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Nintendo 3DS: Nintendo Planning To Make R4 Used Nintendo 3DS Consoles Useless?

Rumours are floating around the interwebs suggesting that Nintendo are currently preparing an update to render Nintendo 3DS consoles that have used R4 cards useless.

The rumours also suggest that Nintendo are keeping log of Nintendo 3DS consoles that have used flash cards enabling retailers to check them and subsequently refuse any consoles that have used them.

Source

52 thoughts on “Nintendo 3DS: Nintendo Planning To Make R4 Used Nintendo 3DS Consoles Useless?”

  1. Stop stirring up drama. They can’t legally do that – they can ban us, sure, but not brick our consoles. They’d be sued up their asses. This has been brought up in the topic of modding PS3’s and such before. And even if they do ban us, it’ll be incredibly easy to get around. This has happened a shitload of times with the Wii.

    1. Technically, they can brick the program since it’s a closed software. The hardware will still work, but the software won’t allow it. It’s like when a program has a trial version. Unless you buy it, everything else will be locked, and after sometime you won’t use it at all. Programs like Lightwave now use a USB dongle. Without it, you can only access to the trial version. You must use the dongle if you want to use the full program even if you paid for it. It’s a legal contract and that’s how things work wether we like it or not.

    1. Good? I don’t think you understand the whole homebrew community. At least 50% of the people with flashcarts don’t use them for piracy, but instead homebrew. So what if we wanna play some N64 games on our 3DS or PSP? It’s not piracy. Sure, it’s running unsigned code, but what are you going to be like Apple now Nintendo? (Which, Apple can’t even brick consoles either. NO ONE has done it, and this rumor arises EVERY TIME a console is hacked for the first time)

      1. 50% my ass, these BS statistics only show how little the so called “homebrew” community cares about the damage they do to Videogame systems. Want to hear another statistic? 100% of R4 users have illegal content playing on their DS systems.

        1. HEY! I use an R4 and I do not have ANYTHING I don’t already own on it, I use it simply for the convenience of carrying 1 cartridge around instead of 12.

          1. I actually have 16 original games wich i simply bought and let them still sealed in my underwear drawer. i bought them because i liked`em so much that i didnt wanted to lose my savedata, however the ONE THING I know is that if someone has worked hard in developing anything that pleases me then this person deserves some of my money. and, oh, yes i have korg-ds10 runing ilegally on my ds lite flashcard, but that`s the only one. I do NOT want to cary about 15~20 cartridges at a time, and the possibility to back up my saves on my computer really amazes me.

      2. As much as I like homebrew, I’m pretty sure getting an N64 emulator to play N64 games is technically piracy >_>

        Not that I’m against it, but I wouldn’t really call that not-piracy

        1. Lol, no. If you’ve dumped the games yourself it’s not. And I’m not sure if the N64’s patent is expired, but I know all consoles before it (SNES, NES, Genesis, 32x/CD, etc.) patents expired so getting the roms and emulating them is perfectly legal. In fact, Sega endorses it, and loves it.

  2. I seriusly doubt that nintendo would do something like this. I am a flash card user, but that doesnt mean i dont ever buy the Nintendo Games. I normally use it to test the games before i buy them, in fact i actually own a bunch of nintendo DS games. I learend the hard way not to listen to those nintendo commercials, since every game seems awesome, but when you actually play it… it sucks. Plus, with my flash card i can listen to music and watch videos (crappy quality, but videos nontheless xD).

    In some other Consoles the piracy issues are even worse. That is the case of most of the sony consoles, like PS1, PS2, PS3 and even the portable version (PSP). Nintendo has only recently started suffering from piracy issues, with the introduction of the Nintendo Wii (a Disc based console), and the Nintendo DS.

  3. You can make it as pretty as you want but using the R4 on your DS is illegal; even if you don’t pirate a single game it’s illegal. That’s it. There’s no silver lining, no loophole, no “legal” R4 card, if you put that sucker into your 3DS Nintendo has every right to brick your console. Even a full-blown idiot shouldbe able to understand that. R4 = illegal. I’ve repeated this a couple times already because I know some idiot is going to reply to this comment trying to validate his/her use of an R4 card. And to you anonymous stranger, go ahead and use an R4. I’ll be laughing my ass off when your $250 console becomes a paperweight.

    1. oh, so you’re saying even if you buy the 3ds for $250, it isn’t really yours and you can only do what Nintendo wants you to do with it? bull! if i buy something for $250, it belongs to me and if i can do whatever i want to it. r4 cards are legal. if you google search it, you’d find that courts have ruled R4 cards legal. before you start blindly saying that “oh it’s illegal.” why don’t you look it up.

      1. I can straight up tell you I use an r4 for all the illegal purposes they have out there. And good response for that ignorant AbuJaffer guy up there. I study law and Sale of Goods Act will rule that anyone who buys something, they have a right to quiet possession of it.

