VO 1.8.237 includes:- Enhanced password security. Maximum password length has been increased to 64 characters.- Fixed problem with video options not getting saved.- Increased default settings for Adreno 320-based Android devices.- Removed storms in Deneb.The biggest news in this update are the major security improvements added with our new password handling system. Note: In order to take advantage of these improvements, you MUST update your password on the game website. We don't prevent you from re-using your old password, but we strongly recommend taking advantage of the new 64-character password length by making a fairly long, memorable passphrase using random words, the benefits of which are described in this famous xkcd comic. In fact, an xkcd fan even created this common word password generator to serve that purpose.For those interested in the technical details, I'll elaborate a little more. The old password system was quite state of the art for the time when it was created (the late 90s), albeit with far too short of a password character limit. The new design is very much like the old one, which was always similar to bcrypt, but is now enhanced with bcrypt's ability to increase the password CPU-cost in the future. This will let us react to the changing landscape of possible brute-force attacks, and increase security dynamically as necessary (and informing our userbase of the changes if/when they should occur). The current CPU cost is designed to take half a second for the game client to hash on a 1ghz NVIDIA Tegra2-based mobile device. We intend to also thread the client's hashing of passwords, to make the computation process less intrusive on the user interface, at which point we may increase the cost further.Beyond this, we've improved the cryptographic randomness of the unique salt used to strengthen each password hash, as well as the nonce used to mitigate replay attacks. These have always been features of the protocol, we've just updated and improved them.In addition, the game server and website still retain the measures to slow down any remote brute-force password attacks, which we added some time ago to mitigate the password length limitations we had at the time.Of course, all of these technical measures are in vain if the end-user chooses a password that is too short and too easy for computers to guess. So ple

VO 1.8.236 includes:- Added touch-to-select HUD feature to Android version. Just touch the target (making sure no other touch region is touched) and it is selected, depending on your HUD's "Target" mode.- Reduced network traffic when logging in.- Storms once again appear in Edras and Pelatus.- Fixed problem with Trade Guild mission choosing wrong destination stations.- Added code to the audio system to fix missing sound on some Windows Vista/7/8 desktop computers.It is also noteworthy that an updated Windows Store build of the game (for Windows 8 and Windows RT) has also passed certification with Microsoft, which enhances the default graphics on Intel Ultrabooks and fixes a number of bugs. It should also be possible to use plugins with this version, by placing them in the /user/your name/AppData/Packages//LocalState folder.

VO 1.8.234 and 1.8.235 include:- Fixed ice asteroid rendering problem on the Windows Store version.- Improvements to deal with higher latency connections.- Android version should no longer show a black screen if you press Home during the initial loading screens.- Added Options button to the PDA menu.The "improvements to deal with higher latency connections" should substantially help with logging into the game and acquiring the dynamic mission data on mobile devices and for those playing outside the US.

VO 1.8.233 includes:- New visual effects for Starflare rocket explosion.- Support for MOGA game controller for the Android version. Upon first launch, a MOGA menu will show what the controls are bound to. The menu is also available from the HUD by typing /help in chat.Our support for the recently-launched PowerA MOGA bluetooth game controller is worth noting. We've found this device to be a very cool way to play the game on an Android phone, providing perhaps the best mobile Vendetta Online experience we've seen to date. We have no vested interest in their success, this referral stems purely from our usage and impressions of the Moga, and our desire to see mobile gaming evolve to match the technical capabilities of modern devices. Flying with the controller still takes some getting used to, and it isn't a replacement for a mouse and keyboard; but Moga is a huge improvement over a touchscreen, and superior (in my opinion) even to the Xperia Play.We hope you like the new Starflare rocket effects. We have some more improved effects in the works that were actually patched into the game tonight, but we need to do a bit more development before they can become visible in the game.

