Latest news with #DeathStranding2:OntheBeach
Time of India
9 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
YouTube begins testing new age verification feature amid chaos over Death Stranding photo mode loophole on Discord, and Reddit
(Image via Getty Images) YouTube has started testing a new age verification system in the United States, with the aim of better protecting young users. The move comes into effect with the growing pressure for better online safety. It's specifically after recently that the users found a way to bypass age checks, using Death Stranding 2: On the Beach photo mode. The development highlights the increased struggle for verifying age online in an effective way. YouTube experiments with an age verification feature After facing regulatory pressures, YouTube is finally out there testing a new method for estimating user ages in an accurate way. The trial currently running in the United States aims to restrict underage access to all available mature content. As per reports, the feature would analyse factors including account creation date, user behaviour, account activity, and even facial recognition age check in some cases. If the system flags an account to be potentially underage, the access of the users can be restricted. The users who will get flagged by the system will need to verify their age using their government IDs, selfie scans or credit card details. However, the significant concern that exists here is about the accuracy of the system—AI can misjudge the user's appearance. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like These Are The Most Beautiful Women In The World Undo There are many users who doubt that YouTube can reliably guess ages based on nothing but users' activity itself. Privacy concerns online, though, continue to persist about sensitive documents sharing. Also, despite all the pushback, the move of YouTube aligns perfectly with global trends, such as the UK's Online Safety Act. What is the age check loophole that potentially led YouTube to test the feature? While the UK Online Safety Act is standing its ground despite more than three hundred and fifty thousand signatures standing against it, platforms like YouTube have started to push some new checks. The feature testing comes at a time when the gamers have found a workaround to the law, using Death Stranding photo mode. Platforms like Reddit and Discord age verification are in place within regions like the United Kingdom. It follows the new Online Safety Act and requires users to have facial scans to access certain content. However, using the detailed photo mode of Death Stranding 2 has proven to be the key for bypassing it. With the photo mode trick, users point the in-game camera at Sam Bridges to fool the verification AI of the platforms. Facial recognition mistakes a virtual model for a real person. It allows users to pass the checks without having to submit their personal IDs or pictures. It's working for Reddit, Discord and some other systems. The age verification loophole has highlighted the major flaw—current tech for age verification struggles to distinguish between digital avatars and real humans. While there are services like Bluesky that have caught this trick, others have failed. Such ease in bypassing the checks has raised major concerns about whether the measures can truly protect the minors or if they just create a false sense of security. Experts have suggested combining AI with manual reviews—a multi-layered verification, which could possibly help. But for now, the debate still continues about whether or not there exists any measure of safety. With Discord, Xbox and now YouTube age verification redefining the system, the one thing that remains clear is that digital age checks do need more than just the camera scan for working right. Catch Rani Rampal's inspiring story on Game On, Episode 4. Watch Here!
Time of India
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Death Stranding photo mode helps users to sneak past UK age rules on Discord
(Image via Kojima Productions) The UK has enforced the new Online Safety Act. In the wake of it, the gamers seem to have stumbled upon the unexpected workaround. As per reports, using Death Stranding 2: On the Beach's photo mode allows players to pass the facial verification on platforms like Discord. It might sound bizarre, but truly, it's working. Such a clever workaround, though, is raising questions not just about the tech, but even about how we define age verification within the digital world. Death Stranding 2: On the Beach digital workaround outwits the facial age scans Death Stranding 2: On the Beach has become one of the unlikely tools for age verification bypass in the United Kingdom. With the Online Safety Act now in force in the country, platforms like Reddit and Discord have implemented stricter age-verification checks. But it didn't take much time for the users to find a loophole. Dany Sterkhov, a user on X, was the first to demonstrate how the high-fidelity video game photo mode of Death Stranding 2 can trick the facial recognition technology. While pointing the camera at Sam Porter Bridges, in the photo mode of the game, users can successfully pass the age verification of Discord. It was, though, not the only case. There are many others who have replicated this result with utmost ease. