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Mars Attracts
Game Updates

The New Mars Attacks Game On Steam Is Very Good

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Well, I didn’t have this on my 2025 bingo card, which is a thing I assume we all have. There’s a Mars Attacks! video game out this week on PC, and more surprisingly, it’s a really fun, if somewhat rough around the edges, theme park management game that plays a lot like a sci-fi spin on Zoo Tycoon and Two Point Hospital.

Cleverly titled Mars Attracts, this newly released theme park management sim lets you abduct humans from throughout history and build a theme park around displaying them like animals while also experimenting on them in horrible ways for science. And also to provide entertainment to your depraved Martian guests. And after spending a few hours with Mars Attracts, I’m both excited to play more and also disturbed by how quickly I turned on humanity in the pursuit of building the coolest theme park on Mars.

Mars Attracts isn’t based on the ’90s Mars Attacks movie directly, but instead is based on the original trading cards that inspired Tim Burton’s cult classic film, so don’t expect Pierce Brosnan and Sarah Jessica Parker to pop up at any point. Instead, Mars Attracts uses the OG card art and lore as its foundation to build out a wild theme park management simulator. And all of the new in-game art created for Mars Attracts is fantastic, perfectly emulating the old look of the cards. I really want some of these loading screen and pause menu images printed out as big posters.

So what do you do in Mars Attracts? Well, you build theme parks. But it’s not as simple as plopping down some paths, food stalls, trash cans, and rides, and calling it a day. The Martians in Mars Attracts are coming to your park to see different human beings from various points in history, like the Wild West and Ancient Rome. Through the use of time travel and UFOs, you send off aliens to go collect humans and items from a given time period, which you then place in exhibits. And while you have some humans collected, you might as well run experiments on them. Not only does this please many of your guests, but it also helps you earn the various research currencies needed to unlock upgrades and new things to build. It’s a lot more fun than researching new tech in other park builders. In those games, I don’t even get to torture and kill one single human, let alone dozens.

Of course, the humans you collect aren’t going to be happy about this situation, so you’ll need to make sure you keep their enclosure clean and filled with food troughs and water dispensers, and not poke and prod them too much. If a human gets too angry and wants to break out, they just might, and you’ll need to call in security to stop them.

And if you have an excess of human beings, you can also just dissect them and use their parts to build new kiosks and entertainment options for your guests. Want to provide your Martians with balloons made out of human lungs? You can do just that, once you’ve killed enough humans. If this all sounds morbid and disgusting, don’t worry. Mars Attracts features a cartoonish and silly aesthetic that makes it easy to have a good time while torturing your human captives.

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Mars Attracts is currently in early access on Steam, and while I didn’t experience any annoying bugs or crashes while building out my incredible parks across the game’s first few starting zones, I did notice some missing text and a lack of sound effects. There’s just a general sense that the game isn’t finished yet, which is exactly what I would expect from an early access indie game. I also felt like some parts of the in-game economy felt grindy, and it can be annoying managing supplies when it feels like your workers aren’t doing what you expect. So if you prefer your games to be more feature-complete, perfectly balanced, and…well…finished, then you might want to wait.

For everyone else, if you love building out wacky hospitals in Two Point or building elaborate parks in RollerCoaster Tycoon, I’d definitely recommend Mars Attracts. It’s the weirdest theme park builder I’ve played in a long time, but also a fantastic spin on the genre that sci-fi fans and Mars Attacks lovers will enjoy for hours and hours.



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New Sonic Racing Crossworlds Ad Attacks Mario Kart World
Game Reviews

New Sonic Racing Crossworlds Ad Attacks Mario Kart World

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Good morning! I hope this Tuesday goes well for you. I think we all deserve a nice Tuesday. But even if today sucks, at least we have Morning Checkpoint, Kotaku’s daily roundup of video game news and other stuff you might care about. Today, we have a wild Sega ad, an actor from MindsEye dealing with the negative reviews, more Game Pass games, and someone on a soap opera mentioning Xenoblade.

Sega Goes Full ’90s And Attacks Nintendo In New Ad

Sonic Racing Crossworlds is out next week, and ahead of the kart racer’s launch, Sega has put out a new advertisement that feels like it fell out of 1995. In the short video ad, Sega obviously–but for legal reasons, not directly–calls out Mario Kart World and compares it to its upcoming racing game. It suggests the open world of Nintendo’s latest kart racer is boring and tells fans to instead play its upcoming Sonic racing game instead. It even shows pixelated footage of what looks like Mario Kart World and dunks on the game for not being multiplatform. Here’s the ad:

 

Damn, Sega. Of course, I don’t think Nintendo will care much, considering how well Mario Kart World has already sold and will continue to sell for the next decade. But it’s nice to go back to a time when the console wars were mostly a silly thing and not the rantings of weird techno-cults we have online now.

