At NSA, Computers Sometimes Make the Policy Calls

John DeLong, the first-ever compliance director at the Pentagon’s spy agency, spends his days making sure analysts are not snooping on Americans.

U.S. law forbids the National Security Agency from intercepting communications between citizens. While privacy advocates argue that NSA databases nevertheless accumulate records on Americans, in fact, some of those systems are calling the shots to delete that information.

“There are times when we use technology to literally make legal and policy decisions,” said DeLong, 37, a lawyer whose additional math and physics degrees likely prepared him for the multifaceted task of policing code-breakers.

With an ever-increasing amount of messages to crack and data patterns to follow, agents have limited time to observe what he describes as “very specific procedures that govern their use and handling of that data.” So, machines sometimes patrol privacy.

“There are obviously some decisions that you can’t automate. You have to rely on a human for judgment. And we have lots of training” on foreign espionage authorizations, DeLong told Nextgov in an interview. “We have to make sure those authorizations pass from human to human from machine to machine very carefully.”

Those authorizations include minimization requirements, which tightly control any data obtained while targeting foreigners that identifies Americans. Other privacy measures include database audits and spot checking decisions about whom to pursue, according to intelligence officials.

A computer, for example, can be instructed to screen out certain types of information before it is passed on to the next stage of processing, DeLong explained. “In some cases, we literally have the legal and policy rules embedded in the technology such that the technology will only do those things,” he said.

Still, intelligence activities have broken the rules. As first reported by Wired in July, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence acknowledged in a letter to warrantless wiretap critic Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., that “on at least one occasion” the judicial branch determined “that some collection carried out pursuant to the [law’s] minimization procedures used by the government was unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment.”

When asked whether the incident occurred on his watch, DeLong said, “Root cause is always difficult to figure out, so I’m very hesitant to answer on timing. I will say very clearly, though, when there are incidents we follow the reporting path.”

He then deferred to ODNI, which coordinates the work of the U.S. intelligence community. “The government has remedied these concerns, and the [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court] has continued to approve the collection as consistent with the statute and reasonable under the Fourth Amendment,” officials said in a statement.

DeLong added, “We’re nothing if we lose the confidence of the American people.”

• Hackers Rig College Football, Prank Bryan Adams, Target Nvidia and Breach Bus System


• Your Router Could Be Behind Lizard Squad’s Attacks


• The Man from Google Who Came to Fix Federal IT Still Doesn’t Have His Own Website


• Why Republicans are Desperate for a Net Neutrality Compromise

This article originally published at Nextgov
here

Read more: http://mashable.com/2012/08/20/nsa-computer-policy/

At NSA, Computers Sometimes Make the Policy Calls

Dev & Design, national security, NSA, politics, privacy, U.S., US & World

Sprint Rolling Out 4G LTE Network to 100 Cities

Sprint announced on Monday that it will be expanding its 4G LTE network to more than 100 cities in the upcoming months.

The company — which began its 4G LTE network rollout with 15 cities in July 2012 — will be adding the service to more major areas including Chicago, Boston, New York City and Los Angeles. Smaller cities such as Rockford, Ill. and Salisbury, Md. will also be getting the network.

4G LTE is about ten times faster than 3G, allowing mobile users to load websites more seamlessly.

Sprint said construction has already started within those regions. For a full list of which cities are scheduled to get the network, click here.

“During the pre-launch phase, customers with capable 4G LTE devices may begin to see 4G LTE coverage in these areas and are welcome to use the network even before it officially launches,” Sprint said in a statement. “Sprint plans to announce commercial availability of 4G LTE in these cities in the coming months, at which point we expect coverage, performance and reliability to get even better.”

The company is also doing an overhaul of its 3G infrastructure to improve wireless signal strength, in-building coverage and less dropped calls.

“We know our customers depend on their mobile devices as their primary source of communication, business connectivity and entertainment,” said Bob Azzi, senior vice president of network at Sprint. “We want to deliver a network that delivers mobile access, productivity and entertainment at a highly competitive price point.”

Read more: http://mashable.com/2012/09/10/sprint-4g-lte-network-cities/

Sprint Rolling Out 4G LTE Network to 100 Cities

Apps and Software, Dev & Design, LTE, Mobile, sprint, tech

Google Ditches Apps for Teams and 3 Other Products

Don’t get too comfy with all those Google products you use on a daily basis — the company has announced plans to terminante several of them in the near future.

Google will be shuttering Apps for Teams, Google Listen, Google Video for Business and an unspecified number of its more than 150 blogs.

