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Whoops, print your own Eye of Judgment cards
What kind of devilry is this? Even with a cheap $60 Canon printer, you too can print your own cards for use in Eye of Judgment. This potentially game-destroying trick will let you scan rare cards, share them on the web, and simply print them out to add to your collection. We don't think Hasbro is going to be too happy about this.Will Sony come up with some kind of anti-cheat measure for this? Thankfully, we're pretty sure that the really dedicated collectors won't resort to such ... deceit.
Examear: helping students make the best of exam day
Sure, quite a few intrepid students have tried to slip on an earpiece of some sort to gain an unfair advantage come test time, but those DIY attempts oftentimes lack the top-notch qualities found in professional, in-ear cheating liaisons. Enter Examear, which aims to "help students succeed" by offering up a trio of wireless earphones that enable test takers to hear recorded content on a nearby DAP or the voice of an abettor. Each of the models fit sneakily within your ear and sport varying levels of battery life / features, and while you can snag the low-ender for a mere $185, the Bluetooth-equipped platinum edition looks to be the best bet for the avid cheater at $300. 'Course, we certainly wouldn't recommend nor condone actually using these things for subverting an exam, but presenters who often forget their lines and those who long to be an undercover spy could certainly find a good bit of utility here, too.[Via MetaFilter]
Omniscient webcam to deter distance education cheating
We're fairly sure that none of you angels out there enrolled in distance education courses have ever considered sneaking a peek in the textbook or seeing what Google had to say about a perplexing mid-term question, but for Troy University students, a new device is being deployed to make absolutely certain. The webcam-based unit was crafted by Software Secure, and simultaneously freezes the test taker's computer so he / she can only access the test module and records both audio and video whilst flagging "questionable" movements that the instructor can review for unpropitious behavior. Thankfully for those of us not enrolled at Troy, it doesn't look like any other institutions have hopped on board just yet, but if you've grown reliant on computer assistance to get you those As Cs, we wouldn't put off graduating for much longer.
Pokemon cheaters banned
A primary concern of Pokemon Diamond/Pearl (or, at least, that of this blogger) is the incredibly rampant cheating. In the past, use of an Action Replay wasn't a horrible offense ... your team would be uber, and a couple of your personal friends might be a bit ticked, but that was all.These days, in the era of Wi-Fi, ridiculously impossible trades litter the GTS. What, you don't have a Level 100 shiny Palkia? Well, hmph, you can't have my Level 7 Munchlax, then. For honest players, or those that don't have access to hacking tools, such Pokemon would take days to train up and impossible luck/determination for one with shiny status. That's why we're happy that Nintendo is cracking down on some Action Replay users, specifically ones using the "All 493 Pokemon," "All Shiny," and "National-Dex" cheats. They will henceforth be banned from online barter.Feel free to start a flamewar regarding the justification of cheating, by the way. We're pyros.
US schools banning iPods, DAPs to curb digital cheating
Slowly but surely, phenomenons such as texting and digital cheating are being both accepted and rejected (respectively) in high schools across the US. Apparently, school boards are just now figuring out what an iPod is truly capable of, as the gigabytes of space can hold an awful lot more cheat sheets than a mere TI-83 can (fess up old schoolers, we all did it). While cellphone bans have typically been in effect for some time now, it appears that the secret of using display-touting DAPs and PMPs to cheat is coming out, but why in the world has it taken this long? Besides that, we find it a bit curious that teachers weren't already frustrated with being tuned into with just one ear, as it seems that music players in general would cause quite the distraction in your average high school learning session. Still, it won't be long before diminutive Bluetooth earphones become all the rage, and once more institutions of learning will be futilely fighting the same battle all over again.
Hello! Are you a farmbot?
