Author
Cody Sharp
For as long as I can remember, video games have included cheat codes. In the old days, it was extremely rare to find an NES game that didn’t have at least a few. Entire publications sprung up because the simple fact was – gamers like to cheat or at the very least, have things made a bit easier for them. There must have been tens of millions of GameSharks sold over its many iterations. The entire purpose of that device was to use cheat codes within games. That is why it is so surprising that relatively few iPhone developers include cheats within their games.
During the last year, 35,000 people came and looked at the cheat codes we have posted on this site for Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars making it our most popular topic throughout the entire year. I feel lazy since all I did was get the cheat codes directly from the developer but I aim to please and based on the number of views, people were interested and pleased. There is obviously a gaping hole left in iPhone games that don’t include cheat codes. If one game can develop such a huge response to cheat codes then surely it is worth doing for most developers.
So why do so few developers include cheat codes in their games? Could it be that they believe there isn’t enough return on the time it takes? I just can’t imagine that is the case. After all, some developers will stick with a game for years at a time (I’m looking at you Lima Sky). If it’s not an issue of time then is it an issue of interest? Certainly not an issue of interest from the game players.
I am going to make it one of the missions of this site going forward to have every cheat code that does come out for a popular game to be posted here. In fact, if you are a developer and you send me a cheat code for your game, I will write an small article about your game and post a link to the Apple store. iPhone and iPad gamers are obviously clamoring for this, yet thus far they haven’t been rewarded by most developers. Let’s do something about that.