Call of Duty: Vanguard’s latest update gives cheaters a taste of their own medicine, doling out a fittingly ironic punishment to those who exploit the game.

Through a new “Cloaking” system, Call of Duty: Vanguard players who are detected to be cheating will no longer be able to see enemy players in the game. Enemy characters, bullets, and sounds will be totally undetectable to cheaters, while honest players will see them, and the cheating players, clear as day.

While cheaters will end up “spinning in circles hollering, ‘who is shooting me?!’”, as Activision puts it in a blog post , legitimate players can nab a quick kill, putting those pesky cheaters in their place.

Activision is styling the Cloaking system as an “in-game mitigation technique to reduce the impact of cheaters”. But to us, it sounds more like the anti-cheat team has found a way to troll the trollers. What better way to show cheaters just how disruptive their hacks can be, than by deliberately ruining their game and letting honest players get one over on them.

Troll the trolls

The new feature is similar to the Damage Shield system that was released for Warzone earlier this year, which effectively made cheater’s bullets useless. When the server detects a cheater in Warzone, it disables their ability to inflict critical damage on opposing players, letting enemies quickly pick them off.

Additionally, players who are now banned for cheating will be removed from global Call of Duty leaderboards. Activision said that change was implemented in response to player feedback, when some fans raised concerns over how cheating would impact global competitive rankings.

Activision said more than 144,000 accounts have now been banned across Call of Duty titles using its Ricochet anti-cheat software.

In the past, it’s emphasized its commitment to ensuring only cheaters are caught by the anti-cheat software, reassuring “law-abiding community members” that they don’t need to need to be worried about their bullets accidentally being made limp, or the enemy team suddenly turning invisible in front of their eyes.

Cheating has become something of a sticking point among Call of Duty: Vanguard players. Aimbots and wall hacks let unscrupulous players exploit the game for an unfair advantage, sometimes in a way that ruins the multiplayer experience for others. Activision began addressing those problems wholesale last year, rolling out its new Ricochet kernel-level, anti-cheat security system.

It’ll be keen to curb as much cheating as possible to enhance Vanguard’s multiplayer experience after it suffered poor sales . Punishing cheaters by trolling them certainly sounds like an effective strategy to achieve that.

The new anti-cheat features are now live in Call of Duty: Vanguard, just in time for Season 3. They're expected to roll out to Warzone soon, too.

Disappointed by the Apple Studio Display? Samsung’s Smart Monitor M8 could tempt you

Samsung has announced that its Smart Monitor M8, a 32-inch monitor with smart TV capabilities as you might guess from the name, is now available to pre-order.

This year’s initial Smart Monitor offering, the M80B model, is priced at around $700 (about £535, or AU$935), as Flat Panels HD reports, with availability varying by region (plus there are four different color schemes: white, pink, blue, and green). It’s not clear when the first models will ship yet.

The Samsung Smart Monitor M8 was first unveiled back at CES 2022 in January, and the 32-inch display is a VA panel offering a 4K resolution with a 60Hz refresh rate and response time of 4ms. Brightness is rated at 400 nits, and the monitor provides 99% sRGB coverage.

As for those smart features, the M8 comes with streaming services built-in, so you can enjoy the likes of Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Disney Plus and Netflix direct via Wi-Fi (without having to be connected to anything else like your PC). There’s a remote control thrown in, too, so you’re getting the best of a PC monitor and smart TV rolled into one, or that’s the idea.

As you can see from the pics on this page, the Smart Monitor M8 goes with an Apple-esque appearance, though to be fair to Samsung, it takes inspiration from some of the firm’s previous smart TVs which run with that kind of central stand.

Samsung notes that the new M80B model is considerably thinner than previous products in this range at 11.4mm.

It also comes with a removable SlimFit Cam that attaches magnetically atop the panel, and offers features like face tracking and auto-zooming. Furthermore, Samsung’s Smart Hub lets you connect to smart gadgets around your home, or hook up to a Windows PC (or Mac) wirelessly, or indeed mirror content from your smartphone to the monitor screen (and more besides, including support for Apple AirPlay 2).

There’s a lot of flexibility here, and when watching TV shows or films, there’s a pair of built-in 5.5W speakers for audio (in case you don’t have standalone speakers).