I've run in to more than a few farmbots in my day -- often in Winterspring, while farming Timbermaw reputation. The furbolg you had to kill to gain favor with the Timbermaw also happened to drop good coin and runecloth, making them lucrative targets for farmers. The bots (characters controlled by a computer program of some sort rather than a human being) were always easy to spot. They'd follow a set circuit around the area, taking down targets one at a time. When the area was empty, they would return to a spot near its center and spin around in circles until they managed to target a fresh spawn -- and then they'd begin running an identical circuit. Depending on the particular farmbot, sometimes I could game their system and let them farm reputation for me. See they've targeted something? Assist them and use an instant attack to tap it before they can -- back when I was doing my reputation farming, the farmbots didn't have seem the intelligence to notice if something had been tapped after they've targeted it and sent in their pet to attack. (They were, of course, always hunters.) A real person would certainly be annoyed by this behavior, but the farmbots would simply continue their cycle.However, a post up on Kinless' Chronicles makes me wonder if the farmbots have managed to get smarter. Kinless noticed an orc hunter constantly (from 4AM to 4PM, server time) mining thorium in the Eastern Plaguelands. That information alone simply screams farmbot to me, but there's more to the story that makes me wonder. On one encounter with this suspicious hunter, Kinless decided to follow him along his farming route. The hunter dismounted in Hearthglen and started to fight the elite guards there. Figuring that anything worth this much effort to an obvious bot must be wealth indeed, Kinless ventured inside to see what was there. And inside? He found not a single thorium vein and he barely made it out alive. But in his chat box, our friendly farmer was kind enough to wave him farewell before mounting up and leaving. Kinless explains the quandary:This is a live player, with brains, who does nothing but farm mineral nodes across Azeroth. (I later noted him in the Barrens, Winterspring, Burning Steppes.) He does nothing but farm, and plays round the clock, and does not own the expansion. He's certainly not funding a main, or a twink, since he's got no time. And it's a live player since he played that little trick on me.This isn't possibly an entertaining way to play the game, so what's happening here? Is it an improved intelligence bot? (Now with new player-baiting technology!) Or are we seeing live players out farming for real world profits? Unless we can get them to start answering whispers, we may never find out.
Hacker gets revenge on Puzzle Quest's bullying AI
We're not certain what sort of demonic sacrifices Infinite Interactive made to grant Puzzle Quest its hellborn AI, but we imagine that the cursed contract that authenticated the ceremony was written with the blood of many innocents. The match-three puzzler does everything short of outright cheating, stealing your advantages and setting up multiple combos, each computer-cleared gem bearing the mark of Mephistopheles.DS gamer Zaraf plotted a strategy that would tear down the AI's defenses and avenge dozens of unfair losses. Unwilling to spend months leveling up and making preparations, staying his vendetta, he hex-edited the game to to max out his character's stats. Zaraf then armed his warrior with a class spell called Deathbringer, enabling him to fill the screen with an amount of damaging skulls equal to half of his red mana. Head past the post break for the results caught on video.
Puzzle Quest's AI doesn't cheat, but you can!
If the number one complaint gamers have with Puzzle Quest is its limited availability at game shops, then the second most common point of protest would be the Puzzle/RPG's cheating AI. People are just as apt to sing praises about its addictive gameplay as they are to howl over the AI's godlike prescience. We've spent more than a few battles shaking our fists at the game as computer-controlled enemies racked up lucky combos and more extra turns than chicken on a rotisserie.Sensing that the mob was two forums threads away from storming his house with torches and pitchforks, Infinite Interactive's Steve Fawkner made a public statement assuring players that the AI has no unseen advantages. Having worked on the code himself, Steve reasoned that he's too lazy to have programmed anything that advanced.If that explanation isn't convincing enough, there are still steps you can take to even the playing field. You can unlock a debug menu by pushing in a complex set of keypresses, allowing you to activate several hidden features. Check past the post break for more details on the cheat code and a comic about Puzzle Quest's AI.
