PlayStation has blocked hardware cheating device Cronus Zen, others may follow

Lee Duna@lemmy.nz to Technology@lemmy.world – 67 points –
PlayStation has blocked hardware cheating device Cronus Zen, others may follow
arstechnica.com
9

I have a similar device for my PC. It enables me to use my joystick on a game that won’t allow it because I also use a G13 game pad. Using the device makes it possible to fly in a game that I wouldn’t otherwise be able to. The issue is that the device also can abuse aim-assist on PC and others. I’ve tried it out, it’s almost a no-recoil, no bullet deviation, soft aimbot. I can tell most top players are using one because their guns are laser beams compared to everyone else. In a 32 player match at least 2-4 people on each side are using one. All the same scores, all the same guns and play style. I don’t see how they don’t get bored with it. When I used it the thrill of an earned victory was gone. Didn’t like it at all.

i enjoy a good aim assist for a game that is played best with a controller (i'd like one for skywalker saga for example). but having aim assist when playing competitively on pc, it just doesn't feel earned in a way.

and outright banning any use of these devices makes me want a console even less.

making the game fair for everyone requires either aimbot on controller and none on mouse or no crossplay at all, but i still dont like banning input methods.

another solution would probably be to limit aimbot to casual titles, and whoever really wants to get competitive just has to buy a mouse.

I use similar software on PC solely because it allows independent remapping of Xbox Elite controller paddles. That is, I can map them to key presses directly instead of mapping them to another button on the controller. Previously I had to map another controller button to a key and then remap the paddle to that button.

But it also happens to use a virtual controller driver that can be used with the mouse and also abuse aim assist. And thus was hit with some anti-cheat blocks recently. So now unless I want to uninstall and reinstall that software between certain games I can't play some at all.

Edit: the software I was using was ReWASD. Turns out both Microsoft's official app and Steam's Big Picture Mode controller settings now do about 80-95% respectively of what I need from remapping software. (Microsoft's implementation of Shift buttons is incomplete and theirs doesn't work over Bluetooth. The MS app also doesn't allow you to map different keys contextually -- for long presses, double presses, etc)

Good, took them long enough. Hopefully they also retroactively ban those users they've detected with it, too.

This is the best summary I could come up with:


As first noted by the Call of Duty news channel CharlieIntel, the latest update to the PlayStation 5's system (24.01-08.60.00) software blocks the Cronus from connecting.

The update is "NOT mandatory," Cronus claims in a notice on its website, so Zen players can hold off and keep playing.

The Cronus Zen, which costs $100 or more and is available on Amazon and at GameStop, among other outlets, does claim to offer accessibility and third-party compatibility options for players.

Activision's anti-cheat Ricochet tool called out "third-party hardware devices" that "act as a passthrough for controllers" in a blog post about its April 2023 updates.

The same went for Ubisoft and Bungie, none of which called out the Cronus Zen in particular, but were signaling efforts to block it and similar devices, like the XIM and ReaSnow S1.

None of these companies have offered a patch to the behavior of people who want to spend more than $100 and risk lifetime bans to earn undeserved points worth no tradable value.


The original article contains 453 words, the summary contains 167 words. Saved 63%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

Is this thing the real reason playing Destiny 2 PVP modes sucks so much?