Analysis: A versatile monitor, and a sound alternative to Apple’s Studio Display

As a PC monitor, the specs here aren’t going to win over, say, keen gamers, but the Samsung Smart Monitor M8 looks to be a solid 4K display with a lot of extra features chucked in, and a reasonable price tag pinned on the device. Considering what you’re getting, anyway, which is a display that you can happily use with your PC for work or play, and then it can double as a smart TV (complete with remote). Meaning that folks who don’t really want to fork out for a separate TV can have both options in one piece of hardware.

This Samsung monitor could also be a sound alternative to Apple’s new Studio Display , although you’d have to cope with a number of compromises – like it being a bit heftier (the Studio Display is 27-inch, and not everyone is happy with a monitor larger than that sat right in front of them on their desk), and the pixel density not being near that Apple achieves.

Of course, you’re paying a lot less for the Smart Monitor M8 – plus you get a stand that can tilt and is height adjustable without forking out an additional $400 / £400 / AU$600 (which is a bit rich from Apple to say the least).

Exclusive: the truth about those Moon Knight George Clooney rumors

Moon Knight executive producer Grant Curtis has revealed that George Clooney wasn't involved in the Marvel TV show's production.

Speaking exclusively to TechRadar, Curtis suggested that the popular actor-turned-director had not been drafted in to helm one of Moon Knight 's episodes.

Curtis was responding to intense speculation, which appeared online in late 2021, that Clooney secretly directed an episode for the upcoming Disney Plus show. In October, The Ronin reported on Clooney's potential involvement, with the rumor supposedly stemming from his time working with Oscar Isaac on 2017's Suburbicon. For those who may not know, Isaac is the lead star in Marvel Studios' Moon Knight.

Two months later, The Cosmic Circus added fuel to the fire, suggesting that Clooney was working alongside one of his Catch-22 assistant art directors on Moon Knight. The Cosmic Circus later clarified that the information it had received may have been incorrect.

Despite The Cosmic Circus' retraction, speculation surrounding Clooney's possible involvement in Moon Knight generated plenty of interest online, with many Reddit and Twitter users commenting on the rumor.

With so much news generated from a single piece of gossip, TechRadar went to the source and asked Curtis directly about Clooney supposedly directing an episode of the Marvel Phase 4 project. Suffice to say, Curtis was unequivocal in his response.

"I don't know where that rumour started," Curtis said. "But I can tell you this: the directors of our show are Mohammed Diab, and Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson."

Diab (Clash), alongside Moorhead and Benson (Synchronic, Archive 81 ), were already confirmed to have directed multiple Moon Knight episodes. Moorhead and Benson, who are also reportedly set to direct Loki season 2 , were brought on for two episodes. Meanwhile, Diab was expected to helm the other four until Clooney was rumored to be involved in the MCU project.

However, Curtis' comments seem to have put an end to suggestions that Clooney has directed an instalment of the Isaac-starring TV series. Sure, some fans may argue that Curtis has somewhat sidestepped the question – after all, he only confirms that Diab, plus Moorhead and Benson, directed some of Moon Knight's six episodes. So some readers may suggest that Curtis hasn't actually denied Clooney's involvement.

But we have more evidence that Clooney isn't involved in any capacity. Ahead of Moon Knight's virtual junket, TechRadar received a press notes document that confirmed which episodes Diab, and Moorhead and Benson, had helmed. The latter duo have directed episodes 2 and 4, with Diab helming the other four.

We can also confirm that, at the very least, Diab, plus Moorhead and Benson, have directed the first four episodes. TechRadar has had the privilege of seeing four Moon Knight instalments, so be sure to check back with us soon for our spoiler-free review. For now, you can see what critics' early impressions of Moon Knight are .

If you've already read that article, find out why Isaac's co-star Ethan Hawke thinks that Marvel's latest TV show could spawn a mini MCU franchise . If it does, we could see Moon Knight team up with some other MCU superheroes, which would allow him to join our ' how to watch the Marvel movies in order ' guide.

We'll have more Moon Knight coverage winging its way to you ahead of the show's March 30 launch, so check back in with TechRadar soon.