‘Call of Duty’ can detect and ban XIM-style cheat hardware

engadget.com:

Activision's Call of Duty Ricochet anti-cheat team has introduced a number of new measures designed to reduce unfair play. Those include a replay investigation tool along with detection of third-party XIM-type devices. Some cheaters will be permanently banned, but CoD has revealed that others will be subject to some new (and rather hilarious) in-game mitigations. 

To start with, it has deployed a system designed to detect third-party hardware cheat devices like XIM, Cronus Zen and ReaSnow S1. "These devices act as a passthrough for controllers on PC and console and, when used improperly or maliciously, can provide a player with the ability to gain an unfair gameplay advantage, such as reducing or eliminating recoil," the team noted in a blog post.

At first, Ricochet will give players an "unsupported device warning" as shown above, but continued use could result in measures ranging from mitigations up to permabans across all Call of Duty titles. 

It's also using a new replay investigation tool. "Using captured and stored match gameplay data, our teams can load up and watch any completed match as part of our investigation process," the team wrote. It'll focus on ranked play in both Modern Warefare II and Warzone 2.0, capturing and storing all match data for signs of suspicious activity. The system has already aided in investigations that resulted in permanent bans.

Great deals on consumer electronics delivered straight to your inbox, curated by Engadget’s editorial team. See latest

Please enter a valid email address

Please select a newsletter

By subscribing, you are agreeing to Engadget's Terms and Privacy Policy.

Activision revealed more about mitigations, as well. It has already talked about Damage Shield, which allows innocent