Will the developers act to address hacking in MW3 this time? They didn't with MW2.

To absolutely nobody's surprise, the first Modern Warfare 3 hack (for the PC version) is now in the wild. The aimbot package makes it impossible to miss and allows cheats to annihilate all comers and make games unplayable.

Similar hacks appeared for the game's predecessor, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. They are typically used by those wanting to rank up quickly (and unlock items), trolls who just love to annoy people and scumbag cheats who struggle to function in life. All three are generally despised in gaming communities.

The problem is, due to MW3's matchmaking system, as with its predecessor, once such a player appears, it's nigh on impossible to get rid of them. With no server admins or server rules, cheats (and other types of freaks) can't be kicked or banned. Furthermore, finishing a game and changing lobby all too often dumps you right back in the same place with the same person - they can't be got rid of.

The released video shows a player score over 100 kills with no deaths:

Previous advice has been to report people to Steam, but Steam is deluged with accusations, coming from people who confuse lag for cheating and don't trust anyone who displays signs of great skill.

Security from hackers has been a major excuse by the developers for not having proper, ranked dedicated servers. However, hacks plagued MW2 and look set to affect the trust of MW3 players already.

Other hacks we can expect to see include the instant 'maximum level promotion hack'. This can occur whether you want it to or not - if you inadvertently appear in a hacked lobby. The easiest solution here is to hit 'Prestige' and start again. Other popular MW2 hacks allowed cheats to see and fire through walls.

Occasionally, however, it should be noted that some hacks can be incredibly entertaining - when they become mods. These occasionally appeared in MW2 and allowed for highly-variable gameplay. One mod rolled a dice every time you spawned which gave you either a (potentially-massive) power-up or a (potentially-massive) burden. Others gave everyone rapid fire RPGs. These mods should appear on the unranked MW3 dedicated servers and will benefit from not giving players actual XP - which can be very high.

Sites exist saying what cheats are available for previous Call of Duty games but the depressing list is huge. The hacks are all available for sale and while the site claims they're undetectable, opposing players tend to notice when one player has a 10:1 ratio on everyone else. The list of available exploits is huge:

Aimbot - Autobot

- AimThru

- AimAt

- AimKey

- Visibility Check

- BoneScan

- Knifebot

- AutoSwitch

- Autoshoot

- AutoWall

- AutoZoom

- AutoProne

- Field Of View

- Human Aim

- Aim Speed

- Ping Correction - Friendly Aim

Esp - Name

- Distance

- Pose

- Skeleton

- Smiley Face

- Weapon

- BoundingBox

- Line

- AimDirection

- HeadDot

- See Dropped Weapons

- Helicopter

- Planes

- Sentries

- RCXD

- Dogs

- Explosives

- Explosive warning

- Enemy warning - 2D Radar

Removals - No Recoil - No Spread

Misc - ZoomHack

- PlayerHud

- Draw Stats

- Chat Spam

- Draw Fps

- Draw Time

- Draw Resolution - Crosshair

Settings - Set the fade of the radar

- Set the fade of the stats

- Four slots to save settings

- Ability to move menu - Menu fully mouse controlled

Whatever the reason Activision and the developers chose to stay with matchmaking on PC, it would be helpful if they helped players manage the situation by allowing votes to kick blatant offenders. As we saw yesterday, the constant suspicion of cheating enrages many players leading to all kinds of abuse and accusations which in turn make the game on the whole a hostile place to play - especially for young kids.

We'll contact the developers to see their view on these matters and update this article accordingly.