Developer erases credit totals of thousands who "egregiously" exploited system; "more comprehensive" cheater search coming soon.
In late August, Microsoft permanently banned a number of individuals who procured illegitimate copies of Halo: Reach and ill-advisedly played them on Xbox Live. Now, the Washington developer has slammed 15,000 players for exploiting the game's credit system.
According to a Bungie employee post on Bungie.net, the developer has reset credit tallies for 15,000 players who have "egregiously" exploited a credit rip-off. The post reads, "Specifically, we targeted an exploit that allowed players to complete a Challenge 20+ times via itentional [sic] network manipulation (i.e., disconnects)."
Bungie did not specify any further details, but the instance spoken of highly resembles a credit hack that surfaced following the game’s release last month. This cheat allowed players to rack up huge credit bonuses by manipulating the game via the means listed above.
In addition to having their credit total nullified, players found to be cheating must sit through a one-day ban from amassing any additional credits.
The resets and bans were detected by Bungie's automated banning mechanism, which, Bungie admits, didn't grab every cheater. That 15,000 figure is likely to rise soon, because Bungie will conduct a "more comprehensive pass" in the coming weeks to seek out and deal with additional cheaters.
"If you are thinking about getting an easy 50k credits by using this exploit, I would strongly advise you to reconsider," reads the statement, penned by Bungie designer Tyson Green.
Halo: Reach is the final Halo title developed by Bungie Studios. It raked in over $200 million in its first 24 hours of availability and was critically lauded across the board. Bungie's next project will be a 10-year franchise published by Activision, will be set in a new universe, and will run on an entirely new game engine.
In other online Halo: Reach news, Bungie has bifurcated its planned October matchmaking update and has decided to drop the first patch this Tuesday. The update adds a myriad of alterations to the online component of Halo: Reach, chief among them being what Bungie calls the eradication of "a metric ton of small, but annoying bugs and gameplay issues."
Reach fans can read more on the plethora of changes coming to Halo: Reach this Tuesday at the Bungie Weekly Update.
For more on Halo: Reach, check out GameSpot's review.
please I need some answers if I have some connections issues that without any intention made me earn the credits but not the chalange (by the fact that my connection went down my weekly chalange was at 15/16 and gave me the points but at bungie.net and at the chalange screen appeares as 15/16) I have to know if I complete the chalange I am going to be banned? I really want to know because I want to keep playing today and I don't know if I am going to get banned.......
I don't really see the problem. The cheaters will get higher ranks fast, then matchmaking will put them with people that actually earned the rank by being good at the game. Then the cheaters will get owned. And credits are just for aesthetics, not for anything that will make them more powerful in online play.
Gosh! Some people should learn that you don't have to do illegal things to your video games to make them fun!
AHAHAHAHAHA! Wow, what idiots, are gamers getting to become THAT desperate? Maybe if they could keep their pants on for a single game, Bungie and Microsoft wouldn't have had that problem. Now..this isn't a foreshadowing of the future of gaming >__>..hmm..
@LinkLuigi If you want to carry the dialogue into private message, you're welcome to send the message. It all comes down to how much you care.
@AncientDozer Then, isn't that exaclty what's going on with you right now? As you stated before "You are also right that I hold in disdain those that straddle the high horse and rant uselessly in comments about how much they don't like cheating as if it'll somehow make them look better in the eyes of their peers". Except for the ranting about hatred of cheating, your just sitting on the high horse as everyone else. And, technically, so am I, I guess. Oh well. That said, your right that cheaters will always be. But something is always at stake. When a cheater ruins a match, they are robbing you of your online experience. If it's no big deal for you or any one individual, fine, let it slide. But if it's ruining the pace of the match, or ruins the match for you period, then it's time to report. But I won't dwell on it, since this isn't a forum. Anything else, we can discuss it over Private message and tea. I like tea.
@LinkLuigi If you want to try and fight the good fight, go right ahead. I won't stop you. I just think it's effort better placed elsewhere if it isn't a situation where something is at stake. If you're in a tournament, for instance or if you're obsessed with rank/leveling up, sure. Report people. But I've never once had a situation where I've reported someone and that person got banned. It's relatively hard to prove someone cheated and with so many players, there are so many reports to go through. Not to mention a lot of reports are false because, hey, people hate losing and blame other factors. Then, as a previous poster pointed out, companies have less incentive to ban people because that's less customers ready or able to purchase expansions or downloadable content. That's why you hear all the time about people banned for modding their xbox (to play games for free, for instance) but rarely hear about people banned for hacking/exploiting glitches in Call of Duty or Halo.
