PSP World

Is the 'Cheat Code' Dead?

People above a certain age will remember that video games in the past used to be hard. Really hard. The only things we had to protect ourselves against waves of poorly-disguised Russian soldiers were our lightning-quick reflexes, memorization abilities, and if those failed, the almighty cheat code. Entered via a hail-Mary flurry of 'up-ups' and 'down-downs' on the controller, these artificial boosters helped us recover unlimited lives with which to defeat our pixellated enemies. The codes themselves were passed around in te schoolyard, the privileged knowledge of a select few elite gamers. For those of us who were too clumsy or lazy to enter the codes ourselves, there were even hardware devices like the Game Genie that could physically connect to the console to give ourselves these special powers automatically. It was literally the only way to beat some of the early arcade games.

Later, games got somewhat less unfair, and the do-or-die necessity of cheat codes faded away. But in games like Grand Theft Auto III, codes helped make the game experience even better: we could mess with the world around us, from changing the weather to altering the effects of gravity. The codes literally added hours of gameplay to what was already an epic experience.

Nowadays, things are a bit different. Most games feature an 'easy' mode, which noobs are free to select at no extra cost (other than their pride). In terms of special features such as gravity alteration and the like, many games allow you to replay the main storyline after completion of the main quest, but with added perks or weaponry, allowing for unlimited experimentation. Its almost as if a generation of game designers, who grew up understanding the power of cheat codes, have now built that awesomeness directly into the games they create.

It could be that we are witnessing the death of the cheat code. Lets all take a moment to remember the programmers of years gone by, the devilish games they created, and the hidden tricks they left around to help us cope with the challenge.