Cheating scumbags beware, Rockstar Games is wielding the banhammer tomorrow on those of you too talentless to achieve anything in a videogame without cheating.

Unlike many other developers though, Rockstar is giving you a chance at redemption. Are you going to take it?

Full details after the jump:

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Rockstar lays out who will be banned and why below. But also read on for details on how you can avoid being banned for cheating.

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 temporarily 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.

Also – we’d like to make clear that the comments area below is not the place to air out your grievances with this or to state your excuse (“Um, my cousin was playing on my 360 for a few days – I think he did it!” etc) – all such comments here and in other posts will be deleted, subject to our terms of service. Please instead direct any and all correspondence on this subject to banhammer@rockstargames.com and we will have a look there.

Thank you all
Rockstar Games