Nintendo Freaks Out That People Can Use Memory Card To Pirate Games
from the give-them-a-reason-to-buy dept
You would think by now that companies might start to realize that they're never going to put a damper on any kind of piracy by lawsuit -- but that they need to actually give people a reason to buy. Apparently that message has not yet gotten through to the suits at Nintendo, who are looking into lawsuits to make it difficult to buy products that let you use unauthorized versions of DS handheld console games. There's a device called the R4 Revolution, that can be used by DS owners to store all their games on a single memory card, so they don't have to carry around all those cartridges. That's a big advantage and a huge value.Of course, it also lets owners play unauthorized games. And, that, has Nintendo execs freaked out and suing.
But considering the very real legitimate use of the device, it's hard to see what's "illegal" about the device itself. In trying to stop the sale of the device, of course, Nintendo is also providing a lot more attention for the device and the fact that it can be used for unauthorized games as well. You would think that a device that made the actual DS console more valuable would be something that Nintendo execs would get excited about rather than trying to sue it out of existence.
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Filed Under: memory cards, nintendo ds, piracy, r4 revolution, video games
Companies: nintendo
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never heard of it.....until now
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Thank you DMCA
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Re: Thank you DMCA
F-U man, seriously I'm tired of your off-topic crap. Go spout your hate somewhere else.
...and no, I don't have to be a coward to say this.
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Re: Thank you DMCA
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Re: Re: Thank you DMCA
Conservatives tend to be.
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Re: Thank you DMCA
We should all be proud of ourselves!
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Hmm...
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Re: Console
I understand where Nintendo is coming from. I purchased an R4 for my wife, and the truth is she hasn't bought any games since. Truth is, most people who buy an R4 are not going to use it for backing up data.
But, once again, this is a perfect example of doing it wrong. How many people have just learned what an R4 is through this lawsuit and are now running to get one as we speak? It's a bit like shooting yourself on the foot.
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Re: @Anonymous Coward
When you console someone they get handheld...right?
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awesome
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Re: awesome
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Lost sale
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Nintendo lawsuit
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"...it's hard to see what's "illegal" about the device..."
Answer
"...Of course, it also lets owners play unauthorized games..."
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Re:
A copying machine lets users copy whole sections from books. Let's sue Xerox!
A decent camera can reproduce works of art quite well. Let's sue Canon and Nixon!
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Re:
"...it's hard to see what's "illegal" about the device..."
Answer
"...Of course, it also lets owners play unauthorized games..."
So does a computer's hard drive, should those be illegal too.
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Re:
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Re:
"Well you can kill someone so nobody should be allowed to have a gun."
Fkn a man, think before you speak.
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(Nintendo should have added a way to get demos of games for the DS.)
Because I've wasted quite a few euros on real stinkers of games. That's 40+ euros per game I could've used on other/better games.
But still I mostly use it for homebrew. There are some real gems out there (though you do have to wade through a lot of Tetris-like games). Here is a large list:
http://nintendo-ds.dcemu.co.uk/NintendoDS-HomebrewGames.php
(Setsuzoko no Puzzle is a good one, also Puzzlemaniak. And if you dig a bit deeper you can even find "make-your-own-adventure" stories from LoneWolf or how about an Incredible Machine like game such as Pocket Physics.)
Not to mention the media playback capabilities that those cards add (Moonshell), or the PIM functionalities added by DS Organize.
These cards have a lot more functionality than just play ROM files.
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For Example, on a 4 gig microsd i've got about 120 games, a few movies, an entire season of arrested development, misc homebrew stuff and like 80 books. Plays mp3's too, but I have none loaded on it at the moment. Supports 8 gig cards as well.
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I just bought one
Does anyone know if there are emulators available, if there were I would buy the DS just to play the old nes or atari games?
In my opinion, nintendo should look seriously at this as a way to really boost their profits. How, you ask? I would go to the company, say, look, I will buy you for this, or I will shut you down.
