SCHOOL HOLIDAYS – Set Adrift (until 15 April)

H₂ Whoa!

How much water is on the earth? How much of it can we drink? Learn the answers to these questions and watch as we go overboard in this 20-minute live show. For children all ages.

Time: Daily 1pm

Cost: Included with Scienceworks admission 

Experiment Zone – Float the Boat

Discover why things float, see how sturdy a boat you can create and make your own ship in a bottle to take away in this 30 minute workshop. Limited spaces available – book at the desk on arrival. For children aged 7-12 years.

Time: Daily 11am, 12pm and 2.15pm

Cost: Included with Scienceworks admission 

Our Water

Our Water features 28 hands-on exhibits that explore the way water is used from an urban, agricultural, industrial and environmental perspective. Learn more about our most precious resource – water – and what we can do to help save it.

Date: until 15 April

Cost: Included with Scienceworks admission

Our Water developed by Questacon: The National Science and Technology Centre. Proudly supported by the National Water Commission 

Playing With Light

Experience a visual extravaganza at Scienceworks and explore the properties of light. mix together colours, freeze and interact with your shadows, paint with infrared light and try your espionage skills in the maze of lasers

Date: 24 April – 3 February 2012

Cost: Included with Scienceworks admission

Playing With Light Developed by Scitech, Perth 

Explore-a-saurus (Closes this weekend!)

Test your strength against the strength of a T.rex jaw, or see the world through the eyes of a dinosaur, all in an exhibition inhabited by Scienceworks’ own animatronic dinosaurs!

Date: until April 15.

Cost: Adults $18, Concession $6 and Children (3-16 years) $5. Prices include entry to Scienceworks.

Tilt (Melbourne Planetarium at Scienceworks)

When the seasons go crazy it’s up to Annie and Max to set things right. Join them on a whirlwind adventure as they find out how the seasons work and discover a new angle on the world.

Time: Daily 2pm

Cost: Adults $16, Concession $5 and Children (3-16 years) $4.50. Prices include entry to Scienceworks. 

Capcom Announces Lost Planet™ 3, New October 2 Release Date for Resident Evil™ 6, and PlayStation®3 Cross Play for PlayStation®Vita Version of Street Fighter™ X Tekken™ 

Melbourne, VIC. — April 11, 2012 — Capcom®, a leading worldwide developer and publisher of video games, today confirmed new information and details on its previously announced game line-up for 2012 stemming from its annual media showcase event, Captivate, which took place in Rome last week. At the event, Capcom officially announced Lost Planet™ 3 is in full development and scheduled for release on the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, and Windows PC in early 2013. In addition it was announced that the Xbox 360 and PlayStation®3 versions of Resident Evil™ 6 will now be released globally on October 2, 2012, with the Windows PC version to follow. Finally, Capcom is pleased to confirm that its forthcoming PS Vita title, Street Fighter™ X Tekken™, will feature Cross Play functionality with the PlayStation®3.

The extreme and unpredictable conditions that characterised the Lost Planet™ series return, harsher than ever before in Lost Planet 3. Players take on the role of Jim, a utility rig pilot who has left Earth to take on a hazardous but lucrative contract on E.D.N. III. Delivering a diverse range of gameplay, including third-person on-foot battles and intense first-person utility rig action, players will need to brave the uncharted terrain, hostile climate and threat of indigenous Akrid creatures. With a number of multiplayer modes and a compelling single player experience, Lost Planet 3 will delve deeper into the Lost Planet universe, uncovering hidden truths when it releases in early 2013.

Captivate represented the first opportunity for media to see the highly anticipated Resident Evil 6 in action, with the game’s development team showcasing one of Leon S. Kennedy’s missions. Full of tension, the action has Leon and partner Helena Harper searching for an escape route from the Ivy University campus, the site of the most recent bioterrorist outbreak and the zombies that now stalk its hallways and grounds.

Announced and showcased during Captivate was the Cross Play functionality for the PS Vita version of Street Fighter X Tekken which allows owners of the PS Vita version to compete against owners of the PlayStation®3 version anywhere in the world, via wifi or 3G. Other features confirmed for the PS Vita version of Street Fighter X Tekken were the introduction of touch controls, local and Wi-Fi multiplayer plus Near functionality alongside all the content from the home console version.

For the first time since its announcement, Captivate attendees were able to play DmC Devil May Cry™ and experience the fast-paced, stylish combat that is the signature of the series. In addition, the game’s development team, including members from Capcom Japan and Ninja Theory, presented a brand new level of the game. In this area, set at a carnival near the pier where he lives, Dante faces off with a Hunter Demon that has tracked down the Son of Sparda. 

