Core Digest » Games

Microsoft: difference between cheat, exploit? None. Banned

admin — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 07:29:20 +0000

Microsoft has begun issuing temporary bans to players taking advantage of an exploit in Modern Warfare 2, while Infinity Ward works on a patch to fix the issue. While the servers may be kept slightly cleaner for the efforts, the amount of control Microsoft holds over owners of their consoles, and the arbitrary way they are able to wield it, is troubling.

Stephen Toulouse is the Director of Policy and Enforcement of Xbox Live. When gamers need to be banned, his job is to find them and cut off Xbox Live access to their machines. The latest group to get his attention? Gamers using an exploit in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 to increase their kill counts.

First it was piracy leading to mass bannings, and now Microsoft is tasked with keeping the Modern Warfare 2 servers clean while Infinity Ward works on a patch. We’re going to explore what gamers are doing, and why this is a somewhat unsettling precedent for consoles.
What’s going on?

The issue in question is called the Javelin Exploit, and it allows players to detonate a grenade instantly upon death. Here’s a video detailing the glitch, if you’d like to know exactly what’s happening on the servers and what it looks like.

“While IW works on getting the MW2 glitch fixed, people we catch using it will recieve suspensions from LIVE. Play fair everyone,” Toulouse said via Twitter. He also noted that this policy isn’t anything new, and that it’s in place for more games than just Modern Warfare 2. If you get caught taking advantage of the exploit, you’ll be banned for 24 hours. If you’re a particularly bad case, the banning could last up to two weeks.

The ban isn’t for Modern Warfare 2, it’s for the entirety of Xbox Live. If you’re banned, no new content for you. No playing online… in anything. Major Nelson posted the details on his blog: “Keep in mind, this isn’t just a ban on a particular game. This is a ban on the Xbox Live service as a whole, so you won’t be able to go online at all during your ban. Initially, you may be banned for a day, a week, or depending on severity, permanently! Kiss that $50 goodbye,” he wrote.

The troubling aspect about the case of Modern Warfare 2 is that no one is changing the code in the game and no rules are being broken. They’re simply taking advantage of the behavior of two particular weapons when used in a certain way. From Microsoft’s side of things, that’s cutting the hair too fine: if you find a glitch and use it in the game, that’s cheating.

Toulouse responded to criticism with a slightly tortured metaphor. “Wow, some of you think cheating a glitch is OK. Um. If I install my car stereo wrong and it disables my door locks, its not ok to STEAL MY CAR,” he posted. Somehow I doubt cops are out there comparing car theft to grenade kills to Modern Warfare 2, but we’ll let it slide. Using a glitch or a bug to gain advantage is against the Terms of Service, and defining glitches, bugs, and that advantage is solely up to Microsoft.

You’re playing on their playground

In many ways, the Xbox 360 is Xbox Live. It’s nearly impossible to separate the hardware from the service. Without Xbox Live there are no game patches, you can’t grab demos of upcoming games, you can’t play online. Banned consoles have begun to show up on sites like eBay and Craigslist, and there is a risk of unexpectedly picking one up when you buy used from retailers like GameStop. One pirate I spoke to told me he simply kept two systems: one for Xbox Live, and one for downloaded games. I told him that’s an expensive set up, and he shrugged. It’s cheaper than buying new games, he replied. When a system is banned, the hardware itself carries the stigma; you can’t buy a new subscription, you can’t swap out the hard drive. For most users, the system is basically dead.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation wrote about these bans, noting the power that Microsoft holds over gamers. If you break the Terms of Service, Microsoft can render your hardware unable to use its online service, which it has made nearly necessary for playing Xbox 360 games and taking advantage of the system’s features. Bannings are the sole discretion of Microsoft, and there isn’t much you can do about it once it has happened to you, short of buying a new piece of hardware.

“Of course, these ‘absolute power to terminate’ clauses are in no way unique to the Xbox Live TOS. While the mass ban provides a useful illustration of their danger, these terms can be found in nearly all TOS agreement for all kinds of services,” EFF Adjunct Attorney Ed Bayley wrote. “There have been virtually no legal challenges to these kinds of arbitrary termination clauses, but we imagine this will be a growth area for lawyers.”

Where does this leave us?

Sony stated that it won’t be banning anyone over cheating in Modern Warfare 2, but with Infinity Ward controlling all the servers for the game on the PC side of things, bans have been handed down for cheating there, as well. With dedicated servers there was no way for a company to stop you from playing the game, but the closed nature of IWNet means the developer and publisher control your ability to play the game online.