“Technology has the power to change people’s lives. But to make a difference, we need to carefully consider what to focus on, and make hard decisions about what we won’t pursue,” Google wrote in a blog post. “This enables us to devote more time and resources giving you products you love, and making them better for you.”

Google says it’s made changes to around 50 products, features and services in the past year. By eliminating products, it says, it can better allocate its time to more popular products, which will be used by more people.

Google Apps for Teams was launched in 2008 to allow people with school or business email addresses to collaborate on non-email applications, such as Google Docs, Google Calendar and Google Talk. Come Sept. 4, Google will turn Team accounts into regular Google accounts.

In 2009, Google Listen was launched for improved podcast discovery, which the company says has been made irrelevant because of Google Play. The podcast search function will be discontinued Nov. 1, though people who’ve already downloaded specific tracks will still be able to listen. Podcast subscriptions will be available in Google Reader, under the “Listen Subscription” folder.

Google Video for Business has allowed Apps for Business and Apps for Education users to use video for internal communications. Stored videos will be migrated this fall into Google Drive, but will not count against a user’s storage quota.

Though Google did not elaborate on which of its more than 150 blogs it would be terminating, the company says it won’t reduce post quantity, rather it will consolidate its communications in its most popular blogs.

Do you routinely use any of these products? Let us know in the comments if you’re upset about losing any of these Google features.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, gmutlu

Read more: http://mashable.com/2012/08/06/google-ditches-products/

Google Ditches Apps for Teams and 3 Other Products

Apps and Software, Dev & Design, google, google apps, Small Business, tech

After Malware Scare, Apple Makes First Appearance at Black Hat Conference

Apple will make its first appearance at computer security conference Black Hat on Thursday when Dallas De Atley, Manager of the Platform Security team at the company, takes the stage to talk about key security technologies in iOS.

Typically absent for security conferences, the move is a significant one, and one that shows Apple realizes that its operating system is vulnerable and that the company could benefit from the input of a group of people who have the main goal of revealing those vulnerabilities.

The first iOS malware app was confirmed earlier this month. Called “Find and Call” the app would have users upload all of their contact information to a server that would them spam all of their contacts with messages that appeared to come from the victim’s phone.

Hackers have started to pay more attention to the OSX platform. Previously thought to be free from viruses and attacked, Apple computers have started to see a rise in malicious software attacks.

Black Hat has been going on for the past 15 years. The conference brings together thought leaders from different facets of the information security worlds – everyone from corporate and government employees to academic and underground researchers – to help attempt to “define tomorrow’s security landscape.”

Since its initial conference in 1997, Black Hat has expanded its conference from a single event each year in Las Vegas to a series of conferences around the world in locations such as Abu Dhabi, Barcelona and Washington DC.

Microsoft first made an appearance at the conference in 1998, and Google took the stage in 2010. While most of the speakers at the Black Hat conference have a detailed description of their planned discussion topic, Apple’s description merely says it will “discuss key security technologies in iOS.”

The conferences are vendor-neutral and bring together some of he brightest and most prestigious names in the space for briefings as well as hands-on, high-intensity, multi-day trainings provided by some of the most respected experts in the world. Attendees can also receive formal certifications while attending the conference.

What do you think about Apple participating in the Black Hat conference? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

[via Bloomberg]

Read more: http://mashable.com/2012/07/24/apple-black-hat/

After Malware Scare, Apple Makes First Appearance at Black Hat Conference

apple, Apps and Software, Dev & Design, iOS, security, tech

Intel Fuels a Rebellion Around Your Data

The world’s largest chip maker wants to see a new kind of economy bloom around personal data.

Intel is a $53-billion-a-year company that enjoys a near monopoly on the computer chips that go into PCs. But when it comes to the data underlying big companies like Facebook and Google, it says it wants to “return power to the people.”

Intel Labs, the company’s R&D arm, is launching an initiative around what it calls the “data economy”—how consumers might capture more of the value of their personal information, like digital records of their their location or work history. To make this possible, Intel is funding hackathons to urge developers to explore novel uses of personal data. It has also paid for a rebellious-sounding website called We the Data, featuring raised fists and stories comparing Facebook to Exxon Mobil.

Intel’s effort to stir a debate around “your data” is just one example of how some companies—and society more broadly—are grappling with a basic economic asymmetry of the big data age: they’ve got the data, and we don’t.

Internet firms like Google and Amazon are concentrating valuable data about consumers at an unprecedented scale as people click around the Web. But regulations and social standards haven’t kept up with the technical and economic shift, creating a widening gap between data haves and have-nots.

