R4 Team Plans to Brick Your Nintendo DS

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July 4th, 2008, 01:37
wraggster

R4 Team Plans to Brick Your Nintendo DS

If true this is very controversial and i expect the Whole DS Scene to give a backlash back at the R4 team

Heres brakken of Tehskeens newspost in full:

In a surprising move the team behind the R4 Nintendo DS entertainment, development and backup unit are planning on bricking your Nintendo DS or Nintendo DS Lite - that is if you're using a cloned product. Knowingly or not the R4 Team plans on releasing a firmware that will wipe your Nintendo DS's on-board BIOS to smithereens.

In a move to fight other factories from replicating their flashcart without permission the R4 Team will release a new firmware to combat the situation. Cloning happens a lot in the scene as factories either steal the design or the unit is reproduced using cheap parts. Most cloning is done by a few companies including Divineo and in that companies instance the clones are promoted on sites Divineo owns such as **********.com.

quote

Important point:

1. After 15 September, Team R4 will do something for the fake card, original program(firmware) with Fake R4 may damage your DS machine (brick), original R4 will have no problem with this program.

2. Make sure you have buy a original R4 (see photo below), if you brick your DS with fake R4, please go ask the selling shop and Team R4 will not admitted this liability.

From their point of view they are probably thinking they are doing a good thing, but what will little Johnny think when he installs a new firmware and his Nintendo DS suddenly stops working? Not much other then the R4 Team's comments on the situation are known. No word on when the firmware will be released, but the R4 Team states they won't provide any type of warranty or solution to fixing your Nintendo DS and sites all the blame on the reseller of the cloned R4 unit.

I believe this is a bad move on their part as it will give Nintendo another reason to dislike flash carts as having one out there that ruins your Nintendo DS will taint the entire market just as Darkfader's virus did. Hopefully people with flashme installed will be able to recover, but that is only speculation at this point in time. What do you think about this move? Please tell (or vote in the right column) ...

Personally i see this as a very bad move by the R4 People, What are your verdicts on this ?
July 4th, 2008, 01:46
unholy3000

Quote:

Originally Posted by wraggster

If true this is very controversial and i expect the Whole DS Scene to give a backlash back at the R4 team

Heres brakken of Tehskeens newspost in full:

In a surprising move the team behind the R4 Nintendo DS entertainment, development and backup unit are planning on bricking your Nintendo DS or Nintendo DS Lite - that is if you're using a cloned product. Knowingly or not the R4 Team plans on releasing a firmware that will wipe your Nintendo DS's on-board BIOS to smithereens.

In a move to fight other factories from replicating their flashcart without permission the R4 Team will release a new firmware to combat the situation. Cloning happens a lot in the scene as factories either steal the design or the unit is reproduced using cheap parts. Most cloning is done by a few companies including Divineo and in that companies instance the clones are promoted on sites Divineo owns such as **********.com.

quote

Important point:

1. After 15 September, Team R4 will do something for the fake card, original program(firmware) with Fake R4 may damage your DS machine (brick), original R4 will have no problem with this program.

2. Make sure you have buy a original R4 (see photo below), if you brick your DS with fake R4, please go ask the selling shop and Team R4 will not admitted this liability.

From their point of view they are probably thinking they are doing a good thing, but what will little Johnny think when he installs a new firmware and his Nintendo DS suddenly stops working? Not much other then the R4 Team's comments on the situation are known. No word on when the firmware will be released, but the R4 Team states they won't provide any type of warranty or solution to fixing your Nintendo DS and sites all the blame on the reseller of the cloned R4 unit.

I believe this is a bad move on their part as it will give Nintendo another reason to dislike flash carts as having one out there that ruins your Nintendo DS will taint the entire market just as Darkfader's virus did. Hopefully people with flashme installed will be able to recover, but that is only speculation at this point in time. What do you think about this move? Please tell (or vote in the right column) ...

Personally i see this as a very bad move by the R4 People, What are your verdicts on this ?

i think that this is a load of crap...and if it isint well thats just messed up and i hope i have the original r4 :S how do u tell???
July 4th, 2008, 01:46
unholy3000

sry my thing posted twice for some reason :S someone could delet it

Edited by Unholy3000
July 4th, 2008, 02:05
masterchief929

that is completely retarded. that is the worst move that the r4 company could possibly make! good thing i have an M3 DS Real. >_>
July 4th, 2008, 02:20
____anders____

i have an R4, but it's real.

i bought it from the official swedish reseller rejoy.se

so i think i'm good, i haven't updated to the latest version cus i don't play the games they've fixed..

i hope they add SDHC compatibility, if they do i will update..

i agree, that's the most stupid think they can do, forcing nintendo to replace bricked units..
July 4th, 2008, 04:01
Hale-Bopp

Holy crap, does this affect people with an M3 Simply?
July 4th, 2008, 04:23
jrsmaster411

I doubt this is true they just want to scare you into buying an R4 I don't have to worry about this cause I have a Cyclods
July 4th, 2008, 04:48
jaybud4

This is the kind of thing that makes me glad I upgraded from an R4 to a cart that supports SDHC...
That is, as soon as it gets here...
Oh well, not like my genuine R4 is going to brick my DS within the next week... Especially since I'm not going to update the firmware...
By the way: If I recall correctly, SDHC is related to the hardware. Therefore, if my memory serves, a firmware upgrade cannot add support for it.
July 4th, 2008, 06:06
JUSTiNB

Glad I have the CycloDS... That's totally weird. Why should it be the fault of the person who buys it? I mean, it's not like anyone can be absolutely sure what they are buying is actually real, since you obviously can't go to Best Buy or something and buy one with confidence.

