Cheats prosper for Datel

Cheat specialist Datel is celebrating the success of its flagship product, the Action Replay V2 for the PS2, which took an "unassailable" lead in the cheat sector last year - with sales figures over 25,000 ahead of its nearest competitor, according to Chart-Track figures.

Datel now claims to have an astonishing 85 per cent share of the PlayStation 2 cheat market, and the company also had the best-selling cheat product on the Game Boy Advance last year.

"I'm delighted we're entering our 20th anniversary year in such a strong position," enthused managing director Mike Connors. "Datel products are outperforming all competitors on the platforms that matter, and the first quarter of 2003 will see us become the first company to release cheat code systems for Xbox and GameCube."

Indeed, Datel's GameCube cheat systems have been the subject of much speculation in recent months, as the GameCube "FreeLoader" disc - which, the company claims, will allow PAL Cubes to boot original games from Japan and the USA - has missed release dates repeatedly. The product is now scheduled for February, although many would-be customers seem to be adopting a "don't hold your breath" attitude to the new release date.