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Ubisoft's Mousetrap system lengthens the lag to punish 'Rainbow Six Siege' cheaters
Rainbow Six Siege cheaters using 3rd party input spoofers are going to absolutely hate Ubisoft's new punitive game mechanic.
GTA Online PC players hit with game-breaking exploit
Malicious elements of a community mod have made GTA Online too risky to play on PC.
Games Done Quick bans speedrunning cheater from future events
A player admitted to faking an apparent 'Metal Gear Solid' world record during SGDQ.
'Call of Duty: Warzone' players used an app to cheat matchmaking
A 'Call of Duty: Warzone' app maker was forced to make changes after their anti-cheat tool was used to rig matchmaking.
After almost four years, the last 'Nier: Automata' secret has been found
A cheat code lets you skip almost the entire game.
'Apex Legends' will pit cheaters against each other
Respawn may have a particularly poetic way to exact justice on Apex Legends cheaters: give them a taste of their own medicine. The studio has revealed that its anti-cheating efforts will include matchmaking between detected cheaters and spam accounts. Their aim bots and hacks won't be much fun if they're playing against similarly dirty competitors.
'GTA Online' cheat creator ordered to pay $150,000 in damages
Game publishers are still using lawsuits to take down cheaters, and their latest move could deal a particularly serious blow. A court has ordered Florida resident Jhonny Perez to pay $150,000 in damages (and $66,869 in attorney fees) for creating and sharing Elusive, a paid cheating tool for GTA Online that allowed infinite money and other cheats. Perez allegedly violated Take-Two Interactive's copyright, disrupted gameplay balancing, threw off its in-game purchase model and soured the experience for honest players.
'PUBG' hackers arrested and fined in China for selling game cheats
Combatting hacking and cheating in online games has taken a serious turn for PlayerUknown's Battlegrounds developer Bluehole/PubgCorp. Over the weekend it was revealed that Chinese authorities arrested some 15 people for their roles in making and selling cheats for the online shooter, and the offending parties have been fined over $4.5 million (30m yuan). What's more, this doesn't sound like it'll be an isolated incident: the BBC writes that more arrests are expected as the investigation goes on.
VW's 2016 diesels have a different device that may dupe emissions tests
Just when you thought the Volkswagen emissions scandal couldn't get any worse, it might do just that. The automaker revealed to US regulators last week that its 2016 diesel models may have a different device that could help those vehicles earn higher marks on the government's emissions tests. The tech in question is "auxiliary emissions control device" separate from the software on automobiles made between 2009-2015 that was first disclosed last month. This new software heats the pollution control catalyst quicker, boosting the performance of the components responsible for separating harmful nitrogen dioxide into nitrogen and oxygen.[Image credit: Matt Cardy/Getty Images]
Path of Exile unholsters the banhammer for cheaters
The team behind Path of Exile has been pretty forgiving up to this point. Players have been a bit more commonly warned that there will be penalties if they're cheating. But that's over now. The latest race season has finished, and players who were found to have cheated have been given a grand total of no rewards even if they were technically eligible. Nearly 4,000 players will log in to find a warning to disable any cheats they have running before they get banned. From this point forward, any incidents with cheating software will result in a ban, end of discussion. This is true even if the player in question argues that the cheat was being used for quality-of-life purposes; those issues will be addressed in the future and don't justify cheating. Players are reminded that they are allowed to run tools that don't require the client to be running and single-action hotkeys without a problem, so don't worry about being punished just for having Fraps in the background. Just... don't cheat.
Turns out Blizzard found more Hearthstone cheaters to ban
Earlier this week, Blizzard banned "several thousand" botter accounts in MMOTCG Hearthstone for the crime of botting. But the bans were only temporary, and the problem players will be back in the game by the turn of the year. The subjects of a new wave of bans, says Blizzard, won't be let off so easily. Community Manager Whirthun told forumgoers last night that win traders have and will continue to be banned -- permanently: We've recently banned Hearthstone accounts that were found to be participating in win trading. Win trading at any rank is something that we do not take lightly, and is in violation of our Terms of Use. As we mentioned in our previous statement regarding fair play in Hearthstone, instances of cheating will not be tolerated. Accounts that were discovered participating in win trading have received permanent account closure and disqualification from events where ranking is used as a method of qualification. Win trading is an exploit of the matchmaking system to position accounts for easy ladder climbing. PC Gamer reports that several big-name Hearthstone players have already fallen to the ban, including a grey hat player who went public with the exploit nearly a year ago in the hopes of provoking Blizzard to fix it.
Blizzard mass-bans Hearthstone cheaters
Last night, Blizzard announced that it's brought the banhammer down on cheaters in its MMOTCG, Hearthstone. "Several thousand" botter accounts have been banned for the next two months, though the studio warns it won't be so lenient next time: We've recently banned several thousand Hearthstone accounts that were associated with the use of third-party programs that automate gameplay, otherwise known as "bots" or "botting." These accounts will be banned until 2015. As we've stated, fair play is at the core of the Hearthstone experience, and cheating and botting will not be tolerated. We're committed to creating a fun and rewarding environment for our players, and we will continue to closely monitor activities within Hearthstone and take appropriate action against cheating in any form, as outlined in our Terms of Use. From this point on, accounts found to be cheating will be permanently closed without warning. Blizzard encourages players who encounter exploits to contact the hacks team; those who believe they've been wrongly banned can appeal their ban through the customer service department. [We've corrected our original story, which directed folks to the hacks team for all issues.]
