Replay Max Evo Edition. Is it any good?

For many years I have used Datel Products and have thought very highly of them. They have been excellent bits of kit. Sadly all this looks to be going down the plug hole due to the shoddy support of their latest product. Success! See the latest at the bottom of this page

I bought the Action Replay Evo Max cheat unit for the PlayStation 2 as Codejunkies had stopped producing codes for their Action Replay 2 v2. It is possible to find new codes for the V2 by searching the internet (Godshin's page is good) and I had been doing this for a while. However, the Action Replay Max Evo came with a memory stick and emulator software which all looked very useful and interesting so I bought it new from a seller on Ebay. All arrived in good order and time.

I eagerly placed the cheat disc into my Playstaton 2 and searched for the cheats for the latest game. Not surprisingly they were not on the disc, but no problem (I thought). As advertised, you can put all the latest game codes on to your PlayStation using the memory stick. So I downloaded the codes from the internet on to the memory stick and put them into the PlayStation. They did not work! I looked at them and they were wrong.

The annoying thing is that if you painstakingly type in the codes displayed on the Codejunkie website, they do work for this particular game (GTA San Andreas), the codes downloaded automatically to the memory stick are completely different and do not work. A piece of software I have tells me that the codes are for the Japanese version of the game. Great

Later I found that the codes Burnout 3, displayed in pages on the Codejunkies website (which do work) are not in the codes downloaded to the memory stick

OK, no problem I thought, I will email Codejunkies and mention my problem to them and see what is going on. Maybe I had missed something

After sending Codejunkies 3 emails over as many weeks, I had not received a reply from them.

I am now wondering why I bought the ActionReplay Evo Max as is has not given me any advantages over the old Action Replay 2 v2 I had. I could have used the codes for GTA San Andreas from Godshin's website. I bought the Action Replay Evo Max because the codes were supposed to be updatable easily by downloading to the memory stick. So far I have not found any codes on this that will work for games I have. USELESS!

Unless Codejunkies answer my mails I will NEVER again purchase any Datel products, no matter what! I have tried the Datel website, but they only link back to Codejunkies for support. Maybe the problem I have been having is all my fault, maybe I have done something daft or not done something correctly when downloading the codes. Without their help I will never know. I am most certainly not going to ring their premium rate help line at £1 a minute to find out that in fact it is an error on their part which is what I suspect it really is.

Codejunkies have driven me to building this page by not answering any of my emails. I did not keep a record of the first two so I have reconstructed the first one

To Codejunkies Regarding the Action Replay Evo Max (Early November 2004). Email 1 and 2

I bought an Action Replay Evo Max and downloaded the codes from your website to the memory stick. I find that the codes downloaded look different from the codes displayed on your website pages. They do not work. They cause the game to lock up just as it starts to load. I think the codes are for the Japanese version of the game. Please help

Codejunkies Regarding the Action Replay Evo Max 20/11/04 Email 3

This is the third time I have emailed you regarding a problem with downloaded codes from your website not working when they are obviously not the right ones (Grand Theft Auto San Andreas). I bought an Action Replay Evo Max because I thought the memory stick option would save me having to type endless codes in. I have it all working only to find that the codes downloaded from your site are WRONG. I know they are wrong as the codes manually typed in from your pages WORK. Why should I bother buying one of your supposed improved products when you do not support it? You don't even do me the courtesy of replying to my emails. I have bought your products from the very early days and always was very happy with them. I have to say that I am far from impressed by the support for your latest product. I would appreciate a reply please. I would not even have needed to buy it if you had not created a new coding system for the cheats. I have since discovered codes for the Action Replay V2 on the internet, codes that you lot will not provide. It all seems like a big ripoff to me. Please show me a little courtesy and make me feel I have not been robbed by at least replying to this email

Codejunkies Regarding the Action Replay Evo Max 01/12/2004 Email 4

Hi
This is the fourth time I have emailed you about this problem and as yet I have had no reply. I am becoming very disillusioned by your products.

I bought the Action Replay Evo Max as I notice you no longer support the Action Replay V2. I got the Evo Max as I thought it would be a lot easier updating the codes to the memory stick directly off the internet.

I am disappointed to find that the codes for Grand Theft Auto San Andreas that I downloaded to the stick from the internet are wrong. They simply cause the game to crash on start of load. Whereas the codes that I typed in from your pages on your website work. When I examine the codes downloaded and the codes on your pages, they are different. I see that you have codes on your website for Burnout 3 but they are not in the file downloaded to the memory stick

Why on earth should I outlay my hard earned pennies to get the extra stuff when it does not even work?

