There's a special breed of low-life lurking the trails of New Austin in Rockstar's Red Dead Redemption for the Sony PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Xbox 360 (and I'm not just talking about Dutch van der Linde).  Cheaters are running amok on the game's online multiplayer mode thanks to hacked save files that grant the most powerful weapons, the best status upgrades, and other such things that completely break the game's usually balanced attributes.  Ever check the leaderboards and find that the top players have completed challenges in zero seconds?  Yes, that would be cheaters in action.  Well, Rockstar's had about enough of this madness and is preparing to kick them from the game once and for all.  Anyone playing with a hacked save file has just a few days left to come clean and regain honor.  Here are the details:

Next week, starting on Tuesday, August 24th – we will be swiftly and indefinitely banishing from the world of Red Dead Redemption multiplayer all Gamertags and PSN IDs we’ve detected  with hacked game saves.  Such cheating is a clear violation of our code of conduct, and punishable at our sole discretion.

If you are one of these people, we are giving you this last chance for REDEMPTION to restore your HONOR: you have one week from today to delete your hacked game save to be spared the hammer’s swift justice on the 24th.

Some notes to be aware of:

• This will not apply to those people who simply took advantage of temporary exploits to rapidly grind up XP a few weeks ago. We are able to tell who actually hacked their save to have impossible scores.
• Banned hackers will also be removed from the leaderboards.
• To be spared, any hacked saves that you have will need to be deleted – single player as well as multiplayer. You should be aware that everything is wiped when deleting saves. These are the only exceptions:
  • Players would keep any Achievements/Trophies they had already earned.
  • All preorder items tied to their accounts would be unlocked for them upon signing in and creating a new save while connected to Xbox LIVE or PlayStation Network
  • Any cheats earned through Social Club would be unlocked for them upon signing in and creating a new save while connected to Xbox LIVE or PlayStation Network
• After deleting your hacked game save(s), you will then need to go online with Red Dead Redemption (prior to August 24th) for it to register that you're now playing clean. For single-player saves, you will need to re-play the game while connected until you gain access to the safehouse at MacFarlane's ranch. For multiplayer saves, you will need to play one full game online or do one Gang Hideout.

I love how Rockstar is policing the old west to keep the cheaters and griefers from interfering with the honest fun.  This kind of moderation makes me want to keep coming back to the game which, in turn, not only keeps in on my mind and in print here at PTB, but will also will inevitably lead me to buy more of the upcoming downloadable add-ons that are in the works.  Meanwhile, I have fun playing the game.  Everybody wins.  Except the cheaters, of course.  I think they've "won" enough already.