For a while now my site’s search result on Google (and in the new Firefox Beta) have been plagued by the nefarious “This site may harm your computer” warning. This message is attached to any website Google or StopBadWare.org believe is hosting malware, badware, or is breaking Google’s terms of use.

My initial (useless) response to this knowledge was indignation. “How could my site be infected? It’s well groomed, fed, and practices safe sex!” Still, I searched the site’s code, did a few updates, changed some passwords, and assured myself the site was clean. I informed Google as such – but my pleas were ignored. Feh.

Next I requested “review” from StopBadWare – and received a note informing me of certain evil residing on “/page/2” of my blog. Sigh. But this bit of information was helpful – more precise than the generic “your site = bad” delivered by Google. With that knowledge in hand, I searched again – this time focusing on the posts and comments contained on that page – not the WordPress code itself.

And voila! I found the evil, and it looks something like this:

That image still contains the actual IP address and web address from the original code. I’d NOT suggest punching those into your browser.

If you too have been hit by the “This site may harm…” message – then here’s how I solved my problem:

1. Send a request for review to stopbadware.org – they should reply with details on where and what to look for.

If you suspect you’ve been hit with the same code I was then:

2. Use the search function of WordPress to look for “wp-stats” or “Traffic Statistics”.

3. Edit the offending post’s code, and remove the chunk related to “Traffic Statistics”.

I hope that while my site was infected it didn’t pass anything along to my readers. I’ll do my best to keep an eye on this stuff from now on.

Doug Perry over at GameTap has posted a nice write-up on the Grimm preview we were giving at GDC:

The mix of story-telling and interactivity in Grimm is bold. McGee is creating a 24-episode series focused on the world’s best-known fairy tales, including Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, The Pied Piper, Godfather Death, and Pinocchio to name a few. Each episode is 30 minutes, is downloadable, and usually focuses on one fairy tale (though some episodes will comprise two or three shorter stories). Each also opens with the contemporary perspective of the fairy tale, displayed in a puppet show of minimally adorned characters, narrated by “Grimm,” a rough and wonderfully despicable character. It closes with a version that’s closer to the original version of said tale, but with McGee’s touch.

Worth checking out if you’re interested in more details about the content, concepts, and game play coming in Grimm.  Check it out here.

Flowers become skeletal hands, logs become carcasses, and dainty sailors become pirates. These are some examples of transformations from Grimm. While all transformations involve items, characters, and locations going from light to dark, some transformations are more active than others. An example is this windmill:

In its “light” state it behaves as might be expected. Such behavior is described in our design documents like so:

Light Version: Windmill blades turn lazily. Some thoughtful person designed them so their tips are softly rounded, and safely distanced from passing craniums. Yawn. The charming reddish chap is back, along with his business partner. They stand behind a particularly rich looking mill. All pretty normal except for the terrified girl sobbing in the center of a hand-drawn pentagram. Oh, and she’s got no hands.

This is a typical scene description from an Episode Design Document. These documents lay out, area by area, everything Player will encounter and interact with inside an episode of Grimm. Descriptions for the dark version of the world highlight the major contrasts between the two world states:

Grimm Version: These windmills were clearly designed by a homicidal idiot. Their sharpened, metal blade tips cut into the ground, kicking up clouds of dust and rock. Dust blinded villagers stumble through the milieu, occasionally doing the meaty-bit-mambo with the whirling death blades. Forecast calls for scattered body part showers and light blood fog. The reddish chap once again reveals his true form – Prince of Darkness, Lucifer, etc, etc. The thoughtfully rich house becomes a decadent homage to greed and desire. The girl spouts blood from her meaty arm sockets. And everywhere Grimm goes, villagers find their hands replaced with gore fountains.

Mmmm… gore fountains. To see this scene in action is truly a thing of joy. Especially if you derive joy from the sight of farm animals and villagers being haplessly swept into massive metal blades and chopped into flying gibs.

Alright, it’s Chinese New Year eve here. I’m going to go blow things up. Hopefully I won’t get gibbed!