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Villas For Sale in Dubai Might Surprise You Villas in Dubai | Search Ads Get Info Undo Why does the Death Stranding 2 photo mode work for age verification? The age verification on Discord, which is powered by the k-ID system, has promoted users for performing just some basic actions, like closing/opening their mouths. The Death Stranding 2 photo mode allows users to animate Sam's face with another level of realism. This means that even some dynamic verification prompts, like turning the head or moving the lips, can be easily met by the use of game settings. Reddit, which uses a different service (Persona), even failed to distinguish between an in-game model and a real human. It was only Bluesky that uses a much more robust system of Yoti was able to successfully flag the attempts of users. Though for many, Reddit and Discord remained the primary targets, and they were able to fool the system in just seconds. Is this a clever bypass or a concerning loophole? What makes the entire workaround here so striking is not just the simplicity of the process but also its implications. The law in the UK demands robust verification to protect minors. Yet, just a smartphone camera and a PlayStation game were enough to satisfy the verification requirement. The entire verification method does not just avoid uploading personal IDs or selfies but also hints at how easily current tech can be fooled. While the VPNs definitely are another method here, the Death Stranding 2 bypass does not need any downloads, payments or users to know about the tech know-how. Its complete simplicity might appeal to privacy-conscious users, but it even calls into question the broader strategy of UK law and its effectiveness. If asked, what's next, quite likely the platforms will be required to either improve tech or go ahead and rethink their entire approach; after all, if they do not, they will be facing fines of up to $24.2 million or 10% of the global revenue (whichever is higher). As of now, Death Stranding 2 has offered much more than just a haunting narrative. It has become a part of the real-world debate on privacy concerns, identity and even the AI-based enforcement limits. Catch Rani Rampal's inspiring story on Game On, Episode 4. Watch Here!
The Star
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Star
Pac-Man's new friend: A sword-wielding warrior
Although the summer can be a slow period for new video games, there were a few major releases in recent weeks. Our critic considered Donkey Kong Bananza a strong addition to the Nintendo Switch 2 library, praising the 'lavishly animated extravaganza.' Another critic thought the auteur Hideo Kojima was a bit heavy-handed in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach , which addresses the pitfalls of connection. Here are three other games you may have missed in July: Shadow Labyrinth When it comes to choosing a movie to watch on an airplane, I always opt for something that rests comfortably on the lower range of good. I steer clear from things I really want to see because I'm an uptight cinephile who would prefer to watch the best stuff in front of a nice setup without ambient distractions. I thought about those preferences while playing Shadow Labyrinth , a good but by no means great Metroidvania. In keeping with the genre, it offers the lulling comfort of crisscrossing a mazelike structure and acquiring power-ups that allow the player to unlock previously inaccessible areas. Shadow Labyrinth won't blow anyone away with its visuals, which come across as a mildly souped-up take on retro-style graphics, but it features a strong hook: Imagine if you took Pac-Man – the O.G. video game maze-runner – and thrust him into a sci-fi world where he assists a hooded sword-wielding warrior. Swordsman No. 8, the warrior in question, can transform into Puck, the name of the Pac-Man character in the game, to zoom over the brightly coloured rails that are a hallmark of the franchise. He can also merge with Puck into a large mecha creature that can be helpful when fighting the game's bosses, such as the fire-spewing chicken Duke Sirius. If you're looking to take a vacation from serious gaming, you could certainly do worse than this. – CHRISTOPHER BYRD Reviewed on the PlayStation 5 Pro. Also available on the PC, Switch, Switch 2 and Xbox Series X|S. Everdeep Aurora Everdeep Aurora starts off with your character, a small round cat girl named Shell, fleeing an apocalyptic meteor shower for the safety of the caverns below. She is joined there by a colorful cast of allies, among them a giant blacksmithing ram and a guitar-playing frog who gives her an old drill to dig deep into the earth below. Journeying into the dark seems overwhelming at first. It's mysterious and opaque, and you can't explore very far down these 8-bit tunnels without running out of drill fuel and being forced to backtrack. As the game unfolds and Shell maps out more of the cave system, it becomes clear that the tenor of this experience is closer to joyful exploration than life-risking adventure. The deeper she digs the more the game brightens, introducing you to new puzzles, characters, exotic settlements and breadcrumbed tidbits of story. Shell may be diminutive and feline, complete with a button dedicated to meowing, but she is indefatigable. Seemingly intimidating enemies – a haughty woman who hoards her treasures, or an untrustworthy snake who uses dice games to