Last April, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was compromised when a hacker corrupted the game causing Xbox Live to send out "potential phishing attempts." That problem received immediate attention from Microsoft and Infinity Ward, and the issue has since been resolved. So why is it that Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare has been experiencing hacking problems on Xbox Live since February 2011, but nothing has been done about it?
Here are the facts: Since February 2011, hackers and modders have been infiltrating public matches over Xbox Live. There are numerous types of hacks used which cause the following in-game experiences: The de-ranking of players in the same match as the hackers, the automatic Level 55 10th prestige ranking of players in the same match (for a price), unlimited ammunition, invincibility, walking through walls, seeing through walls, spawning on top of buildings, spawning out of the map, super speed, and probably others of which I am not yet aware. These hackers have ruined the excellent experience Call of Duty 4 used to offer and needless to say, it is a true shame.
In order to get a better idea of Call of Duty 4's current situation, I sat down and played 50 unique matches on Xbox Live. Of the 50 matches, a total of 33 were hacked. That means there is approximately a 66% chance of playing with a hacker who has modded the game to their preference. I found that every game type (Team Deathmatch, Headquarters, Cage Match, etc.) could be hacked as well. In the modded matches I played, I encountered over 40 different hackers. These numbers are as staggering and completely unacceptable.
Many of you may be wondering why this is such a big deal. Call of Duty 4 was released in 2007 and is now 3 1/2 years old, so who cares if the game has been hacked? The game may be over 3 years old, but that hasn't stopped the Xbox Live community from making it the 8th most played game on Xbox Live. The first Modern Warfare still consistently places in the Top 10 on Xbox Live Activity, so it should not matter how old the game is, as gamers still come back to play it every week. I surveyed 100 gamers who continue to play Call of Duty 4, and not surprisingly based on the statistics above, each gamer had played in a session that had been modded.
In many cases, the hackers actually advertise the fact that they are hacking the game. In the majority of hacks, colorful text appears at the top-left portion of the screen, displaying the hacker’s gamertag, and the website that taught him how to do it. This is an obvious violation of the Xbox Live Terms of Use and Conditions, and they are boasting about it. We contacted Activision and Infinity Ward about the rise in hackers playing through Xbox Live.
Activision’s official statement is:
“The developers of the game (Infinity Ward), are aware of this issue and are currently looking into it. We advise caution whenever engaging in online interactions, as this content is neither rated nor completely moderated. We recommend that you keep your account information private, and that you do not accept invites from anyone that you do not know. If you find yourself in a lobby/match that appears to be hacked/modded, then we suggest you leave that match/lobby immediately and join another match. We hope to have this issue resolved as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience.”
Infinity Ward’s official statement is:
“We are looking at how we can further improve the situation on legacy titles such as Call of Duty 4. The first such move will be to update the playlists for Call of Duty 4 to allow access to all game modes regardless of rank.”
Infinity Ward called Modern Warfare a “legacy title” and rightly so. It’s a benchmark in the genre of first-person shooters, and a staple for the Xbox Live community. The online game is broken right now, and we really hope Infinity Ward, Activision and Microsoft work to fix it, restoring the game to its former glory.
