Where Have All the Cheats Gone?

[tj236]

I still get trainers for every game I play. Cheating is not dead at all. Take Deus Ex: HR... I knew I was only going to play through it once, so why the hell shouldn't I have all of the augments? Trainers game me a gazillion Praxis points.

I think with the big push into MMO, cheating has become a bit of a taboo topic.

Nobody likes a cheater.

 

[C95J]

I never cared for cheats in old games I played anyway. I much prefer to play the game properly.

 

[ionveau]

i assume you guys never seen free software called cheat engine

 

[Nalgas D. Lemur]

If the programmers put it in there, the general assumption is they want to see if you can find it and actually use it.

Not strictly true. Some of the early cheat codes were put in to make testing easier (just because you're good at writing code doesn't mean you're good at playing games), and they forgot to remove them before shipping the finished product. The Konami Code itself [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konami_Code#History] is actually an example of that. All kinds of weird things have slipped into games over the years either because people forgot about them or because there wasn't time to run them through the QA process again after stripping out undocumented/testing/unfinished features, so they just get left how they are and shipped if they won't cause problems. Most of them don't become quite so famous, though.

 

[GamemasterAnthony]

If the programmers put it in there, the general assumption is they want to see if you can find it and actually use it.

Not strictly true. Some of the early cheat codes were put in to make testing easier (just because you're good at writing code doesn't mean you're good at playing games), and they forgot to remove them before shipping the finished product. The Konami Code itself [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konami_Code#History] is actually an example of that. All kinds of weird things have slipped into games over the years either because people forgot about them or because there wasn't time to run them through the QA process again after stripping out undocumented/testing/unfinished features, so they just get left how they are and shipped if they won't cause problems. Most of them don't become quite so famous, though.

Really? Huh...

Pity. I would've have thought the programmers were trying to be clever and giving us a bonus for figuring it out, almost like an achievement/unlockable in itself.

 

[Fr]anc[is]

Yea cheevos are pointless and I miss cheat codes, but what irks me the most for some reason is that sites still put achievement lists in the cheats section. Those aren't cheats, don't tease me you jerks

 

[SQN Leader 095]

i remember the days when cheats were programmed into almost every game. now no one wants you to cheat. i always get people complaining that there are cheats and being angry about cheaters. i counter with this: If the game developers and designers did not want us to cheat they would not program in cheats! sadly the days where cheats are no longer programmed in are coming all to soon. i only wish that the days of no cheats could wait until it is past my time.

Cheats Forever!

 

[Evilsanta]

While cheats in game might be dead, Trainers for PC games are still going strong.

While some does not have optiones that you want they can still help you out on the "Cover mortals! Because I am GOD!" feeling.

 

[zehydra]

Game cheats always felt like debugging code that they decided to leave in.

And sometimes it actually was. There was a game called "Carnivores 2", a dinosaur hunting game, where if you typed in "DEBUG UP" on your keyboard, it would start up essentially a superfast, flying, invincible mode.

Fun times with that.

 

[craddoke]

This is basically the same point that Yahtzee was making last week about being able (and being encouraged) to "break" games - and I think his point that the ever-increasing cost of graphics is the driver for the clamping down on player choices, including the choice to cheat: "There will be no skipping levels! You WILL watch every single cut-scene we've rendered and you WILL like it!"

 

[Trishbot]

Man, I remember how much FUN cheat codes could be.

Big Head, DK mode, Paintball, infinite dual-wielding rocket launchers, and invincibility in Goldeneye? Awesome!

All weapons, level select, blood color choices, Wireframe mode in Turok? Amazing!

Access the Sonic Debug Mode? Sweet! Perform the Chrono Cross secret room disc swap? Cool! NARPAS SWORD in Metroid? Only way I could beat it the first few times.

I miss cheats. I miss cheat devices. Even if it wasn't "cheating", I loved making Mario grow and shrink in Mario 64, giving Link a "Gold" Tunic in Ocarina of Time, and using an Action Replay to unlock more than half of F-Zero GX (because you needed to transfer your memory card from an F-Zero AX machine... and only 7 exist! Screw that!)

I totally exploited glitches in Pokemon to fight MissingNo and duplicate Rare Candies. I loved using a Gameshark to get to the "mysterious island" in Goldeneye. I loved using a cheat device to see hidden, creepy, disturbing, sealed off rooms in Silent Hill 3. I most definitely enjoyed using them on long-winded Japanese RPGs to reduce level grinding and on Nintendo-hard impossible games like Battletoads. Man, I really appreciated that "There Is No Cow Level" cheat in Diablo 2 and "Power Overwhelming" helped me through Starcraft.

I miss that era a lot and it's a shame so few keep that spirit alive.

The only game in recent memory with "cheat" codes was Mortal Kombat, with the Kombat Codes that modify matches (Zombie Combat! Rainbow Combat! Vertigo Combat!), but that's pretty much it.

It's the combination of not JUST achievements (though that's a big reason), but also how the online community has thrived and fairness in games like Halo or Call of Duty would go out the window with cheats (not that modders don't do it anyway). If they could bring them back, I'd be all over them.