MindsEye’s Lead Actor Was Worried He Might Never Get Another Role

In a recent interview with FRVR, actor Alex Hernandez talked about what it’s like to be the lead character in a video game that flops as badly as MindsEye did earlier this year. As you might expect, it seems like a horrible experience!

“It’s a difficult thing to spend two-and-a-half years on a project that you’re really proud of and you’re proud of your contribution to it,” said the actor who plays the lead character in the game. “And I only had positive experiences working on it. The people I was working with, I was proud for them, of them, I wanted it to be a success for them just as much for myself.”

The actor told the outlet in a podcast that he was worried about his future in the industry after his face was plastered on what many consider the worst game of 2025.

“Just the response… I was like, ‘I might never work in a game again.’ Because one of the caveats of being the face on the box is that people, rightly or wrongly, will associate all of their opinions and, more importantly, their emotions, about this game with my face,” said Hernandez. “After about two days of allowing myself to wallow, and my wife being very supportive…You move on. Because for me to sit in that wallowing, it doesn’t allow me to learn.”

Xbox Adds Hades, Modern Warfare 3, And 12 More Titles To Game Pass This Month

A whole smorgasbord of games is coming to Xbox’s various Game Pass tiers throughout the rest of the month. Starting today, Game Pass Ultimate and Standard subscribers can download and play RoadCraft. Then, on September 17, a bunch of games hop onto Game Pass Standard, including Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III. Then on the very next day, Hades returns to Game Pass to celebrate its five-year anniversary. Later in the month, Visions of Mana, a Peppa Pig game, and Lara Croft: Guardian of Light all arrive on Game Pass, too. So many games to play, so little time. Try to squeeze as many in as you can before October robs us all of our free time.

Palworld Leaving Early Access Next Year With ‘Massive’ 1.0 Update

In a new video posted on Palworld’s official YouTube channel, the game’s communications director and publishing manager, John “Bucky” Buckley, explained that developer PocketPair had reached a “crossroads” after shipping multiple big updates since launching in 2024. While the team has a “lot of ideas” for what to do next, the devs are also thinking about getting Palworld out of early access. But that will take a lot of “clean up.”

“It’s not [a] secret that Palworld has a lot of quirks and jank, and we want to take the time to properly address those before releasing the game,” explained Buck. “With that in mind, we plan to start clean-up this year. Our goal is to ultimately release Palworld next year, in 2026, and we think taking the time now to fix those problems will ultimately lead to a better game.”

This clean-up process means that the game’s upcoming winter update won’t be as big as previous content updates, but the goal is to ship a massive update in 2026 that will push the game into 1.0 status and out of early access.

“Palworld 1.0 will be a major milestone for us,” said Buck. “And we have a truly massive amount of content planned for the 1.0 update. Rather than rushing it, we believe that laying the foundation now will lead to a better game in the end.”

ICYMI:

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Ransomware kits built with AI are behind a 70% surge in attacks
GameFi Guides

Ransomware kits built with AI are behind a 70% surge in attacks

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Attackers are increasingly deploying AI tools to execute ransomware attacks at scale

Summary

  • Scammers are using AI to scale their ransomware operations
  • Bad actors are creating ready-made kits for ransomware attacks
  • The number of verified victims rose 70% in the first half of 2025

With the increased availability of AI tools, scammers are deploying ransomware at scale. According to a report by OutreachX, automation and AI are contributing to a significant increase in attacks as scammers deploy “ransomware-as-a-service” kits.

The use of these tools has coincided with a significant increase in ransomware cases. According to an Acronis report, the number of verifiable ransomware victims rose 70% in the first half of 2025. Part of this increase could be because scammers can deploy their attacks on a greater scale.

Moreover, these attacks increasingly exploit human error through the use of AI. Attackers use LLMs such as ChatGPT to write phishing emails, extortion notes, and other content designed to pressure victims. They subsequently sell these as kits that can be used in other attacks.

“We’re watching ransomware move from code to content. It’s not just malware, it’s narratives, campaigns, and pressure scripts, sold as plug-and-play,” said Anirudh Agarwal, CEO of OutreachX.

Ransomware attacks on the rise

Crypto continues to play a central role in ransomware attacks, remaining the preferred payout method for attackers. However, despite an increase in the number of victims, the total volume of ransom payments fell fell 35% in 2024, according to a report by Chainalysis.

