wow[Eurogamer] Valve says it doesn't want Epic - or anyone - messing with Steam user data
I will leave to you to judge article :D
Between the THQN debate and this, gaming sites are showing their true faces now more than ever.
wow[Eurogamer] Valve says it doesn't want Epic - or anyone - messing with Steam user data
I will leave to you to judge article :D
Get-Item "C:\ProgramData\Epic\SocialBackup\*.bak" | % { ([system.Text.Encoding]::UTF8).GetString(($_ | Get-Content -Encoding Byte | % { [byte]($_ -bxor 0xff) })) | Set-Content ($_.FullName + ".txt") }
ok.I think docker works on Windows too.
If not, then W10 has its own sandboxing tool, and you can also do a kind of sandbox by running progams under a different user with different permissions, like how itch.io Sandboxes things on Windows. (Itch uses firejail on Linux)
I would prefer we don't get to a point where everything needs to be encrypted or run in separate sandboxes. I miss the days of only weird untrustworthy .exe's and spyware being the things people needed to worry about. Not a fucking game client from a large multinational.
The inherent problem with sandboxes is that it then be ones a nightmare to interact with anything outside the box. Steam has some rather broad functionality and it needs to interact with a lot of things outside of its direct purview.ok.
I think since we have bad actors (Epic) in play, Steam should probably be sandboxing itself if at all possible. Not sure how inconvenient that will be, but that's clearly where software is going in general.
Yeah, it's a pain in the ass.The inherent problem with sandboxes is that it then be ones a nightmare to interact with anything outside the box. Steam has some rather broad functionality and it needs to interact with a lot of things outside of its direct purview.
Yes, and the PC remains open, and there is more robust competition among PC stores than ever before. There's Steam offering Valve games, Origin offering EA games, Battle.net offering Activision and Bungie games, Epic Games offering games from many publishers.
I get that you guys don't like store-exclusive games, but that's a completely separate, and PROCOMPETITIVE issue, compared to closing down platforms like Windows to monopolize distribution, as iOS does, and as Microsoft was trying to do with UWP and locked-down versions of Windows -- which failed, and whose proponents are now gone and replaced with great leaders like Satya Nadella and Phil Spencer who are driving Windows forward as an open platform!
Even counting money must get boring some time.doesn't Sweeney have anything better to do than go around arguing people on reddit? i'm amazed at how much time he's putting into this part of the store.
Also he probably wanted to focus on one subject in that video, not a big network of them. He's fallen ill with asthma and bronchitis shortly after the video so if he's planning to cover Epic's bullshit that'll take a few days.Yeah, it's not just because of lack of journalistic training. That one I will attribute to Sterling (plus just natural desire on his part to stir the pot I am sure).
This is the most laughable comment I have seen by Tim Sweeney yet...
https://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/comments/b1fre2/comment/eimee9b
This is my first time seeing this comment so forgive me if I am late on this but my goodness me, what a complete lack of self-awareness (best case) or complete showing of pure arrogance (worst case)
Also, the bolded part made me legitimately laugh.
Please cite any sales data showing that games on EGS are selling well or even at all.This isn't a big deal to anyone other than people angry about epic exclusives and being vocal on game forums. It's not a big deal and EGS thankfully isn't going anyhwere
Please cite any sales data showing that games on EGS are selling well or even at all.
I don't think Epic or the EGS is going anywhere. I do think this is a medium deal with a potential to be a big deal. Frankly, I just don't get why Epic would go down this road just to get your friend list, considering I can't think of another program who would do something like that. Even Valve seem to find it a shady way to do that. If a program started going through my Facebook cookies to get legit info rather than use the API, I think it would raise some very understandable flags.This isn't a big deal to anyone other than people angry about epic exclusives and being vocal on game forums. It's not a big deal and EGS thankfully isn't going anyhwere
It's unlikely that Epic will close it's shop soon™.They didn't launch the store only to close it if things don't sell well in the first few months. That's not how businesses with all the money in the world think. So sales data is irrelevant. They're not closing LOL.
Yep. Steam sandboxing itself would potentially protect you against Steam screwing something up. To prevent EGS from reading files, you need to sandbox EGS.Sandboxes generally only protect FROM sandboxed program. Like UWP programs can't read memory of other programs but standard win32 can stil read/write memory of UWP apps.
