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Flippersmack Issue 09
ÿÿO=
ÿ/) FLIPPERSMACK 009
ÿ`= culturemag for a penguin generation
http://www.flippersmack.com
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This must be the computer geek issue of Flippersmack. Gaming and phone stuff.
Thanks Bob and Clone for contributing so faithfully =)
Flippersmack is starting to take on a life of its own, and a sense of
community. I'd love to get some feedback. Tell me what you like, what you
don't like, and what you'd like to see more of. Send me articles and reviews-
share your mind with the world around you.
pinguino
[pinguino@comicartist.com]
Flippersmack Archives:
http://www.penguinpalace.com/
http://www.nettwerked.net/
http://www.ghu.ca/
tABLE oF cONTENTS
*FRESH* Pre-Scavenger Hunt Clue #3 .................Flippersmack
Final Fantasy X.........................................Pinguino
Harry Potter: Become the Legend ........................Pinguino
Contriversial Games - All talk? [Rant]..................Bob Lull
Canadian COCOT Unrestricted Line Exploit...............The Clone
FRESH articles were written day of zine release- June 11, 2001
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PRE-HUNT CLUE #003!!!!
http://onix.net/~pinguino/fsmack/
Eventually there will be a website for the pre-hunt. For now, keep reading
flippersmack.
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Final Fantasy X - Squaresoft's PS2 Breakthrough
by pinguino [pinguino@comicartist.com]
Square Electronic Arts will be breaking new ground this year with FINAL
FANTASY X and the upcoming FINAL FANTASY: THE SPIRITS WITHIN movie. Previews
of both were shown at E3 this year, as well as enhanced re-releases of popular
Super Nintendo games: FINAL FANTASY CHRONICLES: FINAL FANTASY IV & CHRONO
TRIGGER.
The FINAL FANTASY series has sold over 31 million copies worldwide and has
been acclaimed by critics and gamers alike for pushing the envelope in terms
of gameplay, graphics, sound, and story. Utilizing the graphic and performance
capabilities of the PlayStation 2, FINAL FANTASY X is one of the most highly
anticipated titles for the PlayStation 2 and is expected to be another
milestone for the role playing genre.
We had a chance to play the Japanese version of FINAL FANTASY X at E3 on a
Playstation 2. This is the first version to use voice-overs on characters,
thanks to Square's "Facial Motion System." Characters will be able to rotate
in and out of the party even in the heat of battle, allowing a tag team
approach to fighting. The game is also mostly polygonal compared to previous
versions, giving extra flexibility to camera angles and movements.
High-polygon, motion-captured player characters, designed by Tetsuya Nomura,
bring lifelike realism to the screen. It is this type of realism in gameplay
that sets Square apart from other game developers. The game is scheduled to
release in North America in early 2002.
Inspired by the FINAL FANTASY game series comes FINAL FANTASY: THE SPIRITS
WITHIN, a new movie by Columbia Pictures and Square Pictures due out this
year. THE SPIRITS WITHIN will raise the standard for Hollywood animation; it
is a cinematic breakthrough where the most sophisticated effects imaginable
are invisibly woven into an unforgettable story about adventure, survival and
the eternal spirit of mankind. Rendered completely in CGI, the entire movie is
done completely in the classic FINAL FANTASYstlye gamers have come to expect
from Square.
Hironobu Sakaguchi directs THE SPIRITS WTHIN from an original screenplay
written by Al Reinert and Jeff Vintar. Story by Sakaguchi. Motonori
Sakakibara co-directs. The film features the voices of actors Alec Baldwin,
Steve Buscemi, Peri Gilpin, Ming-Na, Ving Rhames, Donald Sutherland and James
Woods, among others. FINAL FANTASY opens in theaters on July 11.
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Harry Potter: Become the Legend
by pinguino [pinguino@comicartist.com]
Books let the reader passively experience the story. Film is an interpretation
of the story. The only way to truely experience the story, and BE Harry
Potter, is to immerse yourself in the video game.
Harry Potter is a wizard boy who has brought sensationalism back to the
literary world. He's got a movie coming out this fall, as well as four games
by Electronic Arts.
