3DS will brick itself if pirate software is detected?

Keeping with the car analogy, ford (or any other company) can actually void your warranty if you use generic spare parts or service the car in an unauthorized dealership.

Sure the car will run, but if it starts falling apart due to some kind of manufacturing error then you're SOL.

 

Pretty sure that Console makers already would tell you that use of unlicensed devices with your system voids the warranty.

 

A warranty being voided has nothing to do with the manufacturer itself ruining the functionality of the device. The warranty is just a safety net if something went wrong from the fault of the manufacturer. Having the manufacturer break your device for using unlicensed/unsupported peripherals is ridiculous.

 

I'm not sure if anyone has noticed this, but it appears they are already preparing for it...
On the box of new DS games, there is a warning:

I'm not sure about anyone else's experience, but my SuperCard does not render any of my games unplayable...

 

So which one of you will try it first?

 

Honestly i've heard this rumours repeatedly over the years even when its not feasible. Usually when a big game comes out on the internet early or something you got people lining up to say impossible ways for the game to break the system. Modern DS flashcards all spoof themselves as real games anyway, so it would be very risky for them to attempt something like this.

Nah, this is a reference to DSProtect, which is the standard copy protection that Nintendo puts in their SDK for developers to use. This is implemented in many different ways across various games that make them unplayable. All it does it do a memory read for a value under 0x8000, which works on real carts but not flashcarts, thats it. They have tried to obscure the check more but thats all it actually does, so some cards (such as the SuperCard 2) simply detect any reads and respond how its expected to. The first game to use it was Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles, which after a set period of time displayed a moogle and 'Buy the game' message, and some games simply make functions in the game not work at all.

Its not very good at all and doesn't do a very good job of slowing anyone down in cracking it. Which sums up the entire protection systems of Wii/DS really, both have been very poor. Ubisoft did a better job with some of its DS games, which are filled with a couple of hundred checksums that all have to be fixed as well as other obfuscation methods.

 

You know if this whole bricking thing is true the hacking dudes are going to work hard to find a way around it. Like disable the bricking feature on startup with the flash carts or something.

Or if it's an actual piece of hardware that detects unknown devices, there will be people out there that will figure out how to remove it.

 

Or do what the Homebrew Channel on the Wii does and not log itself onto the list of games/channels played.

 

I heard you get a brick with a question mark on it.

 

Apparently that applies in the European Union as well:
http://www.scuderiasystems.com/root-warranty.html

In the points that makes the parts have to be the same or higher quality than those offered by the manufacturer/dealership. Many consider American cars to be of inferior quality to start out with so I'm not exactly sure who gets to decide what level of quality your aftermarket part is.

But if you put vegetable oil (or the 10w-30 when your engine states it needs 5w-30) into your engine they likely would invalidate your warranty based on that tidbit.

Given most flashcarts are of dubious quality to start out with I wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo could win saying their game carts are manufactured to higher standards.

 

I just got Ridge Racer 3D in the mail, and I noticed there's a little warning on the back. It says:

This product contains technical protection measures. Use of an unauthorized device or any unauthorized technical modification to your Nintendo 3DS system, will render this game and/or your system unplayable.

That sounds like what you guys are talking about to me. It is strange that it says mods will make the "game and/or your system unplayable," like there's some doubt? Probably some legal or marketing reason for the "and/or" there.

It does seem pretty stupid. I wouldn't worry about it too much, though. They'll probably crack it soon enough. They always do. The fact that it has an SD card slot should make things even easier.

 

God Damn, what is the gaming industry coming to.

Jesus,

 

This is stock scare tactics Nintendo has used since the NES. Nothing new there. Use of unauthorized devices will void your warranty and may damage your console! type BS.

 

x

 

Does the 3ds stay connected to your WiFi on boot up or do you have to manually log in to nintendos servers? That's the only way they can possibly brick your system, unless there is a nasty piece of code that auto bricks whenever some program tries to root access the device.

 

I say there's nothing to worry about. Nintendo always say "May cause damage" but it never does. Copiers, converters, cheat devices... As long as they weren't blatantly faulty, my Nintendo products were just fine and well.

As for the 3DS, their language seems clever. They say that if you use a pirate device, they never guarantee that the game will run or perform the way a legit game will. But they say it in a way which kind of sounds like they will brick you. But I think the farthest they actually say is that the game you pirated won't work. Not that the console will be killed.

Am I wrong? Or am I missing something?

 

inorite?