This isn't a big deal to anyone other than people angry about epic exclusives and being vocal on game forums. It's not a big deal and EGS thankfully isn't going anyhwere
I don't want them to close their store. I just want them to stop engaging in anti-consumer and anti-competitive business.Epic isn't closing their store because of this "controversy"... That's like the height of bubblethink.
They didn't launch the store only to close it if things don't sell well in the first few months. That's not how businesses with all the money in the world think. So sales data is irrelevant. They're not closing LOL.
Thankfully? Why do you see this as a good thing?This isn't a big deal to anyone other than vocal angry people on internet forums. EGS thankfully isn't going anywhere.
That's bullshit.This isn't a big deal to anyone other than vocal angry people on internet forums.
I don't want them to close their store. I just want them to stop engaging in anti-consumer and anti-competitive business.
You do realize that this kind of blatant violation of privacy can hit them in the behind if EU decides to make an example out of this? We are talking about up to 4% of global revenue in fines or 20 million euros whichever is BIGGER. That hurts any company a lot, regardless of how much money they have.Epic isn't closing their store because of this "controversy"... That's like the height of bubblethink.
They didn't launch the store only to close it if things don't sell well in the first few months. That's not how businesses with all the money in the world think. So sales data is irrelevant. They're not closing LOL.
Security isn't Epic's strong suit. Their lack of security practices were critical to all of the Xbox One/PS4 leaks. Not sure what people are expecting out of them.Anyone who wants to see what copies of "encrypted" steam data is in the socialbackups folder can run the following in powershell:
Code:Get-Item "C:\ProgramData\Epic\SocialBackup\*.bak" | % { ([system.Text.Encoding]::UTF8).GetString(($_ | Get-Content -Encoding Byte | % { [byte]($_ -bxor 0xff) })) | Set-Content ($_.FullName + ".txt") }
This will create unencrpyted versions in the same folder as the BAK files:
C:\ProgramData\Epic\SocialBackup\
Nice to see Epic encrypting a copy of a file that includes DOB... without informing me
I'm already not planning on ever purchasing another thing from Epic because their account system security is a joke (account got hijacked even with 2-step authentication on, with seperate unique passwords for my Epic and Gmail account)
This might just push me to get rid of the Epic Launcher entirely from my computer; I only kept it because I pop on fornite co-op every few months to see of the changes...
Yeah. He's still getting quite a bit of patreon money for it (even though it's a lot more inaccurate now), working on the epic store (and defending weird decisions), and he's the one that got those weirdly specific stats about fortnite users' usage of steam.Okay, I must've missed this news when it broke, but the SteamSpy guy was working for Epic the whole time? Damn that's shady.
Yes, and he is still running a Patreon for it. Literally to spy on his rival company.Okay, I must've missed this news when it broke, but the SteamSpy guy was working for Epic the whole time? Damn that's shady.
Man, bummer what Giantbomb / Jeff thinks about this issue (was on latest UPF, premium content).
"A lot of people just having it for the Epic Launcher"
"A lot of programs gather data..."
Man, bummer what Giantbomb / Jeff thinks about this issue (was on latest UPF, premium content).
"A lot of people just having it for the Epic Launcher"
"A lot of programs gather data..."
Yah, to be fair they don't have much context. Hopefully it's getting some discussion time on the podcast tomorrow."Jimmy did it too!" What a kindergarten level argument. I'll have to see the segment myself, but I expected better of Jeff.
Giant Bomb is not writing articles, they are generally good about discussing that stuff, but hearing this from Jeff was very disappointing.It seems the majority of game journalists wants to see Steam burn. Gives them more stuff to write about I guess?
Yah, to be fair they don't have much context. Hopefully it's getting some discussion time on the podcast tomorrow.
I mean, the simple cynical answer is that Epic and others communicate directly with the media, while Valve basically never talk to the media directly and just announce things in public and answer emails.How can I keep a straight face when saying the gaming media is not biased against Valve?
Did Gabe Newell piss on all of their cereal or something?
"Jimmy did it too!" What a kindergarten level argument. I'll have to see the segment myself, but I expected better of Jeff.
How can I keep a straight face when saying the gaming media is not biased against Valve?
Did Gabe Newell piss on all of their cereal or something?
lmao, speak for yourself bud.This isn't a big deal to anyone other than vocal angry people on internet forums. EGS thankfully isn't going anywhere.
This is the hill game journalists/enthusists you like dies on."Jimmy did it too!" What a kindergarten level argument. I'll have to see the segment myself, but I expected better of Jeff.