No one is going to defend cheating, but glitches, exploits, and bugs have long found their way into strategy and helped to move gaming forward. Would rocket jumpers have been banned from Xbox Live? If Valve shut down dedicated servers and sought to control every aspect of their games, would there have been Counter Strike? The control Microsoft exerts over Xbox Live, and its ability to block your access to online play remotely, and without appeal, means that you’ll be playing the games how they want.

In the meantime, Toulouse has some advice in his Twitter profile: “Be pure. Be vigilant. Behave!”

Tweet This Post

Microsoft: difference between cheat, exploit? None. Banned originally appeared on Core Digest on December 7, 2009.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Fortune Hunter Edition

admin — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 23:28:43 +0000

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is another highly anticipated game after Batman: Arkham Asylum which is an exclusive PlayStation 3 title and sequel to Uncharted: Drake Fortune
in 2007.

Uncharted 2 will feature never-seen-before graphics engine used in this game along with a new gameplay
that PS3 users will be the first to experience on a gaming console.

Yesterday, a new edition of Uncharted 2 was unveiled to be released with the usual version called as Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Fortune Hunter edition

What so special about this? According to a recent blog post on the PlayStation Blog, Naughty Dog Creative Director, Amy Heinnig, announced that this edition will prove a complete treat for Uncharted 2 fans and will have an exact replica of the Phurba Dagger artifact with its stand and will include a Collectible Art Book and a collector case which will be autographed by Naughty Dog.

This special edition cannot be bought from any store, but you will have to win it by winning competitions. There is even one going to announced on the PlayStation Blog soon.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves will hit stores on October 13th. Stay tuned for the Fortune Hunter edition!

Tweet This Post

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Fortune Hunter Edition originally appeared on Core Digest on December 6, 2009.

GTA: The Ballad of Gay Tony First Trailer

admin — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 23:25:44 +0000

Since after the release of GTA IV, Rockstar hasnt released any expansion packs for the game which they normally do after a few months of its release.

But yesterday, they finally unveiled the first trailer of the Grand Theft Auto The Ballad of Gay, a part of the Episodes from Liberty City disc alongside The Lost and Damned.

The trailer definitely shows that Rockstar has a lot more in for us than what they offered in GTA IV. Helicopters with mini guns, golf carts, driving through explosions, pit fighting, parachuting out of an exploding helicopter Ã¢â‚¬â€œ We didnt get to see all that in GTA IV, and The Ballad of Gay Tony will bring that all right before you next month.

Xbox Live
users will be able to get their hands on this on October 29th. For now, enjoy the trailer

Tweet This Post

GTA: The Ballad of Gay Tony First Trailer originally appeared on Core Digest on December 6, 2009.

Grand Theft Auto Coming Soon to iPhone

admin — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 23:23:07 +0000

Grand Theft Auto was one game I wanted to have on iPhone and looks like Rockstar Games finally heard my wish!

Take-Two Interactive announced today that they will be releasing Grand Theft Auto game for the iPhone and iPod Touch this fall.

It will be a port of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, which is currently on Nintendo DS
and soon will be available on PSP this October, but with low-resolution textures as compared to PSP.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars promises a typical GTA experience, complete with the sexual content and vulgar words that have made it such a controversial franchise. Rockstar told me that it had no trouble with Apple App Store policies and that the game will be made available as is.

If that the thing, then this game is a sure hit in the App Store! No release date or price has been announced, but will be one kick-ass App Store game to look out for!

Tweet This Post

Grand Theft Auto Coming Soon to iPhone originally appeared on Core Digest on December 6, 2009.

PSP Firmware 6.0 Available for Developers

admin — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 23:07:11 +0000

Sony is working hard on its latest upcoming firmware 6.0 for PSP (PlayStation Portable). Recently, it also released PS3 firmware 3.0, and it is reported that PSP 6.0 will be compatible with PS3 firmware 3.0.

PSP firmware 6.0 has been released to game developers to test and debug all their games that they are fully compatible with the new firmware when it rolls out.

The only changes we know about are that security vulnerabilities along with hacking-protection has been made stronger, making it more difficult to modify the firmware now.

PSP Firmware 6.0 is expected to release on October 1 along with PSP Go!

