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banned

Smash pro Mang0 banned on Twitch after drunken antics at Ludwig Mario Kart event

by admin June 25, 2025

Super Smash Bros Melee pro Joseph ‘Mang0’ Marquez has been hit with a ban from Twitch after drunkenly harassing female streamers at Ludwig’s Mario Kart event.

The punishments keep coming for Mang0 after being dropped from C9, banned from one of the year’s biggest Melee tournaments in Super Nova, and barred from future Ludwig events.

On June 21, Mang0 harassed multiple streamers, including ExtraEmily, at Ludwig’s Switch 2 Mario Kart World Cup event. The event, Beerio Kart, required competitors to finish their drinks before the end of a race or be disqualified.

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Despite a few days passing since the event, on June 25, Marquez was hit with a ban on the Amazon-owned platform.

Mang0 banned on Twitch after being dropped by Cloud 9 and huge Melee event

As of June 25, Mang0’s Twitch account has been made inaccessible.

“This channel is temporarily unavailable due to a violation of Twitch’s Community Guidelines or Terms of Service,” the page reads.

It’s not clear how long the Smash God will be banned for or what community guidelines he violated. In addition to prohibiting sexual harassment, Twitch also states that they “do not make exceptions for self-destructive behavior performed as a stunt or gag made in jest, or meant to entertain.”

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This isn’t the first time drinking has gotten Marquez banned on Twitch either. In 2021, he was briefly suspended after appearing to pass out drunk on stream.

His latest Twitch ban comes after C9, Marquez’s sponsor, dropped him following the controversy. Following this, Super Nova, formerly Super Smash Con, announced he wouldn’t be allowed to compete at the tournament. Mang0 is the reigning champion in both singles and doubles at the supermajor.

“The safety and respect of our attendees is of utmost importance to us. This decision was made in alignment with our event’s conduct expectations, as well as the standards of our partners,” they said.

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Meanwhile, Mang0 has promised to deal with his drinking problem and claims he’s begun looking into rehab options.

“After reflecting on the worst moments of my life, I see a pattern: alcohol has always been involved. I understand that my words mean nothing right now, and alcohol excuses 0 percent of my actions, but I promise I’m gonna beat this and show you that I can be a greater man without the influence of alcohol,” he commented on X.

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“My next step is to focus on real recovery. I’ve already started researching rehab and will be checking into one when I find the right fit.”

Mang0 also says he supports any further bans that come his way, adding that he’s “always wanted what is best for Melee.”

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June 25, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

U.S. House of Representatives memo reveals WhatsApp has been banned from employee devices, citing “a high risk to users due to the lack of transparency in how it protects user data” and security concerns

by admin June 25, 2025

Messaging apps are one of the banes of my existence. Every time I connect with someone new it seems there’s some back and forth on what app we should use to communicate. Often a part of this includes explaining to folks why I don’t use things like WhatsApp, due to the mix of ownership, security, and general distaste. It’s a horrible conversation where I look like an elitist jerk, but it warms my heart a little to know that now, everyone who works in the US House of Representatives will have to do the same thing.

According to Reuters, a memo went around the House of Representatives staff on Monday explaining that the popular messaging app has been banned. The Meta (Facebook) owned WhatsApp messaging service has been deemed too much of a security risk to be allowed on employees devices.

The memo reads the “Office of Cybersecurity has deemed WhatsApp a high risk to users due to the lack of transparency in how it protects user data, absence of stored data encryption, and potential security risks involved with its use.”

The ban actually comes just in time, as Meta gets ready to add ads to make the messaging app a bit more like Instagram. This memo has likely saved many in the House of Representatives from some pretty invasive targeted advertising.

Naturally Meta is none too pleased with this development and disagrees “in the strongest possible terms,” to the move to ban the app. A spokesperson from Meta also stated that WhatsApp has a higher level of security than other messaging apps that are still allowed. But it’s likely not just the security level, but also the likelihood of being targeted that singled WhatsApp out for this ban.

WhatsApp being so popular, and not exactly having the best security around has made it the target of bad actors in the past. This includes Israeli spyware companies like Paragon Solutions. It also means that it’s so much easier for hackers to get access via someone you know, due to the apps prevalence, especially with those not so security minded.

