Nintendo Spooks Retailers Into Pulling R4 Carts

via Kotaku


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 ****ton 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.

They can't stop piracy just by stopping the R4. They can't seriously think that will help at all can they?

Yes sadly this R4 has a bad side, the piracy. And most of the owners of the R4 use it for piracy sadly.

compelling argument - i think the R4's real downside is the constant promotion of its ability to porate stuff - if nintendo knew any better they'd go after the m3 simply also.

I really hate it when a game doesn't work. e.g. final fantasy crystal chronicles had the thanks for playing message ^^ and other games just had white screens. Didn't last too long mind you. go R4....oops i forgot piracy is bad ^^

I hate it how R4 is blamed for everything!!

What about the supercard or the 1000's of others out there?

Anyway i DO use my R4 for DS games and homebrew as im poor and can't afford to pay almost £30 a time for what is usually second rate games which to be honest are a complete joke!

Nintendo deserve everything that comes to them in the world of piracy, remember back in the 80's when they only let the programmers work for them and no one else!?!?

R4 all the way and stuff N

paul

this happend to swedish online retailers to! www.console.se completely stopped selling flash cards for the ds, tough wiikey and other wii chips are still being sold.

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Originally Posted by paul3100

R4 all the way and stuff N

paul

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stuff N(intendo)? comming from the person who bought a NINTENDO DS?

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stuff N(intendo)? comming from the person who bought a NINTENDO DS?

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Actually i didn't, and no i didn't steel it either .

Actually i was always a sega / sony fan and did own a psp till i was skint and sold it , i onl have my ds as it was free and easy to get software for.

Anyway not looking to fall out with any one, just adding my 2 cents worth that all.

paul

I love piracy,original games here in Greece are so expensive...double the price than HongKong(I check it out recently by myself)So piracy is one way for me.
I use DSone and I am happy:)

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Originally Posted by kojiro7

I love piracy,original games here in Greece are so expensive...double the price than HongKong(I check it out recently by myself)So piracy is one way for me.
I use DSone and I am happy:)

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WAHEEEEEEEEEEEY!

lol, but there's an ad for what I assume is an an EDGE card right next to it. :P

EDIT: Four-thousand-nine-hundred-eighty-somethin' yen for an EDGE? That's just as much as the Cyclo DS costs, and that's what the EDGE is a clone of! Sheesh, the Japanese are really getting ripped off.

i have been an R4 user for two years, and I find it interesting that the R4 gets so much negative feedback against it in the way of piracy, when in fact it wasn't the R4 that started the piracy or was it even begun during its generation, anyone remember the VBA or the EpsxE or how about other known emulators that were for systems as far back as the Comodor 64, the NES, and even all of Sega's consoles. Blaming the R4 for piracy is insane since even whether or not it even existed in the first place DS games will still be rom'ed, and will still be downloaded, and will still be used on flash carts for any average gamer to play. So i say get over yourself and blame the people who backed up there "legal" rom and decided to "illegally" distribute it, these are the people Nintendo should be focusing there attention on, not a singled out flash cart just because of its popularity. Hell if that was the case why not go after the CycloDS there more expensive and making more money than the R4 or as mentioned previously the M3 as they are cheaper at some places and far easier to come by. Nintendo i have been loyal to you since 1984, but your way out of your league if you think stopping the R4 is gonna even scratch this piracy problem.

I'm starting to like homebrew a whole lot more, but games like Apollo Justice... Ehhh... I can't resist.

Minimizing the distribution of the R4 isn't going to do much... However, I have seen more people with them, lately. Hmm, I guess it's all just a shame.

From my understanding, the R4 is already disappearing from most stores even online. No clue what the exact reason behind it is, though some R4 clones have popped up in its absense (the "N5 Revolution" - not exactly a subtle difference).

I do not really agree with piracy, but maiking an example out of the R4 is not going to change anything. Sure, you manage to stop the R4, but there is the Supercard, M3 Perfect, M3 Simply (R4 in a different package), EZ Flash...Nintendo has their work cut out for them.

Well, at least they are not after the M3 Perfect, I currently love that peripheral.

I was in Akiba today, and I didnt notice any less of the R4s around.. I did see the N5 today, and came to this site to check out what thats all about.. Anyhow, I have a DS one, a Cyclo DS, an R4, and a supercard Lite and I think the Cyclo DS is by far the best. I do have my eye on the Ace Kard RPG though.. they look really nice.

Honestly folks, theres currently NO problem getting a card in Akiba these days.. just go to Gamebank - that place is FULL of backup units and Chinese-made copy devices.

stevo11185: ROFL
i mean... umm... shame on u!

i have one R4, and i love piracy, the games are just so friggin expensive here in sweden that i just can't afford all the games that i want, and i haven't seen ANY ds game in my town :( and you should see the wii, the cheapest price you can get the wii in sweden is a whooping 418$, so you see that i don't like to buy games in sweden, the cheapest internet store to buy Super Mario Galaxy in sweden is 83$, that's VERY expensive comparing to the US, you can almost get two games for that kind of money.. so that's the reason i love piracy, but i like homebrew just as much;)

The prices are the same in the UK, pretty much.

$60 DS games, $80-100 Wii + 360 games. It's such a rip off.

So I don't buy many games anymore. I wait until there's something that's actually worth the money.

wow they actually think the r4 isa the only one :P. and they dont even go to the scource :P

As long as just one person is able to copy a game, they won't be able to stop piracy. And it's not like they can take down every single site and company out there. If I had the chance to manage one of the carts, I would send them with software incapable of using pirated games. But it would also come with an "anonymous" virus that just happened to be posted on every homebrew site, allowing NDS ROM backup use. The product would then be distributed to every Best Buy, EB, Gamestop, and Wal*mart in the Country without legal issues.