Sega Wipes Sonic 4 Leaderboard Clean

[Logan Westbrook]

Sega Wipes Sonic 4 Leaderboard Clean

According to the Sonic 4 leaderboards, everyone's favorite blue hedgehog has learned how to teleport.

Rampant cheating has prompted Sega to completely reset one of the leaderboards for the first episode of Sonic 4. After hackers and cheaters posted a series of impossible scores on the game's time trial leaderboard, Sega decided the only solution was to start over.

The biggest problem seems to be on the Xbox 360 leaderboards, were forum posters were complaining of dozens of scores of 00'00"00. Even on the Wii, screenshots show that people with these impossible scores took the top two spots on the leader board for both the Splash Hill Zone and the Casino Street Zone.

In an effort to curtail the hackers, assistant community manager Aaron Webber announced on the 24th that Sega was resetting the 360 leaderboards. While this cleared out all the hacked scores, it also made it very difficult for legitimate players to get back on the leaderboard without deleting their saved games, as they had to beat their existing scores to be able to post a new one.

Sega hasn't announced a fix for the hacking problem, so this is a temporary solution at best. Just a couple of days after the reset, the hackers had already started to post new and impossible scores. Hopefully Sega will be able to fix the problem soon so that people will be able to enjoy posting new times without having to wade through pages and pages of cheaters first. At the very least, hopefully Sega will find a way to remove the impossible scores and leave the legitimate ones intact.

Source: Joystiq [http://www.joystiq.com/2010/11/27/sega-resets-sonic-4s-leaderboards-due-to-cheating/]


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[SageRuffin]

Sounds good enough for me. I, for one, was tired of seeing "no1sonicfan" or whatever the hell his/her/its name is at the top of the boards with the aforementioned 0sec run times and impossible scores nearing the tens of millions.

And I already got my achievement for posting my own scores on the leaderboards, average they might be, so I'm content with this outcome.

 

[-Samurai-]

This is one of the reasons I don't like leaderboards and visible stats. People cheat to prove that they're the best.

For a single player game like this, it isn't too much of a problem. But in online FPS games, you get all sorts of cheaters and cheap tactics. Games need to do away with stats so we can get back to enjoying them without those people that need to be the "best" ruining them.

 

[darkszero]

Seriously, why can't leaderboards have some kind of anti-cheat embedded? I can think of some ways to prevent cheats and they're not that complicated (new time can't be less than 50% of the old time and variations of the idea)

 

[Binerexis]

Good to see that they at least recognise the problem rather than just leave it alone.

 

[the_pleasure_is_mine]

Seriously, why can't leaderboards have some kind of anti-cheat embedded? I can think of some ways to prevent cheats and they're not that complicated (new time can't be less than 50% of the old time and variations of the idea)

Well if the first ever time posted is someone really slow then that throws that out of the window...

Also you cannot tell how fast it is to complete a level legitimately, but they could put an instant ban on any 'impossible' times. But the of course, what if the game glitches somehow and gives you that time by accident... so many complications.

It's safer to do it manually.

 

[Skreeee]

I never understood keeping something people post cheated scores to to prove they have the biggest e-peen. Then again I'm not a competitive type gamer, so maybe their purpose is just lost on me.

 

[Danpascooch]

this is a temporary solution

No, this is not a temporary solution, a temporary solution is fixing the hack, then having the clever (I didn't say I approve, just that they're clever) hackers come up with a new way of hacking it later.

This is a "delete everything just to have it fill up with new impossible scores instantaneously"

This "solution" probably became obsolete within 10 minutes when the first new impossible score was posted.

 

[Danpascooch]

I never understood keeping something people post cheated scores to to prove they have the biggest e-peen. Then again I'm not a competitive type gamer, so maybe their purpose is just lost on me.

Oh yeah!? I bet I understand it better than you do! YOU. ME. RIGHT NOW! UNDERSTANDING COMPETITION!

(sorry, couldn't resist)

 

[Wicky_42]

Same problem was with Mirror's Edge - I was just beginning to get into the time runs n stuff, then noticed that all the online scores were just hacks, the same with the ghosts to run against. Took all the fun out of it instantly. If you're not going to support it, why include online scoreboards?!

 

[Celtic_Kerr]

impossible scores nearing the tens of millions.

.....I didn't think that many people were stupid enough to buy Sonic 4, let alone hack it and brag about hacking it.

I think what he means is people will hack and post a scroe a score in the tens of millions, when an amazing score is usually MAX a few thousand. Happens on facebook games alot.

OT: I don't get the point of hacking... It's not liek you're acheiving anything, and the world knows you're just an asshole for it.

 

[Optimus Hagrid]

Hey, if they like the game so much, they probably won't mind having to play it again to get on the leaderboards.

Though it is Sonic 4.

 

[FungiGamer]

How is it impossible? I mean, isn't Sonic the fastest thing alive, moving at the speed of sound?

 

[SageRuffin]

impossible scores nearing the tens of millions.

.....I didn't think that many people were stupid enough to buy Sonic 4, let alone hack it and brag about hacking it.

...

You just called me and who knows how many others a bunch of fucking idiots for basically no reason. You do know that right?

 

[Shadowtalon]

I'LL USE YOUR... CHAOS CONTROL!

 

[Unhappy Crow]

And this is why I'll never take the leaderboards too serious. It's just a way for some people to brag about being on top.

 

[mjc0961]

Oh SEGA, that's just like you. Don't actually fix the problem, just go "See! We did something!" A leaderboard reset means nothing if they can just get their hacked times again. You need to fix the exploits BEFORE you reset the leaderboard.