    2. oh so you’re saying that the $250 ds that you buy isn’t yours and nintendo can do whatever they want to it? wrong. if i pay $250 for something, it belongs to me. and before you start saying that r4 cards are illegal, why don’t you google search it. if you have google searched it, you’d find that courts have ruled r4 cards as being legal. nintendo has every right to ban people from using their online service because it is theirs but as far as the actual systems, once someone buys it, it belongs to that person. so nintendo has no right to brick them.

      1. So, if a competing company buys a 3DS and creates a similar design using the exact same type of parts, is that legal? No, it’s not. They file patents for it. Just because you pay for the system doesn’t mean you can just modify it to pirate games. It doesn’t matter how much you want to flash cards to sound legal, people still use them to pirate games. If a modified system breaks, then is it fair for the manufacturer to repair it? Of course not. You did something you shouldn’t have. It’s just like the music industry. If you’re caught pirating music, you can be sued and charged millions of dollars per song that you have pirated.

        1. And whatever junk these people are saying, I hope you’re one of those people out there paying $39.99 for each and single game that you play.
          I pity you guys because I paid $40 for my r4 and guess what? That $40 got me 139 games to this date.

      2. It’s in the contract when you buy the system. You agreed to the contract when you bought it. Maybe you should have read the “Terms and Agreements” noone seems to read these days. Wait let me spell that out for you.
        Terms
        and
        AGREEMENTS!
        As in, Nintendo set terms (in this case, don’t hack the system), and by buying the system you agreed to it!

  4. That’s good to hear. I don’t get where people get the “50%” statistics. The fact is that you’re using unauthorized content or have modified your system. That right there voids your warranty as well as your credibility. Homebrew sounds nice, but not many people use it just for the extras. Nintendo has the right to brick your system. I believe they did that with the Wii. There were a lot of complainers once they couldn’t use their system. Nintendo offered to repair those system for free. Did they take advantage of that? Of course not. Also, the activity log has a record of what has been played on your system. They will know exactly who has a modified system. To add to that, it seems the 3DS was built using mini robots with a complex design. If you open up your system, you may damage it pretty easily. That will also void your warranty.

    And for the idiots saying emulating N64 games and such is legal, well, it’s not. It is if the licensor holder is no longer in business and the rights for the game are gone and is not being sold/publish anymore. However, games like The Legend Of Zelda, Super Marion Bros, Metal Gear Solid, Parasite Eve, etc are games from previous generations that have stopped their retail distribution. The thing is that they are available digitally thanks to the Virtual Console and the PS1 classics as well as through other means. That makes these titles relevant and it’s illegal to reproduce/pirate them. Nintendo outdid themselves with this. I would pity anyone who is not getting this system just because they can’t use R4 cards anymore. If you want your business to be successful, you would want to protect it from other people, wouldn’t you? You don’t want people “lifting” your merchandise, right?

  5. What Nintendo tried to do before releasing 3DS was to make network portion more integral to 3DS experience (you know, things like update while in sleep mode, etc) because then they have every right to block users using jailbroken/modified consoles (it’s a part of user agreement). But that didn’t happen. Still, they can use this to scare people off and annoy people (e.g. have error message pop up every time you turn on your 3DS).

    But what are the chances of nintendo actually bricking/etc? Not high. Unless Sony can do that for their consoles first without losing lawsuits….

  6. I’m not one to comment on these strings but the level of unintelligent comments that are totally devoid of research and knowledge is quite exceptional. Purely speaking about the legalities… If you have bought any product knew from a recognized retailer with full warranties and undamaged packaging, IT IS YOURS! what you do to it is your business. If you choose to hack it modify it than IT IS OK! BUT you have now officially voided your warranty and the company of production orgin reserves the right to deny you access to repairs or damages incurred after the said modifications. Using it for home brew is totally cool too. But if you are using the companies copywritten technology or brands of any sort to make a profit before going through the correct legal channels, you can (CAN not WILL) be sued or legal action can be taken against you. In regards to the pirated material, I have no comment as I don’t really think I can comment on things I have know direct knowledge.

    1. exactly. it is yours if you buy it. that means you can do whatever you want with it. you just void warranties and stuff. but it still belongs to you. companies like sony and nintendo don’t realize that. it was ruled people can mod their smartphones however they want. it wouldn’t make sense if the same rule didn’t apply to video game systems.

    2. Yeah, exactly. You can choose to hack your ds, you can choose to throw it against the wall, you can choose to eat your ds. Doesn’t matter, because it’s yours! You’re basically just voiding your warranty so if your ds ever breaks down, you can’t take it back to Nintendo for repair. But guess what, by saving $39.99 on each and single game I play, I can just use all the extra money I have to buy a new 3DS. So you people saying all this nonsense about how it’s so good and everything, think about how much money you’re spending on a game console. Maybe you should get a life and use that money somewhere else.

