Ubisoft.com got hacked; change your account password advisory

Canadian software developer Ubisoft got hacked. Received an e-mail this morning advising me to change my password, which I did.

Here is the first part of the e-mail:

We recently found that one of our Web sites was exploited to gain unauthorized access to some of our online systems. We instantly took steps to close off this access, investigate the incident and begin restoring the integrity of any compromised systems. 

During this process, we learned that data had been illegally accessed from our account database, including user names, email addresses and encrypted passwords. Please note that no personal payment information is stored with Ubisoft, meaning your debit/credit card information was safe from this intrusion. 

If you happen to know anyone who's unsure whether this is a phishing e-mail, it's not, at least the version I received. After I changed my password, I got redirected to a page with images and links to three YouTube videos of upcoming Ubisoft games: Watch Dogs, Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag and Splinter Cell: Blacklist. At the top of the page it said "UBI.COM IS CURRENTLY UNDER MAINTENANCE."

Submitted two entries to Halo 4 Sountrack Remix Contest

Three tracks from the upcoming Halo 4 soundtrack are available for remixing in the Halo 4 Soundtrack Remix Contest. I've submitted two entries for "To Galaxy" and "Revival". Both remixes were created mostly by applying various sound effects.

You can listen to them through the contest Web site or via a SoundCloud account I set up as Citizen of Halo 4.

Buy American? President Obama bought French game Just Dance 3 for Christmas

According to a tweet from French multinational computer gaming company Ubisoft, United States President Obama obtained their game Just Dance 3 as a family Christmas present. So much for Buy American! What's that about Do what I say, but not what I do....

The Ubisoft tweet also caught the attention of the venerable Forbes with this headline
"President Barack Obama Endorses Ubisoft's Just Dance 3 Videogame For Christmas". Forbes missed the obvious Buy American contradiction.

Copy Wars: China P88 vs Apple iPad, Dark Void computer game vs Avatar movie

You may have heard about the Chinese company, Shenzhen Great Loong Brother, that's threatened to sue Apple over some kind of claim that Apple's iPad is a clone of their product, the P88, which apparently has been on sale in China for the past six months. This Wired magazine article points out some of the silliness around the Chinese claim.

James Cameron's movie Avatar has also had its share of accusations of third-party influences, one the most interesting coming from those familiar with ayahuasca, a drug from South America that supposedly gives its users the illusion of being connected with the natural world. In Avatar, the Na'vi people of the planet Pandora achieve this feat through a direct physical connection by plugging the end of their hair braid into not only their Tree of Souls, but also into some animals. This Globe and Mail op-ed piece by Canadian filmmaker Richard Meech compares Avatar's symbiotic connection to the drug-induced, imaginary one of the Amazon "vine of the soul."

Now comes the computer game from Capcom called Dark Void. In Episode 1, Chapter 4, after falling through a long hole in a mountain, the hero (you) end up at the bottom and in a landscape that looks suspiciously like the floating Hallelujah Mountains of Avatar. In the movie the Na'vi use flying beasts to fly around and in Dark Void the heroes use rocket packs.