Mafiaboy – How I Cracked the Internet & Why It’s Still Broken
Michael Calce with Craig Silverman
2008

Mafiaboy – How I Cracked The Internet & Why It’s Still Broken reads more like a “what I did last summer” essay combined with a school research project than a true authoritative look at the problems inherent with security and the internet. I found Mr. Calce’s tale to be built more on ego and teenage swagger than on remorse. Granted, he did learn some good coding skills in his early career, but I find it hard to believe that an otherwise seemingly well-behaved kid had no foresight into the wrongness of his activities. At times I did wonder who he was trying to convince – himself, his family, or readers – that his foray into piracy, hacking and bot herding was nothing more than an innocent quest for knowledge gone wrong.

While I understand the lure of power and being able to do something no one else (or very few) can do, Mr. Calce broke the law, and he deserved all he got. Although he cautions others against following in his footsteps as the end result is not worth the brief intoxication of power, my respect falls on the side of the RCMP and FBI agents who put an end to Mafiaboy’s thoughtless attacks. I do not feel that his inclusion of very basic internet security information in any way redeems the millions of dollars in damage and lost time he caused.

I freely admit to harbouring ill-feelings towards script-kiddies and bot herders – feelings developed through firsthand experiences as our own network fell victim to botnet DDoS attacks. That said, I tried to not let that experience influence my opinion of this book, and I think that for the most part I succeeded. I was able to read this book more from an educated point of view in regards to internet and network security rather than as a neophyte. However, try as I might, I found very few redeeming qualities in Mafiaboy. He alone did not crack the internet as the title seems to imply – there were many before him and many more after him who saw the internet as their personal crime-filled playing field. I don’t understand why Mr. Calce felt that a full-blown book was required in order to “clear the air” other than to draw further attention to what he did and perhaps earn himself a little notoriety and fame within a new generation of young internet criminals. Despite his words to the contrary, I view Michael Calce’s book as nothing more than a way to make money from his crimes. Perhaps this is why there is yet another version of his book being published in 2009 – but the new title is “Mafiaboy – A Portrait of the Hacker As A Young Man” – perhaps others took exception to the boastful claim in his title – or perhaps there was another reason, but either way, it’s a new title I won’t be picking up – reading this story once was more th

MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

OS: Windows® 2000 / XP / Vista™
CPU: 1 GHz Intel® Pentium® processor or AMD® Athlon™ processor
RAM: 512 MB (1 GB recommended for Windows® Vista™)
Video: 64 MB DirectX® 9.0c compatible or better video card
PC CD-ROM: 4x (or PC DVD-ROM drive)
Sound: DirectX® 9.0c compatible sound card
Available Hard Disk Space: 2 GB
DirectX®: 9.0c
Other: Mouse, Keyboard and Speakers

Belief & Betrayal is a point and click third person adventure puzzle game. While outside of my usual gaming comfort zone, I was intrigued by the premise of the title. As anyone who knows me is aware, I am a research addict, and historic mysteries are one of my favourite research topics.

The storyline opens with our main character, journalist Jonathan Danter preparing for a trip to Florida, where he will be interviewing Cardinal Gregorio, a seemingly questionable representative of the Vatican. While preparing for the trip, Jonathan receives a disturbing call from Scotland Yard. The caller, an Inspector Twining, tells Jonathan that his uncle has been murdered and that he is afraid Jonathan’s life may be in danger. Jonathan argues with the officer, stating that his uncle had died ten years previous, but the Inspector insists that Jonathan come immediately to London. Almost as soon as he arrives in England our young hero is thrust into the secret world of ancient societies and intrigue.

He quickly finds out – much to his disbelief and chagrin that his uncle had faked his death due to his involvement with a secret Vatican police force – and there had been several other unsolved murders related to this secret service and a society known as The Legacy. After an interview with Inspector Twining, Jonathan visits his uncle’s apartment where he begins to search for clues about what his uncle was working on. It is during this visit that Jonathan meets with a shady Scotland Yard detective who appears to be involved in the murders – as the murderer – and a young lady named Kat who works for The Legacy, who rescues Jonathan from the deadly detective. Jonathan then becomes involved with The Legacy, searching across Europe for clues to the mystery, finding the answers in Chartres, France.

Throughout the game, you are given the ability to play as several different characters, each with missions to complete. The characters are able to communicate using a secret device which allows the sending of short movies, photos and emails. The controls and game features such as the inventory, journal and main menu are intuitive and easy to use. Sound effects, music and vocal levels can be manually set; one feature I like to see in any game I play is the option to not play at full screen. Unfortunately Belief and Betrayal does not offer that option.

While I enjoyed the premise of the game as well as playing the game – everyone loves a good mystery – I was at times put off with the slow gameplay. I did learn early on to thoroughly search locations, but I sometimes found it equally frustrating to have to repeatedly click on an area to find what I needed, particularly in the darker scenes. I also felt that the voice-acting for our main character did not fit his description – he is supposed to be a fast-living, hard-core journalist but I found his voice to have been more fitting for a teen-aged skateboarder and just not believable.

