UK bans R4 cards, makes Nintendo DS pirating 'double illegal'
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted July 28th 2010 2:47PM
posted July 28th 2010 2:47PM
While us Yankees are celebrating the one small victory for all that's right and good represented by the recent DMCA jailbreak exception, things are looking a little bleaker for UK gadget-heads this afternoon. London's High Court has ruled that R4 cards, which are used by homebrewers and the occasional no-goodnik game pirate to circumvent security on the Nintendo DS, cannot be sold, advertised, or imported into the UK. According to Joystiq, Nintendo claims they've seized over 100,000 R4 devices in the country since 2009. When asked for a comment, the Queen was all like, "What?"
Swines, Mandy sold us consumers down the river.
@fourthletter
Is this Darth Mendelson's doing?
@fourthletter
Feel the double rainbow!
@fourthletter
People still play the DS / DSi / DSi XL?
Grow up.
@SolidSnake Almost a triple rainbow! What does it mean?
@justaPAkid Grow up? And what exactly do grown ups play?
@RincewindWiz I don't know, they seems to play DSi XL.
http://cdn.medialib.computerandvideogames.com/screens/screenshot_223913_thumb300.jpg
@justaPAkid Quiet, Marcus!
@RincewindWiz
PSP! Step your game up!
@pple is poo Dude here in IRAN we pirate everything! let me say to you, many many of software cracks and keygens are by Iranians. here if you go into a shop and say hey i want windows 7 first they will give you a pirated DVD for 3-4 $, you should insist that you want the original one, then they will give you the OEM version. the only console that you can buy here unmodified is PS3 because they sell XBOX's and ps2's pre-modified to run pirated games. You won't find a single non-jailbroken iphone here, they jailbroke it then they sell it. winmo? in Iranian and Persian forums you will find the most advanced hacks and cracks and Police do nothing about it
@Engadget
What do you mean "occassional"?
These R4 cards are rife. They're sold in independent electronics stores and reems of kids at school have them (my mother and mother-in-law both work at schools).
I'm a professional games developer too, even that being the case, I've never met anyone using these things for legitimate use.
I learned my trade from modding and indie projects - there's no necessity for homebrew games, the hobbyist has everything needed at their disposal to craft games. R4 cards, at least in the UK, are used almost exclusively for pirating, call me bias for being a developer, but I have spent decades getting where I am, have a family to care for. You don't get free food, thats a necessity - yet people expect free games... a luxury.
/rantover
@pple is poo Dude here in IRAN we pirate everything! let me say to you, many many of software cracks and keygens are by Iranians. here if you go into a shop and say hey i want windows 7 first they will give you a pirated DVD for 3-4 $, you should insist that you want the original one, then they will give you the OEM version. the only console that you can buy here unmodified is PS3 because they sell XBOX's and ps2's pre-modified to run pirated games. You won't find a single non-jailbroken iphone here, they jailbroke it then they sell it. winmo? in Iranian and Persian forums you will find the most advanced hacks and cracks and Police do nothing about it
@pple is poo Dude here in IRAN we pirate everything! let me say to you, many many of software cracks and keygens are by Iranians. here if you go into a shop and say hey i want windows 7 first they will give you a pirated DVD for 3-4 $, you should insist that you want the original one, then they will give you the OEM version. the only console that you can buy here unmodified is PS3 because they sell XBOX's and ps2's pre-modified to run pirated games. You won't find a single non-jailbroken iphone here, they jailbroke it then they sell it. winmo? in Iranian and Persian forums you will find the most advanced hacks and cracks and Police do nothing about it
@maty: "They're sold in independent electronics stores and reems of kids at school have them." "I'm a professional games developer too, even that being the case, I've never met anyone using these things for legitimate use."
Kids want to play. Kids have no $$$$/££££ to pay for the modern overpriced games. Face the reality.
Heck, that's DS we are talking about: there are even no game demos here. Reviews are generally useless/biased. How do you even supposed to justify wasting the hard earned on something of unknown value and hefty price tag???
@maty
How can you tell at a glance whether they have purchased the games they are running on them? I've purchased more than 20 games that I have loaded on my flashcart, but if you saw me on the bus you would probably assume I had pirated them.
It's a portable console. I like to not have to lug around an extra bag full of cartridges to swap in and out. I also like being able to back up my save files :)
@maty I can see where you're coming from but I think it's stupid to make them illegal. It's merely an adapter to get your DS to interface with MicroSD cards, how is that any different than an adapter for your PC to interface with MicroSD cards? You can play emulators off of a MicroSD on a PC too.
This is a stupid piece of law.
Also it's a pet peeve of mine when people reply to the first comment.