Other messaging apps were recommended as alternatives in the memo from the chief administrative officer. Weirdly we don’t see Discord, for the gamers in the House (of reps). Instead, these include Microsoft Teams, Amazon’s Wickr, Apple’s iMessage and FaceTime, and my pick of the bunch, Signal.

Signal is an end-to-end encrypted messaging app I’ve been using for years. It’s an independent nonprofit dedicated to privacy, so there’s no ads or tracking. Most importantly, they can’t see your chats and neither can anyone else, so it’s usually the one I push for in that “what messaging app do you use” conversation from earlier.

Hopefully this will see more people give WhatsApp the boot in favour of exploring some slightly less partial messaging providers. If it’s not good enough for the United States House of Representatives, then is it really good enough for you? I don’t think so! Maybe consider this the time to treat yourself to a safer, more transparent messaging system that isn’t owned by one of the world’s richest men.

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June 25, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Nintendo Switch 2 hackers say they’re already getting banned

by admin June 17, 2025

The original Nintendo Switch had such a massive piracy problem, hackers were able to play new first-party games weeks before they were available to the public. Since its release in early June, hackers have wondered if the Switch 2 might have similar vulnerabilities, but early reports suggest that Nintendo has anticipated typical methods of meddling with its portable hardware.

Hackers on social media sites are beginning to share photos and anecdotes about their efforts to modify the Switch 2, only to be hit with bans that restrict usage of online connectivity. This means that hackers can’t use things like the eShop or play online multiplayer in games like Mario Kart World.

The user says they used a type of flash cartridge favored by hackers on the original Nintendo Switch, which allowed them to download and load games onto what is essentially an SD card. Since it is literally a cartridge, some hopeful hackers popped it into the Switch 2 to see what would happen. At first, it seemed like the answer was nothing. One user claims that their cartridge wouldn’t load past the title screen after attempting to download an update. That same user now says that their console as a whole appears banned, and that they attempted contacting Nintendo customer support and were told that nothing could be done.

“I don’t pirate games, I back-up my legitimate games I own on cartridges,” they wrote. “Piracy is shit, I work in software development.”

Nintendo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

News of these bans is unlikely to deter some hackers, though, as creators of the flash carts claim they are still working on ensuring their products can be used on the new console. Elsewhere, Reddit communities specifically dedicated to hacking the Switch 2 are arguing whether or not it’s safe to try and log into accounts that were banned on the Switch on Switch 2, but fear around having their new $450 system restricted in some way is making them cautious.

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June 17, 2025 0 comments

Esports

Taiwanese mobile game banned in Hong Kong for reportedly “advocating an armed revolution”

by admin June 14, 2025

Taiwanese mobile game Reversed Front: Bonfire has been banned in Hong Kong for reportedly “promoting secessionist agencies” by encouraging players to defeat communist regimes.

As reported by The New York Times, Hong Kong police said the game was “advocating an armed revolution” and that any residents who have downloaded or recommended the game will face legal charges which could lead to jail time.

“Reversed Front: Bonfire was released under the guise of a game with the aim of promoting secessionist agencies such as ‘Taiwan independence’ or ‘Hong Kong independence,” it said (via BBC News).

“Those who have downloaded the application should uninstall it immediately and must not attempt to defy the law.”

As noted by The Guardian, in-app purchases may be seen as funding the game’s developer ESC Taiwan “for the commission of succession of subversion”.

ESC Taiwan is described by the NYT as “a group of anonymous volunteers who are outspoken against China’s Communist Party”.

The developer states on its website that Reversed Front: Bonfire is a “work of non-fiction” and that “any similarity to actual agencies, policies, or ethnic groups of the People’s Republic of China in this game is intentional.”

The title launched in April 2025. As of Wednesday (June 11), the game is no longer available on Google Play or Apple’s App Store in Hong Kong.

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June 14, 2025 0 comments

Crypto Trends

Aussie Adviser Banned 10 Years Over $9.6 Million Scam

by admin June 13, 2025

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Australia’s financial watchdog has slapped a decade-long ban on a Sydney-based adviser after she sent client funds into a crypto operation flagged as risky. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) says Glenda Maree Rogan moved A$14.8 million ($9.6 million) into a platform already marked as unlicensed. Clients, family and friends reportedly lost out when their money vanished into what ASIC calls a likely scam.

