APB: Reloaded to include anti-cheating feature called PunkBuster

GamersFirst has updated the APB: Reloaded blog with information on how the development will handle in-game cheating.

According to the blog post, "it may be virtually impossible to ever win the war against cheaters completely," but the team plans to try with PunkBuster.

PunkBuster, which was integrated into APB last year, was disabled and left untested during the game's Closed Beta back in April 2009. At the time, it was "not deemed an essential feature to enable before launch," but when finally enabled, it caused a whole mess of issues.

Apparently, these issues have been fixed, and a full upgrade of PunkBuster has been added to the latest edition of the game and plans for the anti-cheating measure will be "enabled on all servers from the very start of Closed Beta," allowing the team to get as much testing done as possible on it.

As far as banning cheaters is concerned, there isn't a "set in stone" banning policy just yet, but here is one thing the blog says will get a person banned:

If a player is positively identified as running a known aimbot, he/she will be immediately kicked from the district and a notification message will be sent to all other players in that district. The cheater’s account and PC will be immediately banned for a period of time, during which the person will not be able to play using that account on any computer. If an aimbot is detected a second time, the account and computer will immediately be permanently banned, all monies paid will be forfeited and any upgrades or customizations will be revoked.

This might seem quite harsh, but there really is no excuse for aimbotting and this time around it will be treated with zero tolerance. We believe this policy will cut down on cheating significantly, and ensure a fairer and more fun experience for everyone.

APB: Reloaded will enter closed beta in February.

Thanks, Massively.