@Broderbund
Woops let me rephrase that.
It's a pet peeve of mine when people reply to the first comment purely to get views.
@maty I'd like to bring you down to earth: The games that were worth their price are so few and far apart that I will say with 95% certainty that you don't develop any of them. Meaning that your work is futile.
Without piracy I would have given those 95% worthless titles too much money. I own enough legally acquired games, but I did go through a lot of pirated versions. The last blunder of mine was buying Divinity 2. The game became mindbogglingly boring after 3 hours. The demos don't provide enough to evaluate a game.
@maty
I disagree with your post.
You say "I've never met anyone using these things for legitimate use". Well, perhaps you should look further than your circle of friends.
I bought an R4 (along with several friends) to use legitimate software. In fact, I bought it solely to use ScummVM. ScummVM is a perfectly legitimate piece of software, and providing you're using the data files which you have obtained legally (such as buying the disks for cheap from ebay), that is perfectly above board.
Then, I realised that you could listen to music using Moonshell. Not wanting to spend loads on an iPod (or other such music device), I decided to utilise the hardware which I had already procured and to load up my MicroSD card with a load of music too.
I admit, not everybody uses their R4, or other similar device, legally, but not everyone drives their car within the speed limit or whilst sober. This attitude of "well, people can use it to break the law so we'll ban it" is utterly ridiculous.
@maty This is mostly true, though I do have legitment games, I just don't want to loose the originals. So I copy them to the microsd card.
There is also DSOrganize, which I use to get on IRC or to turn my DS into an Icecast radio.
I call foul.
lame
Fail.
Now they're going to be worth loads on the BLACK market.
@iLoveApple
Were block capitals really necessary.
@tobsmonster2 Were they NOT necessary? That is the question, my child.
The Queen was not all like "what?".
Silly engadget.
@SolidSnake Shit, the Queen probably has an R4 for her personal DS.
@UnnDunn
Who wants to carry around a dozen little cartridges?
Those were the day. I had fun with my DSi for a few months. Upcoming news, "PSP Go can never be hack, fanboy morn in sorrow."
can we still make tea?
@ashleylcameron Yes, and eat triangular sandwiches with cake , so I don't know what the fuss is all about!
Hooray! All piracy on the DS will now magically disappear.
@Loonie also all of these fr@king asome homebrew apps
http://lifehacker.com/5594640/supercharge-your-homebrew+hacked-nintendo-ds
I just ordered an R4i platinum last week. Luckily, I live in the US.
Now if only they would spend as much time, effort and money in making sure that 99% of DS games were not total cheap crappy shit.
@FurryPotato
Sorry Furryfan. Metacritic's report shows Nintendo DS at the top of the chart when it comes to game quality.
http://features.metacritic.com/features/2010/best-games-at-midyear-2010/
DS over the last 6 months has had 60% good games and 0% bad reviews.
Compare that to the other portable, the PSP, and you'll see a huge disparity. PSP has only managed to squeeze out a meager 30% good games.
DS has more games, better games, lower price point, better battery life, and a design that protects the screen my itself. It comes in a variety of sizes, and price points to make it attractive to gamers of any income bracket.
Isnt R4 only one of like... tons of flashcarts? M3 is most popular last i checked...
@skyblaze
Naw dude, CycloDS > R4.
@skyblaze
Yup....
Action Replay DS Media Edition
Acekard 2
Acekard R.P.G.
CycloDS Evolution
Datel Games n' Music
DS Link
DS-Xtreme
DSTT & DSTTi
EZFlash V
EDGE DS
EX4i Movie
G6DS Real
iEDGE DS
I-Cheat xtra
iPlayer
M3 Real
M3i Zero
N-Card (NAND Card)
NinjaPass
YushenDS Card, R4DS, M3 DS Simply, and their clones
SuperCard DSONE
SuperCard DSTWO
R4i Gold
NDSL R4
And much more....
@pcwzrd13
o.0 GOLY HELL
@archkron
I dunno dood... im lovin my m3i zero (wait.... did I say that out loud?)
@pcwzrd13
ahahahahahahahahah! lol, UK/Nintendo.... just lol....
@skyblaze
according to BBC all such devices have been banned, so this ruling will have a much bigger impact than the article alluded! apparently it followed a similar ruling in the netherlands. classic domino effect
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-10790835
@archkron
Acekard > all
Wouldn't saying "double illegal" mean "not not legal?"
If so, then we're dealing with a double-negative, and we're still fine.
@Dante of the Inferno
doubleplusgood
@paul34
doubleplusBAD!
@Dante of the Inferno
Or it could mean you get two fines instead of one
WTF?
@ROFL Great Leader Chairman approved?