A new Pokémon X/Y online battle exploit called “Battle Analyser” is ruining online play by intercepting data. This is not good. This is not good at all.
As pointed out by NeoGAF forum member UltimateIke, here’s how the exploit program works: A PC is used as a wireless hotspot to intercept online data, scanning an opponent’s entire party of Pocket Monsters and even showing the moves the opponent uses in battle.
This exploit apparently affects all online battles (well, those against players you don’t know or trust) and is the equivalent of seeing another player’s hand in a round of poker. In short, it takes all the strategy out of the game’s online component, giving cheaters a brutally unfair advantage.
On the Bulbagarden Forums, user Clash King Dan, who called the cheat tool “unsettling” and tested it with friends, reported that “the program doesn’t work with 100 per cent accuracy yet.” However, Clash King Dan added, “It is accurate enough to give you an advantage most of the time.”
Hopefully the game’s developer, Game Freak, can do something, whether that’s a patch or a signal encryption, to prevent cheaters from ruining these battles.
Cheating isn’t new to Pokémon’s online play. Last August, a global Pokémon tournament was plagued with deceptive players. Damn shame some players need to use underhanded tricks to win. They can’t be satisfying, can they?
Beware Battle Analyser [Bulbagarden Forums]
Pokémon X/Y Online Battle Exploit – “Battle Analyser” [UltimateIke@NeoGAF]
Top photo: TheKoalition
Comments
10 responses to “New Pokémon Cheat Can Ruin Online Battles”
And here I thought they were beefing up security with the implementation of a new generation, to crack down on cheating and all that jazz.
I’ve read a rumour that the little pentagon symbol on the summary page just means caught / generated in Kalos, so combine that with talk of ‘Kalos-only’ tournaments, the way they could be stopping hacked Pokémon could be as weak as ‘new ones only’. Their lack of information to stop their measures being circumvented is giving me a lack of confidence about how much is actually being done.
The hack has just been released. Give it some time.
I’m referring more to their stance on Pokémon bank and what they’re doing to stop hacked Pokémon, rather than this particular hack.
Oh they are allowed in the bank?
They need to update their TOS if they haven’t already to allow this, then start scanning and deleting hacks.
The PokèBank will apparently have a data checkerthat won’t allow hacked pokèmon to be transferred across to it. If this is the case and it works, the the PokèTransfer won’t be able to send hacked mons either, as it sends them from the servers to your game. They have been pretty clear about this from the start.
It’s a shame to see that rather than give this information to GameFreak or Nintendo, the writer of the program released the exploit into the wild. Links for it have since been taken down, but like anything, once it goes online, it’s there for good.
That said, at official events, I can’t see how you would use it. The rules state that no other electronic devices can be in the play area, so for now it seems like it will only affect online games, which granted is still a pain, but it means its effects are limited.
We don’t know. They won’t say what will or won’t go in.
My little mini rant there is because when more things like this hack keep showing up, I question how much they have actually thought about security. The pattern is starting to form that security has been more of an afterthought, and they’re mostly banking on ‘security through obscurity’.
They did up the security, but nothing is foolproof. All they’ve managed to do is analyse wifi packets and show them in a GUI, and that’s a pretty good security. So far, they can’t play pirated pokemon (this will change soon), they can’t edit their save files (no pokemon editors or generators) and they can’t change the battle itself. All they can do is see what the other pokemons details are
Unlike poker, it’s not necessarily a disadvantage if your opponent knows your team. All this does is take the scouting of battling, which hasn’t been that important since team preview. It may cost you some games if your opponents know what you’re running, but you should be prepared for that anyway. Also, in tournaments players are known to check out their opponents teams and movesets before going up against them.
I think you missed the point of this cheat. It sees data regarding exactly which move your opponent has sent to the server, intercepts it, and displays it to you before you make your move. So you can always choose the right option without the need to predict.
This is why kids shouldn’t be allowed on the Internet.