'Modder' tweaks Destiny to feature infinite ammo
Whether you want to call it a mod, a hack, an exploit or a cheat, the fact remains that the players seen in the videos below the break have found a way to slay moon wizards in Bungie's recently-launched open-universe shooter Destiny with the aid of unending bullets. Before you get too riled up, know that this stunt does not seem to be very widespread. The comments following each of the below videos lack any sort of information on how to accomplish the feat, and most responses left by the people behind these clips are too busy justifying infinite ammo as anything other than cheating to explain how they made things work. "Since I modified the amount of ammo I have in my clip, it's a mod," wrote impressively self-assured YouTube user 0neThatsExiled in lieu of any word on how the game was "modified." Happily, since existing examples do not explain how to duplicate this tweak, it's unlikely that you'll encounter the issue within Destiny before the quality assurance team at Bungie has time to obliterate this unintended gameplay issue. Hopefully these self-described modders are enjoying their brief moment of online infamy. [Image: Activision]
Shovel Knight cheat unlocks Butt Mode
Shovel Knight is brimming with cheat codes – more than 300 collected in this Google Doc so far – but the most adorable, childishly hilarious code unlocks Butt Mode, a cheat that replaces recurring nouns in the game with the word "butt." It's like reading a Harry Potter book and replacing every instance of the word "wand" with "wang." Or playing Mad Libs. Either way, this is comedy gold. Access Butt Mode in Shovel Knight by entering "X&BUTT" or "WSWWAEAW" in the name entry screen. As with all cheat codes in Shovel Knight, applying Butt Mode means you won't be able to complete any "feats," the game's achievements. Yacht Club Games tweeted the cheat code this week, and CastleGeekSkull shows off Butt Mode on YouTube, proving that yes, it is as funny as it sounds. And we are all 6 years old. See that video below. [Image: Yacht Club Games]
WildStar bans thousands of botters
Carbine Executive Producer Jeremy Gaffney informed the WildStar community last night that the team is waging a serious fight against botters, having suspended 7,300 accounts in the last few days. "Obviously 7,300 is a tiny fraction of the overall player base, but it's a noticeable chunk of the current bots," Gaffney wrote. He pointed out that over half of those accounts were regular players who had their accounts hijacked and urged players to use two-factor authentication as a preventative measure. To aid in the war against bots, the team will be improving the reporting process and tuning its automated bot detection. Gaffney said that the studio will be unrelenting in its prosecution of such accounts: "We're attacking this with a full-spectrum approach as a placeholder until we get to the better tools that should help in the short-medium term. We acknowledge it sucks when you see obvious cheaters, and we're working to eliminate it."
Working As Intended: The forgotten fields of Green Acres
My first trip to Ultima Online's Green Acres was in 1998. The first guild I'd ever joined had just split up into a bunch of... let's call them "philosophically incompatible" groups, and I was still hanging out with some of the shadier types because I was a clueless teenager in my first MMO and wanted desperately to fit in and hadn't yet figured out where I belonged. "Hit this rune," my new guild leader commanded. His favorite murderin' weapon was a poisoned warfork. He was not a nice man. "I'm being evicted from my safehouse in Green Acres. Help me move my crap."
WoW Archivist: The Martin Fury incident
WoW Archivist is a biweekly column by WoW Insider's Scott Andrews, who explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold? It first appeared on our sister site on April 25th and is included here by permission. Almost exactly five years ago today, WoW Insider broke the news about one of the craziest stories in WoW's history. Some called it a "scandal," but I disagree with the term. Everyone involved, I believe, acted without malice. The entire affair was a matter of one colossal blunder, followed by a series of unfortunate assumptions and, ultimately, heavy-handed repercussions. The real victims here, after all, were the bosses. But the event is a fascinating and unique one: one player, given the kind of unlimited power that only a game master or developer was meant to wield. How did it all go down?
GTA Online update targets cash, progression exploits
A new update for GTA Online, version 1.09, has eradicated a number of cash and player progression glitches, on top of strengthening overall anti-cheat measures in the online multiplayer side of GTA 5. Rockstar hasn't said which exact exploits have been taken care of in the patch notes, nor has the studio offered any context. We've followed up with Rockstar for more information and will update this post accordingly. Rockstar issued three updates to GTA Online throughout December. The first unlocked creation tools for deathmatch and race variants back on December 11. A week later, Rockstar added capture the flag and then, shortly after Christmas, Verified Jobs – special curated online match variants chosen by Rockstar itself. Co-op heists are due sometime later this year.
The Guild Counsel: All's fair in love, war, and MMOs
When we're playing MMOs, we're in a virtual world, but we're also playing a game, and as in all games, there are rules to follow. It's one thing for an individual player to break the rules, but when that player is part of a guild, it can have a ripple effect that affects every other member. Guild leaders are in a tough position when it comes to rule-breaking because knowingly allowing someone to exploit could make the guild complicit in the process. And when the banhammer strikes, it could come down hard on the entire guild. How much responsibility should a guild leader have over players who bend or break the game rules? Let's consider a few points in this week's Guild Counsel.
The War Z devs to players: 'What should we do with cheaters?'
The War Z devs are considering an interesting take on punishing exploiters. They've been tossing around the idea of allowing people who've been banned for in-game cheating to play on special "jail servers." These servers would be isolated from the game's general servers and would be populated entirely by cheaters. On these servers, cheats would not be interfered with -- that is, exploiters could keep on using their cheats. This has the potential to help the dev team; being able to observe the cheats folks use and run "anticheat experiments" without worrying about banning innocent players would probably give the team a lot of valuable information. On the other hand, though, those cheaters are totally jerks and why should they keep getting to play, right? So the dev team is putting the issue in the hands of the players by posting a survey to see whether the idea is even worth pursuing. You can read the full rationale on the official forums. [Thanks to Paul for the tip!]