“As consumers, we have no right to know what companies know about us. As companies, we have few restrictions on what we can do with this data,” says Hilary Mason, chief data scientist at Bit.ly, a social-media company in New York. “Even though people derive value, and companies derive value, it’s totally chaotic who has rights to what, and it’s making people uncomfortable.”

In February, for instance, legislators in California introduced the first U.S. law to give individuals a complete view into their online personas. The “Right to Know” bill would let citizens of the state demand a detailed report showing all the information about them that companies like LinkedIn or Google had stored, and whom they had shared it with.

That bill quickly got shelved under pressure from lobbyists for technology companies, who called it “unworkable” and financially damaging to Internet firms and said lawmakers don’t understand “how the Internet works.” Some of the data covered in the bill, like a computer’s IP address, or location, is so basic to communication between machines on the Internet that companies admitted they don’t even know where it ends up.

And that’s the wider dilemma: our personal data is inextricably tied to “big data”—those far larger data sets that now power many of the online services we use. If you don’t tell a navigation app where you are, it can’t tell you where to turn, or tell others there’s traffic ahead. One doesn’t work without the other. What’s more, the economic importance of products fueled with personal data is growing rapidly.

According to the Boston Consulting Group, as methods for basing transactions on a person’s digital records have spread from banks to retailers and other sectors, the financial value that companies derived from personal data in Europe was $72 billion in 2011. The consultants concluded that “personal data has become a new form of currency.”

Yet that doesn’t mean it’s a currency easily understood or traded on by individuals. Although a few startups have attempted to help individuals monetize their personal facts, the truth is that information about people’s identity and habits has financial value mostly in the aggregate. A single user’s value to Facebook, for instance, is only about $5 a year. Mason, the Bit.ly executive, says trying to put a value on one person’s data is like calculating the value of one unmatched shoe. “And here we are talking about sets of millions or billions of shoes,” she says. “I just don’t think that data plays by the economics of any goods we are familiar with.”

Some believe the market may have already found the right economic balance. “It seems like we have a working model where companies own our data and we’re okay with that because of the free stuff, personalization, and convenience we get in return,” says Gam Dias, CEO of First Retail, an e-commerce consulting company. “There’s not a lot I’m going to do with my extra data anyway. I already know who I am and what I want.”

Intel this year judged the questions swirling around personal data important enough to launch a “Data Economy Initiative,” a multiyear study whose goal is to explore new uses of technology that might let people benefit more directly, and in new ways, from their own data, says Ken Anderson, a cultural anthropologist who is in charge of the project.

Anderson, who once helped Apple develop the sliding application bar that appears on Mac computers (after studying how people organized their desks and stacked items on shelves), says Intel believes technology based on personal data may end up in the control of individuals, in much the same way that mainframe computers gave way to PCs. “It doesn’t matter what you look at in terms of technology. Usually, there is this move toward individualization,” he says.

Intel, which has started surveying consumer opinions, has also been supporting efforts like a competition in New York last fall in which developers wrote apps for the elderly and single mothers. It’s also underwriting the National Day of Civic Hacking, an event focused on new uses of municipal data being released by city governments, such as records of health inspections.

It’s too early to say just what kinds of products might result for Intel, Anderson says,. “When you talk about the data economy, it’s really something that doesn’t yet exist,” he says. “There are people who [are] trying to control a lot of your personal data. But that’s not an economy—that’s just profit for one company.”

Image via ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images

• What Obama Meant by Converting Sunlight into Liquid Fuel


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• Drones That Can Suck Up Water Hunt Oil Leaks, Invasive Species


• Hawaii’s Solar Push Strains the Grid

This article originally published at MIT Technology Review
here

Read more: http://mashable.com/2013/05/20/intel-data-economy/

Intel Fuels a Rebellion Around Your Data

Apps and Software, business, data sharing, Dev & Design, Intel, privacy

Will.i.am Is Planning a Fuzzy Robot Invasion

Entertainment multihyphenate Will.i.am is steering his next creative endeavor into hairier territory. Or … fuzzier.

Apparently, after a trip to Harrods in the UK, the musician-designer-dancer-producer was inspired by a toy dog to create a hybrid contraption that’s a stuffed-animal-music-player. Tech implantation ensued: The toy dog, Frankenstein-style, was reborn with a speaker for a stomach and a wireless brain. Will.i.am put a phone in its mouth.