Adviser Accused Of Misleading Clients

According to ASIC, Rogan pitched a “high-yield fixed-interest account” between May 2014 and February 2024. She worked as an accountant and financial adviser at Fincare firms in Sutherland and Wollongong. But rather than place the funds in secure accounts, multiple transfers went into her personal and company bank records. Many of those funds then converted to crypto and sent on to Financial Centre, a platform ASIC warns “should not be trusted.”

Image: Entrust

Funds Routed Through Personal Accounts

Based on reports, Rogan moved money from March 2022 through June 2023. During that 16-month stretch, she sent A$14.8 million into personal and corporate accounts before pushing most of it into crypto. Investigators say she must have doubted the platform’s legitimacy by October 2022, yet went ahead anyway. Family members and close friends who invested under her advice are now caught up in an ongoing probe.

Total crypto market cap currently at $3.22 trillion. Chart: TradingView

10-Year Ban Imposed

ASIC announced the 10-year prohibition took effect on June 6, 2025. Under the ban, Rogan cannot provide or control any financial services business. The regulator said she is “not a fit and proper person” and likely to break financial services laws if allowed to continue. Her license expired on February 8, 2024, and she has been unlicensed since then. Rogan can appeal through the Administrative Review Tribunal, but for now her name sits on ASIC’s banned and disqualified register.

Broader Crypto Crackdown

This move comes amid a wider push against shady crypto operations in Australia. On June 3, AUSTRAC rolled out new rules and set transaction caps for crypto ATMs to stem scams. In April, inactive crypto exchanges were told to de-register or face cancellation. And in February, AUSTRAC took action against 13 remittance firms and exchanges, with more than 50 under review for potential breaches. Regulators are making clear that unlicensed services will face rapid enforcement.

Investors are being urged to check ASIC’s register before handing over cash. High promised returns, especially in crypto, should raise red flags. Anyone hitting a supposed “guarantee” might be staring at an unregulated scheme. While ASIC continues its inquiry into Rogan, this case underlines just how careful people must be when a trusted adviser steers them toward something that sounds too good to be true.

Featured image from FinanceAsia, chart from TradingView

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June 13, 2025 0 comments

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Next to a B200 Node

Product Reviews

Nvidia RTX PRO 6000D (B40) Blackwell GPUs reportedly set to supersede banned H20 accelerators in China

by admin May 26, 2025

Following the ban of its Hopper H20 accelerations in China, Nvidia is reportedly planning on launching new Blackwell-based solutions at a lower price this year, per Reuters. With mass production anticipated by June, we can expect these solutions to be widely available in the Chinese market by Q3 or Q4. While technical details are still emerging, we can already discern some important details and specifications.

Due to stringent U.S. export policies targeting China, the Hopper family has largely been a cat-and-mouse chase between U.S. regulators and Nvidia. Even before their official debut, the flagship H100 and H200 accelerators were already subject to export bans. Nvidia introduced the H800 to circumvent these regulations, which eventually faced a similar fate in October 2023. The cut-down H20 served as Nvidia’s primary AI solution for the Chinese market in the interim until its recent ban under the current administration last month, which forced Nvidia to write off $5.5 billion in GPU supply.

Reuters reports that Nvidia’s follow-up to the H20 will be based on the Blackwell architecture, more specifically, the RTX Pro 6000D. Further clarification by tipster Jukanlosreve at X, citing a report from China’s GF Securities, suggests the RTX Pro 6000D will be dubbed B40 (likely a successor to the Ada Lovelace L40). Reuters classifies this as a server-class GPU which uses traditional GDDR7 memory instead of HBM, and notably avoids the use of TSMC’s CoWoS packaging technology, likely signaling at its monolithic nature.

Silicon possibilities and B40 pricing

There are two possibilities based on the available data. This GPU can either be based on datacenter grade GB1XX Blackwell or consumer-grade GB2XX Blackwell silicon. The former is unlikely, as it only features HBM controllers at the silicon level. If the B40 utilizes GB2XX dies, it would be a derivative of the GB202 chip (found in the RTX 5090 and RTX Pro Blackwell 6000) and would lack NVLink support. The report estimates the price of the B40 between $6,500 and $8,000, which is less than the H20 and comparable to Nvidia’s global RTX Pro 6000 workstation models.