The storyline itself seemed to have small holes in it, and conclusions were reached without adequately covering how that conclusion was reached, while sometimes characters were sent on small missions which were pointless, such as Kat’s fruitless search for a hotel in Chartres. If more detail had been added in regards to fully utilizing the locations and a fuller storyline, I think this game would have taken me much longer than it did to play through and I would’ve enjoyed it much more.

I truly appreciated the artistry which had gone into the game environment – the details and realism put into the building architecture and features such as the frescoes was phenomenal. I would’ve definitely liked to have seen more storyline taking advantage of these fantastic locations. The attention to historical detail and the research which went into this game is very apparent and worthy of high marks. I also enjoyed the music tracks played throughout the game; they were neither overdone nor repetitive and irritating as has been the case in similar games. In fact I found the music to be very well written, layered and produced.

With so much attention paid to the details of the environment, it was disappointing that the plot-line and characters weren’t as well developed as I felt they could have been. Many times the characters appeared out of sync with their surroundings and what they were supposed to be doing, and handed each other invisible objects. That said, I enjoyed solving each of the puzzles in their turn – some of them were quite imaginative and took a bit of thought to solve – again, I just wish there had been more of them, and a way to increase the re-playability of the title. All in all, I did enjoy the sum of all the parts which came together to form the full game experience. Belief and Betrayal makes for a few hours of puzzling diversion, and may perhaps even encourage some of its players to learn more about the intriguing nature of the Golden Ratio, Chartres and the other historical references introduced during game play.

On The Way To The Web: The Secret History of the Internet and its Founders
Michael A. Banks
2008

On The Way To The Web is one book which I highly recommend to anyone who wants a definitive history on the internet. The amount of research and time which was obviously spent on compiling and organizing the short but colourful history of this wonder known as the Web is very worthy of recognition.

For those of us who remember the coming of the internet, On The Way To The Web is a journey back in time, revisiting many events, products and ideas which seemed so futuristic and impossible twenty years ago which have now become common place or fallen by the wayside. I personally had forgotten all about ventures such as GameLine – the innovative download service for Atari 2600 games and game updates. While I’m sure that many of today’s gamers think that XBLA, Wii Shop and PlayStation Network were all 21st century inventions, GameLine was here first. Reading about GameLine again, I have to wonder where our games industry would be today if Atari hadn’t experienced the downslide it did right at the time of GameLine’s launch.

Like spelunkers finding their way through a deep dark cave, technology innovators such as Bill Louden, William Von Meister and others lead the way forward from the days of ARPANET, primitive BBS systems and proprietary communication software to the birth of ISPs, TCP/IP, global email, portals and that entity we all love to hate, AOL.

On The Way To The Web presents a comprehensive time line of where we started and the complicated path we took to get to where we are today in our global internet community. This book is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand how we became such an inter-connected society, the wonders and miracles of communication technology.

While the tournament component of Digital Storm wasn’t as well attended as we’d hoped it would be, those who came to play had fun. It’s too bad the weekend was marred by a thief who made off with two 360 Elite hard drives, but I’m sure that in the long run, the thief will be enduring some serious payback. The show put on by the boys in Mendella kicked some serious butt and won themselves some new fans and friends. As always we’re indebted to our crew and sponsors for the assistance in putting on a fun event – and we wish those who are moving on to the World Cyber Games Canadian Nationals the best of luck on their road to Cologne and the Grand Finals.

The day after Digital Storm ended, we had a houseful of friends over for a barbeque. It was great extending some BC hospitality to Dave, Jo, Luke, Jason, Toby, Lewis, Tom and Sam – and serving up some fine Canadian steaks. It’s also nice to be able to offer our friends an atmosphere to relax in where they will always be welcome and find support for their dreams. Maybe we’ll even have the renovations done before they return in 2009

We spent BC Day at the Tom Lee Music Hall in Vancouver, where the boys had a 3pm performance. I managed to get some great shots in, and now that I’ve gone through and picked the top…70…I might just get around to putting something in the gallery on this site lol. I was going to put them up on Facebook, but decided I’d rather put them here. After the boys’ show, we were treated to dinner at a Thai restaurant in Yaletown by Dave, Jo and Luke. The food was incredible – almost as good as the company we were in. Unfortunately we had to cut the evening a bit short due to the fact that our parking time was going to expire and we didn’t want those parking lot hawks making off with our wheels.