Improved investigative practices, asset seizures, and on-chain sanctions helped reduce ransom gains, especially in the second half of 2024. Moreover, restrictions on many Russian-based crypto platforms significantly reduced the ability of attackers to launder their funds.



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phishing
Crypto Trends

Crypto Phishing Attacks Surge In August As Losses Hit $12.17M

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Trusted Editorial content, reviewed by leading industry experts and seasoned editors. Ad Disclosure

Prominent web3 security outfit Scam Sniffer reports that crypto investors suffered an increased number of phishing scams in August. Notably, total assets lost to these scams during the last month represent an estimated 72% increase from July, representing a concerning development for the general crypto industry.

Crypto Whales Take Biggest Hit From Phishing Attacks

In an X post on September 6, Scam Sniffer provides an August 2025 security report covering phishing attacks on crypto wallets. The blockchain security firm notes that 15,230 victims lost a combined $12.17 million from all forms of phishing-related attacks. This data indicates a 72% increase in stolen funds and a 67% rise in victims compared to July’s $7.09 million in losses and 9,143 victims.

For context, phishing often involves fake websites, malicious smart contracts, or deceptive wallet prompts that trick users into giving hackers access to their digital assets. Once approved or shared, the funds are usually stolen instantly and cannot be reversed.

While phishing attacks often target retail investors, August’s data from Scam Sniffer highlights the disproportionate impact on crypto “whales.” ScamSniffer revealed that the top three single incidents drained $3.08 million, $1.54 million, and $1.00 million, respectively, totaling $5.62 million. Collectively, these cases made up 46% of overall monthly losses, demonstrating how hackers increasingly focus on high-value wallets.

Source: @realScamSniffer on X

The August report also draws attention to a new wave of batch-signature scams enabled by Ethereum’s EIP-7702 upgrade. EIP-7702 temporarily allows externally owned addresses (EOAs) to function like smart contract wallets.

This means users can access smart contract–level features without migrating to a new address. With EIP-7702, actions such as batching multiple transactions, setting automated spending caps, or integrating passkeys become seamless for everyday Ethereum interactions.

However, malicious actors have now exploited this mechanism to trick users into authorizing malicious bulk transactions, often bundled with legitimate requests. In parallel, attackers continue to exploit direct transfer scams, luring victims into sending funds straight into phishing contracts.

These vectors are harder to detect than traditional phishing attempts, as they appear embedded within standard DeFi and NFT interactions.

Crypto Market Overview

At press time, the total crypto market cap is presently valued at $3.77 trillion following a 0.16% gain in the past day. According to data from Chainalysis, over $2.17 billion was stolen from cryptocurrency wallets in the 2025 H1, which was higher than the total losses from 2024. This heightened figure, as well as the increased phishing losses in August, all reinforce the broader need for blockchain security, striking a balance between utility and protection against malicious actors.

Total crypto market cap valued at $3.77 trillion on the daily chart | Source: TOTAL chart on Tradingview.com

Featured image from Forbes, chart from Tradingview

Editorial Process for bitcoinist is centered on delivering thoroughly researched, accurate, and unbiased content. We uphold strict sourcing standards, and each page undergoes diligent review by our team of top technology experts and seasoned editors. This process ensures the integrity, relevance, and value of our content for our readers.



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WLFI crypto holders targeted by phishing attacks at scale post launch
NFT Gaming

WLFI crypto holders targeted by phishing attacks at scale post launch

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Experts warn that scammers are specifically targeting the hype around Trump’s WLFI token.

Summary

  • Scammers are deploying phishing attacks at scale, exploiting the hype around WLFI
  • Phishing attacks weaponize Ethereum’s new functionality, enabling wallets to act as smart contracts
  • Ethereum’s EIP-7702 enables users to sign multiple complex transactions at once

The launch of World Liberty Financial (WLFI) cryptocurrency, linked to U.S. President Donald Trump, resulted in unprecedented hype. With volumes rivaling many of the biggest crypto projects, scammers were prepared to exploit the situation.

Shortly after the launch on Sept. 1, Yu Xian, founder of the blockchain security firm SlowMist, reported phishing attacks at scale. He explained that attackers are using new functionality built into Ethereum wallets introduced with Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade.

SlowMist’s Yu Xian on one case of WLFI EIP‑7702 “delegate” scam | Source: X

According to Yu Xian, the EIP-7702 “delegate” function enables external accounts to act like smart contract wallets. While this improves functionality, it also enables attackers to hijack the delegate mechanism if they compromise the private key.