Then I would create a system that would allow people to buy ALL their DS games online. They have enough of a market share to just say, we are selling direct using this device. You come to our site, but the game, and then it runs on this card. They then would not have to share profits with Wal-Mart and target. They could give the dev studios a little more money. The dev studios would save money, due to packaging costs.
They could charge 5 bucks less for the game. You would have more games, cheaper price. That would probably even grow their market share even more.
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Re: I just bought one
I got it quick too. Nintendo must be going nuts.
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And once you start doing that for games you own, you aren't going to not download the ones you don't.
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Attn: Nintendo
The only reason I bought a DS, is because of the R4.
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M3Real
This makes perfect time for me and my DS to hang out. With the M3Real I'm able to take the 60 odd games I constantly play and take them all with me with no added luggage to carry. Incredible feature to have. Something I would like to keep.
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Illegal?
"...it's hard to see what's "illegal" about the device..."
Answer
"...Of course, it also lets owners play unauthorized games..."
This guy has the right idea. We should ban every device that can be used for illegal activities.
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Homebrew and try before you buy
Another point from me and i do own a R4 is that there arn't demos avalable for alot of the games. I want to try the game, and see if i enjoy it. i do have a Wii and the Nintendo channel dose have some demos but nothing new or current.
i don't want to spend my money on shovel ware. but i will and have bought a game that i did download for my R4 becasue i really enjoyed it. But It seems i use my R4 for a try before you buy approch.
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KA Ching!!!
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A funny comment
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Notice something?
In a perfect world, I'd love to play an "extended demo". By that I mean, I can play the game, bare bones, one time through for a discounted price. If I want to play it again, or get secrets, access multiplayer, get alt-endings, etc., then I need to purchase the full version. I'd definitely pay for the full version...plus it would make developers add content to their games to warrant a purchase, instead of giving us crap and hoping we buy anyway.
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They have something to be worried about
This thing sounds like it's a little more difficult to do than the Dreamcast but it's not too much of a stretch.
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I just bought one too
Still, I can see Nintendo's side too. I'm buying the DS from them (I probably wouldn't have if it wasn't for the R4), but I would think they make most of their money off games and game licensing. Now I can very easily bypass that and get all the games I want for free. . .
Bobby Bobyanna, try http://www.workingdesign.de/ to get a genesis emulator (Sonic the Hedgehog runs great). Look here for a more comprehensive list of software/emulators: http://wiki.scorpei.com/index.php/R4_compatibility_list#Emulators
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same sh*t different day
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Thanks for the Idea
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Tactic
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Great point! make it public and more people will find out how to get games without paying :)) And going after R4 is useless - there dozens of competing products available.
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I can't think of a use besides piracy of games.
If you can use it to back up games, why would you? Getting the DS game onto the R4 with your own cart and hardware requires specialized hardware and some specialized expertise, since the DS cards are nonstandard in size and probably don't fit in any card reader slots in a PC. Nobody in their right mind would invest in the extra hardware to back up their games on the R4 and then have them in a convenient place.
What they would do is download those games for free, and more, since they're available. The games you own are out there for free, like every other DS game you own. They're easy to get, and comparably small in file size. I mean, Super Mario 64 DS wasn't more than 32 MB, I'm pretty sure. Most people can pull that down.
I would never buy a Nintendo DS game again now that I own this product, unless they somehow destroy the game piracy community, which I hope isn't a possibility. It's a waste of money to not invest in a flash card. It's 40 dollars for one DS game, and most aren't worth 10. The value of an R4 is amazing because of the implication of piracy. If a device like this existed for other consoles, I would never buy a game.
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RE: Thank you DMCA
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Re: RE: Thank you DMCA
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RE: Re: RE: Thank you DMCA
Typical stupid response.
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Re: RE: Re: RE: Thank you DMCA
Ok Ill try to explain it so even a Bush supporter could understand; Bahhhh, Bahh, Bahhh . . .
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Re: battery...
DS games are the ultimate ripoff - they deserve to be pirated - most aren't even worth the effort to download.
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r4
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hey by the way is it illegal to download it or to buy it or both?
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try this place they sell all kinds of crap for vidoe games and stuff this where im gettin my r4
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