Rockstar to hang Red Dead Redemption cheaters

The Old West may have begat a multitude of no good, dirty cheaters in its day when it came to cards, whoring, and snake oil salesmen, but the Old West in Red Dead Redemption multiplayer is no place for them, and Rockstar plans to hang the lot of 'em.

In a post over on Rockstar's official blog, the developers make note it's aware of "a few rotten apples" and are "actively working on new features to counter against the isolated incidents of abuse that go on" in the best selling US title of 2010 so far.

For the next title update, planned for release on XBL and PSN within the next month, measures to counter hacking and cheating will be put in place so those who are detected will get the online ban hammer for period to be determined at Rockstar's "discretion".

The title update will also provide "some anti-grief relief with some new features in Free Roam", so those being bullied in Free Roam will be given the option to flee by "transporting and respawning in a region of the map of their choosing".

To those doing the bullying, a new challenge will be implemented: when a player gets a 6 kill streak in Free Roam, they will become "Most Wanted."  This alert informs other players of their status as a player-killer, and sends NPC law response after them.

Both measures are being taken to ensure "everyone’s multiplayer experience is as fair and as fun as can be".

Nice to know there's still some straight shootin' lawmen out there patrolling the prairies, taking down the bad guys.

You can get more information on the changes through the blog post, which is free from failed attempts at western humor, like this one.

The next bit of DLC for the title, Legends and Killers, is expected next month.