Don’t be fooled, though. This isn’t going to be just another rendition of the other iPhone dogs already on the market. Will.i.am reportedly wants his idea to be more like J.A.R.V.I.S., Tony Stark’s, a.k.a. Iron Man’s, artificially intelligent computer. He wants it to sing. He wants it to dance. But most importantly (and, perhaps, revolutionarily), he wants it to execute household commands.

“I want to be able to tell it, ‘Play this song, download it,"” he told a UK publication. “I want to be able to tell it, ‘Put the next game on Tivo.’ I want this thing to rule my house.”

Will.i.am said he plans to have a version ready to go by the holiday season.

What do you think? Furby reincarnated? Or is this the innovation man’s best friend has been waiting for? Watch the video above to learn more, and then sound off in the comments.

Image via Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Read more: http://mashable.com/2013/07/09/mad-hacker-will-i-am-creating-some-furby-like-super-gadget/

Will.i.am Is Planning a Fuzzy Robot Invasion

conversations, Dev & Design, Entertainment, Furby, gadgets, hack, harrods, home, how to, JARVIS, Mobile, music, Newsy, Small Business, will.i.am

The 50 Greatest Video Game Easter Eggs of All Time

Video Game Easter Eggs

1. 
   

   
   

   
   

   1. Sea Bunny, Saints Row 2
   

   
   

   
   

   Players who are willing to go to the far corners of a sandbox game’s world should be rewarded with something spectacular. The second installment of Saints Row rewarded those players who chose to travel to three different remote islands with a giant pink bunny that rises out of the sea like a mythical beast. After gasping at its adorable majesty you can shoot it to send it back to the watery depths.

   
   

   Image: Volition, Inc.

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   
   
   


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   2. 1999 Mode, Bioshock Infinite
   

   
   

   
   

   For those of us who didn’t get enough of Bioshock Infinite — and really, who did? — this hidden difficulty level will keep you busy until Burial at Sea DLC comes out later this year.

   
   

   Warning: this mode is not for the faint of heart. Game creator Ken Levine has stated that gameplay “does not feel like Bioshock,” but instead pays homage to the 1999 game System Shock 2 by challenging the player with features including having limited resources, choosing a specialization in weapons and less respawning capabilities. To access the Easter Egg, enter the Konami code in the main menu.

   
   

   Image: Irrational Games

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   
   
   


3. 
   

   
   

   
   

   3. Assassin’s Turkey, Assassin’s Creed 3
   

   
   

   
   

   You might want to reconsider your Thanksgiving poultry. If you enter the Konami code after feeding this turkey you can create a little feathered mini assassin.

   
   

   Image: Ubisoft Games

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   
   
   


4. 
   

   
   

   
   

   4. Chris Houlihan’s Very Secret Room, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
   

   
   

   
   

   In 1990, Nintendo held a contest where one player would be randomly selected to make a cameo appearance in a Nintendo game. Chris Houlihan was the lucky winner, getting a secret room in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, although due to passive-aggressive miscommunications between developers, the room’s location went relatively unknown until 2002, after the Internet had become a big thing and Chris Houlihan’s moment in the sun had faded from gamers’ memories.

   
   

   Image: Nintendo

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   
   
   


5. 
   

   
   

   
   

   5. Accurate Kills, Assassin’s Creed Series

   
   

   
   

   You think body counts are fun in action movies? Try them in video games. The amount of nameless henchmen you kill is matched only by the amount of bullets you go through trying to hit them all. Well, not in Assassin’s Creed. Every named character you kill is not only a real historical figure, but their death in the game is in the same year and location as their death IRL.

   
   

   Image: Ubisoft Games

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   
   
   


6. 
   

   
   

   
   

   6. Leap of Failure, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings
   

   
   

   
   

   Assassin’s Creed taught us that we can jump off of buildings and land in a bale of hay without getting hurt. The Witcher 2 taught us that we can only do this in Assassin’s Creed. Find this fallen Assassin near the Bastille gate.

   
   

   Image: CD Projekt Red

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   
   
   


7. 
   

   
   

   
   

   7. Game Within a Call of Duty Game, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2
   

   
   

   
   

   Okay, this is going to get a little meta, but stay with us. You can play old school Atari games in Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. Head to the Nuketown Map and shoot all the mannequins headshot-style in under two minutes. Then, enjoy invincibility while you geek out to some of your favorite throwback games.

   
   

   Image: Activision

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   
   
   


8. 
   

   
   

   
   

   8. Developer Cameo, King’s Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella
   

   
   

   
   

   In the AGI version of King’s Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella, if you type “BEAM ME” into the text parser after killing the main boss, you’ll be transported from the castle to a spaceship filled with in-game versions of the game’s developers, each of whom introduces themself.