The HGX H20 could be configured in an 8-GPU configuration, but without NVLink, the B40 would likely face challenges in multi-GPU setups. Nvidia’s latest RTX Pro Blackwell servers employ up to eight RTX Pro 6000 GPUs, connected via ConnectX-8 SuperNICs with integrated PCIe 6.0 switches, for GPU-to-GPU communication. This setup is likely what we’ll see for the B40, with scaling beyond eight GPUs expected to be handled by Nvidia’s Spectrum-X networking platform. Since details are scarce, this is just speculation on our part, so please don’t read it as gospel.

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May 26, 2025 0 comments

Esports

Hasan responds after being banned from Twitch

by admin May 25, 2025

Banned on Twitch on May 25, 2025, Hasan responded to the suspension notice on the same day, revealing why the streaming platform took action against his account.

The streamer, who primarily broadcasts political commentary and discussion, confirmed on his X/Twitter account that Twitch had issued a “global suspension” on his account.

While the ban is expected to remain in effect for 24 hours from the point of commencement, this is unconfirmed, as Twitch’s correspondence didn’t specify how long the ban would last.

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Twitch cited “Improper handling of terrorist propaganda” as the reason for the action taken.

Hasan responds to Twitch ban

In his May 25 follow-up on X/Twitter, Hasan said: “I covered the motives of the Israeli embassy staff shooter. Twitch ToS dictates a suspension for even critical examination of the manifesto.”

“I believe this is a bad policy for news and press freedom,” he continued, adding, “I’ll take the suspension, but hope Twitch changes this policy in the future.”

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In their community guidelines, Twitch states that the platform “does not allow content that depicts, glorifies, encourages, or supports terrorism, or violent extremist actions or acts. This includes threatening to or encouraging others to commit acts that would result in serious physical harm or significant property destruction.”

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In an example provided, they state that users may not “Display or link terrorist or extremist propaganda, including graphic pictures or footage of terrorist or extremist violence, even for the purposes of denouncing such content.”

Per StreamerBans, Hasan has been banned a total of six times since July 2019, with two, on August 23, 2019 and December 14, 2021, lasting for seven days.

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May 25, 2025 0 comments

Esports

Overwatch 2 devs reveal the most banned heroes and one has a 93% ban rate

by admin May 23, 2025

The Overwatch 2 developers have revealed which heroes are being banned the most in every role, with one character not being playable in over 90% of games.

In Season 16, Overwatch finally introduced hero bans, giving players the opportunity to shift the game’s meta in wildly different ways by removing certain characters from the equation.

The bans have been seen as a major success so far, albeit some players, such as Mercy mains, have been upset with the feature as they struggle to use other heroes.

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On May 23, the devs finally unveiled data for hero bans on console and PC, with one hero standing high above the rest in terms of how often they’re banned.

Sombra is banned in over 90% of Overwatch 2 games on console

In a May 2025 blog post, the devs revealed that Sombra has an 85% ban rate on PC – while on console, it’s even higher at 93%.

Sombra has been an incredibly controversial hero despite receiving a handful of reworks, but common issues with her kit have remained throughout her introduction to the game back in 2016.

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Primarily, fans dislike playing against a hero who has both invisibility and a disable as part of their kit – something that has remained in all variations of the Talon hacker.

In second place on PC, it’s Zarya at 59%, followed by Doomfist at 43%. On console, it’s Zarya at 57% and Symmetra at 23%.

Meanwhile, for players who are Masters and above on PC, Freja is the most banned hero. However, Sombra remains the most banned hero in Masters+ on console.

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As for supports, Ana is the most banned on PC, while Mercy has been banned the most on console.

The developers say that this data will help them when it comes to future balance patches, but it’s important to note that ban statistics alone won’t be responsible for which heroes get nerfs and buffs.

That said, it certainly seems like Sombra could be in line for yet another rework down the road based on these overwhelming stats.

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May 23, 2025 0 comments