RoundupLet's look at some of the latest security news you may have missed this week. Baltimore ransomware outbreak made worse by bad storage practices This year's ransomware infection at the City of Baltimore made headlines, in part because of the eye-popping $18.2m price tag its damage and recovery bills racked up. It turns out that …

A security bod angry at Valve's handling of bug reports has disclosed a zero-day vulnerability affecting the games giant's flagship Steam app. Russia-based bug-hunter Vasily Kravets said that he was releasing details of the flaw, an elevation-of-privilege hole, after a series of poor interactions with Valve led to him getting …

On a rainy Wednesday morning in San Francisco, Google pitched its Cloud Platform (GCP) to power games, and brought friends along to sing its praises at the annual Games Developer's Conference. It's an easy sell. Game makers represent the ideal market for on-demand infrastructure because their IT requirements tend to be …

Challenging Amazon and Microsoft for the attention of gamers and for the billing of game industry customers, Google announced a planned game streaming service called Stadia at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco on Tuesday. Stadia, which will be integrated with YouTube, is expected to launch toward the end of the …

AI can get pretty good at creating content like images and videos, so researchers are trying to get them to design game levels. Machines are okay working on their own and can regurgitate the same material seen in the numerous training examples fed by its human creators. It's fine if what you're after is more of the same thing …

With online gaming hit Fornite set to make its debut on Android, malware writers are already playing on the game's hype to ensnare victims. Multiple reports have emerged of Android malware packages being disguised as the Epic Games multi-player battle royale-style shooting game, and experts want users to exercise caution , and …

The creators of the popular online game RuneScape are raising subscription prices, and putting the blame on Nigel Farage and his Brexit buddies. Developers at UK-based Jagex say they are being forced to jack up the price for monthly game subscriptions in large part because of costs associated with the UK leaving the EU. …

Science fiction author John Scalzi once wrote that “In the role playing game known as The Real World, 'Straight White Male' is the lowest difficulty setting there is.” His words now appear to have influenced the developers of the latest video game based on TV show South Park. As the video below shows, during the game's …

Formula 1 has announced it's getting into “e-sports”, the preferred phrase for competitive computer gaming, with a new “Formula 1 Esports Series” that will see a virtual F1 champion crowned later this year. Many gamers think their pastime’s enormous following and facilitation of networked competitions makes a legitimate sport …

Playing a game of Tetris in the aftermath of a traumatic event can help alleviate the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. This according to a report from a team of university researchers in the UK, Germany, and Sweden, who say in their paper [PDF] for the journal Molecular Psychiatry that when given the computer game …

Gamers desperate to play on their new Nintendo Switches this weekend may have to wait a bit longer, with many reporting their preorders have been delayed. The device was due to be shipped today (March 3) priced at $299.99, £279.99 and ¥29,980. However, Twitter and internet forums are replete with disappointed thumb-twitchers …

VideosWhat do you get when you cross a 10-year-old game with a 40-year-old computer? The weekend at El Reg. Vince Weaver, an assistant professor of computer engineering at the University of Maine, used his winter holiday to write a port of the beloved puzzle-driven snarkfest Portal for the Apple II. "My wife got me the original …

DeepStack is the first AI computer programme to beat professional poker players in a game of hands-on no-limit Texas hold’em, a team of researchers claim in a research paper out this week. The use of games to train and test AI is prolific. Surpassing human-level performance in a game is considered an impressive feat, and a …

A former football player, professional wrestler, and motivational speaker is suing Microsoft, claiming an iconic character in Redmond's Gears of War game ripped off his likeness. Lenwood "Hard Rock" Hamilton claims that he provided photos and voice recordings in 2005 for the character who would become Augustus "Cole Train" …

A US man is facing felony wire fraud charges for allegedly stealing and reselling in-game currency for EA Sports' FIFA console games. Anthony Clark has been charged by the Northern Texas District Court with a count of Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud for his role in a scheme to automatically generate and then re-sell the …

Nvidia continued its run of solid financials Thursday by turning in a $2bn quarter. The graphics chip designer said the quarter, its fiscal year 2017 Q3, saw record revenues and earnings per share. Revenues of $2bn were up 53 per cent from $1.3bn in the year-ago quarter. Net income of $542m was up 108 per cent from $246m …

Something for the Weekend, Sir?I'd like you to consider my underwear. As we move inexorably towards another Christmas – for American readers, I understand you prefer the euphemism "Holiday Season" for its more generous syllable-count – close relatives have begun asking what gifts I might like to receive on the big day. What I want, of course, is toys. …

UK telecoms goliath BT is suing games developer and publisher Valve, alleging the Steam service infringes multiple patents. In a complaint [PDF] filed with the Delaware district court, BT accused Valve of ripping off four technologies it has patented related to the operation of cloud services (in this case, Steam). This is the …