Halo 2 boots out the master cheats

Bungie Studios has moved to permanently ban cheating in Xbox Live-powered games of .

The automatically downloaded package is designed to detect hardware and software modifications to the game, such as Action Replay codes, as well as fix a number of newly discovered bugs and glitches in the online modes.

Anyone found playing the game with modified Halo 2 content, will be banned from matchmaking and, as Bungie itself says, "It will be permanent, and there will be no appeal process."

Anyone caught offending will still be able to take part in arranged games of Halo 2, however, and can use Xbox Live to play other titles online.

So if you do have modified content and want to meet Master Chief again, the team's advice is simple and final: "If you want to play modded content with your friends, do it on System Link. If you log into Live, you're banned. You have been warned."

Halo 2 is out now on Xbox