Fall update curbs GamerScore cheating
by Ken Weeks 
{ Nov 3rd 2006 at 6:00AM }
GamerScore whore awfullygood, from the appropriately named blog, "Confessions of a GamerScore Whore," describes how the Fall update made life more difficult for achievement cheaters:With the Fall Update, Microsoft has introduced a hybrid locking mechanism that effectively harms the first method [ for swapping game saves] and squelches the second method. Method 1 has been smacked silly because the vast majority of existing game save files created on the previous update do not work on the Fall update software version. This renders those files useless until unscrupulous members decide to re-upload hundreds of saves based from the new dashboard version. This will most likely take months upon months or possibly never happen for very unpopular games.
Method 2 has been rendered useless as new console specific security is in place. Gamerscore thirsty gamers are taunted with a Corrupt Save message when the bypass method attempts to be used. Obviously, the new security may eventually be cracked by code junkies, but those game saves may also have to be re-uploaded. I'm unsure of any repercussions to method 3. I've always found trading accounts to be supremely idiotic as anyone could keep your account for themselves. Anyway, if anyone has heard if method 3 has been affected, let me know.
Former champ ST TheKing quit the GamerScore race after the upper reaches of the leaderboard became became clogged with fakes, including awfullygood himself (who admits he was cheating just to keep up with the Joneses). Sure Xbox 360 achievements are intangible and useless, but they are fun to earn and these a-hole cheats make a mockery of every pallid kid who spent a three day weekend in the basement going after that final Lumines Live time attack get. For God's sake, if putting endless hours into a crap game like Bomberman gives you a limited sense of accomplishment, stealing a game save must give you even less. Of course, these changes won't stop cheating, just slow it down for a bit. But it does serve as a reminder that you're not entitled to an elite score, unless you're playing that other console.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
YLA G @ Nov 3rd 2006 6:04AM
well this had to be happened sooner
Chris @ Nov 3rd 2006 6:46AM
I love getting gamer points, and its a kick in the teeth to realise people cheat their way to the top.
Kudos to ST for not cheating and continuing like a true gamer!
bupsy @ Nov 3rd 2006 9:15AM
NO LIFE.
YLA G @ Nov 3rd 2006 8:58AM
chris did you read this: "who admits he was cheating just to keep up with the Joneses"
Brian Hoyt @ Nov 3rd 2006 9:36AM
Can someone elaborate on the part that says that savegames from before the fall update don't work after the update? Does that mean normal save games are now broken? I doubt that is the case but that is how it sounds reading the above.
Chris @ Nov 3rd 2006 9:16AM
Yes I did mate, but if you read again it says it was AwfullyGood who was cheating:
"...including awfullygood himself (who admits he was cheating just to keep up with the Joneses)"
asurroca @ Nov 3rd 2006 9:29AM
Just as Bungie loves to perma-ban Halo 2 multiplayer cheaters, Microsoft needs to perma-ban ANYONE doing gamerscore cheats. I mean, seriously, that's some lame bullshit, cheating up your gamerscore.
Cheating up your gamerscore is like finding a hack that lets you use a traditional controller to play Wii games--it completely undermines the spirit of the system.
mietha CAG @ Nov 3rd 2006 10:37AM
I'm really glad they are at least trying to do something about it. It at least shows that they view it as a problem and are trying to fix it. Will people find ways around it? Most likely, but as long as Microsoft actively opposes the practice, that's all you can hope for. In answer to #7: no, it just means the uploaded saves made from the old dashboard won't work when someone tries to copy them to their hard drive. Your own saves on your own profile are not affected.
VOS @ Nov 3rd 2006 12:41PM
I don't know why people go crazy over a really high gamerscore. IMO, I could give two sh!ts and a f*ck about the score. Its not that big of a deal but I guess rtards out there really love it.
ray @ Nov 3rd 2006 1:44PM
NO LIFE. WTF?
AwfullyGood @ Nov 3rd 2006 2:23PM
The entire internet can call me an a-hole if they want. The more people clamoring about this issue, the better. Microsoft has needed to directly address the fallacies within the gamerscore system since launch.
LunarDuality @ Nov 3rd 2006 2:31PM
I'm getting close to 18,000 but I never felt the need to cheat or "keep up with the Joneses". I feel good knowing that I earned every one of those achievements even if some of them were occasionally mind-numbing.
I try not to compare my gamerscore to others that much. I'm much more interested in which achievements people have for specific games...and in that regard I really only look at my friends list for those comparisons anyway.
Razer @ Nov 6th 2006 6:07PM
MS should of taken this one step further and allowed users to remove games from their played list and thus removing the achievements from the score so then the people who want to clean up their gamercard can. As long as the system only allows for subtraction I don't think it would be a problem.