How scammers target WLFI holders

The EIP-7702 “delegate” scam works as follows. The attackers first exploit a private key via phishing. Then, they embed a malicious delegate smart contract in the wallet. At that point, once a victim makes any transaction, the malicious code executes, draining the victim’s tokens.

The main reason attackers opt for the delegate scam is scale. Traditional phishing requires attackers to monitor and manually drain wallets. With delegate contracts, they can set parameters that auto-execute transactions, for instance to receive WLFI tokens via airdrop.

This is not the only type of scam that targets WLFI holders. For instance, attackers also try to trick users into buying fake WLFI tokens. In one case, attackers targeted one user who had bought WLFI tokens. They then airdropped honeypot WLFI tokens until the user accidentally bought a fake token on Phantom Swap. The victim lost $4,876 to the scheme.



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Austin Federa
Crypto Trends

Making Bitcoin Holdings More Resistant to Quantum Attacks: The El Salvador Way

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El Salvador has overhauled how it stores the nation’s bitcoin, saying the change both strengthens security today and prepares for technological risks that could emerge in the future.

In an announcement on Friday, the Bitcoin Office said the country’s entire reserve has been moved out of a single wallet and spread across many new ones. Each wallet will hold no more than 500 BTC, a limit meant to reduce the potential damage if any one of them were ever compromised.

Officials described the new setup as following established industry practices while also anticipating advances in quantum computing. Quantum machines, they noted, could one day break the cryptographic math that secures bitcoin, as well as everyday systems like banking, email and online communications.

The concern arises when coins are spent. To move bitcoin, the digital signature protecting those funds must be revealed on the blockchain. Today, that’s safe, but in theory, a future quantum computer could exploit the exposed information to calculate the private key and steal the coins before the transaction is confirmed.

By shifting coins into many unused wallets, El Salvador reduces the chance that its reserve is left with too many exposed keys at once. Most of its holdings remain locked behind information that cannot currently be attacked, and capping the size of each wallet means even a breach would not put the entire reserve at risk.

The government also admitted that its earlier setup — keeping everything in a single address for the sake of transparency — created unnecessary exposure. That address was used repeatedly, which meant its keys were visible on the blockchain almost continuously. In the new model, a public dashboard allows anyone to track the reserve across multiple wallets, preserving accountability without repeatedly reusing the same address.

In plain terms, the shift is like moving money out of one giant vault and into a series of smaller safes. The locks on those safes stay hidden until they are opened, and no single safe holds too much cash.

Beyond the quantum angle, this also lines up with basic bitcoin housekeeping. Experienced users often warn against reusing the same wallet over and over, since it weakens privacy and security. They also recommend breaking large balances into smaller chunks, which limits the fallout if something goes wrong.

That’s why Adam Back, one of bitcoin’s earliest pioneers and the CEO of Blockstream, praised the change. Writing on X, he said it’s “generally a good practice” to split funds into many pieces — called UTXOs in bitcoin jargon — rather than piling them into one place and reusing the same address.

Back, who invented the proof-of-work system Hashcash that inspired bitcoin and was cited by Satoshi Nakamoto, didn’t weigh in on the quantum argument directly. Instead, his comment underscored that El Salvador’s new approach reflects principles long recognized as best practice in the bitcoin world.

Most researchers believe quantum computers powerful enough to threaten bitcoin are still a decade or more away, and the network could eventually adopt new protections if needed. But El Salvador is not waiting.

By combining transparency with a more resilient storage model, the country has positioned itself as a test case for how sovereign bitcoin reserves might be managed in the future — setting out a potential blueprint that others could follow.



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No Path of Exile 2 1.0 release this year, as DDOS attacks blamed for server issues and huge new update revealed
Game Reviews

No Path of Exile 2 1.0 release this year, as DDOS attacks blamed for server issues and huge new update revealed

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Path of Exile 2 developer Grinding Gear Games had previously and optimistically said a 1.0 full release might happen this year. GGG gave it a 65 percent chance of happening when I spoke with the studio in March. But those ambitions have now been ruled out.

Speaking after a presentation for the incoming Third Edict update, also known as 0.3.0, and answering a question asked by me, game director Jonathan Rogers said: “Yes I believe that we probably aren’t going to hit 1.0 this year.

“What it currently comes down to is there are two things we need to make sure of before we can have a release. The first one is that we have to have a campaign finished – that’s obviously important – and the second one is that we have to be in a balance-state where people are actually happy and things are going well. Until we’ve had a release where we’re sure both of those things are true, then we can’t release.

