Pokémon Go maker sues Global++ hackers to stop them ruining Harry Potter: Wizards Unite
NIANTIC has sued two alleged members of a nefarious organisation amid fears they had a hacked version of Harry Potter: Wizards Unite ready to go.
The firm, who also make mega-hit AR game Pokémon Go, released the new Harry Potter app in the US and UK yesterday.
The group, called Global++, had released its own "unauthorized derivative versions" of Pokémon Go and another Niantic game called Ingress, according to the lawsuit.
Niantic named Ryan "ElliotRobot" Hunt and Alen "iOS n00b" Hundur in the suit, along with 20 other unnamed co-conspirators.
"Among other things, defendants' schemes undermine the integrity of the gaming experience for legitimate players, diminishing enthusiasm for Niantic's games and, in some cases, driving players away from Niantic's games altogether. Defendants' schemes therefore damage Niantic's reputation and goodwill and interfere with Niantic's business," the lawsuit says.
The Pokémon Go firm alleges that Global++ made money selling hundreds of thousands of subscriptions to their "Cheating Programs".
How did the cheat programs work?
NIANTIC'S lawsuit not only showed images of the hacked apps, but also laid out what they did.
They reportedly gave players the ability "to make it appear as if [users] are playing Niantic’s games 24 hours a day, 7 days a week", and "automate certain in-game tasks so that they are always successful".
This would give players an unfair advantage, because you gain experience points and items as you play in the game, with the amount of both limited by how much time you play and, in some cases, how far you travel.
Not only that, but the apps allegedly allowed players to trick the game's servers into believing they were somewhere they were not.
All three games - Ingress, Pokémon Go and Wizards Unite - are Alternate Reality games, which require you to be in certain physical locations to interact with in-game objects that are associated with that location.
This could be a Pokémon Gym attached to London's Shard building, a Pokéstop attached to a particular convenience store in Japan, or somewhere region-specific Pokémon spawn.
The apps also collected data from users' phones which they fed back to Global++, "such as the type and value of particular Pokémon appearing in precise locations", which was then fed back to other users.
That meant players using the app could "obtain valuable information that is not available to other users".
The lawsuit also alleges that the group had already created an equivalent hacked version of Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, called Potter++.
The success of Wizards Unite was "threatened by defendants' unlawful conduct", Niantic said.
Global++ had previously "defeated, removed, or bypassed technical measures implemented by Niantic to thwart their schemes", the complaint alleges.
As a result of the suit, Global++ appear to have entirely shut up shop.
Their website has vanished, while their server on the popular gaming chat service Discord was also reportedly shut down,
The story in Harry Potter: Wizards Unite is totally new, and the first part will play out over several years.
Familiar faces from the books, including a grown-up Harry Potter, will pop up in-game as the story progresses, along with entirely new characters.
What's going on in game will be tied to the weather, the time of day and even the phase of the moon, so you'll have to pay attention if you want to get everything.
As an actual witch or wizard you've got three professions to choose from: Auror, Magizoologist and Professor.
Different professions have different skills, and you'll learn more skills as you play.
You can also choose a Hogwarts house, but the effects of this are purely cosmetic.
Unlike Pokémon Go there is no player-versus-player combat, but there are dungeons to explore with a team of pals.
Here you'll have multiple levels of enemies to defeat, getting harder and harder as you go down.
Unlike the raids in Pokémon, though, these will be open all the time for you to go into at your leisure.
While the game is currently only officially out in the UK and USA, other regions will follow later.
Virtual Reality v.s. Augmented Reality – what's the difference?
Here's what you need to know...
- Virtual reality involves using a headset to simulate a virtual world
- In a VR world, everything you see will be computer-generated
- Popular VR headsets include the HTC Vive and Facebook's Oculus Rift
- Augmented reality lets you see the real world, but "augments" (or adds on) computer-generated elements
- This means you'll be able to see computer images overlaid onto your real-world view
- This can be done by holding up your phone, and looking 'through' it using your phone camera to see directions overlayed on the road in front of you
- You can also use AR headsets like Microsoft's HoloLens and the Google Glass spectacles
MOST READ IN GAMING
Elsewhere in the world of mobile gaming, you can get some free Pride content in The Sims games, including The Sims Mobile and Freeplay.
There are also a couple of new Switch consoles already in production, with pictures showing a purely handheld version already in circulation.
Finally, Microsoft recently revealed its streaming service xCloud is nearly ready for prime time, and we got to test it out to see just how well Xbox One games really play on a phone.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368 . We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.