Steel Battalion™ Heavy Armor, a collaboration between Capcom and From Software and an Xbox 360 exclusive, introduced a brand new online four player Cooperative Multiplayer Mode available on the Xbox LIVE® online entertainment network when the title releases on June 21^st in Australia and June 22^nd in New Zealand. Attending media were invited to work together, using the innovative mix of Kinect™ for Xbox 360 and regular controller play, and defeat the enemy’s Vertical Tanks.

Attendees were also able to experience new content for the forthcoming open world action-RPG title, Dragon’s Dogma™ and a debut hands on with the recently announced PlayStation®Move enabled Resident Evil™: Chronicles HD Collection.

ABOUT CAPCOM

Capcom is a leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment for game consoles, PCs, handheld and wireless devices.  Founded in 1983, the company has created hundreds of games, including best-selling franchises Resident Evil™, Street Fighter™, Mega Man™ and Devil May Cry™. Capcom maintains operations in the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Korea, with corporate headquarters located in Osaka, Japan.  More information about Capcom and its products can be found at www.capcom.com or www.capcom-unity.com.

Capcom, the Capcom logo, Devil May Cry, Mega Man and Resident Evil are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Capcom Co., Ltd.  Street Fighter is a registered trademark of Capcom U.S.A., Inc.  “PlayStation” is a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.

Kinect, Windows, Xbox, Xbox 360, and Xbox LIVE are either trademarks or registered trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies.

Costume Worn by Ezio Auditore Available Today for Noel Kreiss 

Square Enix are pleased to announce that series favorites Gilgamesh from FINAL FANTASY V and PuPu from FINAL FANTASY VIII are available this week as coliseum opponents in FINAL FANTASY® XIII-2. Also available this week is the costume worn by Ezio Auditore as an optional outfit for Noel Kreiss, as well as “Style and Steel,” an original costume designed for Serah Farron by Yuko Oshima, a member of the Japanese music group AKB48.

Information on pricing for the new downloadable content (DLC) can be found below:

• Coliseum opponent Gilgamesh: 320 Microsoft Points; AUD$4.95 / NZD$5.90 via PlayStation®Network
• Coliseum opponent PuPu: 160 Microsoft Points; AUD$2.45 / NZD$2.90 via PlayStation®Network
• Ezio Auditore outfit for Noel Kreiss: 240 Microsoft Points; AUD$3.45 / NZD$3.90 via PlayStation®Network
• Style and Steel outfit for Serah Farron: Free

The above DLC items are available today via Xbox LIVE® Marketplace for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and via PlayStation®Network for the PlayStation®3 system on April 12^th.

To celebrate its status as official spirit sponsor of the 59th Sydney Film Festival, Vodka O is spreading the cinematic love by giving up-and-coming filmmakers a rare chance to be on the same bill as some of the world’s most progressive and celebrated filmmakers.

Budding filmmakers and creative types are being given the opportunity to have their short film , on Vodka O, screened at the 2012 Sydney Film Festival and a private opening night party with ten mates as part of the inaugural Vodka O SchOlarship initiative.

“As a company started out of a garage in Sydney, we know how important it is to get a leg up,” says ASM Liquor CEO Tim Szonyi.

“We had a banged up old van for distribution, determination and a passion to produce smooth, pure, great tasting spirits. So with that same intent we decided to create the Vodka O SchOlarship as part of our Sydney Film Festival sponsorship in order to give one back to all those likeminded passionate and enthusiastic filmmakers,” says Szonyi.

To enter the Vodka O SchOlarship, entrants must make a one-minute film that follows the creative brief provided by Vodka O. The winning film will be screened throughout the 12 days of the Sydney Film Festival’ films as well as on SFF TV happening at Martin Place between 6 and 17 June.

The winner’s film will get an airing on Vodka O’s website and be heavily promoted on the usual social media mediums like YouTube and on Vodka O’s Facebook page and have the opportunity to be involved in other creative projects with Vodka O.

In addition, the winner will take home $1,000 in cash to put towards developing their creative career, receive full creative credit, be able to use their flick in their folio, and be invited to rub shoulders with industry types, celebrities and other guests at the Opening Night Celebration Party. Best of all they’ll be able to show off to ten mates, who they will be able to impress with Vodka O throwing them their own private screening bash.

“The Sydney Film Festival is one of the longest running film festivals in the world and we’re  extremely excited to be supporting this fantastic event. Come June we’re looking forward to celebrating a great short film with the winner of the inaugural Vodka O SchOlarship over a few Vodka Os,” says Szonyi.

To register your interest in the Vodka O SchOlarship and to receive the full creative brief, please visit the Vodka O Facebook page www.facebook.com/vodkao

All final entries to be received by May 4 2012.

Vodka O is produced by Australian liquor company, ASM Liquor, and has won many international awards including smoothest vodka in the world at the 2010 Vodka Masters in London and also won gold at the 2011 World Spirit Awards.

Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II with Metal Lock-On

Revealed in New Trailer Today 

Wednesday 11^th April 2012 –SEGA® Europe Ltd. and SEGA® of America, Inc. today announced Episode Metal Lock-On, a special unlockable story that will be available exclusively to players that have purchased both Sonic the Hedgehog™ 4 Episode I and Episode II. Episode Metal Lock-On will bridge the story between Sonic CD and the Sonic 4 Saga and reveal the origins of Metal Sonic.  Fans will play through four exclusive acts, from Stardust Speedway to the events of Sonic 4 Episode II, as Metal Sonic himself.

Sonic 4 Episode II, and Episode Metal Lock-On, will be available on 15^th May for Xbox LIVE® Arcade for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft (1200 points), PlayStation®Network AUD$18.25 and Windows PC Digital Download AUD$19.99.

About SEGA® Europe Ltd.

SEGA® Europe Ltd. is the European Distribution arm of Tokyo, Japan-based SEGA® Corporation, and a worldwide leader in interactive entertainment both inside and outside the home. The company develops and distributes interactive entertainment software products for a variety of hardware platforms including PC, wireless devices, and those manufactured by Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. SEGA’s global Web site is located at www.sega.com.

About SEGA® of America, Inc.

SEGA® of America, Inc. is the American arm of Tokyo, Japan-based SEGA® Corporation, a worldwide leader in interactive entertainment both inside and outside the home. The company develops, publishes and distributes interactive entertainment software products for a variety of hardware platforms including PC, wireless devices, and those manufactured by Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony Computer Entertainment. SEGA® of America’s Web site is located at www.sega.com.

Microsoft, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox LIVE, and the Xbox logos are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies.

“PlayStation” is a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.

MELBOURNE, Australia – 11 April, 2012, The world’s largest Mac-based infection, the Flashfake botnet, has infiltrated 41,600 Australian computers, placing Aussie computers as the number four most infected by the virus in the world.

Kaspersky Lab’s experts recently analysed the Flashfake botnet and found a total of 670,000 infected computers worldwide, with more than 98 per cent of the affected computers most likely running the Mac operating system X.

“This is the largest Mac-based infection to date, with the largest number of victims coming from developed countries.” Nigel Hedges, Technical Services Manager, Kaspersky Australia and New Zealand said.

“Flashfake emphasises the need for software to be regularly updated while at the same time destroying the popular myth that the Mac OS X is invulnerable to malware.” Mr. Hedges said.

An analysis of country of origin found that The United States had the most infected computers (300,917) followed by Canada (94,625), the United Kingdom (47,109) and Australia (41.600).

Kaspersky advises that consumers running Mac OS X visit www.flashbackcheck.com, a safe website, to check to see if their computer is infected. Users simply need to enter their Universally Unique Identifier (UUID), which will be checked against Kaspersky Lab’s Flashfake database of infected computers.

If a consumer’s UUID is found in our database of infected computers, their Mac will need to be disinfected. Two remedies to remove Flashfake are:

1.      Use the free utility, the Kaspersky Flashfake Removal Tool. It will automatically scan the computer’s system and remove Flashfake if it is detected. This is a free-to-download and free-to-use program

2.      Download a trial version of Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2011 for Mac. This program offers comprehensive protection against all known malicious programs for Mac OS X, including Flashfake

Recent developments
Throughout the weekend Kaspersky Lab experts have seen a decline in the number of active bots for Flashfake. On 6 April the total number was 650,748 and by 8 April the number of active bots had decreased to 237,103.

However, the decrease in infected bots does not mean the botnet is rapidly shrinking. The statistics represent the number of active bots connected to Flashfake during the past few days– it is not the equivalent of the exact number of infected machines. Infected computers that were inactive during the weekend would not be communicating with Flashfake, thus making them not appear as an infected bot.

Since connecting to the botnet for analysis, Kaspersky Lab’s sinkhole server has registered all the data sent by bots from the infected computers and recorded their UUIDs in a dedicated database. Based on this information, Kaspersky Lab’s experts have created an online resource where all users of Mac OS X can check if their computer has been infected by Flashback / Flashfake.

AVG (AU/NZ) warns of ‘Cost per Action’ cyber fraud 

SYDNEY 10 April 2012 – AVG (AU/NZ) Pty Ltd, the distributor of the award-winning AVG Internet and mobile security software in Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific, alerts Internet shoppers to be on the lookout for scams infiltrating online competitions. 

Michael McKinnon, Security Advisor at AVG (AU/NZ) Pty Ltd, said: “Cyber criminals have created highly lucrative illicit revenue streams by using legitimate advertising networks and fraudulently altering promotional collateral, including competition entry forms – often from large and otherwise trusted brand names.” 

