PS3 Firmware Update Blocks "Call of Duty" Hackers | Techland

Activision

If you downloaded the new PS3 firmware 3.56 update and you happened to, um, tweak the Call of Duty: Black Ops game to boost your stats, you might have found yourself among the angry people who had their account blocked.

It seems to be part of Sony’s promise to crack down on piracy; last weeks Xbox 360 firmware 3.56 update blocked pirated and modded copies of the game. There are some very angry parties out there who claim they did nothing wrong – and a lot of people saying that it might be someone else’s fault because they just bought a used machine or lent their PS3 to a friend or it was their brother who cheated not them. Take this guy’s response as an example. (Warning: He’s very upset about being blocked because his response is ALL IN CAPS.)

HELLO TREYARCH I UNDERSTAND WHY YOU ARE BANNING PEOPLE FOR HACKING BUT THERES A MISTAKE YOUR BANNING ALOT OF PEOPLE THAT HAVENT SO I THINK YOU SHOULD TAKE THE BAN OFF AND LOOK CLOSELY IN TO IT AND JUST BAN THOSE ACCOUNT TRUST ME THEY WONT TRY IT AGAIN SERIOUSLY YOU TOOK IT TO FAR MY PSN IS PTO-KILLA AND IM 11TH PRESTIGE SO THATS OBVIOUSLY NOT 15TH PRESTIGE HACK SO WHY ON EARTH IS MY PS3 BANNED FROM BLACK OPPS TELL ME AND GO AND CHECK FOR YOURSELF SO BASICALLY YOUVE BANNED MY PS3 FOR PLAYING LEGIT ALL THE WAY TO 11TH PRESTIGE 7DAYS PLAYED.

RRRRREEEEEMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMOOOOOOOVEEEEEE THHHHHE BAN ON US LEGIT PLAYERS AND JUST BAN THOSE 15TH PRESTIGE ACCOUNTS THAT PEOPLE OV HACKED

I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO SAY TREYARCH TO BE TOTALLY HONEST HERE WHY DO YOU THINK PEOPLE HACK ITS BECAUSE ITS YOUR FAULT THERES FAULTS IN THE GAME I HAVE NEVER HACKED BUT YUO GOTTA UNDERSTAND IF YOUR GAME AS A DEFAULT IN AND SOME1 FINDS OUT THEREFORE THATS 100% YOUR FAULT NOT THERES BUT TRUST ME IM NOT A HACKER

I’m not saying that everyone out there who says they never hacked is lying, but chances are you did something that put you on the radar. Blaming Sony and Treyarch because they stopped you from cheating. As they say: If you play with fire, you’re going to get burned.

[via Ripten]

More on TIME.com:

So You Want To Be A Video Game Tester?

Activision CEO: “Call of Duty” As Important As Facebook

“Call of Duty: Black Ops” Releasing First DLC in February

thebonafortuna

I wish somebody would block that guy from (ab)using a keyboard.

Glad Sony did this. Now if they could only do something to create different areas for those of us who only game occasionally. I tried playing multi-player after beating Blood Stone on normal difficulty a few weeks ago, and got absolutely annihilated the moment I arrived in the game. Would definitely play more often if I didn’t get dominated from the outset every time I tried.
pks29733steel

SONY SHOULDN’T BLOCK ANYONE TILL THEY CAN PROVE THAT THE PLAYER (NOT BECAUSE A MACHINCE MIGHT HAVE BEEN HACKED WITHOUT THE PLAYER’S KNOWLEDGE)HAS REALLY ‘HACKED’ THE GAME. I’M NOT A GAMER, BUT THEY SHOULDN’T HAVE BANNED THEM, JUST DROP THEM BACK TO THE START OF THE GAME WITH A SCORE OF ZERO. ‘thebonafortun’, JUST THINK IF YOU DIDN’T HAVE TO GO ‘ONLINE’ AND COULD PLAY THE GAME THEY WAY IT WAS DESIGNED (INCREASING DIFFICULTIES ON EACH LEVEL) BY THE DESIGNERS. IT MIGHT BE ENJOYABLE. AND BY THE WAY ‘thebonafrtuna’ YOU COULDN’T BLOCK ME FROM USING MY KEYBOARD AS I’M USING A HACKED VERSION OF ‘VIA VOICE’.
cydonos

PLEASE SONY REMOVE THE BAN AND NO I DONT LIKE PERIODS AND YES I LOVE RUN ON SENTENCES THAT GO ON FOREVER IN ALL CAPS AS IF IM STANDING NEXT TO YOU SCREAMING AT THE TOP OF MY LUNGS BECAUSE WE ALL KNOW THAT THATS HOW YOU GET SOMEBODYS ATTENTION AND ALERT THEM TO A POSSIBLE ERROR AND GET THEM TO GRACIOUSLY FIX THE ERROR BECAUSE CALM RATIONAL INTELLIGENT CONVERSATION IS FOR DORX
yerticus

Thank god somebody finally had the balls to do something about the hacking. Thank you Sony and Treyarch