UK bans Nintendo DS homebrew code installer

The R4 card, a Nintendo DS add-on that allows users to transfer Rom code to the handheld, has been banned in the UK. The high court in London ruled that the gadget may not be imported into the UK and sold here, and it must not be advertised here either. The court agreed with Nintendo's claim that the device contravenes laws …

[Anonymous Coward]

Ah well

Guess people will have to buy DSTT, iEDGE, Acekard2, M3, DS ONE, EZ-FLASH or N5DS cards now instead ...

[Vigilante]

Expected... but still disappointing.

This was to be expected eventually - however, I'm wondering whether this affects all of these similar devices - such as the Acekard. They all do effectively the same thing, but the ruling apparently just applies to he R4.

This is a shame too, if Nintendo and Sony and all the others would simply enable users to easily create and share their own code, not only would they make their platforms far more appealing to the modders and homebrewers (more sales), but they might manage to land themselves some future developers (See: Garrys mod) - and at the same time, making these devices less of a "grey area" and giving the pirates nothing to hide behind for their use.

It's still a shame that the people out there who actually want to get involved in creating stuff for their favourite platforms, get shunned by the device manufacturers and branded as pirates when they find ways of doing it.

[DrXym]

Homebrewers - yeah sure

I agree that homebrewers should get official support, but it is clear that the overwhelming majority of card owners use them to play pirated games. It would be smart for Sony, Nintendo etc. to support homebrew in some official capacity simply to separate the genuine homebrew scene out from the pirates.

[Anonymous Coward]

Come Together

Granted that piracy and the R4 almost universally go hand in hand, but --- as has been said --- Nintendo need to be doing more that just getting a tighter and tighter squeeze on independent developers. At $10,000 a dev kit (not too mention the absurd organisational requirements) Nintendo set a high bar for entry compared to $100 annually for iPhone developers or gratis for those working on Android apps.

With successive consoles Nintendo escalated their control-freakery to the point where third parties couldn't have less to do with them. Of course Nintendo sort of learned that lesson, but by refusing to engage with big and small developers from outside the gaming industry they are turning away the developers needed to make software that helps Nintendo reach out to people have no time for carrying two computing devices.

[Anonymous Coward]

meh

The R4 has been second rate ever since they put the DS bricking code in it, to try and stop knockoffs using their firmware (can you smell the irony?).

The DS Evolution card boots faster and works better, and has a nicer interface anyway (important, when you have an 8 gig card littered with emulators and zillions of little files).

[Alan Edwards]

Includes other cards

I read a story about this elsewhere, BBC I think, that lists about 6 other cards that are also included.

I don't remember them all but the M3, that I've got for my DS Lite, was definitely on the list.

[Anonymous Coward]

So wrong on so many facts....

First off, the dev-kits for Nintendo hardware cost considerably less than 10,000. You're thinking of Sony and Micorsoft kit that can cost as much at 30,000. There are some specialist bits and pieces that cost a fair whack, but if you have a publisher they will tend to loan you the more expensive hardware to get the job done.

This is how we used to get a great many PS2 dev-kits.

As for the "absurd organizational requirements"...either you have experience in making video games or you're an amateur who doesn't have a clue how to do the most basic of console specific systems. If you can prove that you're an experienced console developer, even a small four man team is able to get development approval from Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo.

The sad fact is that 99.999% of who I laughably call "developers" working on iPhone just are not experienced or talented enough to work on console development. It's not restrictive practices that's the issue...it's a lack of ability.

And besides...there's enough shovelware on console and we really don't need a load of talentless, unwashed retards porting their mobile shovelware there too.

Console development is exclusive for a reason; because most people who want to make games, would be better of in a career that suits their natural talents more...like working at McDonalds.