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Nintendo 3DS gets torn apart and hacked a day after Japanese launch
So you just got a Nintendo 3DS following its launch in Japan -- what do you do? While most would be content to simply pass the time with Pilotwings for at least a few days, others are a bit more... curious. In that group you'll find the folks from Tech-On!, who have already torn the handheld apart and even gone the extra mile to examine its 3D display under a microscope -- they assume it's a Sharp parallax barrier display, but weren't able to confirm it as such. As if that wasn't enough for a day-old system, YouTube user ayasuke2 has already hacked the system to use R4 cards and run unauthorized Nintendo DS games. Head on past the break for some video evidence of that, and hit up the source link below for the complete teardown.
UK bans R4 cards, makes Nintendo DS pirating 'double illegal'
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?"
R4 card provider ordered to pay Nintendo over $500,000 in damages
It may only amount to a drop in Nintendo's pockets, but an Australian provider of R4 cards used to copy Nintendo DS games has now been ordered to pay Nintendo $620,000 Australian dollars (or about $556,822 US dollars) in damages, and destroy all its remaining stock for good measure. While that company, GadgetGear, doesn't seem to be commenting on the matter itself, Nintendo says that GadgetGear has "now acknowledged that game copying devices infringe both Nintendo's copyright and Nintendo's trademarks and that they are illegal circumvention devices," adding that "GadgetGear and the directors have agreed to permanently refrain from importing, offering for sale and/or selling game copier devices." Of course, it is just one provider of R4 cards that's affected by the case, but Nintendo is no doubt hoping that the hefty fine will be enough to at least act as a deterrent to others.
