The Rise and Fall of the Cheat Code

Posted by Unknown on Wednesday June 25, 2014 @01:30AM from the iddqd dept.

An anonymous reader writes A new feature published this week takes a deep-dive look at the history of the cheat code and its various manifestations over the years, from manual 'pokes' on cassettes to pass phrases with their own dedicated menus — as well as their rise from simple debug tool in the early days of bedroom development to a marketing tactic when game magazines dominated in the 1990s, followed by dedicated strategy guides. Today's era of online play has all but done away with them, but the need for a level playing field isn't the only reason for their decline: as one veteran coder points out, why give away cheats for free when you can charge for them as in-app purchases? "Bigger publishers have now realized you can actually sell these things to players as DLC. Want that special gun? Think you can unlock it with a cheat code? Nope! You've got to give us some money first!"

5 of 178 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

First by NoNonAlphaCharsHere · 2014-06-25 01:32 · Score: 4, Funny

First up, up, up, left, left, down, right, down, right, up, up.
1. Re:First by Anonymous Coward · 2014-06-25 02:00 · Score: 0, Funny
  
  ... Hey, macarena!
Mark of times by qbast · 2014-06-25 01:42 · Score: 5, Funny

So cheat codes are alive and well - they just now start with $ sign.
1. Re:Mark of times by i+kan+reed · 2014-06-25 02:16 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Pay to stop playing, of course.
Re:DLC? by NoNonAlphaCharsHere · 2014-06-25 02:03 · Score: 4, Funny

If you leave off the last letter, does that make it a wor?