VO 1.8.232 includes:- New visual effects for Iceflare and Sunflare rocket explosions.- Linux64 version now has experimental multithreaded rendering and physics support.We hope you'll enjoy the new Sunflare and Iceflare rocket explosions. We intend to eventually add graphical differentiation for all the major weapons, to add variety and make it more visually apparent what weapons are in use, even in the midst of combat.The new multi-threaded engine is being tested first on Linux64 to give us a smaller, yet technologically savvy, subset of the userbase for this initial release pass. As time goes on, we'll expand the engine release to include other platforms. The new engine makes extensive use of threading for physics, rendering, collision detection and response. In early testing this has substantially improved performance and scalability on systems with multi-core CPUs. As even cellphones are now offered with as many as four CPU cores, this client scalability is beneficial all the way from mobile to high-end PCs. It also lays the groundwork for us to further evolve our graphical and game content, leading to a grander and more epic galaxy.

VO 1.8.231 includes:- New visual effects for Mining Beams.- Fixed Linux joystick calibration menu.- Fixed rare "invincible" Hive Queens.- Fixed common case where Linux crash-reporter would fail to appear.- Orun Collectors in the training sector no longer leave.Anyone involved in mining should see a pretty drastic improvement in the related visual effects, marking the latest graphical update to the game. We think the new effect is pretty cool, and thus far the feedback as been very positive from all of you as well.The engine threading updates are still ongoing, we hit a few snags that have further delayed the tentative initial release, hopefully we'll be seeing them on Friday.

As of today we officially announced the release of Vendetta Online for Windows 8 (x86, x64) and Windows RT (ARM). The game is offered with support for traditional desktops and notebooks, hybrid Ultrabooks with touchscreens, as well as touch-only tablet devices, and can be found in the Windows Store. The Windows 8 build includes specialized support for the new Snapped and Filled screen configurations (as well as the usual full-screen mode), plus other specialized Windows 8 options. Ongoing improvements will continue as Windows 8 devices are released, but we're proud to see the game debut on a new platform.For more coverage of the launch, see Massively, The Verge, RageZone, Gamasutra, and others.

It has been recently reported that PlaySpan, a major credit card and payment clearinghouse commonly used in the MMO world, has suffered a serious security breach. Vendetta Online is largely unaffected by this issue.Our sole relationship with PlaySpan is their ownership of the PayByCash, who we offer as a payment option. However, using the PayByCash system only exposes the account name of the user, and never their password or any other information (much like PayPal and other systems). We do not share password data outside of our company. Ever.Users who paid via PayByCash could only be affected by this compromise if they chose to use the same password on both the PayByCash site as well as their Vendetta Online account. If that is the case, we recommend changing both to new and unique passwords as soon as possible.If you have never used PayByCash at all, there is no reason for concern.- Guild Software, Inc.

VO 1.8.230 includes:- New icons for mission categories.- New visual effects for the Charged Cannon.- Fixed Joystick calibration menu on Mac version.- Fixed crash on Android version when attemping to see what commands the accelerometer is bound to in the console.This update debuts the new icons for mission categories, which are intended to be stylistically consistent with those we recently added for station classes. The visual effects for the Charged Cannon have also been modestly improved. Moving forward, we'll be continuing to improve effects and other visual aspects, making more significant and graphically intensive improvements as time goes on.Gameplay changes and bugfixes are also coming, but are still being delayed by a need to wrap up some of the major architectural work we undertook this past summer. Hopefully the updated game engine will debut this coming week on a limited selection of platforms, bringing with it improved scalability, and openig the door for a lot of future gameplay, content, and graphical improvements.

VO 1.8.229 includes:- Added station type logos that indicate whether the station is a type: Capitol, Barracks, Mining, etc.- Added more default joystick configurations for the Android version.- When a player flying a capship times out, the players docked to it are no longer killed. They are now launched from the capship.Along with the new factional logos added recently, the new station class icons give a quick view of where you're docked, along with adding a little more cultural coherence to the game universe. We will be continuing to add this kind of art content over the coming months. Next week should include a new weapon effect, as well as a first-generation test of some major engine architecture changes.