IF you had responded to my emails (YOU STILL CAN PLEASE!), my attitude might be softened a little. At the moment though I am not at all pleased with your product or service I might also add that I have a website which features some game cheats and I shall be airing my views on your products on there Please at least do me the courtesy of replying to this email

Codejunkies Regarding the Action Replay Evo Max 07/12/2004 Email 6

This is my sixth email to you about this subject. You have not as yet replied to me. I am disgusted with the apalling service you are giving. I bought the Action Replay Evo Max as I notice you no longer support the Action Replay V2. I got the Evo Max as I thought it would be a lot easier updating the codes to the memory stick directly off the internet. I am disappointed to find that the codes for Grand Theft Auto San Andreas that I downloaded to the stick from the internet do not work, when I examine them closely, they do not appear to be the same as the ones actually listed on your website. The downloadable ones simply cause the game to crash on start of load. Whereas the codes that I typed in from your pages on your website work. When I examine the codes downloaded and the codes on your pages, they are different. I see that you have codes on your website for Burnout 3 but they are not in the file downloaded to the memory stick. Another disappointment Why on earth should I outlay my hard earned pennies to get the extra stuff when it does not even work? IF you had responded to my emails (YOU STILL CAN PLEASE!), my attitude might be softened a little. At the moment though I am not at all pleased with your product or service I might also add that I have a website which features some game cheats and I shall be airing my views on your products on there Please at least do me the courtesy of replying to this email

This is my seventh email to you about this subject. You have not as yet replied to me. I am disgusted with the apalling service you are giving. I bought the Action Replay Evo Max as I notice you no longer support the Action Replay V2. I got the Evo Max as I thought it would be a lot easier updating the codes to the memory stick directly off the internet. I am disappointed to find that the codes for Grand Theft Auto San Andreas that I downloaded to the stick from the internet do not work, when I examine them closely, they do not appear to be the same as the ones actually listed on your website. The downloadable ones simply cause the game to crash on start of load. Whereas the codes that I typed in from your pages on your website work. When I examine the codes downloaded and the codes on your pages, they are different. I see that you have codes on your website for Burnout 3 but they are not in the file downloaded to the memory stick. Another disappointment Why on earth should I outlay my hard earned pennies to get the extra stuff when it does not even work? IF you had responded to my emails (YOU STILL CAN PLEASE!), my attitude might be softened a little. At the moment though I am not at all pleased with your product or service I might also add that I have a website which features some game cheats and I shall be airing my views on your products on there Please at least do me the courtesy of replying to this email. http://8bs.com/replaymaxhorror.htm

22/12/2004 The URL of this Page given to pr@datel.co.uk in the hope they read it and contact me. Email 8

As Datel make the Action Replay range, I was hoping that they could help out. However, all their site does is link back to codejunkies. I sent their PR department this:

Hi
Over the last couple of months I have repeatedly emailed Codejunkies about a problem with the Action Replay Max Evo that I have been having.

They have not once replied to me. I have now placed a web page on my website that details the problem I have and also shows copies of the mails I have sent them via the web form on their pages.

Up to this point I have thought very highly of Datel Products. Presently I am not happy with the latest product at all. I am hoping that you can change my opinion

27/12/2004 To Codejunkies after a search in Google using 'Action Replay Max is it any good' brings this very page as number one in a result of 63,300 pages

All the time that you do not reply to me, the search engines are having time to find this page.

Hi
Please read this page: http://8bs.com/replaymaxhorror.htm
It documents the problem that I have been contacting you about and have not as yet received a reply.

Enquiry: Hi, Just browsing the web to keep an eye out for problems with our software and I saw your article about problems downloading codes using your Pen-drive. I'm very sorry that no-one from Datel has got back to your support inquiry, this is neither policy or practice, we're just overcoming a total changeover of our support staff (unfortunatly) and have a backlog. Email me using ***** and I should be able to help you out. (I'm producer here, I don't work in support).

I replied mentioning that this page details my problem. Matt replied asking a couple of questions about what I was using and where I got files from etc. He also said this:

Incidentally, the reason that we changed from using AR2 to ARMAX code types was that we introduced a new code engine to accommodate much more complicated programming routines used in more recent games, there was simply no way that the old code engine could have allowed us to make codes for these games. Rather than keep the format looking (but only working on new versions of Action Replay we decided to go for a totally new look code type. This is also the vehicle the carries the very useful 'self checking' nature of the codes, a couple of extra bits in the master code means we can CRC the whole code and check that users had typed codes in correctly. Very useful functionality indeed. We certainly didn't introduce the new code type for any cynical reasons.

In all we exchanged 3 emails. Matt replied very quickly with detailed explanations and apologies. I have sent him a version of the codelist I had problems with. OH and yes, I downloaded the latest version of the codelist and IT WORKS with GTA San Andreas! Yahoo!

Some time later now, I had to email Matt to see what was going on. He replied and told me he could not account for the codes not working for me. He says they were not the wrong codes and explained that, as they were all done from the same database, they should be the same and I think he assumed then that it must have been some sort of error that I made. However, I am convinced that I did not make an error and that the codes were certainly different

I have had numerous emails from people having read this article saying that they too do not get a response from codejunkies. A bit disappointing really and not what I would call good business practice

Replay Max Evo Edition. Is it any good?

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