   
   

   Image: Activision

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   
   
   


9. 
   

   
   

   
   

   9. The Original, Adventure
   

   
   

   
   

   In what is credited as the first Easter Egg ever, programmer Warren Robinett added the text “Created by Warren Robinett” to an area of the game. Little did he know he would be starting a trend that would last more than 30 years.

   
   

   Image: Atari

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   
   
   


10. 
    

    
    

    
    

    10. Conan’s Cameo, Halo 4
    

    
    

    
    

    Despite his game review series Conan O’Brien isn’t an avid gamer. That doesn’t make his cameo appearance with Andy Richter in Halo 3 any less hilarious, though. Listen to the chatter of these two grunts in the hangar at the beginning of Mission 6 for the voice of your favorite late night host.

    
    

    Image: Bungie

    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    
    
    


11. 
    

    
    

    
    

    11. Secret Cow Level, Diablo II
    

    
    

    
    

    The secret cow level of Diablo II plays on years of jokes that players could enter a secret level by repeatedly clicking on the cows grazing just out of town. The level became known for a herd of walking, ax-wielding bovines that got better and better with each update of the game. Eventually, it became the most profitable level where players could find the best power-ups and item gains before developers toned it down again to its intended purpose as a novelty level.

    
    

    Image: Blizzard Entertainment

    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    
    
    


12. 
    

    
    

    
    

    12. Secret Pony Level, Diablo III
    

    
    

    
    

    The secret cow level of Diablo III built upon the joke from Diablo II, by having players speak to the ghost of the Cow King before entering the land of Whimsyshire to kill giant purple unicorns. Again, that’s giant. Purple. Unicorns.

    
    

    Reminder: This is a game about killing the Devil.

    
    

    Image: Blizzard Entertainment

    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    
    
    


13. 
    

    
    

    
    

    13. Should’ve Been a Cowboy, Gears of War 2
    

    
    

    
    

    We feel that most aspects of life would be improved by the addition of cowboy hats, so we jumped at the chance to put Stetsons on the Gears of War 2 crew. Just shoot three consecutive cowboy hats on the Insane difficulty to make everyone cowboy up … even the Corpser.

    
    

    Image: Epic Games

    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    
    
    


14. 
    

    
    

    
    

    14. Dog Ending, Silent Hill 2
    

    
    

    
    

    Players who managed to get to the joke ending of Silent Hill 2 got to meet Mira, the Shibu Inu who James finds out has been controlling the events of the game like some adorable Wizard of Oz. He might blame Mira for this, but when she seemingly apologetically licks his face? We really can’t see how he can hold a grudge.

    
    

    Image: Konami

    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    
    
    


15. 
    

    
    

    
    

    15. Hidden Door, Fallout 3
    

    
    

    
    

    You know, when we found this hidden message near the NN-03d SatCom array, we were a little hurt and a little upset. But it’s water under the bridge now, and we’ve learned to have a good chuckle about this particular Easter Egg.

    
    

    Image: Bethesda Game Studios

    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    
    
    


16. 
    

    
    

    
    

    16. Fireworks, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2
    

    
    

    
    

    Now just trust us on this one. We’re not going to tell you what it is, but just follow the directions on the image above.

    
    

    Maybe have a pair of clean underwear handy.

    
    

    Image: Activision

    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    
    
    


17. 
    

    
    

    
    

    17. Playing Chicken, Gears of War 3
    

    
    

    
    

    Act One, Chapter One of Gears of War 3 contains a hidden surprise. After you raise the lift so the Raven can land, walk up to each of the four tubes and shoot down into them, then when a chicken pops out, shoot it. Good luck.

    
    

    Image: Epic Games

    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    
    
    


18. 
    

    
    

    
    

    18. Guy Savage, Metal Gear Solid 3
    

    
    

    
    

    Metal Gear Solid 3 has a hidden mini game called Guy Savage. The hack-n-slash game acts as a dream sequence for Snake and can only be accessed by turning the game off and on again after the Volgin torture scene.

    
    

    Image: Konami

    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    
    
    


19. 
    

    
    

    
    

    19. Haunted Castle, World of Warcraft
    

    
    

    
    

    This egg pays homage to the Warcraft games that covered the war between humans and orcs, prior to the events of WoW. In the area called the Ruins of Lordaeron, located over the undead capital, there’s a throne room where you can hear disembodied voices of characters past (crank up ambient sound), and even see their ghosts (go outside and use the “detect invisibility” spell). For those players who can appreciate a good back story, this Easter Egg is like hitting the jackpot. Those ghosts come from the opening and closing cut scenes from the human campaign of Warcraft III.

