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Over-the-air "cheats" sent to your Playstation via SMS

The Playstation 2 isn't a wireless platform - yet. But a touch of wireless is creeping into the game media, with Game Player offering an SMS-based hints and cheats service to Playstation 2 owners.

The magazine site appears to be nascent, but apparently will be paying for the cheap service from AlienPants - a professional gamer support group.

"The main bonus for us is being able to offer access to a live cheat master without having to employ those people ourselves," said Russell Ware, Director of Papercut Ltd, which produces Game Player magazine on behalf of Revolution Media.

Workers for AlienPants are known as Cheat Masters. "Customers can request Cheats, Hints and Tips for Playstation 2 games by sending the keyword GP, followed by their question, to the UK mobile short code 83149. The question is then passed to AlienPants' core GTIP application, and a live Cheat Master will reply directly to the customer's mobile phone," said AlienPants founder Tom Gordon.

The 83149 short code is available from all UK mobile networks except Virgin Mobile and 3.

"Once we had decided that we wanted to offer a SMS cheats service, we approached AlienPants and outlined what we wanted. Within a very short space of time we were up and running with our chosen keyword and shortcode number," said Russell Ware. "Having tested the service, we are very happy with the ease with which people can send their questions and also the speed and detail of the response."