During the week we made preparations for Mendella’s Saturday afternoon performance out here in Aldergrove. We’d hoped to be able to host a small-ish Battle of the Bands for some local groups, but due to logistics and a few other issues, the bands who wanted to participate couldn’t. Friday afternoon we took everyone to the Abbotsford Airshow, introducing Dave and Jo to the President’s Club while the boys, with Mike as their guide, wandered the static displays until early afternoon when they were able to join us in the President’s Club. They definitely made an impact among the crowd, making new friends all around – especially with the USAF Strike Eagle Demo team. The photo shoot we were able to conduct after the show ended for the day was very exciting. I haven’t processed those photos yet, though. Soon, soon. According to reliable reports, the Demo team was still talking about the band and the photo shoot at the Airshow Reception party later that evening. We had hoped to have the band perform at the President’s Club on Sunday, but couldn’t due to scheduling issues with the Airshow. Perhaps another time – I know one Demo team who would love to see them there again – then again, I know a band who would love to meet up with their friends in the Demo team again.

Saturday’s outdoor performance in Aldergrove was definitely unique. After a week of hot, sunny weather, I bet you don’t have to try very hard to guess what it did on Saturday. Yes – it poured. It was windy. There was lightning and thunder. But we still had a great time, again with a great crew. This was the first time we have had an opportunity to work with Ryan and Curtis from Sonic Voodo Productions, and I think that we all worked extremely well together, and we are definitely considering doing more shows with them in the future. While the weather did put a big dent in the audience size, those who came to watch and listen enjoyed the band’s performance. I must make mention of Dave from Sweet Max. If not for his loan of a guitar amp, the show may not have gone on. The Fender DeVille we’d rented for Lewis didn’t work properly and had an awful squeal in its valve. While it was a cold and windy afternoon, working with great people always makes the worst situations seem more fun. The experience of performing in such conditions was a learning experience for the boys in the band as well – and they seemed to be having a good time too. Packing up in torrential rainstorms isn’t all that much fun, but we got the job done anyway.

We all had some relax time, and then it the was boys’ final Vancouver performance for this year. They rocked The Roxy, and have been invited back anytime they’re in town. This was followed up by dinner at MileStone’s in YaleTown, which was relaxing and great time – even though we all knew that our friends from the UK would be going home the next day.

I met up with everyone the following afternoon to provide the extra vehicle needed to get everyone with instruments and luggage to the airport on time. It was a bitter-sweet parting – knowing that they would be back next year, and that they will soon be off to record their first commercial album. I am thankful for the time I got to spend growing a deeper friendship with everyone, and I especially enjoyed meeting Dave’s wife, Jo. I am definitely looking forward to seeing her again, as we have so much in common and get along quite well.

So…what are we doing now that our events are done for the year? Well – we have sites to design for a certain rock band and their management. We have planning to do for next year’s event, PAX is coming up at the end of August, and of course there’s Greg’s final sentencing date in September. I need to get out and interview some studio people and spend more time writing – but I’d also like to get back outdoors and do some more shooting. Scott and I went up the east side of Harrison Lake on Saturday to shoot, and it was great to just get out there and drive, looking for those amazing shots.

And now that I’ve updated the venerable blog as much as I intend to tonight, I believe I will head off for some sleep while listening to the thunder overhead and the stupid dripping drainpipe outside our room. It definitely needs fixing before winter. It will drive me crazy, which means that I will in turn drive Scott and Mike crazy.

Get Rich Playing Games covers almost every aspect of the game industry, from pre-startup stage to getting the product on the shelf and beyond. Scott Steinberg doesn’t only focus on the game developers and designers, though. Throughout the book he discusses the important roles other people in the industry play, from the number crunchers and audio designers to the journalists who write the reviews. What I consider important about the inclusion of these different vocations within the videogame industry is that almost anyone who has the passion to work within the industry can probably find a career position for which they are perfectly suited. Not everyone has the knowledge, talent or passion to be an engineer or an artist, and Get Rich Playing Games shows that you don’t have to be able to paint the next fantasy art masterpiece to work in gaming.

As with Scott’s other books, he has enlisted the opinions and experiences of those who have been involved in the gaming industry for a very long time and know of which they speak. Throughout Get Rich Gaming, and especially in the Expert Insight section, readers are given the chance to tap into the collective intelligence of the videogame industry without leaving home. Scott Steinberg talks with the CEO’s of the biggest companies, such as Bruce Hack of Vivendi, and he talks with those who came up through the gaming ranks such as Dennis Fong and Jonathan Wendel. You can read about both the good and the bad experiences of industry gurus such as Will Wright, Richard Garriott, Tommy Tallarico, and Jane Jensen to name but a few.

Get Rich Playing Games is an honest look at the methods which worked, and those which didn’t. It shows that with the drive for success, a roadmap is an excellent plan, and so is having a sense of humour, but what I think is the most important lesson in this book is – if you don’t take a chance and leap, you don’t know how far you will go. Scott shares an honest – and humourous – view of his own leap of faith into the gaming industry, and he tells it like it was – sink or learn how to swim. Unlike many of you reading this review, it took me decades to find my passion – or perhaps the passion was there all the time, I just hadn’t opened the right door. I highly recommend that those of you currently toying with the idea of working in the videogame industry take the time to read Get Rich Playing Games, you will garner new insight and you will definitely learn how to focus your talents and interests into finding a place among those who have achieved success in this great industry.