      1. Lol dude, I have a couple of flashcarts but I dont let that get to me and make me think I shouldn’t spend money on a game that I like. That just lessens the value of games and doesn’t give you a chance to show devs that you actually like it. Its kinda like voting with your money, they see the good sales of a game and take that to mean that its worth it to work more on a new title.

  7. Yeah, I’m calling this rumor a bluff. First off, Nintendo isn’t a malicious company. Never have we heard of something as extreme as a /restraining order/, let alone breaking their own consoles. Secondly, a while back, Nintendo commented on the hacking of their products themselves. It was mainly aimed at software, not hardware, but the message remains. They do not mind hacking of their products, as long as it is not used to exploit the contents in an unethical way, or used to generate a profit. Seeing as it is impossible to see if one is using a flashcart for homebrew/rom hacks (which they’re cool with) or piracy (which they’re not), this rumor is 100% false.

    1. If you read the agreement just before clicking the updates, at the bottom, it states that any unauthorized content (hardware or software) ‘may’ render the system completely unplayable. In a way, we can’t say we haven’t already been warned =/

  8. if u buy anything (unles u bought a service and not a thing) that thing is yours, that said u have the right to do whatever u want to do with it. flashcards are legal, using it to load any rom besides of homebrew is not, however anyone with a flash card has already, wil, or do use it to load a rom, and like the fellow mario64mario said it`s not unfair use if the rom u used is a hacked rom: hacking/moding a rom is unfair with the game manufacturers, using an hacked-by-somebody-else rom is not. i have two flashcards, i do mainly use them for homebrew but i can not say that i never used it to play a rom and i cannot either say i would not do so in the future even owning many original copies of Nintendo`s games, i AM a big fan of the company, but sometimes i just want to popup my nsmb with an infinite time cheat and try doing things u could not do in a normal, legal, gaming session.
    SURELY nintendo can ban anyone it wants from using its server to on-line play but i do NOT think it would do it.
    your system can keep track of unsigned softwares u use to load any rom or anything,. but when u use ur flashcard for loading a rom ur system do not sees it loke “hey he used a nonsigned software to call a loader to call a copy of a game”. instead of it it sees “hey, he used an unsigned software. Hey he used a copy of a game”. and if the “copy of the game is equal an original one it cannot see the diference.

    what i can show u all is that they can block the use of a flash card but in less than a week the devteam of that said flashcard will make another firmware that will run untill the next block and then they will come up with another and so on. if u ban all consoles that uses a flash card u will lose MANY of ur costumers, u will ban many only-homebrew-loading-flashcards and u will not ban many of the original-rom-loading-flashcard users. this leads us to think that the only way to wipe out any flash card user is bricking the consoles, but then u will end up with many legal actions taken agains u and SURELY will end up being sued. and any way anyone will someday pop up with a way to revive the said bricked 3DS system.

    one company, a world of hacking brothers. there`s no way to compete, deal with it, learn to live alongside with it and, WHY NOT, take advantege of it.

  9. It’s good. It’s not like the games in the R4 cards are exclusive like mobile phone games. Console games can easily be found worldwide these days, and we have sites like IGN and YouTube for telling us if the games are good or not.

    Even now, emulators won’t be needed either, since it’s being said that the 3DS will also have a Virtual Console store.

    And finally, if you own a system, you DON’T REALLY OWN IT. This was according to BBC Click. You own the machine, but not the OS… or the stuff in the input disks that depend on the OS. Anything software is protected by law, it seems, but I’m sure that some ppl wouldn’t like that argument. Saw smtg like that with the PS3.

    But as the article says, this is just a rumor. Let’s wait till it becomes official.

    1. @Andalusio yes thets the point: U own the hardware and this stated u can run any software on it. u can be trolled by using an ilegal softwar, but there`s no way to know if u used a flash card for loading roms or just for homebrews. and it stated and clearly undrerstood u can unbrick any console u have a backup of the said console unnaltered OS.

      dont wanna get a 3D generating capable paperweigh bakup the flash and nand before any attempt to hack it and then u re good to go. its just about to restore the original flash if u brick ur 3DS.

      I AM AGAINST non legal use of intelectual property as I am a designer. but unfortunately u cannot compete with too many hacking scene guys trying to hook up ur system. SAD BUT TRUE, deal with it.

  10. I think is good, hackers can’t complin, nintendo made this console to play 3DS CARTDRIGES and if you don’t like it thenn find another console or create one of your own…nintendo just wants to protectc their intellectual property and if someone sued nintendo for this, then it would also mean them using piracy, you can’t start a lawsuit just for something you did wrong, it’s like trying to sue the guy who shooted you because you were inside his house robbing and he shot you inside of his house,

    in the end, if you don’t like what nintendo does then don’t buy the console and then complain because you’re giving it a wrong use and it got bricked….

