How? While ChatGPT initially refused to generate malicious code when asked directly, by asking ChatGPT using multiple constraints and asking it to obey, it merrily spit out the code.
Further, it appears the API version of ChatGPT doesn’t even have the filters and doesn’t require this manipulation.
They then modified the query and changed the injection method and other parameters. This mutated the code repeatedly, making the malware unique every time – including encoding it in base64 for even harder detection.
They then expand their experiment to include the creation of ransomware – and get similarly good results.
The article is definitely worth a read. Have you made an offline backup of all your files lately? 🙂
Most popular game on Steam was likely a massive scam
KiraTV does an excellent investigation into one of the most popular and hyped games called ‘The Day Before’. Hounded by continual delays, strange announcements, and then final removal from Steam – Kira jumps in and finds that the reality behind the game and it’s studio founders is even MORE bizarre than you could imagine.
Besides documenting the bizarre development of the game itself, he finds a lot of interesting things about the even more bizarre Fntastic game studio. This includes the almost cult-like studio heads and their idea of ‘volunteering‘ – which appears to be unpaid work wrapped in lots of creepy grooming.
This is absolutely something I see on the rise in startup and game culture. I see institutions that create cult-like atmospheres around founders and a culture that gaslight new or naïve employees using words like ‘passion’. Meanwhile, the reality is they provide inadequate/non-existent pay, long hours, and dangerous levels of emotional manipulation for anyone who questions, disagrees, or tries to threaten their control.
What’s the state of using VR/AR goggles as a replacement for your desktop? Here are two takes.
First is Alan Truly who used the Meta Quest 3. He notes there have been some big improvements in web browsing and web apps that he uses daily. There’s still a number of tasks that it isn’t suited well for – such as picture editing. He also tried various software solutions such as Horizon Workrooms, Immersed, remote desktop, and a variety of other apps. He also tried a mixed version in which he used his keyboard and mouse for input. His conclusion is that besides concerns of comfort wearing a 1lb device all day, he says VR is ready for desktop work – but might not be best suited for the type of work you’re doing.
Hallden tried using his 3d goggles as virtual monitors for a week in a variety of situations. He uses the Meta Quest Pro because he noted that Apple has to solved issues with using them in unstable/moving environments (Update: They have not).
How well do they work in general? Watch the video and find out
Spoilers: He finds that the weight and video quality weren’t really an issue – but the lag and connectivity were. He seems to mimic what others are saying: AR is more likely the future instead of VR.
Brilliant Labs‘ augmented reality wearable monocle popped on the scene for only $349 and weighs only 15 grams. Processing happens on the OpenAI server then transmitted via Bluetooth from the users phone to the device’s display. It comes with five different processors, including a hackable field-programmable gate array (FPGA) accelerator chip that handles the data coming in from the device’s camera, microphone and capacitive touch sensor.
The project already has attracted a dedicated following of developers, hackers, hobbyists, and researches in the open-source community. While far too clunky right now, I think this is the right way to go about things; though the idea that these will help you come off as a smooth operator in awkward dinner conversations is highly unlikely:
The FTC vs Microsoft trial has caused spilling the beans on a lot of corporate secrets and dirty laundry. Such gems as Microsoft admitting Xbox lost the console wars – all to persuade the courts their acquisition of Activision won’t create a gaming monopoly.
Horizon Forbidden West cost $212 million over 5 years with 300 employees
The Last of Us Part II cost $220 million over 90 months with 200 employees
It appears Sony only shares about 10% (hard to read) of revenue with third party publishers like Activision
About half of PS5 owners have a Nintendo Switch
Call of Duty data:
Around 14? million users spend 30% or more of their PlayStation time playing Call of Duty
Over 6 million users spend more than 70% of their time playing Call of Duty
About 1 million users spend all their time on Playstation playing Call of Duty
CoD players an average of 116? hours per year
The document suggests CoD generated $800 million in the US alone in 2021. It generated $1.5 billion worldwide in 2021.
When you add merchandise, accessories, subscriptions, this jumps to $13.9 or $15.9 billion a year
Sony only has one more exclusive CoD game left in its exclusive marketing deal to be released in late 2023
This indicates that the average game dev employee cost $146,666 for each of the 2 titles – that’s without spending a dime on anything else (computers, studio equipment, licenses for 3rd party art/components, benefits etc). This means the average Sony game dev almost certainly made less (or a lot less) than $100,000/year range if you assume a very generously low 30% overhead cost per employee.
This seems less than the $115,000 average – though averages are bad indicators in game development because programmers and directors make substantially more than artists and content generators. You could also go to Glassdoor and get this info too.
The stories of Melvin Kaye have become part of programming folklore. Little is actually known of him beyond the fact he did lots of interesting programming with a very early Royal McBee LGP-30. He eschewed optimizing compilers and hand-crafted his code to take advantage of the most esoteric hardware quirks – such as using the LGP-30’s drum memory rotation speed to write delay loops in his code.
Maybe give one of his be-fabled stories a read. Or perhaps one of his other stories.
M.C. Escher was famous for his wonderful mind-bending images. I loved his drawings as a kid because it created a sense of wonder, playfulness, and unlocked interesting new viewpoints and possibilities simply by violating a single physical or geometric expectation.
We’re used to the world following rules. If we leave a room, we would expect to go back into that same room if we opened the door. But in rendered scenes, none of those rules needs to be followed. We can actually make M.C. Escher like worlds a reality. But how – and more importantly – how could we use them to make an interesting gaming experience?
CodeParade walks us through many interesting effects that can be created using some simple non-Euclidian rendering and movement techniques.
Other games quickly followed like Manifold Garden that added the concept of infinite world wrap-around. Hyperbolica uses hyperbolic projection mapping. Then there were forced perspective games like Superliminal. As we quickly see, there is more than one rule to break in Euclidian space.
More recently and to greater effect – non-Euclidean tricks are being used in horror games. The experience of the world shifting around you definitely can create a very unsettling emotional response. Paintings that become doorways, rooms that change when you look away. Whole games have become based on these simple effects. Non-Euclidean techniques are here to stay. The real question is, how will we think of using them next?
Learning more:
Issues Valve ran into when making the game Portal:
How to create portals and solving the most common perspective, distance, scaling, collision detection, and physics issues you’ll encounter:
Kishimisu walks you through the fascinating realm of writing programmable shader art and offers helpful insights and guidance to assist you to make your own creations.
