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Game Group has gone into Administrtion

game group 150x150 Game Group has gone into Administrtion

Game Group goes into administration

Video game retailer, Game Group, has gone into administration

Read Freaking Computer News earlier blog post about Game Groups possible closure.

Administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) said 2,104 employees would be made redundant this week, with the immediate closure of 277 stores in the UK and Ireland. The remaining 333 stores will stay open as the administrators search for a buyer for the business.

PwC said that the retailer had suffered from high fixed costs and an ambitious international expansion. Its business has been hit by competition from online-only retailers.

Mike Jervis one of the administrators said “Our priority is to continue trading the business as normal while we continue to pursue a sale, the recent job losses are regrettable, but will place the company in a stronger position while we explore opportunities to conclude a sale. My team and I will be doing all we can to help the affected employees at this difficult time.”

Game employs 385 staff at its headquarters in Basingstoke in Hampshire, and about 5,100 in its stores in the UK and Ireland. Abroad and around the world Game employs 5,000 staff.

Game Group said “This decision to enter administration is taken after careful consideration and ceaseless interrogation of every possible alternative.”

The stores operate under the Game brand, as well as Gamestation. The company asked for its shares to be suspended last Wednesday and announced it was planning to call in administrators. It followed confirmation that some suppliers had stopped doing business with the retailer.

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Posted by gazza - March 27, 2012 at 6:12 am

Categories: computer games news, computer news   Tags: , , , , , ,

Hackers to target Small Medium Business

Youve Been Hacked 150x150 Hackers to target Small Medium Business

small business targeted for hacking

Christopher Porter tells PCWorld “SMBs don’t know how defenseless there websites or computer servers have become, especially to automated and industrialized attack methodologies by organized crime,” Mr  Porter, a principal with the Verizon RISK Team, is the author of a new report from Verizon on security risk.

Mr porteralso said “Hackers scan the Internet, looking for remote access services, and then try the default credentials. Once they gain access, they automatically install keyloggers to collect password information as it’s typed in, then they send the information it out via e-mail or by uploading it to an FTP server or a web site. They aggregate the data and sell it on the black market.”

“Hackers could use the keylogger to figure out how access and drain a small business’ bank account, but more commonly, Porter said, they’ll target point-of-sale systems, as four Romanians did recently. That kind of attack is increasing, because they’re low-risk and low-cost attacks for organized crime.

Because they’re geographically widespread, it’s hard for any one police department to follow up. But if small businesses are increasingly vulnerable, Porter characterized the tactics they should employ in response as quite simple.”

If you have a point-of-sale system, make sure to change the password from the default it came with. Porter says “The problem is that when small businesses think about their POS system, they worry about whether it’s going to be available when they sell the shirt or charge for the burger, they’re not worried about confidentiality. They’re worried about margins.”

Verizon’s Fifth Annual Data Breach Report

The fifth-annual Verizon 2012 Data Breach Investigations Report, produced in conjunction with the United States Secret Service, the Dutch National High Tech Crime Unit, the Australian Federal Police, the Irish Reporting & Information Security Service, and the London Metropolitan Police’s cybercrime unit, reveals seventy-nine percent of attacks represented in the report were opportunistic.

Of all the attacks the report studied, it found 96 percent were not difficult to achieve and 97 percent were avoidable, “without the need for organizations to resort to difficult or expensive countermeasures.

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Posted by gazza - March 22, 2012 at 2:32 pm

Categories: computer news, laptop, PC, personal computer   Tags: , , , , ,

SEGA Brings a New Fun Game to Android

Super Monkey Ball 2 Coverart SEGA Brings a New Fun Game to Android

Nintendo Gamecube

If you have an Android phone or tablet, you should know that there are always great, useful applications
and very fun games available for download. More and more titles are being released all the time from
many game makers.

