Chessmaster Live question

[Blade Runner]

Hey everyone,

I was thinking of buying the full version of this after trying the demo. However there's one thing I don't like in it and I was wondering if this feature can be switched off in the full version...

Basically when you're playing, when you select a piece to move, it shows where you can move it. But it also shows the possible positions of where it is at risk of your opponent taking your piece, by showing a red square, before you actually move it. I wouldn't like to purchase this game and find my opponent will be warned about moving their piece into a position where I could take it. This kind of ruins the game.

Could any one who has the full version tell me if this feature can be disabled?

Thanks.

[Bort]

I just checked and you only get the guides during single player.

Tried a head to head with myself and no guides were shown and there weren't any options in the menu to turn them on.

[Blade Runner]

Thanks for the reply

[Sane]

Just a word of warning, according to my friend who plays this a lot there's a lot of cheating on this game, ranging from people not moving when they start out as white (if you quit you lose), using computers to think for them and messing with the leaderboards in some way. The game itself is quite good but if you're getting it for the online play you may want to reconsider, atleast till they patch it.

[Blade Runner]

Just a word of warning, according to my friend who plays this a lot there's a lot of cheating on this game, ranging from people not moving when they start out as white (if you quit you lose), using computers to think for them and messing with the leaderboards in some way. The game itself is quite good but if you're getting it for the online play you may want to reconsider, atleast till they patch it.

Thanks for the warning. I was going to get this mainly for online play, so I think I will wait now. Cheers.

[ml_]

I play it online and i've not seen any of the reported problems but have read about them.

Its mainly being blamed on the achievements and the two 'cheats' given are :

1) If you start a game (as white) you can then just sit there and your not forced to make the first move - whoever joined will get fed up and resign (you win)

This is a terrible 'bug' in the game and I think should be patched - it would be very frustrating to be in this situation and theres no reason why you cant have a forced start to the timer if white in a game doesnt move.

2) People using other programs to do the thinking - this is just people cheating and theres not much you can do about it - and unless they brag about it i dont see how you would find out about it either ?

The single player modes in this are quite comprehensive but i got it for the online play and so far for me its been good.

You occasionally get some mis-matches (i've been totally thrashed at some points by a vastly better player and have also steamrollered other less able players) but that aside its a reasonable game.

[Super Grover]

As an aside, you could go to gameknot.com which is a decent chess community site.

[monel]

As an aside, you could go to gameknot.com which is a decent chess community site.

My current pc is ****e, I doubt it could cope.



Sad how cheaters ruin online play for everybody else who wants to play fair.

[Super Grover]

Does anyone know how to view the other d/l chess sets before purchasing them?

[Blade Runner]

Does anyone know if this game has been patched to prevent the cheating?

Thanks.

[Bort]

I've just booted it up for the first time since my last post and it didn't download an update.

[JimMiller]

Ah Chessmaster, learned a lot playing against the 2100 version of this program on the Amiga many years ago. Just in case anyone would like to play against real opponents on a PC, I can point you in the direction of the main online chess playing sites for pc which are the internet chess club (uses a downloadable client called Blitzin) and playchess.com (Also uses a downloadable client - it's from the professional database package makers Chessbase themselves). Google them and have a look. There is a free one week trial on ICC and the nice thing about Playchess server is that you can log in as a guest and play for free anytime as I do almost every day. Some very good players on these too, you can even watch famous grandmasters play blitz chess (5 mins) which is always fun.

Chessmaster is probably pretty decent for the casual player (which will be most people) and certainly a good introduction to the game, but if you're any good at the game these PC servers will certainly provide you with a good range of rated opponents for any level. I once played Grandmaster Boris Alterman (he was Kasparov's second/helper for a while in late nineties) in a simul on the ICC (drew the game too ), which is the kind of event that won't be happening on Chessmaster. Good luck to anybody taking up the game of chess, I've been addicted to it for more than 15 years and if you really get into it there is no better game

Hope my rambling is of some use to someone.

[Charlie]

My night's aren't complete without a couple of games of Chessmaster on the 360. It's a brilliant game and easily one of my favourite XBLA titles. My only issue is the computer AI takes too long over each move but it ain't that big a deal as there are usually human players to be found which, naturally, make for more interesting games.

[Blade Runner]

I just bought it and it asked me to update. So hopefully it has been patched.

It also says this on wikipedia

This version of Chessmaster contained a bug allowing the white player to indefinitely hold up a match until a player resigned. The game was eventually patched so that neither player would gain or lose Elo points if they resign before the first move.

Would that apply for all regions?

[Charlie]

Yes, all regions.