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Comment Re:What stops malicious content? (Score 1) 98

I enjoy a very wide variety of PC games and almost always, after finishing the game in vanilla falvour, investigate a very wide variety of mods if the game allows modding. I have contributed heavily to a number of mods out there also.

The reason you don't see much malware hidden inside mods is because it is very rare for mods to be in an executable form.

Generally mods come in the form of graphics packages and scripts. It is very hard, if not impossible for graphics/sound/geometry to contain malware. The scripts sure sound dangerous until you realise that their capabilities are limited by the actual game. I am yet to see a game where script/config files have the scope to cause damage outside the installation let alone steal your password or something similar.

Now, there are a number of addons for various games (morrowind/oblivion/fallout come to mind) where mods rely on 3rd party executables.

There is a danger there - however it is very effectively mitigated by the fact that very few if any of these executables are hosted on their own servers. Almost always they are hosted by a third party hosting site (modDB for example, or *nexus or planet*). While these sites usually deny any responsibility it is generally a safe bet that if someone gets owned/hax0red/virused/etc the third party program wouldn't last very long and thus have very little effect on the broader population of users.

Another thing to note is that generally the games that allow/encourage modding do so by making their core program very robust. the main executable files/parsers/etc are all designed to allow a great/varied amount of input.

Such design generally means that to mod these games you don't have to download hacked game.exe (a great vector) in order to enjoy a mod. It means that you just download some script/graphics/etc files that go in the override (baldours gate for example) directory and the actual original game (which is presumed safe in the scope of this discussion) will accept that input and output a modded game.

Sony

Submission + - Sony brings rumble to Playstation 3

gamer4Life writes: According to IGN, Sony Computer Entertainment and Immersion announced that both companies have agreed to put an end to their ongoing legal dispute and enter into a business agreement to incorporate Immersion's patented force feedback technology into future "PlayStation format products." From the article:

As part of the agreement reached between the two companies, Immersion will be granted the full amount dictated by the District Court — this includes damages, pre-judgment interest, and legal fees. The agreement also provides Sony with expanded rights with respect to Immersion's patents.
While it is unfortunate that Sony gave into a patent troll company (vibrating cellphones, pagers, rumblepak anyone?), this should benefit all PS3 owners and should give developers the go-ahead to incorporate rumble into their games.

Feed Sony to Pay in Patent Dispute (nytimes.com)

Sony agreed to pay the Immersion Corporation $150.3 million to end a patent dispute over technology used in the PlayStation video-game console.

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