    
    

    Image: Blizzard Entertainment

    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    
    
    


20. 
    

    
    

    
    

    20. Zombie Sounds, Half-Life 2
    

    
    

    
    

    You know those awful howling sounds the zombies make in Half-Life 2? That’s the reverse version of a human voice saying “Help God, help me” over and over. Does that make it more or less terrifying?

    
    

    In one expansion, you can even manipulate some zombie noises to hear words like “necrotics inbound” and “infestation.” Essentially, you get the sense that the zombies are just reliving their last moments over and over again.

    
    

    Image: Valve

    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    
    
    


21. 
    

    
    

    
    

    21. Cheesy Surprise, Perfect Dark
    

    
    

    
    

    The spiritual successor to GoldenEye 007 has a delicious surprise hidden in every level: a tiny wedge of cheese. If only real life worked that way.

    
    

    Image: Rare Ltd.

    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    
    
    


22. 
    

    
    

    
    

    22. Hidden Roster, NBA Jam Tournament Edition
    

    
    

    
    

    NBA Jam Tournament Edition not only has a wealth of cheat codes to help you perfect your game, but you can also unlock over 30 hidden characters including the Fresh Prince of Bel Air and Hillary Clinton.

    
    

    Image: Midway Games

    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    
    
    


23. 
    

    
    

    
    

    23. Hitman Ghost, Hitman: Contracts
    

    
    

    
    

    There are six different locations where you can see the ghost of the Thermal Bath Hotel. And, for the record, it’s just as spooky on the sixth time as it is on the first.

    
    

    Image: IO Interactive

    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    
    
    


24. 
    

    
    

    
    

    24. Hold Me, Halo: Combat Evolved
    

    
    

    
    

    This Easter Egg cut scene just really hits us in the feels while simultaneously making us weep with laughter. See it by beating the game at the “Legendary” difficulty.

    
    

    Image: Bungie

    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    
    
    


25. 
    

    
    

    
    

    25. Sweet Surprise, Hitman: Absolution
    

    
    

    
    

    In the “End of the Road” mission, shoot every nearby vulture and your target will get run over by an ice cream truck that mysteriously appears in the desert. This egg is sort of like killing two birds with one stone. Or like killing a handful of vultures with bullets and a human target with an ice cream truck. Either one.

    
    

    Image: IO Interactive

    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    
    
    


26. 
    

    
    

    
    

    26. Jill’s Sandwiches, Dead Rising
    

    
    

    
    

    When the ‘Jill Sandwich’ line from Resident Evil became meme-worthy for being so bad it’s GREAT, Dead Rising developers decided to have a little fun by putting in a “Jill’s Sandwiches” shop.

    
    

    Image: Capcom

    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    
    
    


27. 
    

    
    

    
    

    27. John Romero’s Head, Doom II

    
    

    
    

    To beat the final boss of Doom II, you have to shoot John Romero in the face. With a rocket launcher. Literally. Oh, and while you’re killing him he says, “To win the game, you must kill me, John Romero” backwards.

    
    

    Image: id Software

    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    
    
    


28. 
    

    
    

    
    

    28. King of the Monkeys, Contra: Hard Corps
    

    
    

    
    

    It’s not good to talk to strangers. But in Contra: Hard Corps when a secret man in a top hat offers you a place in a secret Battle Arena, you accept. You’ll then have to fight a disco robot who will erupt into fish pastries when you beat him, followed by a zombie in a dress with a slime baby in an armed carriage, who is then followed by your standard robot ripping holes in the fabric of time and space.

    
    

    But if you beat all those, you get to be king of the monkeys.

    
    

    Image: Konami

    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    
    
    


29. 
    

    
    

    
    

    29. Lost Island, Just Cause 2
    

    
    

    
    

    We kinda get the feeling that the Just Cause 2 developers are LOST fans. We don’t really know what tipped us off, but it could be the perfect replica of the island from the TV show, complete with plane crash and smoke monsters — the works.

    
    

    Image: Avalanche Studios

    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    
    
    


30. 
    

    
    

    
    

    30. Marco Polo, Uncharted 2
    

    
    

    
    

    Just because you’re trying to stop Zoran Lazarevic doesn’t mean you can’t take a little time for yourself every now and then. If you jump into the pool on the roof of the Hotel Shangri-La, you can cool off with a fun game of Marco Polo. How fitting, since Nate and Chloe are traveling on the Marco Polo trail. Now if only Chloe would just lighten up a little. Geez.