 

[iRevanchist]

i remember the days when cheats were programmed into almost every game. now no one wants you to cheat. i always get people complaining that there are cheats and being angry about cheaters. i counter with this: If the game developers and designers did not want us to cheat they would not program in cheats! sadly the days where cheats are no longer programmed in are coming all to soon. i only wish that the days of no cheats could wait until it is past my time.

Cheats Forever!

Agreed. In-game cheats had the convenience of you not having to worry about whether or not your game would crash after 30 minutes, let you know that the cheat would WORK, and saved you the trouble of having to search through all the malware for a proper trainer.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I remember that Saints Row 1 & 2 have cheats.
Yes, they have cheats, and achievements.
Yet achievements will be disabled as long as you cheat (logically, kaderp.)

GTA IV also has cheats but using them disables which achievements/ trophies you can unlock.

Other than that though, this article kind of makes me sad. I was the kid who never knew any of the cheats. I only just found out this month that Super Star Wars had a debug menu! I miss the old days sometimes and hope cheating can find a way to return. In the mean time, I can still play those old games so there's always that.

 

[warprincenataku]

In memory of Game Cheats, I'd like to give one final sound off to the Konami Code. I'll start us off.

Up, Up

 

[Capt. Crankypants]

The 'Old Days' of cheating aren't gone. The old button imputs may be, but unnaturally 'enhancing' your single player gaming experience on the PC is still pretty simple. Immediately coming to mind is Crysis. A simple glimpse into the .doc files in the 'program files' directory and you can have unlimited ammunition and as much nanosuit power as you could ever dream of. Also, I like that you can do pretty much whatever with single player, but online multiplayer is always Cheat-Protected. The way things should be.

I love PC gaming for this. It's not as simple and user friendly, but the rewards and extras are incredible with a little knowhow.

 

[JamesBr]

It should be pointed out, however, that cheating on PC is still fairly common. Granted that's because you have access to the console and all the games data files, but that's one of the major differences between PC and console games. You needed an accessory to cheat in most console games even back in the day. Although the cheat market boomed, and devs didn't necessarily mind, most games were not built with cheat functionality in mind.

Games are also better designed and testing has become more thorough as third-party outsourcing has boomed. Exploits and other game-breaking behaviour are less common as a result.

Game cheats always felt like debugging code that they decided to leave in.

snip.

They originally were. The Konami Code was created in Gradius because the guy who was coding the port to NES could'nt beat the game, it was too hard. So he coded in a cheat so he could zoom through levels when testing. He forgot to remove it when the game was released. Before push-button cheat, cheating involved memory hacks or altering the data while the game was loaded into memory but before the program was ran (which you had to do separately back in the day). Codes that were designed specifically to be found (think GoldenEye) were a result of the boom in popularity. Even now, when games are in testing, many have a debug mode coded in that gets locked out in the release build. These often function just like the cheat codes of old.

 

[XT inc]

I can't even count how many posts of mine have been about cheat codes.

Developers need to go back to their games, put up the neccessary walls and partitions so that they don't have to tell you "If you cheat once on your alternate save, all of your achievements are locked for ever"

Did they ever fix the thing in COD 4 where if you pick up an intel with a cheat on it wrecks the cheevoes for it?

Games are better with cheats,

I swear the most fun I had on Halo 2 was someone illegally modded a console and let people play on it so your magnum shot standing clones of your character, smgs shot plasma grenades at the same rate as it shoots bullets, and assault rifles shot rockets.

Let us cheat and have our cheevos, that is their job to do. Why do they not do it?

 

[Absolutionis]

Cheats and mods were mostly ousted by DLC, not achievements.

Games like GTA4 and Rock Band have shown that cheats can work well with achievements. All you have to do is disable achievements whenever a cheat is entered.

However, with the rise of DLC as a way to get customers to pay for more or even preorder, companies are starting to avoid cheats. If you have a preorder code from Gamestop that gives you a grenade launcher and $1000 in the beginning of the game, that is basically your "cheat". If cheats were enabled, you'd give yourself money and weapons dozens of times over with no care. Unique preorder weapons are already in the game code; cheat and you'd get them. If the game is too hard, you can just buy some DLC that gives you a MegaDethLauncher and Superman as a party member.

Cheats, similar to mods, have been replaced by DLC. If you want to cheat and beat the game, you'll have to pay for it.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

I cannot bring myself to comprehend why people go so crazy over achievements in the first place; it's just an overgrown progress bar. They should leave achievements for the people that actually give a crap about it, and let the rest of us have a little bit of fun. As for online gaming killing cheats? How about no. If the console companies weren't too lazy to develop a decent anti-cheat system, we could have Gamesharks in the current gen without unbalancing multiplayer. That's why I had absolutely no sympathy for Sony when they were crying about how modded PS3s would destroy multiplayer: get off your lazy butts and develop some anti-cheat software already. You don't see Valve shutting down TF2 because of rampant cheating, despite the fact that anyone who wants to can go download wall hacks and aimbots, without any real technical knowledge needed. Between VAC and the self policing community, it's just not an issue.