3DS will brick itself if pirate software is detected?

I've heard these rumors too. They haven't been confirmed by Nintendo and it just seems like a rumor started to scare people from using flash carts. Because if you've ever used one, you'd know that NOTHING is installed to the DS itself. The operating system runs on the card itself. I think the whole thing is a retarded. It's like the people who post the rumors on their sites haven't even used or seen what they are talking about.

 

Hah, I'll believe it when I see it. Console killing itself when a kid who doesn't know better plays a pirate cart = class action lawsuit.

 

They're a load of crap.

Most likely what's going on is
1. The system has a game log feature that logs what games you played and how long. This might be able to pick up the R4 card and log it
2. Stores are told by nintendo not to accept units for return/repair/resell that have a flash card in the game log.

 

I can see them logging game play times just for fun etc like the Wii does. You can format your DS and clear everything off it regardless. That's useless and won't be a problem. My Wii displays NeoGamma Channel instead of the game I booted off NeoGamma which is a backup launcher. That'll most likely be the same thing on the 3DS. It will say AceKard instead of the game you launch from the flash card like Mario.

 

I find this really hard to believe tbh but you never know since the Nintendo has always had problems with pirated games on their handhelds. Wouldn't be surprised to hear about them taking drastic action

 

We've heard these things before though. But neither Microsoft or Sony has actually attempted to detect hacks and actually responded by bricking the system. I would imagine atleast in some countries doing so would be illegal. Afterall you're rendering property of someone's inoperable without their permission.

But I guess time will tell. No reason to worry about it. While it would be neat to run homebrew emulators on the 3DS, I really hope it doesn't get hacked to enable piracy.

 

I think it's a grey area, really. As Mott says Nintendo would be destroying something that a customer had paid for, I'd imagine the courts might take a dim view of this.

The only similar case I've heard of is the Partnernet bricking, which is stolen property in the first place.

 

That was the first thing that came to mind if this was true...I could just imagine some shovelware developer's crappy code bricking 3DSs.

 

Is this not illegal like XBOX's cant kill themselves if Jtag is detected?

 

Easy one, if you legally buy it, it´s yours no matter what you do to it, only thing they can do is to ban you from certain services (for example the whole online stuff), but as soon as they destroy it, it´s malicious mischief what is illegal in most countries.

(Development consoles can be remote destroyed, as they only lend them to you)

 

Wait, what would stop a flash card from looking like a normal game to the 3DS? How would it know it's a flashcart or whatever?


I'm planning to get one to replace my old fat DS and was hoping that there would be some good emulators at some point. (Genesis emulation is horrible on DS)

 

I may be totally wrong here but technically the physical hardware is yours but surely the OS is not and subject to licensing laws.

Maybe someone should look in the manual to see if there's a legal clause about the system software being used subject to T+C's. It wouldn't surprise me if manufacturers started covering OS's as well as online services.

 

The hardware and software are sold as one entity. That wouldn't hold up in court.

Horrible? Are you using jEnesisDS? Emulation is perfect for me, I use it all the time.

 

The only thing I can think of that would be covered by this offhand:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Implied_warranty#United_States

And I don't think "rendering itself unusable in the event of the device running "unauthorized" software" is considered "fit for purpose".

To abuse the car metaphor, it'd be akin to Ford telling you that you can't drive your car on certain roads, after dark, over the speed limit (even on race tracks) or the engine will seize leaving you with a car that can only be serviced by an authorized Ford technician. Even then Ford may decide that you aren't the type of person who should be driving a Ford brand car and forbid any authorized Ford technicians from servicing your vehicle (as I'm pretty sure Nintendo wouldn't allow you to pay to have your device restored but would rather "punish" you by making you buy another 3DS as Microsoft does the 360).

I'm pretty sure Microsoft's lawyers have gone over this one plenty of times which is why they ban your console but don't kill it if it's detected using modified DVD firmware. Then again they did start disabling certain features on banned 360s not too long ago such as being able to install games to the harddrive. I personally feel that one is stepping over the line.

Microsoft did/does mercilessly screw with pirated Windows XP installs. They most definitely don't initiate remote wipes of any computer or flash a bad BIOS to the mobo as I'm 99% sure someone in the legal department would have at least had a cursory glance at this idea.

At the very minimum this would be EXTREMELY bad PR as soon as it happens to someone's kid who just got the 3DS for Christmas.

 

Yeah, besides not being able to scale the screen down to fit, there's all sorts of strange problems with layering, odd palettes, and random lag. Also large games like Sonic 3 & Knuckles aren't supported at all.

The version of JenesisDS used in that Sonic collection is much better, it's too bad you can't use it to play other games.

 

The banned 360s and "removed features" I believe was not intentional as far as game hard drive installs and was corrected in a later update if I recall.

 

If they bricked if you repeatedly bought shit games that would be cool, though cooler still if it just bricked the shit games instead, or gave you an M$-style go genuine thing at each boot to reflash it to a game that was half decent (I know it won't work as they are ROM but meh)

It wouldn't bother me if it bricked due to pirate carts but if it does, perhaps its not due specifically related to pirate carts but Nintendo deliberately manufactured it to blow within a smaller margin or error/fault tolerance which a pirate can't compete with yet?

/shrugs