DS NEWS
Japan cracks down on piracy, outlaws R4 carts
No homebrew for you, Mr Roboto |
Ah yes, the infamous flash cart - bane of Nintendo's mega-profits.
Only the other day we were musing on Nintendo's appeal to the US Trade Representative to put pressure on other countries to make a more concerted effort to curb piracy, and now it seems Japan is listening.
Last year, Nintendo and a party of 53 other companies petitioned the Tokyo District Court to put a stop on sales of the R4 flash cart, and it seems their call has now been answered.
Japan has now banned the sale of the R4 device, which, among many other (legitimate) things, allows gamers to play pirated DS games.
What's a bit unusual is this ruling essentially only seems to prohibit that particular brand, while similar flash carts bypass the ruling. At least, for now.
Nintendo apparently intends to chase the entire flash cart industry into extinction. To be fair to Nintendo, one of the most prominent uses of DS flash carts is indeed piracy, though such a ham-fisted pursuit of a device that's also used to unlock the console's potential won't do it any favours in the technophile arena.
And right now, cutting off a passionate hardware customer base (on the dawn of a
new system release) isn't a particularly wise move for a games system that, it has to be said, is wilting in the sun of a changing industry.
We'll have to wait and see how this Japanese ruling affects the rest of the world, but for the time being Japanese DS gamers are going to have to look elsewhere for their homebrew DS apps.
MCV
David | 27 February 2009
You guys on pocket gamer what the f*ck is wrong with you condoning the R4
it sounds like you condone piracy shame on you good for Nintendo the sooner the HomeBrew market and piracy dries up the better
Joined:
Jul 2008
Post count:
393
We certainly don't condone piracy - if anything, piracy puts us out of a job too. But devices like the R4 flash cart have a lot of genuine uses that I'd certainly miss if flash carts were banned here.
There's no getting away from the fact that they're used for piracy, though. Then again, exactly the same thing could be said for video recorders, DVD recorders, computers - even iPods. These are all devices that could be used to aid the pirate, but that doesn't mean they don't have valuable, legitimate uses too.
Mr Hearn | 27 February 2009
Hi David,
As Spanner says, we condemn piracy, which is criminal; we condone homebrew, which is legal.
To use a precedent, when they were still being used blank video and cassette tapes were largely for the purposes of storing and transmitting copyrighted material but their legal uses made them indispensable.
The legal uses that an R4 cart can be put to are far more interesting and varied than anything you could do with a blank tape - check out our various How Tos and homebrew articles for evidence.
Of course, the majority are used by pirates, which is a great shame, but piracy is the problem - not the technology that happens to enable it. Otherwise we'd have to outlaw blank DVDs, PCs, and cutlasses.
Joined:
May 2007
Post count:
387
Remind me again of the legal uses for a cutlass?! lol
I do find myself siding with David on this one if I'm honest, for the simple reason that Nintendo do not build the DS for homebrew communities, those communities have the GP Wiz and Pandora for that. Nintendo sets a retail price for the DS based on software sales, I think if someone wants to open the software up and homebrew on it they should pay a premium price for the product, much like buying a Sim Free mobile phone, if you won't adhere to the terms and conditions of buying the phone you must pay the Sim Free price.
It's a tricky one but I think the use of a flash card for any capacity not currently offered by Nintendo is damaging to the business overall. Even reading e-books should be done legitimately by buying the 101 classic books.
In summary:
Regular DS for gamers £129
Fully unlocked DS for homebrew £199
Bob | 28 February 2009
"And right now, cutting off a passionate hardware customer base (on the dawn of a new system release) isn't a particularly wise move for a games system that, it has to be said, is wilting in the sun of a changing industry."
1) The DSi has been out in Japan for months
2) How exactly is the DS "wilting in the sun"? They sold 500,000+ units in the USA last month, which is about the same as the PS3 and 360 combined!
Name | 28 February 2009
:facepalm: jesus christ such moronic posts...i mean...jesus christ
Sword collector | 28 February 2009
OT: Cutlasses have been banned from sale in the UK, as they are curved blades over 30cm long. A side-effect of the 'samurai-sword' ban.
I have two. Their legal use is they look decorative in my living room.
Arrrr.
Jack | 1 March 2009
@ Bob
Yeah, I didn't understand the "wilting in the sun" remark either. Slightly strange thing to say considering the consistently strong performance of the DS.
JED | 2 March 2009
I think the obvious thing for nintendo to do here is to allow a certain type of app file to to be uploaded to the SD card of new NDSi.
Problem is when people create an app that is worthy of a price rather than just a free one.... to get round this they would ned an apple style app store in order to get their hands on a percentage of sale, and maintain approvals of content....
Joined:
Jul 2008
Post count:
393
Admittedly there are some negative connotations to the phrase ‘wilting in the sun’, but it’s not intended to denigrate what the DS has undeniably achieved (I own two of them). But it’s clear that the iPhone has completely renovated the handheld games industry, and suddenly the old marketing model for games distribution and pricing are defunct.
The DS and PSP are making an effort to warp their remit around this new twist in the games industry, but it’s a temporary measure at best – they’re simply not geared up to offer the services that not only gamers, but developers are now demanding. Therefore, the DS and PSP – as awesome as they are – are beginning to fade. It’s an inevitability, and no reflection on the great gaming they have provided.
With a refreshed perspective, Nintendo and Sony could easily adjust their handheld gaming efforts to compete with Apple, but the DS, PSP and DSi probably aren’t the solution. That’s what the phrase ‘wilting in the sun’ is intimating – but it definitely doesn’t mean we think of them any less favourably of those systems than we did before – except maybe the DSi. I still need convincing about that one.
Also, I collect bladed weaponry, and it’s really annoying that cutlasses are hard to come by now. What’s the world coming to when a guy can’t go to Tesco’s dressed as a pirate? Yargh.