SEGA rose to popularity in the 1990s, and they continue to turn out great titles, many of which are
coming to mobile platforms. One such title is their new Super Monkey Ball 2. This title is available for
both Android and iOS, and it may be just the game for you to try today.

What is it?

One of the newest SEGA titles to be available in the Google Play Store, Super Monkey Ball 2: Sakura
Edition features fun with rolling monkeys.

Created from the popular Super Monkey Ball series originally
created for Nintendo’s Game Cube in 2001, this game was first released early in March for the Android
platform.

Gameplay allows a player to guide one of four cute monkeys throughout the game. There are 125 stages with different themes, challenging players across six different worlds. A game feared for players of ages, this game is also priced for those of all budgets at only $.99, but the price may end up increasing with time.

Gameplay

mzl.cclbncna.320x480 75 SEGA Brings a New Fun Game to Android

As mentioned, Super Monkey Ball features six different worlds with 125 stages. There are also four
additional mini games. Player can pick a cute monkey avatar to play with.

An addictive, simple game, it is essentially a marble puzzle game. Using basic tilting gameplay, players
control the floor to move around the monkeys inside little balls. This tilting gameplay makes it easier
and more fun than ever for players using their smartphone or tablet.

Review

Super Monkey Ball 2 is enjoyable, but it faces a common critique. Gaming reviewers find it suspect that this edition of the popular Monkey Ball franchise takes place in Japan and features Asian styling. Many games, including Angry Birds, have recently hit the market with Asian-inspired elements and plenty of cherry blossoms, and this has led many critics to think that this Asian style is caused by a lack of creativity from game creators who have just run out of ideas.

Even though the current trend in gaming is to make games more Asian, Super Monkey Ball 2: Sakura
Edition seems to do a good job of it. It manages to make the game seem more Japan-like than other
games. Additionally, the massive amount of good content that this game offers has managed to make it a pretty solid release.

A fun game that many have reported as being a bit addicting, players will find that it is easy to use.
Players of all ages should be able to get a handle on using the tilt controls relatively quickly. Despite being simple, this game is still challenging for players of all levels.

Buy

This game is available for Android and iOS devices. Some features are tablet only, but even on your
Android smartphone, this is a very enjoyable title. For Android users, this title can be purchased
exclusively at the Google Play Store. Presently the game is only 99 cents, but this is expected to be a
promotional price. To score this great game at a low price, buy it now; the price is expected to rise to
somewhere around the $3.00 mark sometime soon.

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Posted by george - March 21, 2012 at 4:37 pm

Categories: apple iphone, computer games news, gadget stories, games consoles, iPhone, phones, smartphone, tablets   Tags: , , , , ,

Could this be the end of Game Group

Shares in the video games retailer Game Group have been suspended from trading

game group 150x150 Could this be the end of Game Group

Game Group

Last week, Game confirmed that a number of suppliers were refusing to do business with the company, the Game group said in a statement

“The value of the company had been eroded, and had made the decision following talks with its lenders and a potential third party provider of finance. The board now considers itself to be unable to assess the business’s financial position, and is of the opinion that there is no equity value left in the group.

“Therefore the company has requested that the listing of its securities on the Main Market of London Stock Exchange plc be suspended from trading with effect from 07:30 today.”

Game Group owns 600 shops in the UK, employing around 6,000 staff; these shops include Game as well as Gamestation retailers.

On the 12th March the Game Group admitted that talks with stock suppliers had broken down, this followed earlier bad news when EA announced that it would no longer provide Game with stock, meaning the retailer could not sell the hugely popular Mass Effect 3.

March 14th, Game Group announced that it was in talks with a buyer to agree a rescue package. The buyer was believed to be the owner of electrical retail chain Comet, and there was further speculation that Walmart was also interested, but negotiations broke down on Friday.

 

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Posted by Taz - March 21, 2012 at 11:16 am

Categories: computer games news, computer news, gadget stories, games consoles, Playstation Vita   Tags: , , , , ,

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