British cheaters jailed for illegally beating the odds
Joining the ever-growing list of folks using technology to unlawfully beat the odds is a group of British gurus who claimed nearly £250,000 ($487,400) before being sniffed out by curious officials at the Mint Casino in Cromwell Road. As with so many other high-rolling hijinks, the trio seemed to doing just fine, pulling in £38,000 ($74,084) during a single week at one point, but greed ended up getting the best of them, as you're bound to get scrutinized after winning 34 out of 44 matches in a row. The average joes-turned-poker-sharks utilized sleeve-mounted cameras to beam card deals to a completely wired up van waiting outside, which then rolled the footage in slow motion and passed along the top secret information to the actual table sitter, who listened intently via a hidden speaker. Their method illegally snagged massive chunks of coin from an estimated six of the capital's 25 gambling locales, and now they each face nine months behind bars, coupled with 150 hours of unpaid community service. Of course, one may argue the ethics behind stealing from a venue which thrives on suckering people in that stand little chance at walking out with any profit at all, but regardless, you won't see these folks in any gambling parlor for two full years after their stint, which should be ample time for RFID-infused playing cards to hit the underground market.[Via Fark]
Chess cheater's Bluetooth scheme sniffed out
It's no surprise to hear of someone using mobile / wireless technology to their advantage, and in the latest case of cleverness slapped down by the law, a scandalous Indian chess player was banned for a solid decade in order to "send a message" about how serious they took his act. Umakant Sharma had reportedly logged rating points at an alarming pace in the last 18 months of play, and even qualified for the national championship. But alas, racking up such insane numbers was bound to attract an investigation, and it was discovered that Sharma had been communicating to outside accomplices via a mobile handset and a miniscule Bluetooth earpiece stitched inside a cloth cap, which allowed an external computer to direct his each and every move. While we fully understand the wrongness of such a ploy, we can't deny the humor in envisioning seasoned chess players becoming enraged at their sudden misfortunes, but we'd highly recommend ditching the headgear (and any devious thoughts) before entering a tournament yourself.
Hot tools for the PSone emu user
Dark_Alex's hack of Sony's official PSone emulator has really revamped the PSP homebrew scene. There are two new programs available for those of you that are converting your own PSone games. First is the PopStation GUI creator, which allows you to make those nifty loading screens that appear in the XMB before choosing a PSone game. It's a simple, and whole-heartedly welcomed program.Next up is an updated version of CW Cheat, which allows you to play around with various cheats and hacks in your favorite PSone games. Not only will it let you cheat, but it'll also let you take screenshots in-game, adjust the clock speed, and shoot fire out of your mouth more.While these programs will enhance the experience of PSone games on the PSP, they're almost useless for people like me that have lost the original discs--Sony's official PlayStation Store is where I'll have to get my fix. C'mon, Sony! Don't let the homebrew scene outdo you yet again!
Unlock all of MGS:PO's unique characters
While driving around using the GPS system will get you some characters, the coolest ones have to be earned through the game. Or... through these cheats. A forum member from MGCN called SHADOW.EXE has uncovered passwords for what could be every unique character in the game. Check it out:HUNTER-N is NULLLQ.N2 is PYTHONJUNKER is CUNNINGHAMERBE is GENEPK +ESP is URSULA (can't be got with ELISA at the same time)THE-L is ELISA (can't be got with URSULA at the same time)E.APPLE is EVAPM-EMS is PARAMEDICDARPA-1 is SIGHTR.R.R. is OCELOT1+2-3 is ZEROSATURNV is SOKOLOVIVN =RV is RAIKOVT.F-ACID is TELIKOMGA2VE is VENUS! TRAUMER is GAKO[Via 1UP]
Gears already riddled with cheaters
Emergence Day was supposed to be a celebration. A celebration of chainsaws, headshots, and curb stomping. It looks like it was a celebration of something else entirely: cheating. Remember the hubbub about not having friends in ranked matches of Gears? It looks like it was all for naught, as getting into ranked matches with your friends is easy as hell. All you have to do is host a game and your friends find your name in the host list. So, in pursuit of points and prizes, there were plenty of stacked teams yesterday. Gamer Andy tells of a particularly nefarious exploit using 5 people. "But GOW uses teams of four," you say, and right you are. The fifth person is actually on the opposite team, a saboteur for whatever clan is trying to rise to the top of the leaderboards. That not cheatery enough for you? How about the fact that the host has the power to start the match at any time, whether all members have clicked "Ready" or not? This makes it easy to stack games with uneven teams of 4v3 or even 4v2. Easy, ranked pickings for anyone. But wait, there's more. Another nasty exploit can be employed during execution matches. In execution, players can only be killed via curb stomp or execution. After a predetermined amount of "bleed out" time, a downed player will simply revive. So, cheaters start by stacking a 4v3 game, execute 2 opposing players, and leave a third alive. The third player is then shot down, but not executed. Why? Because downing a player is worth more points than executing