@LinkLuigi I've been accused of many things and, honestly, I don't care but let me clarify one thing. Never once did I say my opinion was the only one and that I was solely correct. I only shared my view on cheating. Do I believe my opinion is better? Sure. I'm sure you believe yours is, too. Either way, I am just doing as you said - exercising my right and ability to share an opinion on the comment section. It's just that my comments criticize other people for sitting on their high horses and talking big but doing very little or who are, in reality, no better than the people they are accusing. Which is, sadly, often the case. I also suspect some of these people, if they knew how and were certain they could get away with it, would eventually start cheating if only to "keep up" with other cheaters.
@AncientDozer Well, it's kinda hard to say how others are on their high horse, trying to "look cool" by bashing cheaters, and otherwise wasting their time on comment boards, when you decide to make such large posts multiple times on the matter about how right you are. This is what the comment section is about, after all, to comment our views and feelings on the article at hand Despite that, you are right in saying that cheating has always been, and always will be. That does not mean people have to put up with it, or to "let it slide", because it happens so often. If we want our video games to be without cheats or hackers, then we need to step up. If it sounds like I'm on my high horse, so be it. But I'm telling the truth on this one, that if people want their gaming experience to be a certain way, they must try to shape it as such. Not to say that I don't cheat, but ONLY on SOLO games, for the pure sake of fun. Solo games only affect my experience, and no one else's. If I were to cheat in multiplayer, it would be with my opponents consent, and only for fun (such as hacks in Pogeymanz).
How bad do you have to be at playing games that you need to cheat on Halo? Like seriously, point gun in general direction, win. Thats all it takes to win a game of halo.
thats a good business action and direction, you dont wat to lose your customers due to a cheat exploit. if it went farther, MS/bungie could lose sale money from games.
- What? Bungie is going to develop for activision? well that sucks, other than COD activision has no good games, and now Bungie's game will probably be featured in ps3 too, that sucks even harder -
@AncientDozer You, sir, have thrown everthing I knew about grammar out the window. I would normally make fun of someone who spoke like you, but you do it so professionally, I feel like I'm in the wrong to mock you. o.O
This is what happens when you cheat: [url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGBEoFwlbwg[/url] (PROFANITY WARNING)
@Gelugon_baat You are also right that I hold in disdain those that straddle the high horse and rant uselessly in comments about how much they don't like cheating as if it'll somehow make them look better in the eyes of their peers. Yes, they should definitely report cheaters if it bothers them that much and, yes, they should stop bothering people who can't do anything about it. It's not really about cheating, though, in my opinion; half of them are just doing it so that they can feel "superior" and to look "cool". Just like how many people like you or I use grammar to set ourselves apart. Not that we are doing this, of course, but some might suggest it. There will always be cheaters. There will always be pirates, trolls, a-holes, spammers, elitists, whatever. This is a fact of life. I just choose not to waste my energy on them.
@Gelugon_baat Your eloquence astounds, sir. If only more possessed your linguistic capabilities. But sure, preference may be a better phrase to throw around. You are, of course, correct in interpreting my opinion. Indeed, those who are caught deserve what they get. And, then, those who aren't. . well, they move on to the next round. Do I report cheaters? No. I don't care enough. It's just a game. If it was a tournament and I was actually going to win something, it'd be a different story but some quick match? A death match or a free for all? Depending on the game, they don't even contribute to any statistics. If it bothers me, I'll just leave and find another game. Either way, I'm less concerned with the accomplishments of others and more with myself. I'm not going to spend my days telling people how they aren't deserving or aren't as skilled because they did one thing and not another.
This is a good example of a developer taking effective measures at rectifying the situation without outright banning the players in question. I say good, because it should shame them into admitting that they cheated.
