Piracy Researched on Jap Trains

[wraggster]

Field research time! Website Gpara wandered up and down train carriages on Tokyo's Yamanote Line, looking for players using R4 piracy devices.

Since R4 piracy devices use cartridges with SD Card slots, it was possible

Gpara deployed on trains last week — and did profiles of the DS players it spied on the train. Those profiles include the approximate ages, gender, type (student, salaryman, etc), what platform the individual was using and the approximate time window.

On the first day, Gpara spotted 106 individuals on the train playing the DS throughout a chunk of the day. Out of those, five of them were using R4-type piracy devices — four of them were men, and one was a female college student. One of those five, a businessman, was using the piracy device to play Dragon Quest IX.

During the second day, Gpara observed 109 individuals on the train playing the DS. Out of those 15 individuals were using a R4-type device to play DS games with only one playing a pirated version of DQIX. The pirates varied from middle school students to college students to female office workers to businessmen.

And you thought all pirates looked piratey, ha! Wrong!

http://kotaku.com/5319013/lets-research-game-piracy-on-japanese-trains

[Pilot_51]

I'm sure it's been stated a million times on DCEmu, but just because it's capable of being used illegally doesn't mean it is being used illegally. Why don't people with DVD burners in their PC get called pirates purely because they have a DVD burner? I suspect it's probably because of the intention of the device manufacturer, which most of them for the DS are focused on piracy since that's where the money is at.

I mainly use mine for homebrew, media (legal), and backups of games I legally own since it's far more convenient to have 1 card for everything instead of 20 cards for 20 games. I don't pirate, in fact I hate pirates for the bad image they're giving homebrew enthusiasts like myself. I just wish companies (publishers in particular) would understand that a good side exists to these "piracy" devices, a good side they might want to pay attention to since it contains a good example of what the future of gaming and entertainment should be like.

[indaman]

Since R4 piracy devices use cartridges with SD Card slots, it was possible


Only if the Sd is front loaded...

If the flashcard is black and side loaded (newest M3, EZV, DDTTAdv...).

You can't see if it's an original or not, unless you take it out or force the user to do the soft reset.

[ChaoticanarchyX]

Ya know its funny, it's always an "R4 device". Never a CycloDS or a Supercard or anything like that. ALWAYS an R4........ R4's suck now anyways. and I agree with pilot, just because they have the card does not mean that the person is automacticly playing a game they downloaded from the net. This is another reason i got the Iplayer and put my Cyclo into semi retirement, because I can play the media end of it and the homebrew part of it and can't play any commercial roms whatsoever........ very bad taste Gpara. Next time get your "Field researchers" to grow a set of balls and walk up to these people and ask them what they have on the card and what card it is.