In case you missed it, Nintendo and 54 other companies are engaged in a legal battle against the forces of evil. Evil being the R4 cart for the DS. One of those 54 other companies is Capcom, and in a conference call they explained the reason behind their participation in the suit:

There are companies that sell downloads without any licence in the U.S.A., while a considerable number of pirated copies of game software are available in the Chinese market. In response to these situations, this lawsuit took the initiative for the whole industry in terms of taking countermeasures. It does not necessarily have a great effect at this stage, but we intend to send a wake-up call to such companies in the future.

That last line's interesting. Particularly if you're involved with the R4 - or other similar devices - and your boots were previously shaking. Their heart's not really in it!

[Capcom]

This winter, doujin circle Team-DSX planned to release DS title Half Elf Tentacle Assault at Comic Market. The self-made game's entirely homebrew and certainly does not have the Nintendo Seal of Quality — and never will!

However, the Comic Market preparation committee has cancelled Team-DSX's registration, meaning that the circle won't be allowed to sell their DS game. There's no word whether Nintendo was behind this, but the facts that the R4 cartridge was on the Half Elf Tentacle Assault poster and that Team-DSX seemed to be selling the R4. (Nintendo has taken legal action against the R4 in Japan.)

Team-DSX originally planned to sell Half Elf Tentacle Assault in Akihabara as well. However, the doujin circle's website is currently blank. Hit the jump for a pixelated version of the game's flier.

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Not only is Nintendo's legal action against R4 cart spiking the sales, it's also spiking the prices. Check out this Akihabara retailer on July 29th when the news was first announced. R4s were going for ¥2,980 (US$US 28). The following day, the price jumped to ¥4,980 at the same retailer. And today? This shop's price hit ¥5,980 ($US 55). Pics of that after jump.

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Yesterday, we broke the news that Nintendo and 54 software companies were filing an injection to halt the importation, sales and marketing of R4-type carts in Japan. How has this legal suit affected R4 sales in places like Tokyo's Akihabra? Says one store staffer:

The rush in demand has been amazing. These devices always sell well. But this weekend should be staggering, don't you think?

According to Amazon Japan, there's been a slight increase in sales as well. So far, this lawsuit seems to be helping more than hurting. Click through the gallery for a look at Akihabara retailers selling R4s.

秋葉原「マジコン」バカ売れ [Akiba Blog]

Nintendo has just announced that it and 54 game software companies are filing a lawsuit with the Tokyo District Court against companies that import "R4 Revolution for DS"-type devices, using the Unfair Competition Prevention Law as the legal grounding. 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 a statement released today, Nintendo announced that these R4 devices "allow illegal uploading from the internet", adding that "it is causing severe damage to our company and software makers, and this is something that we cannot possibly overlook". In conclusion, Nintendo adds that 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.

Back in November 2007, Nintendo announced that it was "keeping a close eye on the products and studying them". Earlier this spring, Nintendo apparently pressured Akihabara retailers to stop carrying the popular R4 carts.

Hit the jump for a list of some of the companies who along with Nintendo have filed in this suit.

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Enjoying your R4 carts, Britain? I bet you are. Designed as they are to run code on a DS, many use them for homebrew, but some, obviously, also use them to pirate legitimate DS games. And it's those folks attracting the attention of the authorities, spoiling it for everybody else. The ELSPA (Britain's industry body) reckon that the sale of R4 (and other, similar) carts "is an infringement and an offence under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and the Trade Marks Act 1994", and from here on they'll be investigating any and all retailers stocking the units. It's important to note that at this stage this is more of a warning than a direct threat, as they haven't come out and called for an immediate, blanket ban, but I imagine a stern warning is all it will take for many small retailers to quit stocking them anyway.

DS: The Shocking Truth [MCV]

R4 carts, you either love 'em or hate 'em. People who want to play pirated DS games, they love 'em. Retailers in Akihabara, they love 'em, because they sell a fuckton of them. But Nintendo? They hate 'em. And may have started doing something about it. We knew that they'd begun to grow concerned over the carts late last year, but over the past week many specialist retailers in Akihabara have put up notices saying they'll no longer be selling the R4, following threats made by Nintendo. Same goes for some Japanese online retailers. So is this the end for the naughty little cartridge? Eh, probably not. Nintendo may be able to strong-arm the little guy, but not the littler guys they don't even know about. Or the internets.
マジコンR4　もう入荷しないって [Akiba Blog]

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Kotakuite razmig snapped this rather interesting photo at his local GameStop. In a sign promoting the Nerf DS case, he noticed something a little strange. Right there in the case, nestled among the other games is an R4 cartridge. For those not in the know, the R4 is a popular product that will allow its users to download and play DS games illegally through the use of a Micro SD card. Mind you, the cartridge itself is technically not illegal, but given GameStop's hard stance on this type of thing and Nintendo's recent crackdown on piracy, I'm rather surprised this ad made it through. Having been a graphic designer, I know these things get looked at by a number of people before it goes to print and I would think someone would have caught it. Guess not.

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Let's cut to the chase. John Hillier of the UK's Entertainment & Leisure Software Publisher Association is quote by The Sunday Post as saying about the R4 storage device used to pirate games:

In America, it's thought 90 percent of Nintendo DS users are playing pirated games because of R4s...

This coming from ELSPA's manager of Intellectual Property Crime Unit! Out of anyone in the UK, he should know what he's talking about. Now, the ELSPA is saying that Hillner never stated that, that it was a misquote. "ELSPA would certainly never presume to comment about America or anywhere else outside of the UK," points out the ELSPA. Whether it's misquotes, dumb quotes or whatever, that 90 percent number is way high, no?
MEP Battles [The Sunday Post via Eurogamer] [Pic]

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John Hillier is the manager of the UK-based The Entertainment & Leisure Software Publishers Association's Intellectual Property Crime unit. And he just made one hell of a claim about the American piracy market for the Nintendo DS.

In America it's thought 90 percent of Nintendo DS users are playing pirated games because of R4s...takings from Nintendo DS games in the US are lower than any other console...

Seriously? Is this guy for real? Because we can't believe that 90% of DS owners have even heard of the R4.

Chips are down for Super Mario [TheSundayPost via CVG]