  11. Datel has created a flash cart (a crappy one, yes, but a flash cart) and they have NEVER had any problems with Nintendo, legally (other than jacking up a game to make you win a Nintendo competition, which you can do with the AR). R4 has the ability to run homebrew and emulated it games. The R4 is ONLY bad when used to play any game you haven’t legally payed for, or that was received from an illegal distribution. But, hey, Datel’s flash cart runs homebrew, and can run some (like I said, it’s a crapy flash cart) emulated games. So, why has Datel never had any trouble? Because they’re flashcart gets NO publicity. It is NEVER advertised. EVER. The R4 is actually advertised. Not much, but I’d say it is more so than most other flashcarts. Should R4 really be punished for glorifying their creation? No. How would you feel if you received a promotion but wasn’t allowed to tell your friends, spouse, or coworkers about it? You have something great, but you can’t tell anybody. And, in business, lack of publicity makes your product worthless. And, face it, everyone needs money, and a worthless product won’t get you any.

    ~Moo~

  12. Derzeit können wir nur abwarten,wie diese Sache weiter geht. Aber wird das bestimmt ein ziemliches Wettrennen sein. 3ds Flashkarten—3DS Firmware-Update—neuer Patch von Flashkarten—Firmware-Update, und so Weiter.

  13. hahaha man ya my shit is hacked r4 and i got games on their and im about to get 3ds games on their when its legal turns out r4 systems are legal to use cause its a backup storage or thats what they call it in court to get it legalized r4 is perfectly legal they cant block you its the people that own them that pirate games. the r4 is about to be legal on 3ds and then tons of websites will post rom downloads

  14. Ok honestly. lets just stay on the same page first

    1) everyone knows that playing the pirated games is not good

    2) everybody knows that there are lots of people playing them for whatever reasons that can be justified

    THE real question is : would Nintendo actually brick the consoles? HAS ANYONE’S 3DS BRICKED YET? that’s what I’m really concerned about.

  15. I think the biggest reason I use my flashcard for is being able to carry around my music and videos while still being able to play games…on ONE machine.

    And for some of the others out there… I’m sure you love to play some of the nostalgic games that Nintendo no longer has on the market. Sure, their just now bringing back games like Metroid II…I have yet to see some of my more favorite ones appear in the e-store.

  16. Mariokart better than Chrono Trigger? No. Especially when you take into account that it hasn’t aged very well. Mario games are often overrated just because it’s Mario.Also, Zelda is great but a bit overrated. It’s not the best on the system. Doesn’t deserve to be #1 on so many lists.
    I think Super Metroid is probably #1.

  17. I like how Sporting games made the list. Three even made the top ten: Flying, Racing, & Fighting. I see racing represented multiple times and most other sports at least once, which is good. But you did miss gambling & fishing, which are you considered sports. FYI that NHL is better on the Sega Genesis

  18. What I don’t get is why Nintendo didn’t get together with Rare to do a 32 meg, ACM graphics Mario Kart sequel on the SNES possibly using the Super FX 2 chip for a boost or even companies like Konami teaming up with Nintendo & Rare to do a 32 meg, ACM Castlevania and/or Contra game just to see what they could’ve accomplished together. They could’ve made those games as big as the Donkey Kong Country series. Super Return of the Jedi should’ve been much bigger & better than it was. They were so lazy they didn’t even change the way (1 handed) Darth Vader fought you from Empire to Jedi & it was a cakewalk to beat him. A few missed opportunities there.

    CrazyAsk

  19. Vortex? Doom? Castlevania Dracula? SSF2? Barman returns? Syndicate? Saturday night slam masters?

    Also European/ japanese exclusives like terranigma. Cannon fodder. Sensible soccer. final fight 3….?

    And castlevania 4/harvest moon and donkey Kong country should not be down in the sub top 20… C’mon dude. Sacrifice one of ur beloved rpg’ s or Tetris… only chrono trig/Mario rpg/earthbound and of course zelda need to be in top 40 or so… (I hate final fantasy)

  20. 25 is barely enough to do the SNES justice, there are other awesome games on there that could make the list more than some of the titles you had on there, games like Pilotwings, Sim City, ActRaiser 1+2, Soul Blazer, Illusion of Gaia, Terranigma, Lufia 1+2, Demon’s Crest, Secret of Evermore, Skyblazer, The Firemen, Legend of the Mystical Ninja, Stunt Race FX, Breath of Fire 1+2, Dragon View, Zombies ate my neighbors, Super Ghouls ‘n Ghosts, Killer Instinct, Lost Vikings 1+2, Shadowrun… So many good memories…

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