Tweet This Post

PSP Firmware 6.0 Available for Developers originally appeared on Core Digest on December 6, 2009.

PS3 Slim Now Available at Some Stores

admin — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 10:32:36 +0000

The actual release date that was announced by Sony for PlayStation 3 Slim was September 1, but some stores
have reported that they got their PS3 Slim shipments today and were ready to sell.

The first such store is GameStop which got the PS3 Slim and sold them to its customers.

Microsoft is also going to announce a Xbox 360 price cut on September 1. May be Sony, after hearing that, decided to start selling PS3 Slim a few days earlier to increase sales.

So all those who pre-ordered PS3 Slim, start checking your local stores if they have got it.

Tweet This Post

PS3 Slim Now Available at Some Stores originally appeared on Core Digest on December 6, 2009.

GTA: Chinatown Wars Coming to PSP

admin — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 22:58:25 +0000

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars was originally released was Nintendo DS and was loved by all DS users for its new gameplay
features such as an all-time aerial view camera.

This is the thirteenth game in the Grand Theft Auto series and Rockstar Games announced today that Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars will be coming to the PSP on October 20th.

It will be released on UMD and as well as on PlayStation Store through the digital download option. No screenshots or further news is available at the moment.

Tweet This Post

GTA: Chinatown Wars Coming to PSP originally appeared on Core Digest on December 6, 2009.

Boost Game Performance with Game Booster

admin — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 22:54:39 +0000

Not everyone is able to or interested in upgrading their PCs
every other day to allow all the latest games run smoothly on their machine!

Ofcourse, gamers with a budget-rig always look out for alternative methods to run a game properly by tweaking the game settings and configuration, but they forget the other important technical tweaks.

Game Booster is a free tool for Windows designed to help optimize your PC for smoother, more responsive game play in the latest PC games with the touch of a button.

It defrags game directories, temporarily shuts down background processes, cleans RAM
, and intensifies processor performance to meet all your gaming requirements. This is not all, I use Game Booster on my netbook to run high-definition videos.

You can also put it in use to run heavy applications like Adobe Photoshop CS4 on low-end PCs. Overall, it a great application and a must-have for everyone having a not-so-powerful computer.
Download Game Booster

You can download Game Booster for free at: Download Game Booster

Tweet This Post

Boost Game Performance with Game Booster originally appeared on Core Digest on December 6, 2009.

Batman Arkham Asylum: The Launch Trailer Released

admin — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 22:50:44 +0000

Just a day before the Batman: Arkham Asylum, expected game of the year, hits the stores for PlayStation3 and Xbox 360, a new game trailer has been released.

A lot of hype has been created with the past trailers and adds more to it with the game demo released a few weeks ago. You can watch the trailer after the jump.

Subscribe: Subscribe by Email Subscribe by Twitter Subscribe by Facebook
Batman Arkham Asylum: The Launch Trailer Released

batman-arkham-asylum-logoJust a day before the Batman: Arkham Asylum, expected game of the year, hits the stores for PlayStation3 and Xbox 360, a new game trailer has been released.

A lot of hype has been created with the past trailers and adds more to it with the game demo released a few weeks ago. You can watch the trailer after the jump.

PC gamers will have to wait two more weeks as the release date of the PC version of Batman: Arkham Asylum is September 15.

Tweet This Post

Batman Arkham Asylum: The Launch Trailer Released originally appeared on Core Digest on December 6, 2009.

PS3 Motion Controller Releasing in Spring 2010

admin — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 22:47:40 +0000

Back in June, at E3, Microsoft was the one to make the biggest and the most exciting announcement by revealing their plan of a revolutionary new way to play games with a motion controller, Project Natal.

Sony wasnt going to keep quiet and announced their own motion controller for PlayStation 3. For now we only knew that Sony was working on that peripheral, until today, when an actual release period has been revealed.

At a recent interview with Times Online, Sony executive Kazuo Hirai told:

We are slating it for spring of next year. One of the things is that we just dont want to put out the controller. We need a great software that supports the controller at launch. It something that weve been working on for the longest time.

Yep, you got that right! It spring 2010. Now Im all excited up for Microsoft to announce the release date of Project Natal

Keep checking back (subscribe to our RSS feed) as more games utilizing this motion controller will be announced at the Tokyo Game Show
in September.

Tweet This Post

PS3 Motion Controller Releasing in Spring 2010 originally appeared on Core Digest on December 6, 2009.