them. Once the player revives, cheaters shoot him down again, wait for him to revive, rinse, repeat. This continues for the duration of the round. This also leaves the victims with an unfortunate choice: quit a ranked match and risk negative feedback from cheaters, or stay and endure fruitless minutes of death and rebirth.We'd like to believe that all this cheating was merely for the sake of winning some of the Emergence Day prizes, but we know better. Sure, cheaters may have hoped for a prize, but they would have cheated regardless. The unfortunate truth is that some people are just jerks (especially Pod 6). A lot of these problems could be solved simply by tweaking the lobby system -- not displaying host names, not letting hosts force start matches, etc. Hopefully, this will be addressed in the upcoming patch. Has anyone experienced these exploits online?[Via Inner Angst]
Playing and cheating Vice City Stories through DevHook
The excellent CheatDevice is back. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories became a wonderous playground with the device, letting you do some truly crazy stuff. Mere days after its release, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories has a CheatDevice of its own. Edison Carter has crafted a tool that will let you get Infinite Health & Armor (helpful) and the Video Recorder (more helpful), which lets you capture footage directly from the game. You'll need to be running DevHook on a homebrew-enabled PSP. If you're homebrew-ready, head over to Edison's website to download the device. Remember: we don't support piracy here at PSP Fanboy. Please buy all your games! [Via PSP Hacks]
Serious Games Summit: The cheat's the thing
Cheating in games is a bad thing, right? Not necessarily says Mia Consalvo, a University of Ohio professor who has spent the past five years studying cheating and cheaters in video games.Where cheating in an academic or professional setting is severely frowned upon, Consalvo found through her research that almost all gamers consider cheating a natural part of video games. By conducting interviews with gamers and game-makers, wide surveys of players and direct experience with cheating in Final Fantasy XI, Consalvo has broken down the spectrum of video game cheaters into three general groups: Purists, who consider it unethical to complete a game using any outside help from codes, strategy guides or even advice from friends. Purists tend to think of these things as cheating themselves out of the full experience of the game, like peeking at a gift before Christmas morning "Code is law" followers, who believe cheating is all right as long as it is integrated into the game code by the developers. God mode in Doom is all right, hacking into Counter-Strike to create a god mode is not. "Cheaters," who will take any possible advantage against other players, who they often assume are cheating as well. This group will use hacks and outside programs to affect the game, and believe cheating doesn't hurt the cheater's enjoyment of the game experience. Consalvo also discussed the various motivations players had for cheating: Many players use cheats and guides to get unstuck or to add value to a game, but some use hints and codes as a way of fast forwarding through tedious sections or just to "be an ass" as Consalvo put it.Given the insatiable desire for players to cheat at games, Consalvo suggested that designers focus on making hints and exploits a natural part of single-player games rather than trying to force complete order. In multi-player games, she said that systems where players police themselves and punishments that take away prestige work better than technological solutions.
59,000 More Accounts Closed
In their continued effort to rid Azeroth of hackers and gold farmers, Eyonix announced this evening that 59,000 accounts were closed during the month of June for terms of use violations. Have you seen anyone behaving suspiciously on your server? An account that's being controlled by a bot isn't too difficult to spot if you spend a bit of time paying attention - and Blizzard investigates all reports. So if you suspect such behavior, report it to a GM, and help the community be rid of the annoyance of hackers and bot farmers.
Hunters Hax
While the DS homebrew and hacking community doesn't quite hold a candle to the PSP's, there are still many a soul who live to exploit Nintendo's wonderful hardware. While many have managed to perform "good" by enabling things such as emulators and voice chat, there are those who would do malicious evil. This is one of those cases. A hacker named Legacy has released an application that grants players in Metroid Prime: Hunters access to several cheats, including infinite energy, infinite ammo, and levitation. Worst of all, these capabilities are also accessible in official Wi-Fi matches; before long, you may see a few of these cheats yourself. Tsk tsk, Legacy. Got rocked a few times too many?
Double your pleasure with Oblivion dupe glitch
Cataloguing the glitches in Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is getting to be like counting Tribbles. This trick allows you duplicate hundreds of items easily:All you have to do to duplicate an item hundreds of times is to draw your bow and pull the trigger button, but before you release the trigger button, hit B to enter your items list, change the types of arrows you are using, and then select the item you want to duplicate and drop it. exit out of your item list and let the trigger button go to shoot the arrow, and your items fall out of the sky.Video proof here. Each time you duplicate an item, it costs you 200 MS points. Just kidding.[Thanks SickNic]