    
    

    Image: Naughty Dog

    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    
    
    


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    31. Monkey Family, Halo 3
    

    
    

    
    

    We’re calling this group a monkey “family,” but they all kinda look like Russian nesting dolls of the same monkey, so call em what you will. Regardless, they’re a little unsettling. But not nearly as unsettling as the lone monkey you can find in another part of the level.

    
    

    Oh wait, there’s more. If you played Halo 3: ODST all the way to the end and sat through the credits to the final cut scene, you can find another lone monkey chilling off to the left, in the shadows. Cause there’s nothing weird about that.

    
    

    Image: Bungie

    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    
    
    


32. 
    

    
    

    
    

    32. Mr. Toots, Red Faction
    

    
    

    
    

    This picture is real. That is Parker from Red Faction, holding a unicorn that is shooting rainbows out of its butt at an alien. The unicorn’s name is Mr. Toots, and he doesn’t seem to like being used as a weapon very much. But that’s not going to stop us because he’s freaking adorable (and pretty effective at killing aliens).

    
    

    Image: Volition, Inc.

    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    
    
    


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    33. MST3K Mode, Star Wars: Rebel Assault (PC)

    
    

    
    

    Cut scenes can be a drag, but in Star Wars: Rebel Assault for PC, you can liven them up by hitting ALT-V and then type in “OVRES.” Welcome to Mystery Science Theater 3000 mode.

    
    

    Image: Lucas Arts

    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    
    
    


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    34. Nothing To See Here, Folks, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
    

    
    

    
    

    There are definitely no Easter eggs at the top of the Gant Bridget in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. None. Go away.

    
    

    Image: Rockstar Games

    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    
    
    


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    35. Notched Pickaxe, Skyrim
    

    
    

    
    

    In the middle of a lawsuit between Skyrim creator Bethesda Softworks and Minecraft creator Mojang, the programmers of Skyrim decided that even though the lawyers were fighting, they were still going to pay homage to their fellow developer buds in the game.

    
    

    The programmers added a pickaxe (the primary tool used in Minecraft) called the “Notched Pickaxe” to the game in reference to Minecraft’s creator Markus “Notch” Persson.

    
    

    Image: Bethesda Softworks

    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    
    
    


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    36. A Payned Expression, Alan Wake
    

    
    

    
    

    Alan Wake is packed full of cultural references to everyone from Stephen King to Rambo to Energizer batteries, but specifically to Max Payne, a game franchise made by the same developer. This is evident in a faux interview where Sam Lake, a developer who also served as the face model for Payne, mimics the famous Max Payne facial expression for the camera at the end of the interview.

    
    

    Image: Remedy Entertainment

    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    
    
    


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    37. Song of the Ratman, Portal 2
    

    
    

    
    

    Portal 2’s unique storyline and gameplay make it one of the most universally admired games of all time. This Easter Egg makes it one of the creepiest games of all time. If you’ve stumbled across any of the hidden rooms left by GLaDOS victim Doug Rattman, you might be able to hear the weird chanting sounds coming from the walls.

    
    

    The graffiti covered walls aren’t the only things the Ratman leaves behind, however. In one room, a radio will help you hear an encrypted SSTV signal, which when uncoded, leads to a secret spoiler image that hints at a later scene in the game.

    
    

    Image: Valve Corporation

    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    
    
    


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    38. The Warden’s Secret Room, Batman: Arkham Asylum
    

    
    

    
    

    This egg was so hard to find that no player had discovered it after six months of the game being released. Finally, the developers decided they’d just reveal it themselves, as it was supposed to be a viral marketing technique for the next game in the series, Batman: Arkham City.

    
    

    Image: Rocksteady Studios

    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    
    
    


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    39. Lucky Sevens, Star Fox
    

    
    

    
    

    There’s no skill to winning at a slot machine, so perhaps that’s what makes this Star Fox boss so frustrating. Hidden in a secret level within the “Secret Black Hole Level,” you first have to shoot an asteroid and then fly through a giant space bird to defeat … a slot machine. As “When the Saints Go Marching In” plays, you shoot the lever of the slot machine to get those lucky sevens. This could take three seconds or the rest of your life, but either way you’re going to have that song in your head for a long time.

    
    

    Image: Nintendo

    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    
    
    


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    40. Heart of the City, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
    

    
    

    
    

    The GTA franchise is known for expansive maps that players are encouraged to explore. But when we made it to the Statue of Happiness (which looks strangely similar to Hillary Clinton), we were almost too weirded out to explore any further. The real surprise, though, is the giant, beating, invincible heart that hangs from chains inside the statue. Go ahead and read that sentence again, and then click the video link to see the creepiness for yourself.

