Uplink, le retour ?

Le succès du piratage informatique n'est plus à faire (la preuve par les mots-clés) et je remarque aussi la curiosité de certains, mais parfois bien mal orientés ou assez innocents avec des demandes du style : «comment pirater tel ou tel truc ?», «comment hacker ce machinchose ?»... Je répond simplement en disant : apprend comment ca fonctionne, va voir là et là...

Mais il y a pire : le cinéma, les jeux vidéos et certaines séries télévisées montrent le piratage informatique (autant dans le sens hacker que cracker) comme quelque chose de simple et certains l'imaginent réellement. c'est vrai, il faut reconnaitre que c'est simple quand on sait comment faire...

Le summum, vu avec un jeu sur lequel j'avais fait un article : Uplink : Hacker Elite... J'ai eu des demandes pour «comment pirater avec Uplink ?». «Uplink : Hacker Elite» est... un jeu ! Un jeu vidéo (pas si réaliste que ca à bien y regarder) mais un jeu, qui a un aspect très cinéma et télévision (faites des vidéos avec ca, vous allez avoir du succès). Résultat : rien à pirater avec ca ! J'ai même eu aussi «Uplink Hacker Elite comment jouer»... c'est pourtant simple, il y a un tutorial ; le jeu est certes en anglais mais cela fait partie de l'ambiance...

J'ai recherché aussi pour d'autres questions (et pour moi aussi quand même), si une suite était prévue à ce jeu : le fameux Uplink 2 : Terminal... On peut déjà obtenir des information via le premier : un «oeuf de Pâques» y est caché (Easter Egg pour les anglicistes), même si cela paraît curieux, voici le message que l'on obtient (tableau ci-dessous) :

128.128.128.128 [ne pas oublier, l'action de Uplink se passe en 2010]
Introduction
«The aim of this site is to serve as a repository for all ideas and documents relating to the design of the next Uplink product, to be released by Introversion Software. currently nothing is finalised, other than the sequel to Uplink must be a hacking tool of a similar nature to Uplink itself.
If many employees have any good ideas, please email them to the company designer. Please use his real-world address, as his Uplink email address is under almost constant surveillance from federal agents and hackers, and any good ideas will no doubt be stolen.
contact chris at chris@introversion.co.uk . «

Uplink
At some point I would like one of our members to performa postmortem on Uplink itself, and come up with a list of possible improvements. <todo>.
Mission : Impossible
One possible direction for Uplink to go is shown in the film Mission:Impossible, starring Tom cruise when he was a muchyounger actor and long before his terrible accident.
This film came out in the late 20th century, but the basic idea was that a squad of real people would enter the target site (eg a bank, corporation HQ etc) and they would be assisted by a tech guy on the outside. The tech guy would be running Uplink2, and he would be able to see the agents moving around the target site. He would have voice control over his squad. He would need to open doors, block elevator shafts, override building security, distract guards etc.
Success would attract agents with better skills who could rob more advanced buildings and sites. Failure would lead to the arrest of the Agents under the guys command.
Johnny Mnemonic
Around 15 years ago a film was released in what was then called Hollywood, called Johnny Mnemonic. The film was almost universally hated, however it did contain some fantastic visualisationof the Internet of 2010. It is frequently hilarious to see how inaccurate those predictions were.
Nevertheless, Uplink2 would look fantastic with a similar look. The Internet would be rendered in 3D, with major corporate computer systems appearing as huge 3D sky-crapers. Every tool and action would be extremely visual.
It is thought that this feel would give Uplink2 a broader appeal, but would alienate the hard-core Uplink player who values its (semi) realism. In addition, it would require a team of artists to produce the 3D models.
The Holy Grail
The founder of Introversion Software believes the definitive version of Uplink could only be achieved as an online massively-multiplayer universe. When a player launches Uplink2, it would connect to a global network of Uplink2 clients. Each agent would be able to attack other Agent computer systems and steal things from them. A number of 'core' systems would be run by Introversion Software, including most of the Government systems. Agents would need to work in teams to properly hack the well guarded systems.
Agents would also need to defend their own systems from hackers. In effect, it would be similar in design to Napster - everyone can see everyone else on the Uplink Network. It is not clear what the legal situation would be - could anyone actually be prosecuted uner this system ?
Other ideas

Assassination mission. The target is flying on a chartered flight. Agent has to hack into airport system and find out which flight the target is on. Then hack into air-traffic control and cause the plane to crash.

Power grids. A terrorist group is planning to attack a bank, and will cut you in for 10 percent if you can cut the power to the bank vault at just the right moment.

Remote control security drone. The agent takes control of a security drone, viewing the world through a black-and-white ccTV camera in the room.

The agent takes control of a government owned satellite weapon, and uses it to destroy a target.

Je crois bien que ce message dit l'essentiel :

G a b y ' s B l o g

Introduction

Uplink

Mission : Impossible

Johnny Mnemonic

The Holy Grail

Other ideas