov Guns.

• IGN - Former Blizzard Developer and ArenaNet, Undead Labs Founder: "We Need Unionization."
  "During my 25 years working alongside talented developers, I’ve heard hundreds of profoundly disturbing stories about their industry experiences. I’ve also seen this cycle repeat itself numerous times, across multiple companies throughout our industry. There has certainly been some positive change, and I do believe many developers and publishers — even large ones — are working in good faith to improve. But those efforts, while commendable, can’t address the chronic issues in our industry systemically. In order to do that, game industry employees need advocacy and representation.
  
  We need unionization."

• K-9 Mail is back. Thanks DSLReports via Ant.

• Samsung Hikes Chip Production Prices: GPUs, SoCs Set to Get More Expensive. Thanks Simon.
• Intel Delivers Last Itanium CPUs.
• 3dfx Interactive might be coming back from the dead after 20 years, but evidence is sketchy.
• Intel Z690 Motherboard Emerges With 20 Power Phases To Tame Alder Lake CPUs.
• Tech spec experts seek allies to tear down ISO standards paywall. Thanks Neutronbeam.

• Sysadmins: Why not simply verify there's no backdoor in every program you install, and thus avoid any cyber-drama?
• Ransomware attempt volume sets record, reaches more than 300 million for first half of 2021.
• DOJ- Hackers behind SolarWinds attacks targeted federal prosecutors.

• Eldest Souls Review - IGN.

• Game Controller: Microsoft Xbox Wireless Controller (Series X-S) Review - TechPowerUp.
• Mouse: Razer Basilisk Ultimate Review - Vortez.
• Mouse: Redragon M808 Storm Pro Review - TechPowerUp.
• PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA 1000 G6 Power Supply Review- EVGA meets Seasonic - Tom's Hardware.

• Activision Blizzard Was Charged With A ‘Misogyny Tax’ In 2017. Thanks Slashdot via Ant…
• Warzone players call for boycott over Blizzard lawsuit and hacking problems…
• The FAA Is Recruiting Gamers For Air Traffic Control Jobs (video). Thanks Kxmode…
• Orbiter Is Now Open Source. Thanks Neutronbeam…

There are a couple of trees overturned into the water of the pond behind our townhouse, including the one right next to us I mentioned recently. Oddly, is the snapping turtle that lives in the pond has shown a penchant for climbing onto the parts of these toppled trees that stick out of the water. He's out there right now on his favorite such perch as happy as a clam. We had snapping turtles in the lake near my summer camp, and none of them ever seemed interested in climbing out of the water like this. I guess some of us just enjoy a good sunbath.

Shell of a Round-up
Thanks Ant and Neutronbeam.

Brunch Link

• Hundreds of Ways to Get S#!+ Done—and We Still Don’t (may require registration or subscription).

Science
Thanks Max.

• Cats Are So Not Appreciated? Think Again (may require registration or subscription).
• Harvard Researchers Discover a New Real-Life Spidey Sense.
• Is Nose Hair Essential to Fighting Off Colds and Other Viral Illnesses (may require registration or subscription)?
• Bitter Brew: High Coffee Consumption Is Associated With Smaller Brain Volume.

Media
Thanks The Flying Penguin.

• Goose epic response to humans taking her injured boyfriend.
• How to Surface a Submarine in the Arctic Ocean - Smarter Every Day 260.
• Concorde 101 G-AXDN Nose lowering - behind the scenes.

The Funnies

• xkcd- Mine Captcha.