The four games are targeted towards kids, as the books are, but hold a
timelessness to be enjoyed by everyone. They follow the books very closely,
and Electronic Arts has worked closely with the author, J.K. Rowlings, to
ensure faithfulness to the story. Harry never dies in the game, because he
never dies in the book. He just ends up in the school infirmirary and his
house (like a frat house) loses points.
"The kids reactions are overwhealmingly positive," said Chris Grey, executive
producer for the Harry Potter games. "We've made it as authentic as possible,
creating a new game universe."
There is a fine line between easy accessibility for new players, and
enjoyability for hardcore gamers, and these games are it. Each game platform
has an entirely different Harry Potter game and is a competition between four
houses. The PC game is a puzzle-based RPG. The Playstation One game is an
advanced action-adventure RPG with Quiddich. The Gameboy Color game is a card
game, similar to how Pokemon works. The GameBoy Advance is an action-adventure
game.
"[The games were] visually inspired by the film. Where we can, we use digital
assets from the film," added Grey. "The game was created in 3D Studio Max and
Photoshop, utilizing the Unreal engine in some, along with some custom 3D
animation. Over 70 developers worked across the four games."
The seven books in the series match seven grades in the UK school system. Four
books have been released so far. The video games seen at E3 focus soley on the
first book.
The games will be available November 16.
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Contriversial Games - All talk? [Rant]
by Bob Lull [r_lull@hotmail.com]
I saw a news brief on TV the other day that got me thinking (which rarely ever
happens). This story was about a new game that involves never-ending violence
and bloodshed, and stage after stage after stage of beating the crap out of
enemies, windows, cars, mailboxes, innocent bystanders, and the like. Sound
familiar? Maybe even stale and cliche? Well, it may be, but there is a
subtle difference between this game and the many hundreds of other games that
boast the same gameplay: this one happens to be based on a recent large-scale
riot, and the baddies are the cops. For this reason, and ONLY this reason,
this game is getting tons of press and recognition. Is this game any good?
From what I saw, I wouldn't play it twice. Will it sell like hoola-hoops?
You betcha.
It always makes me laugh when I think about it. You've got the
Super-Catholics out there, saying that a game was sent from the devil himself,
you've got the Surgeon General warning parents of the serious consequences of
extended play of the game, your local governor is trying to get every Walmart
in the country to ban sales of that one title, and all the while, the only
thing these various roadblocks accomplish is giving this game a
record-breaking (although temporary) noteriety. Sales sky-rocket, because
people want the game that every news anchor in America is talking about.
Meanwhile, the game company pulls out of a 3-million dollar ad campaign,
because the press is doing all the work for them. Then little Johnny finally
gets this new game he's been hearing about, pops it in, and slogs through
about 10 minutes worth of play, before he realizes that the game is complete
crap.
I have yet to see a game that garners such amazing press coverage and fame
that was actually any good. Here, this is a list of some of that games that
fall under that category. See if you've been fooled into buying a few of
them. I know that I have.
Game: Grand Theft Auto (1 and 2)
Company: Rockstar
Genre: Gang-related car theft
The idea is interesting: Steal cars for cash, dodge the cops, kill your
rivals. Then I actually played them. If any of you remember these games,
you probably remember the horrid controls of the cars, crappy graphics,
repetitive gameplay, and all-around clunkyness of this title, not to mention
almost impossible difficulty.
Game: Mortal Kombat (Pick one)
Company: Acclaim
Genra: Tournament Fighting
Good ol' Boon and Tobias. Imagine the chuckles that they still have when
they think about much cash they've sucked out of you. The first MK came out
in the early nineties and a string of "improved" sequels contiuously followed
quickly. Think about it for a minute: besides tearing your opponent apart in
a fatality or smacking them upside the head in order to see an explosion of
blood (apparently every character's face shots hit with the force of a
hydraulicly-powered sledgehammer), was there anything really fun about ANY of
these games? Oh yeah, and the movies sucked too.
Game: Bio Freaks
Company: Acclaim
Genre: Tournament Fighting
Following the success of the MKs, Acclaim decided to add a more
futuristic take on the whole ultra violent fighter genre. Every fighter in
this game comes with at least one way to cut off every limb of their
opponents. I've never seen so much blood in my life. I would think that
after one fight, your character would be completely dried up. Never mind
that every fighter moves like zombies made out of wood. Never mind that I
never would have even heard of this game if not for the wonderful media and
never-resting army of soccer-moms that don't even really know what they are
talking about. Thanks to them, this fifty dollar paper weight can be found
in Playstation and N64 form.
