I play XBox 360 video games. Mostly just racing, but I will delve into some other genres too.
One title I enjoy is NFS Shift – I even pre-ordered the next iteration – Shift 2.
Even though there are tons of bugs in the game, it is still fun to play. Fun online, fun in Career mode.
However, when playing online there are number of things that make things unfair – and one of them specifically is cheating. There is a major flaw in the online game that allows users to use a higher rating car than they should. Now I don’t really care if everyone has the cheat, cause then it is fair again – everyone can do it and no one has a major advantage.
A better option is to FIX THE GAME!
So….I sent Electronic Arts (EA) a support ticket telling them about the game. I got no response. So I posted in a few forums and tried to get a response. Nothing.
Then I posted the cheat on a few forums and explained again to EA. How did they respond?
Did they fix the game so that this wouldn’t keep happening? NO…they don’t care about that, they don’t give a crap about quality control or investing any more money in a game that is already history. Not that they did a very good job on quality control during the construction of the game or even the patches they released afterwards.
What did they do? They banned ME. Yup…try to do a good thing – report bugs – and get banned from using their product. Nice…..what stupid jerks. They can’t spend the money to fix it, so they want to just try and hide it – make sure people don’t know about it.
Imagine you were getting shitty service from your phone company – you would tell people about it. You would also call and complain to the phone company. And then…what if they disconnected your phone line because you have been complaining to other people about it? That is not reasonable – they would fix the phone line. EA needs to grow up.
The other problem is, 30-40% of the people online are all using the cheat already. So….that means that it is unfair for the rest of the players that are trying to use the system too. So hiding the fact that there is a major flaw isn’t solving anything.
EA has a policy of banning those that a) use a cheat, or b) post about how to use a cheat. Like this solves anything.
FIX YOUR DAMN SOFTWARE!
So…just so everyone can have it….here is the post I made about NFS Shift:
Heya....I am posting this not because I want everyone to cheat, but because I want everyone to have a level playing field.
I have reported this to EA, but they don't seem to care and I am tired of seeing people beat me when I know they are cheating. There are so many bugs in this game, but EA seems to care more about pushing out the game than quality control. What pisses me off so much is that I like the game - if I didn't, I just wouldn't bother to play - it could be sooo much better - I really wish EA gave a CRAP!
I am not saying I am the fastest, but I am not bad - people don't usually beat me around Road America by 10 seconds a lap for example - I can do a 1:52 in unrestricted and a 2:03 in a 14 car.
Anyway - if everyone can have the same cheats, then it is fair again.
Major bug - Online play lets you use higher rated cars in lower levels:
For example, use a 17 level car in a game restricted to 14 level cars.
These steps have to be done everytime you restart the game, but it doesn't take long and many people are doing it.
To reproduce:
1) Purchase stock Z06 - if you already own it, sell it and rebuy it (you will not lose tuning settings)
2) Go into XBox Live
3) Create a Ranked match, Race, 14 level cars and accept it
4) Pick your Z06 from your list of cars
5) Exit the race (no need to actually race)
6) Go to the Car Garage and upgrades
7) Purchase all upgrades (except Works Convert - this bug didn't seem to work for me when I Works Converted)
8) Go back into XBox Live
9) Either create a match, or join one and when the car rating is 14, your Z06 will be chosen by default even though it is now a 17+ rated car
This also works for any level - for example, you can take the Porsche Cayman - use it as a 10 car when it is actually setup for a 14 car.
Use it while you can - I am hoping EA will fix this. I have posted this information to them and on a number of forums, so hopefully they will actually do something about it.
