According to Nintendo, such devices hurts the growth of the entire game industry and steps must be taken regarding the legality of R4 carts. It’s important to note that this legal injunction is for Japan only.
Nintendo is asking for the cease of marketing, sales and importation of these Chinese-made devices. The R4 allows easy software piracy by fitting right into the DS’s cartridge slot. Data is stored on a Micro SD and downloaded from websites via a flash drive, and the R4 has a small slot that the Micro SD card goes into.
In addition to the suit, Nintendo is turning the heat up on retailers who sell the devices by launching website devoted to collecting information about R4 sellers. “It’s getting increasingly difficult to track down R4 sellers as day by day they get more ingenious, flourishing online and complicating matters,” said Nintendo in a written statement. Because of this, Nintendo is calling on the strength of the masses to eradicate the sale of these devices.
The website Nintendo has set up has a form that can be filled out. Selectable choices include retail stores, internet shops, online auctions selling R4 devices. Another choice includes “game software uploads” — or those sites or individuals making DS games available online. There’s also spaces for dates and time, a box for details and another box for the shop’s address or home page.
As recently as last week, countless retailers in Tokyo’s Akihabara and Osaka’s Den Den Town were openly carrying and selling R4 devices.
Nintendo Fraud Form [Nintendo][Pic]
Max Skelton
Monday, October 5, 2009 at 8:48 PMthey should give something in return otherwise i doubt many people will follow through with this
Chris Ryan
Monday, October 5, 2009 at 9:23 PMR4 users obviously won’t- perhaps people who are sick of admitting to pirates just how much money they spend on legit games, will.
Greg
Monday, October 5, 2009 at 9:24 PMwhat about old rom sites my snes broke and i cant play my old games without a emulator
Esoteric
Monday, October 5, 2009 at 10:38 PMBuy a new Super Nintendo? I mean, ebay exists for things like that.
I’m not one to take a moral point against piracy, and I don’t exactly support it, but using “my old machine broke” as an excuse to pirate is a liiiittle bit illogical.
opm881
Monday, October 5, 2009 at 10:50 PMI can understand people pirating for things like a nes and snes as they are very old consoles, not every1 has access to ebay, and the company itself isnt actually gaining any profit off the games any more
Aaron Clement
Tuesday, October 6, 2009 at 12:10 AMVirtual Console? There’s a pretty decent back catalogue of NES, SNES, Megadrive & Neo-Geo games on the Wii’s online shop. Although I’m starting to get sick of seeing Sega whore out Altered Beast like it’s some kind of cult classic awesome game, when it’s at best a sub-par side scrolling fighter with an amusing gimmick.
wepoo
Tuesday, October 6, 2009 at 1:09 AMWhile I am down for some mobile SNES / NES / SMS action I can’t agree that these games aren’t making profit anymore. Compilation games (Sega Genesis Compilation etc.) and Virtual Console still sell these classics.
It also seems some long forgotten games are being picked up ie Monkey Island iPhone. Which could easily be played for free on VMWare iPhone.
plmko
Tuesday, October 6, 2009 at 12:44 AMTechnically Snes and Nes emulation is borderline illegal now, given that Nintendo has launched the virtual console.
Nick
Tuesday, October 6, 2009 at 10:29 AMwhat Nintendo really needs to do, is to make their own version of the R4. The DS already has wi-fi, why not have a device that can hold a micro SD card and allow for game downloads directly from a DS game store?
steviebaby
Tuesday, October 6, 2009 at 4:22 PMUhh….that device already exists and it’s called the DSi. The main problem with roms isn’t that they come from an online source whether bootleg/official nintendo, but that they provide FREE DS games to people with R4s.
Nintendo already has a download service for the DSi, but giving free downloads of their newest games via this service is illogical.