Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has been touted as the biggest game of 2009, recording sales of more than 6million units since its release in November, according to industry research group NDP. More than 4.2million of those units were for the Xbox 360, which is particularly used by online gamers to compete against other users across the globe.

However, gamers choosing to play on the PC have become unwilling victims of cheats. That is because the game was launched without using dedicated servers, relying instead on using peer to peer matchmaking. Although, this may seem like the perfect solution for developers, it does throw the door open to mass on-line cheating as a result of hacking.

Indeed, within a week of the game being launched a hack was made widely available online via YouTube allowing players to pinpoint the position of enemy players, regardless of their position on the map. This benefit is not available to gamers playing within the rules, but there is no way to find out whether opposition players are employing the ‘wallhack', or making their kills legitimately.

Although the video has been withdrawn the download URL for the hack is still available and anyone thinking of using it will need to take out a monthly subscription. The company offering the hack for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 also does a roaring trade on many other popular online games; a great reason for those who partake in online video games to do so on a secure platform such as Xbox 360.

So, by deciding to ditch dedicated servers, game developers Infinity Ward have no way to run anti-cheating software and identify players who are not playing by the rules. It may be a moot point for the developers that they haven't provided dedicated servers as the game is selling so well, but it does add to the frustration of players who wish to play by the rules.

Cost is often quoted as a reason for not going down the dedicated server route, but customer dissatisfaction must count for something, and in the long run the tactic of relying on peer to peer matchmaking may backfire. Many forums are carrying posts from extremely disgruntled PC gamers loudly proclaiming the benefits of dedicated servers and vowing not to buy the game until the online environment is placed on dedicated servers, where cheats can be identified and ultimately excluded from the game.

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