    
    

    Image: Rockstar Games

    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    
    
    


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    41. Tannis Rides Again, Borderlands 2
    

    
    

    
    

    Fans of Borderlands will remember seeing Patricia Tannis hitch a ride on a fish to a pretty sick soundtrack. Well, she’s at it again in Borderlands 2, and the music is just as awesome as we remember.

    
    

    Image: 2K Games

    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    
    
    


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    42. The End of Youth, Metal Gear Solid 3
    

    
    

    
    

    The boss called “The End” in Metal Gear Solid 3 can be killed in one of two ways: fight him, or save the game, leave it alone for two weeks and then find him dead from old age when you come back.

    
    

    Image: Konami

    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    
    
    


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    43. Still Better Than John Madden, Wave Race Blue Storm
    

    
    

    
    

    Wave Race Blue Storm was pretty standard issue as far as racing games go, that is until you adjusted your audio settings to the announcer that sarcastically mocks your every move. Seriously, listen to this guy if you want to feel terrible about your abilities as a gamer.

    
    

    Image: Nintendo

    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    
    
    


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    44. Nicole Is Dead, Dead Space
    

    
    

    
    

    Dead Space scared the intergalactic crap out of us, but it also left us a little confused. Nicole was there. Nicole was a hallucination. Nicole was a Necromorph. Nicole was dead. Well, just in case anyone had any questions at the end of the game, the developers left a little clue in the first letter of each mission title.

    
    

    Image: Electronic Arts

    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    
    
    


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    45. Take Us to Your Leader, Grand Theft Auto V
    

    
    

    
    

    GTA V seems to be loaded with references to aliens and UFOs. For those who bought the Special and Collectors editions of the game can find hidden messages by shining a UV light on the blueprint map, where several UFO markings are made along with other hidden messages.

    
    

    UFOs can be seen in multiple locations around the map, and in the Prologue mission, if you look under the train bridge that the gang passes in the SUV, there is an alien frozen under the ice in the creek below.

    
    

    Image: Youtube, Jake Wright

    
    

    
    

    
    Video: YouTube, Jake Wright
    

    
    
    
    


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    46. Mind Reader, Metal Gear Solid
    

    
    

    
    

    When Psycho Mantis said he could read our thoughts we were all, “yeah, yeah okay.” …And then he told us what games we had on our console and how often we saved.

    
    

    The game scanned your console memory card and then used the games you had downloaded to basically freak you out.

    
    

    Image: Konami

    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    
    
    


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    47. Rebecca’s Basketball Days, Resident Evil 2
    

    
    

    
    

    We really want to know who the first person was to figure this out. If you check Wesker’s desk 50 times (count em, 50), you get this pic of Rebecca in a basketball uniform. Scandalous.

    
    

    Image: Capcom

    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    
    
    


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    48. Jack’s Plane, Bioshock 2
    

    
    

    
    

    In Bioshock, you play as Jack, who ends up in the underwater city of Rapture following the crash of a hijacked plane. In Bioshock 2, you see the remnants of Jack’s plane at the bottom of the ocean, when you explore the ocean floor as a Big Daddy.

    
    

    Image: 2k Games

    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    
    
    


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    49. The Megg, Halo: Combat Evolved
    

    
    

    
    

    Made by Halo‘s lead designer, Jaime Griesemer, as a gift for his girlfriend Megg, this Easter Egg took years to find. Megg herself had to come forward with how to solve the complicated puzzle. The end result? A heart drawn in human blood, with bullet holes in the shape of an “M.” How romantic.

    
    

    Image: Bungie

    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    
    
    


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    50. Shifty Cow, Mass Effect 3

    
    

    
    

    On the planet Ontarom, you can find a space cow with a dialogue option that does nothing. When Shepard turns around, though, this shifty sucker will try to rob you of credits with his extra limbs. It’ll even go so far as to follow you around, respawning whenever you shoot it in the head.

    
    

    The backstory to this Egg goes that when lead designer saw the first design of the cow, he found it a bit unsettling, saying, “You can’t trust an animal that can milk itself.” Hence, the Shifty Cow was born.

    
    

    Image: Bioware

    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    
    
    

Read more: http://mashable.com/2013/10/22/best-gaming-easter-eggs/

The 50 Greatest Video Game Easter Eggs of All Time

Apps and Software, Dev & Design, easter eggs, Entertainment, feaures, gaming