Resetting the credit totals is a very reasonable reaction for it only affects what has been "hacked" (I know it isn't hacking)
Using cheats and exploits to have an advantage online against other players is a lot different in my opinion than using an exploit that basically helps you unlock in-game items (which is what this credit exploit does). The armor does not give players any advantage over another player, so I really don't see what the big deal is; and the fact that they're only banning them for one day shows that they don't think it's that big of a deal either.
At least this company does something about cheaters, unlike that other company owned by Activision. (IW)
a whole day of suspension and take away the "stolen credits? wow that is really pulling out the big guns there. this will only encourage more sly ways of cheating. heres an idea; you cheat, you get banned. period.
I'm not very good at shooter games. And believe it or not I'm kinda new to the Halo series. I have not been playing as much as I used to, just now got back into gaming. With that said I'd rather be called a noob or an okay player than to be called a cheater and get banned.
I remember back in high school I had a class mate that was a rampant cheater/hacker. Every lunch hour we would play COD4 on PC, and he was there making things hard for us. He hacked and he cracked and he never stopped. He laughed and giggled when we couldn't kill him, and sniped us through the walls and from unreachable places. Of course we all got pissed off at him, but we couldn't really do anything about it. We weren't about to beat this kid's ass over a video game. So we eventually had to stop. He ruined everyone's fun, and wasn't the least bit sorry for it. Now, I don't want to pin stereotypes on anyone, but if the majority of hackers and cheaters are anything like this kid, I am greatly pleased that Bungie shoved banhammers up their asses. I would pay a huge chunk of cash to watch them squirm as they realize the consequences of their actions caught up with them. tl;dr Cheaters suck
when you see after a week of the games realase people that are lt. colonel you know either they cheated or they have nooo lives
I would pay MONEY to see the looks on the faces of those losers when they found out their accounts were reset. I bet most of them cried like the children that they are.
@ThAdEa82 So you think when some when uses an exploit to gain an unfair advantage it is not cheating?
i wish bungie stayed with microsoft instead of going to a cheap company that CANT make a good game!!
Sad to say that if activision does not change I will be missing out on Bungie's next project. By change I mean the removal of Bobby Kotick.
AncientDozer I could not disagree with you more. Yes, cheating is nothing new but if they make tools to take them down then I say great. You want to cheat and sneak around, well Bungie just raised the bar. You can't do it that way and you are going to have to become a bigger loser. You cheat and then get your points taken, don't cry like a little baby. You made the choice to go around the rules. See when I was young if you broke the rules and got caught you didn't whine about it and you did not expect people to think it was ok. You knew you were wrong and that's all there was to it. The policing in the game got smarter and people are bumbed because they thought they were getting away with it. This is just funny irony. Nothing new but still funny.
Best news I've gotten all morning. My Lt. Col. is legit, and I'll be glad to know that others' I see are legit as well. Cheaters suck, use the BANHAMMER, please!
@Original-Gamer Exactly. Cheating is nothing new. It's nothing surprising. I still shake my head when people act shocked or surprised or contemptuous as if they're somehow a million times better than any cheater. The reasons vary. The level of cheating, exploitation, or hacking vary but it has been going on for a long time. Sports and steroids, for instance. Bribery and taking a dive. Loaded gloves. Fixed poles. I'm not here to defend or justify cheating but I'm not here to condemn it either. It's just a part of life because, face it, people always want to get ahead any way possible and the only true crime is getting caught. That is life. You may want to pretend it's sunshine and rainbows but you are sadly mistaken. Play how you see fit. Worry less about others, and achieve victory according to your own principles.
So if someone cheated/exploited to get to Lt. Colnel then most likely they have all the achievements. It's to bad Bungie didn't work with MS to reset achievement score too. Other than that I don't care if someone cheats or exploites to have all the armor, it's not like it helps them in an online match. I'll just kick their @ss with my standard armour.
i might want credits bad but they should of know that getting them that way was to good to be true.
Good. I hope Bungie keeps it up and keeps banning these losers. Also on a side note, it's great to know they are going to do something about the matchmaking component. It's pretty annoying.
It is good to see the unity in the messages here. Almost everyone agrees here which is rare for a Gamespot forum. The bottom line? If you cheat, you suck.
Halo cheaters are pathetic. It's just a game. It gets so frustrating when people cheat in multiplayer. I got so fed up that I'm playing Dead Rising right now. I'll be back in a few days but you get so sick these kids.
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