Cheats-Area.com

   I'm sure we all remember the frenzy that ensued three and a half years ago, after some of the Half-Life 2 source code was stolen and made public. And I'm also sure that Valve's losses due to that unfortunate event were nowhere near disastrous - considering all the free publicity they gained. So you'll have to pardon me if I raise an eyebrow in doubt, when NCsoft blatantly claims that they could lose over $1 billion (that's right, with a "b"!), as a result of an alleged code theft. And boy, what a code!

   According to the Korean company, seven of its former employees took away software code for the upcoming Lineage III game, and showed it to a major Japanese competitor. No, we don't know which one, and we're not throwing any blind sticks at Square Enix or anyone at this time - even if they do seem to be having some problems with their own MMOs...

   The story was picked up by Chosun Ilbo, who say that the Seoul Metropolitan Police is currently investigating this case. The police believes that the Lineage III code may have been copied by the Japanese company during a job interview attended by the seven ex-NCsoft employees. And they are also suspected for another "leak" that took place at NCsoft last September, involving the program design of Lineage III.

   And to top it all off, the report also states that the Korean online giant recently took another massive blow, after it fired one of its senior game developers on account of "poor leadership skills". The only question is, if he was such a bad leader, how come most of his 90-member team also quit along with him?