Game: House of the Dead
Genre: Rail Shooter
Okay, never mind. I actually like these games... (Killing zombies = fun!)
So, you get the idea. Time and again we've been burned by these games that
are pulled out of the depths of the obscurity that they really belong in by
meddling humanity groups and over-protective parents. However, I do believe
that we gamers, as consumers, are getting smarter. And who knows, this new
riot game might be pretty good. I'm not counting on it though. I can only
offer one small bit of advice: Rent first!
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Canadian COCOT Unrestricted Line Exploit
by The Clone [theclone@hackcanada.com] 06.03.01
intro: This document has been written to point out another payphone
vulnerability that I recently discovered while experimenting
with two types of COCOTs: the Canada Payphone Corporation / AT&T
'Elcotel Eclipse', and the Paytel Canada 'Protel'.
documentation;
For over two decades, payphone companies have been working ways to make their
payphones more profitable, user-friendly, and secure both in the area of
physical security (to protect from vandals) and line-security (to protect from
phone phreakers).
Starting in the late nineteen-eighties, payphone companies have started to be
successful in stopping the exploitation of their phones by people using
blueboxes, redboxes, beige boxes, and more recently NOS (not in service)
INWATS numbers for unrestricted line dropping.
In western Canada, where Telus has a monopoly over the payphone market, Telus
has successfully been able to patch the unrestricted line problem. For
example: you pick up the receiver on a Telus payphone, dial a toll free number
(800) and the number you dialed happens to be out of service and hangs up on
you; the payphone will automatically recognize this and seize the phone line.
However, I've found that in the last two years that certain COCOTs have been
vulnerable to line seizing exploitation. In March of 2000, I found that a
large portion of the older AT&T Elcotel model 9520c's tend to have a lot of
problems with seizing not-in-service calls. Line seizing exploitation on
Elcotel 9520C's now looks as though it is virtually extinct because a majority
of the older and all of the newer 9520C's have now been fixed by Canada
Payphone Corporation (its Canadian distributor).
"Just when AT&T, Elcotel, Canada Payphone Corporation, and Paytel Canada
thought the days of line seizing exploitation was over..."
1. In order to make this particular exploit work, you need to call an
out-of-service number such as this one: 1-800-909-0261.
2. After the call connects, you will hear the line hang for approximately
15 seconds.
3. Now wait for another 5-10 seconds, and the line you called will hang up.
4. At this point the vulnerable phone you are on will try to seize the line
and make you redial the number. Instead, you will get a normal dial tone.
5. Immediately after getting the dialtone on the phone, enter your area code
and any local number you wish to call.
6. Your call will connect as if you had placed 25 cents into the payphone,
and directly dialed the number.
Q: "What does my caller identification information
show on the received party's CID display?"
A: If you called from any Paytel Canada COCOT, your CID info will show
"Paytel Canada" and its assigned phone number. If you call from an
Elcotel Eclipse COCOT, your CID information will show "Unknown Name"
and its assigned phone number.
research:
-Recommended COCOT research sites-
(H/P)
www.nettwerked.net
www.hackcanada.com
www.ghu.ca
(Corporate)
www.elcotel.com
www.paytel.ca (.com)
www.protel.com
-Relevant COCOT images-
Elcotel Eclipse image: www.nettwerked.net/eclipse.jpg
Paytel 'Protel' image: www.nettwerked.net/paytel.jpg
outro:
This file just goes to prove that one of the many exploits that worked on the
payphones of yesterday DO still work on newer payphones of today, and likely
tomorrow if COCOT manu- facturing and distribution companies don't get a clue
as to how their own payphone equipment works.
How long is it going to be before these telecom companies start adopting some
sort of a standard for properly securing POTS-copper lines? Until then,
phreaks around the nation will continue to exploit this ancient form of
toll-fraud that hurts these companies revenues by millions of dollars each
fookin' year!
contact info:
e-mail: theclone@hackcanada.com
irc: irc.h410g3n.com #cpu (key), #hackcanada
web-site: www.nettwerked.net
-endz-
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Flippersmack (c) 2001 Flippersmack All Rights Reserved.
