Bungie Bans Gamers Playing ‘Destiny’ on Modded Consoles

Destiny has proven to be one of the biggest games from the new generation of consoles. Unfortunately, for all the game’s successes, there are a number of flaws to go with them. Destiny is one of the best-selling releases of the new-gen, and has picked up a number of awards and a huge fan base. There are also justified complaints over the lack of a strong story, with other sources left to fill in the gaps, as well as concerns over the sketchy and unfair handling of in-game events of core game players versus those who bought DLC pack The Dark Below.

Regardless of the gaming community’s feelings about the game at large, it’s hard to fault the makers of Destiny for their communication with players. Developer Bungie has kept fans up-to-date with changes to the MMO shooter through weekly updates on the Bungie website, including details of hot fixes and DLC content. The most recent weekly post, however, contained a slightly different message.

In this week’s update, Bungie left an authoritarian warning for those looking to cheat the game. The post, which can be found on Bungie’s website, explains exactly why a number of players will have faced a sudden ban from the game. According to Bungie, there has been a crackdown on players who use modded consoles – and those who do have been on the receiving end of the developer’s Banhammer.

“The BanHammer has been a-swingin’,” said Bungie in its recent post. “Ninja Justice is always swift and final.” Sounds ominous. But Bungie reassured players that those affected by an immediate ban were booted due to good evidence. “We routinely review Banhammer actions to ensure that they are applied accurately and fairly,” states the update. “A review of the bans applied over the last week shows that all of the affected accounts had logged into Destiny on a modified console at some point.”

What benefits could players have from using a modded console, however? Well, gamers have been able to mod their consoles to manipulate Destiny’s gameplay. Players have been able to make themselves invincible, reduce – and even eliminate – cooldowns, rapidly increase movement speed, and give infinite ammo for weapons. There’s little harm in a single-player or offline game, but in a gaming experience as reliant on other players as a MMO, modding can certainly be seen as a major cheat.

Players could do well to heed Bungie’s words before thinking about modding their console. “Be careful out there. Play nice! And use the boxes that your favorite retailer ‘gave’ you.” The use of modified hardware and software is explicitly listed on Bungie’s Banhammer information page, too. It’s not as though Destiny requires that level of trickery, either. Players having difficulty should check out our Glimmer farming tips, or get inspiration from this player solo-running this section of Crota’s End.

Destiny is out now for PS3, PS4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

Source: Bungie

Bungie Bans Gamers Playing ‘Destiny’ on Modded Consoles