Nintendo files lawsuit to curb DS piracy
by Ross Miller 
{ Jul 29th 2008 at 10:15AM }
While the lawsuit is intended to thwart piracy, an unfortunate side effect is a hit to the homebrew community. If you were ever planning to pick up a flash cart for the DS, you might want to go ahead and grab one while you can.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Jody Anthony (gamertag and psn: JodyAnthony) @ Jul 29th 2008 10:22AM
Colors is worth the price of a flash cart alone. I have spent dozens of hours with that piece of software.
Jody Anthony (gamertag and psn: JodyAnthony) @ Jul 29th 2008 10:22AM
that and Animanitee
Curmeo 2.0 @ Jul 29th 2008 10:24AM
it was about time the consumer treated Nintendonald's like a big fat Swiss cow as well.
baby sea tuna @ Jul 29th 2008 10:45AM
Leave and don't come back.
Seriously.
Superstar90 @ Jul 29th 2008 10:50AM
Why do you call it Nintendonalds? It doesn't even make sense.
Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Jul 29th 2008 10:53AM
@Superstar
Because he thinks it makes him look witty comparing Nintendo to Mcdonalds.
Vidikron (FU) @ Jul 29th 2008 11:30AM
Well, as annoying as it maybe, the McDonalds comparison isn't entirely without merit. McDonald's rakes in lots of cash selling cheap food to the masses. The Wii rakes in lots of cash selling shallow/cheap games to the masses.
DangerMouse @ Jul 29th 2008 11:34AM
Yeah, but McDonald's "high quality" menu items still taste like shit.
Zertoss @ Jul 29th 2008 12:08PM
Would you like a preorder with that?
Oh wait. Wrong company.
Saria the Cat @ Jul 29th 2008 1:24PM
@Vidikron: I highly doubt he thought that deeply about it before he coined it, though.
Kassu @ Jul 29th 2008 5:36PM
@ baby sea tuna
I was crying from laughter for 5 minutes. Thank you.
oldmeme @ Jul 29th 2008 10:26AM
Hoho! Things are deffinetly about to get interesting now between N and the Flashcard makers.
On a side note, didn't the R4 factories close down quite a while ago anyway?
Noshino @ Jul 29th 2008 1:01PM
They did, that's why they are going against the retailers, as stated on the article right above the comment section...
"Nintendo has filed a lawsuit in Japan against five retailers"
[.sm0ke.] @ Jul 29th 2008 1:09PM
Yeah, the R4 factory got shut down but they found another one. Doesn't matter since the R4 is kinda old, and the DSTT is far better.
Sonicandtails @ Jul 29th 2008 1:32PM
Are you joking? Review after countless review proves that the DSTT is terrible. Slow, clunky, and bad. The R4/M3DSSimply is amazing, and has much higher compatibility than the DSTT. Now if you want to get in to better cards, CycloDS is a tad better than R4, with the latest cards like the EDGE and SuperCard DS One v3 being far superior.
Sonicandtails @ Jul 29th 2008 1:35PM
To further my point...
- 99.99% compatibility (Contra 4 fails to boot)
- No file browser
- No alphabetical sorting
- Saves don't have seperate folder
- Game list lags
- Doesn't support multiple skins
- GBA support isn't built into the OS
deaftly @ Jul 29th 2008 10:25AM
R4 owns
Saria the Cat @ Jul 29th 2008 1:25PM
"A NEW CHALLENGER IS APPROACHING"
CycloDS 4 Life!!!
LocalToast @ Jul 30th 2008 1:19AM
Yeah, sorry dude, but at this point, the CycloDS Evolution has the most (working) features, which are all awesome.
Monkeys Suck @ Jul 29th 2008 10:32AM
I think just having one of these cartridges for homebrew is very worth it. There's always interesting stuff coming out from the homebrew community, and it also lets you try your hand at programming.
By the way, you guys forgot to plug the DS Fanboy's homebrew site so people can see which one is the best and order it. =D
koehler83 @ Jul 29th 2008 10:35AM
This suit will fail. The R4 is not a copyright circumvention device. It merely runs unsigned code. There is a HUGE difference between the two. Running unsigned code on hardware you own is perfectly legal. The R4 manufacturers cannot be held accountable for the actions of the end user and any competent judge would rule in their favour.
Ayrkain @ Jul 29th 2008 11:31AM
Competency of this kind is passing rare these days.
Abscissa @ Jul 29th 2008 2:48PM
The suit certainly *should* fail for exactly the reasons you mentioned, but like Ayrkain alluded to, I have very little faith that that would actually happen.
Although, it's not as if I actually knew a damn thing about the Japanese legal system anyway. (Something tells me Phoenix Wright probably isn't a very accurate representation ;) )
Genius @ Jul 29th 2008 10:41AM
Sweet I ordered my R4 about 4 days ago! Considering I never really play my DS I figured it was pointless to buy games for it.
MC Double Def DP @ Jul 29th 2008 10:52AM
Did I hear you right? Did I hear you sayin' that you're gonna make a copy of a game without paying?
Microswirl (MKWii:1676- 4270-3674) @ Jul 29th 2008 3:52PM
"I never really play my DS I figured it was pointless to buy games for it"
Circular logic FTL. Did you ever stop to consider maybe the reason you don't play your DS is because you have no games for it? Way to go, Genius!