The method that makes this type of fraud possible is a commercial Internet marketing arrangement known as “Cost per Action” (CPA) sometimes also called “Cost per Acquisition”, which pays an advertiser for each action they can get someone to complete. These actions can be as simple as capturing an email address from a competition entry, or as complex as an online marketing survey that takes 15 minutes to complete.

Online fraudsters sign up to an advertising network – usually with false details, but just enough to collect a payment. They then copy and digitally alter promotional and competition offers to make them seem much more enticing – such as changing a $100 prize to a $10,000 prize. This produces better response rates to the legitimate offer and hence opens more people to the scam.

Falling for a CPA scam is at its most innocuous a time waster but according to McKinnon there are more serious ramifications:

• There is the risk of divulging potentially personal information in surveys and other forms that may act as a springboard for either identity fraud if the data ends up in the wrong hands and costing money, or much more time being wasted through dealing with further contact from telemarketers and other companies making direct contact with all manner of offers.
• A blended threat may occur by innocently providing your mobile phone number in an online survey and then receiving an SMS offer which contains a malicious link to a rogue mobile application which in turn starts sending premium SMSs that are charged to your monthly bill without you noticing, and again putting money in the pockets of the scammers.

McKinnon says: “The saddest part is that people who are vulnerable – to the extent that they fall for the initial survey and competition scams – are often very easy targets for further attack, and cybercriminals like to exploit this to their advantage by extending their reach with each victim.”

AVG (AU/NZ)’s clues as to what to look for and how to avoid trouble:

• One of the most obvious tell-tale signs can be mismatched buttons or images. For example, sometimes an ‘action’ button is a slightly different colour from the rest of the page, and a different size and alignment. These ‘amateurish’ adjustments are clues which you should scan carefully for.
• Being directed to multiple offers or surveys in quick succession is a sign that you’re being led down ‘scammer’s lane’. It is common for cyber crooks to chain lures together to encourage you to fill out several entries – remember for each one you complete, they receive a fraudulent payment.
• The URL in your browser address bar can provide some idea of the legitimacy of the offer or survey form. The most obvious sign is an IP Address http://n.n.n.n/ – (where n is a number) instead of a domain name.
• Many of these types of fraudulent offers and promotions are presented in conjunction with other viral campaigns. For example, if you try to click on a video and then you get a popup asking you to enter the competition or complete a survey first, this signals you are being scammed into providing the ‘action’ that is going to put money in the scammer’s pocket and waste your time.

For safe, fun online exploration McKinnon advises that: “Vigilance and calm are the key words here. Take your time, read and look carefully and don’t click before you think.” 

For the series of informative security tips, how-to and fact sheets see:

www.avg.com.au/resources/security-tips/. For video tips from AVG (AU/NZ), see: www.youtube.com/user/avgaunz 

Keep in touch with AVG (AU/NZ)

• For breaking news, follow AVG (AU/NZ) on Twitter at twitter.com/avgaunz
• Join our Facebook community at www.facebook.com/avgaunz
• For security trends, analysis, follow the AVG (AU/NZ) blog at resources.avg.com.au

Tuesday 10^th April 2012 – The world’s most popular sports management game is about to meet the world’s most popular mobile platform, as Sports Interactive and SEGA proudly announce the launch of Football Manager Handheld™ for Android on Wednesday, April 11th.

Football Manager Handheld, which is already a massive success on iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, has been designed to bring all of the highs and lows of the greatest job on earth to mobile devices. Taking the hot-seat at any club from a choice of leagues in 12 countries, the player assumes full control of transfers, training, tactics and managing the team live during match-days – a job which can be tackled in either short, commute-sized sessions or in mammoth sittings on the sofa. 

The Android-equipped manager can choose to pursue an entire career in a particular country’s league or face up to the handheld-exclusive ‘Challenge Mode’ which offers a particular short-term scenario with a clear goal to be achieved. Whichever mode is chosen, the manager will deal with real-life situations involving real players, as researched by Sports Interactive’s huge global scouting network. 

Football Manager Handheld for Android will be initially be available through the Google Play store, priced at just AUD $10.49. It is likely to become available through a variety of other Android app stores over the coming weeks. 

“Since the first release of Football Manager Handheld for mobiles a couple of years ago, the most asked question on social networks has been ‘When is it coming to Android?’,” says Miles Jacobson, Studio Director at Sports Interactive. “Now, we can reveal the answer.” 

The 12 countries with playable leagues in Football Manager Handheld for Android are Australia, Belgium, Brazil, England, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Portugal, Scotland, Spain and Wales. The game can be played in four languages; English, French, Italian and Spanish. 

Football Manager Handheld for Android has been designed for Android devices using OS 2.2 and above (please check on the Google Play store for a full list of compatible devices). For further information please go to www.sigames.com or www.footballmanager.com.