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PlayStation (Games) Entertainment Games

GameShark Backs Away From Online Cheat Codes 39

Posted by simoniker from the you-cheat-you-lose dept.
Thanks to GameSpot for its article noting that the GameShark and Xploder-branded console cheating devices will no longer release codes for online games. According to the piece, creators Fire International "...felt that some of its cheats for games such as SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs [for PS2] were ruining the experience for other online players." We've previously covered Fire International's boasts as "the first source of cheats" for SOCOM, but now a spokesperson for the company says: "We feel that the game enhancements we create are generally used to help individual users complete or get the most out of their games... We want to protect the integrity of online gaming for all who want to play in this environment cheat-free."
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GameShark Backs Away From Online Cheat Codes More

GameShark Backs Away From Online Cheat Codes

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  • It's about time (Score:4, Interesting)

    by sn0 ( 638732 ) on Tuesday January 27, 2004 @02:56AM (#8097697)
    Cheating completly ruined Socom online. It became unplayable due to the excessive cheating, and the fact that there was nothing anyone could do to stop it.

    • Re:It's about time (Score:4, Insightful)

      by gl4ss ( 559668 ) on Tuesday January 27, 2004 @03:20AM (#8097789) Homepage Journal
      however will this change anything? aren't you still able to scan/find your own codes anyways?

      • My only experience is with such a device on my original PS1. I could probably find cheats, but I wouldn't have the patience. The device I have has no scan feature or anything. Would be an extremely tedious trial and error experiment.

        I say kudos to Gameshark for doing this. Sadly other sites will still post codes, but it's a good start to killing off cheating for the most part.

        • Re:It's about time (Score:3, Informative)

          by blincoln ( 592401 )
          The device I have has no scan feature or anything. Would be an extremely tedious trial and error experiment.

          No PS2 cheat device has code-finding features.

          Independent hackers generally use PS2Dis to disassemble the ELF files from commercial games and make codes that way.

          I used it to make some excellent codes for Soul Reaver 2 and Legacy of Kain: Defiance that enable use of debugging menus from when the games were being tested.

          Hopefully when PS2 emulation is a little further along, that software will be
          • Whatever the case, they're doing it. Whether it's for noble reasons or not, it's still a good thing:)

            Action Replay... I remember, a friend had one on the Amiga. Really fun little device that was.

    • Re:It's about time (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Aoreias ( 721149 )
      Game publishers for online games on consoles have to be aware that gameshark-like devices exist for all consoles, and that this will affect online games if there's no control. This is the exact thing the PC-industry has been dealing with for years.

      Instead of trying to crush a couple sources of distribution, game companies should instead design their games with redundancy between online consoles, protection against these hacks, and online updating to crush them when they do come out.

      Relying on stopping ma

  • Little Slow (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Neppy ( 673459 ) on Tuesday January 27, 2004 @03:00AM (#8097708)
    Companies dont just instantly realize that something they did was irresponsible. This sounds like a case of industry pressure behind the scenes being infintely more important than the integrity of online games. All comes down to $$.

    • Re:Little Slow (Score:3, Insightful)

      by DS-1107 ( 680578 )
      True - Not seeing that giving cheats to online games would ruin the experience for everyone is something not even the blind could claim to have done.

      All those cheats for games before have been seen as something good for the community, or atleast acceptable, but this? No, the fact that they didn't see that ruining the experience for gamers not using the cheats, and alas also ruining the experience for the cheater - would backfire on them is the weird part. The only good part in this for the makers of the c

  • Maybe software companies should stop releasing debuggers and tcp/ip logging software so that people can stop making cheats for online pc games... ya right.
    • Maybe software companies should stop releasing debuggers and tcp/ip logging software so that people can stop making cheats for online pc games... ya right.

      Huh? Most cheats either come from putting "hooks" into video card calls (and have nothing to do with the source of the original game) or from dumping the source of a game that is ment to be modded (ie, Unreal Tournament, Half Life, etc). Sure, companies could make it harder to make mods for games, but then there would be no counter strike. And you
      • This is why I prefer to play games against AI instead of other players whenever possible. If I wanna cheat, the AI doesn't care, if I wanna fair game, the AI accomodates. Very good system.
      • a big source of (external)cheats is not those, afaik a popular method is to scan the memory for changes then make some program to keep those parts of memory unchanged that matter(keeping the bytes that store the health at values for 100% for example), i believe this is the usual method of gameshark devices as well(for just about any device, the gameshark 'codes' being what memory address should be tempered with).

