GameShark Backs Away From Online Cheat Codes

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."

Re:Little Slow

[DS-1107]

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 cheats is that many singleplayer gamers do not play online, and those of course have no serious need to stop buying gamecheats from namedcompanies, unless they want to show their disslike on the behalf of their fellow online gamers.

Re:It's about time

[gl4ss]

however will this change anything? aren't you still able to scan/find your own codes anyways?

Hollow Promise

[Kris_J]

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.

Subject

[illumen]

Read as '''We have been threatened with legal action because our cheats can reduce corporate profits! So no more cheats for you.'''

Re:It's about time

[Aoreias]

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 main distribution methods isn't a satisfactory solution and only makes it a tad harder to get cheat codes.

-Aoreias

Re:about time...

[Anonymous Coward]

You speak about the "truth" but don't provide a heck of a lot of evidence. How do you know what "most cheaters" are like?

Re:about time...

[derrickh]

I don't believe that for a second. To cheat online, you usually have to go through a fair amount of work (to mod your console) or shell out cash(Gameshark). Someone that's good at the game isn't doing that. People who cheat are people who either can't compete on a level playing field(real or imagined) or enjoy ruining the game for others. If you really believe that there aren't people who take a huge delight in screwing up someone else's game, then you're living in a fantasy world.

The pro-sports metaphor doesn't work. There's always a huge uproar. Remember when McGuire was on Creatine? How about when Sosa got caught with a corked bat? Those incidents weren't swept under the rug. Online cheating is even worse because it directly affects -me-, not some abtract city/team. It's my game being ruined. It's MY time thats being wasted. And it's not because someone simply wants an edge. It's because the cheater can't or won't compete with everyone else.

If what you say is true, then cheaters would happily leave a game when asked, or start their own servers labeled 'cheating allowed'. But instead they claim innocence or that the other players are the ones with a problem because after all, it's just a game.

D