Nintendo files suit against five DS hacking firms (via engadget.com)

socket · July 30, 2008, 02:02:36 AM

Quote from: http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/29/nintendo-files-suit-against-five-ds-hacking-firms/
"Touching is good," but hacking? Not so much. Nintendo has gone on the war path against five Japanese companies that make their living helping users rip off DS games. Of course, a primary use for such hardware -- such as the R4 Revolution, pictured -- is homebrew and emulation, but good luck convincing Nintendo (or any large console manufacturer) of that. Details of the actual lawsuit are slim, but Nintendo has brought along with it 54 Japanese software makers to lend a bit of gravitas to the suit. If you haven't managed to hack your DS yet, now might be a good time to score the requisite hardware -- we might be facing a scarcity before too long.

teknicz · July 30, 2008, 11:34:09 AM

It's probably about time Ninty did something about it.

How successful they'll be is a different question though. What they're asking for is the ban of sale and import in Japan only which I doubt will solve the problem. Even a successful suit or settlement in Japan won't be valid in other jurisdictions, such as the US, EU, South America and China, where much of the piracy is happening.

The US has had plenty of trouble convincing China to step up their IP laws. Despite a pending WTO case against China over IP violations, China's done little more than give face because of the Olympics this year. China probably won't have to do much else due to how poorly written the TRIPS agreement was made. I believe the R4, Supercard, and probably a lot of other cards are made and exported from China. If the US is having this much trouble, I doubt Ninty can get much done over there.

One step at a time, I guess.

kkan · July 30, 2008, 11:54:49 AM

Quote from: teknicz on July 30, 2008, 11:34:09 AM
It's probably about time Ninty did something about it.

How successful they'll be is a different question though. What they're asking for is the ban of sale and import in Japan only which I doubt will solve the problem. Even a successful suit or settlement in Japan won't be valid in other jurisdictions, such as the US, EU, South America and China, where much of the piracy is happening.

The US has had plenty of trouble convincing China to step up their IP laws. Despite a pending WTO case against China over IP violations, China's done little more than give face because of the Olympics this year. China probably won't have to do much else due to how poorly written the TRIPS agreement was made. I believe the R4, Supercard, and probably a lot of other cards are made and exported from China. If the US is having this much trouble, I doubt Ninty can get much done over there.

One step at a time, I guess.

meh I feel R4 Antigua and Sweden factories opening soon!! well any factories outside China/Japan where the ban isnt in place no doubt!!

socket · July 31, 2008, 09:00:34 AM

Yeah, honestly I don't see them doing much to stop anything either.

fexo · August 02, 2008, 04:27:57 AM

Actually, this could be because Nintendo are about to launch their own SD based cartridge in Japan for downloading movies and TV programmes. It's called DS-Vision and has a mini-SD card in it (side loading like the R4). I suppose that it may be possible to use another card if you use a 3-in 1 SD card.

Hi · August 02, 2008, 10:13:40 AM

Quote from: fexo on August 02, 2008, 04:27:57 AM
Actually, this could be because Nintendo are about to launch their own SD based cartridge in Japan for downloading movies and TV programmes. It's called DS-Vision and has a mini-SD card in it (side loading like the R4). I suppose that it may be possible to use another card if you use a 3-in 1 SD card.

I think I may need to buy this...

kkan · August 02, 2008, 05:06:30 PM

lol maby they are going to get the R4 team to make the cards for them seen as they did have the MARKET at one point as the most popular card!!

DSR4 VISION

fexo · August 03, 2008, 07:04:10 AM

It seems that the service was launched in March, so maybe they are finding that other flash card users are taking up the service- though the company would still be making money through the downloads.

teknicz · August 06, 2008, 04:48:35 AM

Just googled the DSVision. Pretty interesting stuff.

It's a MicroSD card, but the article I read says that the one it comes with is exclusively adapted for usage by the DSVision. I wonder if this means that we can't use our own MicroSD cards. I also wonder if it's SDHC. The one they give you is only 512mb, which is weak.