Sarge @ Jul 29th 2008 10:49AM
Do they even have the legal right to shut them down? It's not as if the retailers are supplying the ROMs, and as stated, the card has legitimate uses in homebrew. There's some really cool stuff out there, without even dabbling in commercial games. And the cards are cheap enough that you can get your money's worth out of them just from homebrew purposes.
Not sure this'll go anywhere. I personally hope not. I have an R4 and an Acekard 2, and they're really fun to play around with, not to mention giving the DS multimedia capabilities through Moonshell.
Kye - Me_DF @ Jul 29th 2008 11:01AM
Must order mine soon and stop putting it off.
One one for the misses.
And one for the kids.
:(
Tez (PSN: Tezasaurus) @ Jul 29th 2008 11:03AM
Yeah, because this will stop piracy. Idiots.
Mykalson @ Jul 29th 2008 11:05AM
This is rather silly. Most of these flash cards are produced in China and distributed through Hong Kong, and will continue to be produced regardless of any lawsuit.
I can't imagine this lawsuit doing anything other than making it harder for them to be purchased at retail.
Jacksons @ Jul 29th 2008 11:22AM
Yeah, I don't understand. They certainly aren't available at any retail store in my neck of the woods.
fred @ Jul 29th 2008 11:17AM
STOP BEING SUCH DICKS NINTENDO I WANT DO BREW STUUUUUUFF
John Z @ Jul 29th 2008 11:20AM
I'm just hoping I can get one myself. I can't remember, does "getting copies of GBA games you own onto a flash card for convenience" count as piracy? Am I going to Hell for not wanting to carry a ton of cartridges?
Zertoss @ Jul 29th 2008 11:35AM
That's what I use my EZFlash IV Lite for, plus it means I don't accidentally drop any of my carts and lose them forever, so if you're going to hell for that, I guess we'll both be seeing Nintendo's legal team there.
Sarge @ Jul 29th 2008 11:37AM
You own the games, so no. Granted, under legal technicalities, the backups you use must be dumped from your personal cartridges, but there's nothing morally wrong about that at all.
Just because something is illegal doesn't make it morally wrong. And the flipside is true as well, just because something is legal does not make it morally right.
Deuce @ Jul 29th 2008 9:15PM
Actually, downloading any game ROM or ISO not in the public domain is piracy, whether you own an original or not. The whole "Fair Use" argument applies solely to backup copies made by the owner of the original, which are expressly not for distribution to any other party, nor to be used on more than one machine. There is no "24-hour rule," contrary to what some would have you believe.
The only copyrighted ROMs you could legally possess would be ones you made yourself... and since making them requires gray-market technology, it's an iffy prospect, at best.
DangerMouse @ Jul 29th 2008 11:32AM
Can the R4 do anything to change the button scheme for GBA games, like use Buttons "Y" and "B" instead of the default "A" and "B"? I tried to play Mario 3 last night, and it's too hard to run and jump.
[.sm0ke.] @ Jul 29th 2008 1:11PM
The R4 can't run GBA games, period.
Sonicandtails @ Jul 29th 2008 1:36PM
It can run them if you have an EZ Flash 3-in-1. It has support for it.
Emophia @ Jul 29th 2008 11:35AM
I prefer teh M3 really, which is the exact same thing.
hedcold @ Jul 29th 2008 11:44AM
cyclods ftw
Saria the Cat @ Jul 29th 2008 1:32PM
Hell yeah! What-what!
JB87 @ Jul 29th 2008 11:54AM
"Nintendo files lawsuit to curb DS homebrew"
Fix'd.
Abscissa @ Jul 29th 2008 2:56PM
Yea, seriously, do people *really* think that this is *only* done to thwart piracy? Nintendo's entire 3rd party business model is based around charging people for the privilege of making a game for Nintendo's system. If people are playing games that sidestepped that channel, then Nintendo isn't getting that money. So let's stop pretending that Nintendo actually agrees with our views that homebrew is better than piracy.
x20mar @ Jul 29th 2008 12:08PM
Dear Nintendo,
While I respect your need to protect your patients and products with this lawsuit, may I ask you this - why on earth do you charge so much for games that are only up to 128MB big? Please bare in mind that there is currently a global credit crunch and not everyone can afford to pay your "recommended retail prices".
May I suggest that you introduce a downloadable games option for the DS, that way there would be less cartridges being produced, saving money, a saving that you could pass on to loyal fans.
Just a thought
Kangstarr @ Jul 29th 2008 1:09PM
Ummm...Nintendo makes a grip from each cartridge since it's their own proprietary format (like Sony memory sticks)...that's been their basic model since the NES days. You take that away, you take away 20-30% of their revenue or more.
Roto13 @ Jul 29th 2008 1:45PM
1. DS games are the cheapest games on the market that aren't digitally distributed
2. The actual size of the game means nothing. The cost of creating a game comes from the amount of work put into it.
\-_- @ Jul 29th 2008 12:48PM
Wow, pirates, how does it feel to be a fan of these companies, yet be disliked by them?
Deuce @ Jul 29th 2008 10:15PM
I think the companies would be happier (and better off) without those fans. It's not like they're making any money from the leechers.
Deuce @ Jul 29th 2008 12:43PM
Let's not kid ourselves, here. Perhaps 5% (at most) of the purchasers of these devices are going to be using them to run homebrew software. The primary function of such gray-market items is piracy.