swindle passersby – inevitably trip over their own avarice like the villains of childhood fables. Undisturbed by their antics, Shell continues on, uniting a sprawling world. – YUSSEF COLE Reviewed on the PC. Also available on the Switch. EA Sports College Football 26 I quickly noticed the bold, brassy fight songs – over 200 of them this year – in EA Sports College Football 26 . The game's soundtrack is so rife with spirited marches and bouncy versions of pop songs like Miley Cyrus' Flowers that I wanted to hit the gridiron immediately. Breathless commentators and an opening cinematic with rapid cuts and high-energy action added to my enthusiasm. But there were issues. Character models for stadium crowds and cheerleaders weren't state of the art. Fan reactions were repetitive. In the challenge mode where you can earn points for upgrades, a player was partially offscreen when I tried getting him to perform an end zone victory dance. Some of these issues were addressed in a patch, but afterward I still had an announcer say the game was close when I was ahead by 14 points. Nonetheless, there's so much here to mine that College Football 26 is a good offering to enjoy throughout the season. I particularly enjoy the Road to Glory mode, where you can create a player and help him shine as he moves through high school to college. Thrills abound even before the teams line up at midfield. It's stunning to witness Aurea, the soaring golden eagle, at the beginning of an Auburn game. During a tense fourth quarter, it felt real to see a rowdy crowd aggravating players during a key moment. – HAROLD GOLDBERG Reviewed on the PlayStation 5. Also available on the Xbox Series X|S. – ©2025 The New York Times Company This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Engadget
3 days ago
- Engadget
Microsoft plans to bring Xbox age verification to countries outside of the UK
Microsoft is implementing an age verification system on Xbox accounts to comply with the UK's Online Safety Act, and in a new blog post announcing the move, the company suggests it'll come to other countries, too. Players in the UK who indicate on their account that they're 18 years or older will now "begin seeing notifications encouraging them to verify their age," Microsoft says. The process is optional for now, and players will be able to enjoy playing Xbox games until "early 2026," when verification will become mandatory to "retain full access to social features on Xbox, such as voice or text communication and game invites." If you don't verify, you'll still be able to make purchases, play games and earn achievements, but social features will be limited to your friends. Microsoft says its hopes to learn from its UK program, and "roll out age verification processes to more regions in the future." The company cautions that the version it introduces in other regions might look different than the "proof of government-issued ID, age estimation, mobile provider check and credit card check" options it's offering in the UK, but age verification will be the norm. The UK's Online Safety Act was signed in to law in 2023 to ban nonconsensual deepfake porn and create rules preventing children from being exposed to adult content. As regulators have defined ways companies can comply with the law, implementing an age verification system has become the solution most platforms that host adult content have settled on. That's why Microsoft, Bluesky, Reddit, Discord and others have announced age-verification programs in the last few months. The problem is, no age verification system is foolproof, and in some cases all they take is a photo to circumvent. The Verge reports you can fool Reddit's age gate with the photo mode in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach , for example. Using a VPN has also proven to be a way to get around age verification tools. If companies take Microsoft's approach and introduce age verification in more regions, it might get harder to avoid, but widespread adoption has privacy and security implications of its own.
New York Times
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Pac-Man's New Friend: A Sword-Wielding Warrior
Although the summer can be a slow period for new video games, there were a few major releases in recent weeks. Our critic considered Donkey Kong Bananza a strong addition to the Nintendo Switch 2 library, praising the 'lavishly animated extravaganza.' Another critic thought the auteur Hideo Kojima was a bit heavy-handed in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, which addresses the pitfalls of connection. Here are three other games you may have missed this month: Shadow Labyrinth Reviewed on the PlayStation 5 Pro. Also available on the PC, Switch, Switch 2 and Xbox Series X|S. When it comes to choosing a movie to watch on an airplane, I always opt for something that rests comfortably on the lower range of good. I steer clear from things I really want to see because I'm an uptight cinephile who would prefer to watch the best stuff in front of a nice setup without ambient distractions. I thought about those preferences while playing Shadow Labyrinth, a good but by no means great Metroidvania. In keeping with the genre, it offers the lulling comfort of crisscrossing a mazelike structure and acquiring power-ups that allow the player to unlock previously inaccessible areas. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