        • a big source of (external)cheats is not those, afaik a popular method is to scan the memory for changes then make some program to keep those parts of memory unchanged that matter(keeping the bytes that store the health at values for 100% for example),

          I can tell you, this doesn't work with modern PC games online. At least not Unreal Tournament. You can change your health on the client side (ie, make your heath stay at 100, or even jack it up to 999) but your health is tracked on the server side. so if
          • well I was more talking about single player games..

            the fact that they seem to trust the client on these console games is just so stupid I found it hard to believe :).

            how could they even know if it is a console that's connected to the server, let alone what happens to the packets in between? it seems just like quick decision to get the game out(and practicality, however here practicality should have been placed second as trusting the clients can easily ruin the whole game for everyone).

  • Hollow Promise (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Kris_J ( 10111 ) * on Tuesday January 27, 2004 @03:44AM (#8097854) Homepage Journal
    The devices will still allow you to cheat online, you just have to get your codes from somewhere else. And if there's one thing that holds true on the Internet it's that there are a heck of a lot of "somewhere else"s.
    • The devices will still allow you to cheat online, you just have to get your codes from somewhere else. And if there's one thing that holds true on the Internet it's that there are a heck of a lot of "somewhere else"s.

      This actually makes it worse for the gamer. If there is going to be cheating, it's better that it is widespread so gamers know it's out there, what to look for, and who to play with (ie, only people they trust). When only a few people have cheats, they can use them in tournaments, ladde

  • Subject (Score:4, Insightful)

    by illumen ( 718958 ) on Tuesday January 27, 2004 @04:00AM (#8097900)
    Read as '''We have been threatened with legal action because our cheats can reduce corporate profits! So no more cheats for you.'''
  • Yes, I know there are other sources out there that WILL develop cheats for online games. The idea here is to just make it more difficult to cheat, because you will never completely remove cheating from online games.

    I wonder if it is possible for Sony to do a check for a gameshark or other cheat hardware when you attempt to connect to their servers to play Socom..
  • I wonder how fast cheating in multiplayer games would stop when faced with the threat of a few months in a federal pound-me-in-the-ass-prison.

    Obviously the big concern would be false positives. A concern so big this would never happen... I sure as hell don't trust VAC with that responsibility.

    Discuss.
  • Can online cheating ever be totally eliminated, from either the PC or console realms? No.

    BUT.

    Game companies could put together a EULA for online games that works something like this:

    "We reserve the right to revoke your [CD-key/Xbox gamer tag] if we find that you are using third party cheating programs. That means we ban your ass and you are out $50. Remember, you were warned, so no whining."

    Then, release patches periodically to update code/detect cheats and ban the losers. There are several benefits

    • This happens to some degree now, but not with respect to cheating, but with respect to piracy. Many online first-person-shooters that use CD keys (especially those that use id's engines) have the keyserver keep track of when a CD key is used for online play, and what IP address it's used from. If multiple people try to use the key at once, or there are distinct close-in-time geographical variations in the IP address, such things are noted. Too many violations for a given CD key, and the key is banned per
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Lets see, cheaters ruined the following games for me:

    Warcraft II

    Starcraft

    Diablo

    Half Life

    CounterStrike

    Unreal Tournament (s)

    Halo (although it's better now)
    and countless other online games. I don't care if it's a wall hack, or a "god" code, I hate all cheat codes in online games. Rampant cheating for game consoles has already proven it simply destroys the game. It's unfair to those who spent $50 and simply now cannot play the game due to rampant cheating.
  • Finally, one of my most despised companies decides to step away from providing cheats for online games. It's about time they realized that their easy to access codes have ruined many games for other people.

    I really don't mind cheating in games where you're not involved with others, but make others unhappy? To be honest, cheating devices can take away sales of some games, such as *coughs* PSO. While the latest versions of PSO are not hacked via a cheating device, before now that was a major problems and IM
  • Well this took a long time... I won't waste time in looking at why this is a good thing, because it's blatantly obvious... but why has this not happened sooner? Cheating has ruined online console games. Cnsoles do not have a reasonable way of patching against cheaters (Yes I know it's possible on the Xbox, but it's rarely done), so Consoles have always been the hardest hit with online cheaters. I remember the early days of PSO where quite litetally everyone was a cheater, using some hacked weapons or wh

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