Phantasy Star Online security troubles

[02.11.01] » Security measures for Sega's online RPG may be too strict in some ways, too weak in others.

   When putting together the very first online RPG for a console, Sonic Team was careful to include a number of strict security measures to prevent the possibility of cheating. However, the strong countermeasures seem to have some unintended side effects and meanwhile, cheating has begun regardless.

   PSO players have likely already noticed that once a character is created in the game, it is locked into both that particular VMU and the player's unique Dreamcast. In addition, the game will register the PSO access key to your Dreamcast the first time you go online and that access code can only be used with that individual Dreamcast. The end result of this is that a used copy of the game is essentially worthless for online play. Video game retailer Software, etc. has already stopped accepting opened returns and trade-ins for the game, and other retailers will likely follow suit. If you've been holding out for a used copy of PSO, you'll be waiting a while.

   But even with all this security in place, cheats for the game have been discovered less than two weeks after the release. An online code creation group has hacked out a number of cheats for the game that grant everything from unlimited hit points to infinite money, all of which function in the online portion of the game. Thankfully, PSO's small parties and lack of "friendly fire" keep the cheats from truly breaking the game, but players should still be wary of level 100 juggernauts joining their party. Hopefully, Sega will be able to institute server-side measures soon to counteract the cheats.