“It could be March [2026],” he added. “We release things every four months so December would be the next one and then March after that, so I would certainly hope that March could happen, but I’m not going to promise anything. Because ultimately it just comes down to: have we met those two criteria? At this point it would be quite hard to get Act 5 in December but we’ll see about that, and as for getting good balance: we have a little way to go with that. But I’m hoping things will be a lot better for this release.”

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The release he’s referring to is the Third Edict, the enormous incoming update for the Early Access version of Path of Exile 2, due 29th August. It will bring, among other things, the fourth act of the game, temporary interlude acts, the game’s first League, a new trading system, a crafting overhaul, a sprinting mechanic, an overhaul for Support Gems and a considerable rework of the existing classes and their skills. Note that there’s no new character class this time around but balance changes took precedence.

I’ll outline some of those changes but before I do there are two other pieces of more urgent news. One is in relation to server issues Path of Exile 2 has been having, which Rogers said were down to DDOS (distributed denial of service) attacks. “I’m very aware of the server problems and this has been a major thing that our server admins have been looking into over the last three months,” he told our congregated group of press. “It’s basically all down to DDOSing; we’re getting DDOSed continuously.”

Grinding Gear Games has, in response, gotten rid of server hosts that couldn’t deal with the problem and added DDOS protection to those that remain. “By the time we do the 0.3.0 launch,” he said, “everything should have DDOS protection in front of it. We’ve done a lot of work in this area. Right now the servers shouldn’t be having any problems because all of that infrastructure’s in place, so as far as I’m concerned, that problem should be fixed.”

Shark monsters, check; octopus-armed pirate captain monster bosses, check…

The other urgent piece of news concerns a free weekend for Path of Exile 2, which will coincide with the Third Edict update on 29th August. For that weekend, you won’t need the £24 Starter Pack in order to play. And I heartily recommend you do play.

Now, to the Third Edict update. The long-awaited fourth act of the game – the penultimate act – takes place across a Polynesian kind of archipelago which you can sail around in any order you please. There are eight islands, 16 new areas, 12 new bosses and more than 100 new monster types. And when you’re done with them, instead of being funnelled back to replaying the existing acts, as you are currently, you will now play new interlude acts. Three of them. These are bespoke versions of the existing acts designed to offer a new experience, meaning yet more new areas and bosses and ideas. But these are temporary; when Act 5 does arrive, they will go.

The big change to Support Gems comes via removing the restriction of having one Support Gem type per character, and from introducing higher tiers of them. There’s also a brand new kind of uber Support Gem called a Lineage Support, which drops from bosses and has the power and potential to redefine your entire character build.

Sprinting is available to all classes and lets you hold down a button to get to places quicker and to outrun enemies, which sounds useful, but if you’re hit while sprinting you will be knocked down, so there’s some risk to it.

…monkey bosses, check. | Image credit: Grinding Gear Games

The myriad class changes are too exhaustive to list, but every class has been looked at and quite significantly altered and buffed. Arguably the most important addition, I say completely without bias as a monk player, is the ability for monks to fight with their bare hands, rather than with a staff, courtesy of the new Hollow Palm Technique. Thank you Grinding Gear Games.

The new, fully asynchronous trade system, meanwhile, gives you a personal merchant – a nice lady called Ange – who’ll stand in your hideout and sell your wares for you. Your items will be listed on the trade website and when someone wants them, it will teleport them directly to your Ange who’ll sell to them, even when you’re not around.

The crafting changes have made it easier to transform and augment items into super-items. Essences and orbs have been reworked and higher tiers of them added, and there’s a brand new Exceptional base item to collect and apply all these juicy bonuses too.

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Elsewhere, blocking and parrying have been reworked, more passive skills have been added to the already ridiculous passive tree – and passives with interesting abilities at that, not just percentage bonuses – plus attribute requirements for items have been lowered by a quarter across the board.

On top of all that we’re getting the game’s first seasonal League – the hope is to have one with each major update – called Rise of the Abyssal. This places you (a new you, I think) in a world plagued by abyssal invaders, and has you closing fissures and pits to the abyss that appear. It’s got some clever procedural ideas about the kinds of boss creatures that crawl out of the pits, and there’s the chance of finding a pit you can jump into, which will lead you to an abyssal city.

In other words: there’s a lot, and there’s more I haven’t covered here. It’s a significant effort by Grinding Gear Games to about-turn mixed recent reactions to the game. We’ll have to wait and see if it works.



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