MTV Multiplayer › Cheaters

Yesterday, I got to play the new "Puzzle Quest" title "Galactrix" at demo in a New York City hotel.

I wasn't doing too badly, but in the end the AI bested me in the "Hexic"-like role-playing/puzzle hybrid. Maybe I was having an off morning... or maybe the AI was cheating. That was a claim many people made about the first "Puzzle Quest" game "Challenge of the Warlords."

Here's what "Puzzle Quest: Galactrix" producer Marcus Savino told me about the AI system. Read more...

Meet Aaron "coldraccoon" Mesec, an 18-year-old Xbox 360 owner from Murrieta, California. He's a gamerscore cheater.

He's a former cheater -- or so he now claims to MTV Multiplayer.

Mesec was one of the gamers caught during Microsoft's attempt last week to reign in gamerscore cheaters. Microsoft won't say how many people have, like Mesec, been branded with a "Cheater" tag, had their questionable Achievements stripped and their gamescores re-set. But I've heard that the number of users whose gamerscores were reset wasn't more than a few handfuls. The punishment is meant as a message to others.

And it appears to have worked on Mesec. "The cheating days are over for me. I just want to kick back and enjoy gaming again," he told us over the weekend.

If that's true, why did he start cheating in the first place?

Read more...