StarCraft 2 Cheat Codes Officially Revealed
Blizzard cleared the air in regards to using official StarCraft 2 cheat codes in the single-player campaign.
Friday Blizzard cleared the air in regards to using the official cheat codes in StarCraft 2's single-player campaign. Previously gamers received conflicting messages from Blizzard, with Customer Services admitting that it's banning players using cheat codes in the single-player mode while another representative claimed that players can use them safely.
The problem with using cheats-- whether they're programmed by Blizzard or offered by a 3rd-party application-- is that they affect the user's achievements and overall score. Blizzard wants gamers to earn their scores and achievements honestly, however there seems to be some understanding that sometimes players need God Mode or Instant Victory. With that said, Blizzard has released a list of official cheat codes sanctioned for use in StarCraft 2.
But there's a catch.
"Before using cheat codes it’s important to understand that using them will prevent additional achievement gains you might have earned through normal play until either a new campaign is started or a prior save is loaded (one from before the use of the first cheat)," the company said Friday. "All of these cheat codes have been added deliberately to the game and unlike third-party hacks or cheats won’t flag an account for suspension."
So there you have it: official Blizzard cheat codes can be used "safely," but they can't be used to officially move the campaign forward. According to Blizzard, cheat codes can only be used in single-player mode by pressing the enter key within the game and typing in the codes within the console. To access the entire list, head here.
As you'll see, the list contains 16 major cheat codes, 5 story mode cheat codes, a custom maps cheat code, and an Easter egg cheat code. The actual codes bounce everywhere in the entertainment industry, referring to Star Wars, Iron Man, The Dark Knight, Lord of the Rings and even Star Trek. Fun stuff.
Anybody recall Half-Life 2 godmode; noclip, etc; they don't give you achievements, but it can be a lot of fun to browse the scenery in ways you otherwise couldn't.
As for how everyone else has been doing it, it's been MORE than a decade; I recall the first Descent Freespace game, which has been out for near 13 years, (March 1998) doing a similar thing: using any cheat code on a mission would let you get to the end of it, but the mission debriefing would decry you as a cheater, and refuse to let you advance; you had to re-do the mission. And even earlier, the original Descent game, (Feb 1995, ~16 years ago) would let you play through with cheats... But your score would be automatically locked at zero as soon as you used one.
Perhaps 6 years of nothing but WoW HAS drained their ability to think of anything but. Or, more likely, it's that not only does Bobby Kotick (CEO of Activision-Blizzard) doesn't play THEIR OWN games, perhaps he doesn't play any games at all, and hence has absolutely zero understanding of the subject whatsoever.
What they don't want is third party hacks, cheats, etc. being used because, in theory (if not in practice), that allows a player to earn achievements with an unfair advantage over other players. Since the game is tied to online play and, therefore, global rankings, if those kinds of cheats were allowed, there would be no possible way to accurately determine player rankings.
What Blizzard has done, makes sense. What's unfortunate, is that people jump to conclusions and then promote hype and hysteria rather then evaluating what actually has been said. Read, think, then speak.
hell of a band
Blizzard has been doing cheats like this since at least 1998, and they've never gotten you banned. I don't understand what your referring to.
And did you think your comment even added anything? ...Aside from demonstrating that you didn't bother to read anything, and sit there smug thinking yourself clever, of course.
For one, I'd note that your constant stream of insults is, at best, skirting the rules of conduct for these comments... You CAN be civil, no? If you'd actually read around, rather than reading through your Blizzard-tinted glasses, you'd know well enough I certainly aren't some "moron." Whether I'm a threat to your fanatical Blizzard fanboyism has no bearing on my intellect, while I'd note you can't even use proper grammar. ("hacks... is not allowed"?)
Secondly, if you'd actually bothered to read my comment, I allowed for multiple things Blizzard could have done, including those in the "Heil Kotick!" crowd like yourself. I DID say that the mere fact that Blizzard ALLOWED the press to stay circulating confused rumors for so long is a major failure on their part. A far more professional company, (like, say, Microsoft) would have immediately raised the alarm as soon as they say something like this, and made sure that any false ideas were THOROUGHLY debunked.
The fact that we have an article like this on Tom's so long after the fact demonstrates a PR failure on Blizzard's part. No matter how much a "true fan" you may be, that doesn't change the facts: Blizzard could've handled this whole situation FAR better than they did. You can be a fanboy and claim that Blizzard does everything perfectly, vote me down (like the other rabid pro-Kotick fanboys) to prove your loyalty, but that doesn't stop you from being incorrect.
the cheats have been available, and they have disabled your achievement earning ability while you use them.
its simply the customer service reps who are n00bs.
You should also realize that if Blizzard only tries to market StarCraft II to those loyal fans that have been camping their forums daily, then the game is bound to fail. The problem here is that for the vast majority of the gaming world that DOESN'T make up the hardcore Blizzard fandom, they rely on sources vastly more mainstream than forums to get their news. Since, IIRC, Blizzard's forums require you submit proof you already own a copy of a Blizzard game to join, that makes it not a very good source for those who want to learn things about a game before potentially buying it.
Not reaching out to correct media mistakes is one of the oldest PR screw-ups in the book. It doesn't matter if some will know that the rumors are false: what matters is that for those on the outside, they'll take them as true, and Blizzard did a poor job of stepping in to stop this from happening. It's something they should've fired their head of PR over. Undoubtedly at least some people were scared away from buying a copy of the game (or at least buying it so soon) due to all the controversy heard. This is a sensitive subject that a company needs to appear clear and decisive on... And Blizzard let things appear far more cloudy than that.
You'd trust (or "thrust" I suppose) journalists because they're not supposed to have a conflict of interest. It's a well-known fact that a company will lie if necessary to make themselves look good in any situation. An example that pops to mind was the Xbox 360's infamous RROD scandal: for months, Microsoft denied it, and claimed it was all due to user mishandling; they knew they were lying, but they were hoping they could get away with it.
For those loyal fans that only listened to Microsoft, that's the only story they would've heard until they changed their tune... And hence they would've been taken entirely by surprise by it. Similar tales go for countless other product-makers. A strong parallel comes with the iPhone 4: Apple blaming users for their own design failures, before finally acknowledging the problem.
In both cases, those that trusted the media over the corporation with a vested interest in making themselves look good knew what was really happening far before the loyal fans had the news broken to them. So it's no surprise that the same logic gets applied here: Activision-Blizzard has a vested interest in making sure they look good, even if Bobby Kotick seems to be very good at doing the opposite. Hence, it's logical to not put them above telling some white lies.