Either a ploy to scare people away from R4 or they are just plain stupid.
July 4th, 2008, 06:07
havoc_012

If this is true the R4 team has just destroyed the brand name they had been building in the last few years.
July 4th, 2008, 06:10
Eviltaco64

Well, I dont have an R4, or a DS for that matter. But, still, bricking peoples DSes?
Couldnt you make some sort of copy protection scheme maybe? Sorry R4 Team, but bricking the DS is NOT the answer!
July 4th, 2008, 06:51
iofthestorm

I don't see the point of this, why would they want to destroy people's DSs? Also, does anyone know how to tell if yours is genuine? And I don't understand the point of telling people you're going to do it before you do it, then no one will update their firmware and they won't make their point.
July 4th, 2008, 07:06
ramjet

Seems kinda hypocritical of R4 to take the high moral ground.

Also considering it does not support HDSC and their are cheaper options available that do (TTDS M3), I dont realy see the point in anyone buying a R4 anymore. Sucks for the ppl that have them though, hopefully someone hacks the firmware to remove the risk.
July 4th, 2008, 07:29
nightblade36

Whoa whoa whoa...

I think everyone is interpreting the message the wrong way. First of all, the news posted ISN'T official, it's just an interpretation of the quote:

Quote:

1. After 15 September, Team R4 will do something for the fake card, original program(firmware) with Fake R4 may damage your DS machine (brick), original R4 will have no problem with this program.

2. Make sure you have buy a original R4 (see photo below), if you brick your DS with fake R4, please go ask the selling shop and Team R4 will not admitted this liability.

Now, anyone who has an R4 and updates it knows that the person who runs the website and does translation isn't very good at it.

Having said that, this is how I interpret the quote:
"We know there are fake R4s out there and we are looking to do something about that. Keep in mind that using R4 firmware on a card that isn't actually an R4 may have unexpected results and may have unforeseen consequences which we cannot be held responsible for."

There is nowhere that they say they are actively looking for a way to destroy your DS.
July 4th, 2008, 09:47
spinal_cord

I doubt they will be able to do this, perhaps they can kill the fake r4's but don't ds lites have way more of the firmware protected, leaving only the user data writeable? So, to brick the lites, you will have yo bridge sl1.

So how's that going to work? you run the latest r4 software and a screen pops up asking you to take off your battery cover off and poke a metal thing into the sl1 hole etc.

I doubt it.

(feel free to correct me if im wrong).
July 4th, 2008, 10:20
pibs

I can't really tell if my R4 is real. I bought it used off amazon and didn't come with any packaging.

Ill play it safe and not update.
July 4th, 2008, 10:36
wiggy fuzz

to be fair to the R4 team, the fake R4's and the real ones are pretty easy to tell apart - the "fake" ones don't have a micro SD card slot, i think they use built-in memory (but that's just one of possibly lots of other fake devices)

http://gbatemp.net/news/r4dsfakereal.png

the problem is, though, people unknowingly buying the fake R4 without knowing it's the real deal - i remember thinking i recieved a fake m3 simply because it didn't have the white shell casing with it. i was practically panicking...

EDIT: whoops - didn't realise how big the image was. sorry for stretching the page...
July 4th, 2008, 10:52
pibs

Its fine about the stretching, thanks for posting that up. As far as I can tell Im guessing i have a real one since it takes Micro SD.

and if not thats what I deserve for buying used off amazon sellers :(
July 4th, 2008, 11:27
BastarB

Quote:

Originally Posted by spinal_cord

I doubt they will be able to do this, perhaps they can kill the fake r4's but don't ds lites have way more of the firmware protected, leaving only the user data writeable? So, to brick the lites, you will have yo bridge sl1.

So how's that going to work? you run the latest r4 software and a screen pops up asking you to take off your battery cover off and poke a metal thing into the sl1 hole etc.

I doubt it.

(feel free to correct me if im wrong).

You're wrong!:p According to this, it's possible:

http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=82202

This R4 clone didn't got any award sinced it bricked peoples DS
July 4th, 2008, 12:43
cas2007

i bet you they mess up and brick ds the have the official r4s. R4 team should just go away till we need they to fix a game bug
July 4th, 2008, 14:08
rememberthe8bit

Flashme FTW. I installed in all of my DSes just in case something silly like this happens.

I imagine that the only thing that they're going to fix in the next release is Diagasso Band Brothers DX, which can already be played by using a firmware hack program by Yasu, and manually creating an 8MB save file. Yay for the community.

I also wonder how the R4 team will detect fakes. The M3 anti-fake functions of their firmware made it so I couldn't quickly reboot my DS, and if the R4 team uses an unreliable method, legitimate users could get roasty DSes.

Wow this post is getting long, but in later revision DSes, the SL1 jumer controls more of the firmware, so on those, it may not totally brick the unit, though I don't think I'd solely rely on that.

Summary of the post: SL1 will save your butt.

EDIT:

Quote:

Originally Posted by BastarB

You're wrong!:p According to this, it's possible:

http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=82202

This R4 clone didn't got any award sinced it bricked peoples DS

No, that's due to shoddy electronics that would blow an internal fuse, spinal was right.
July 4th, 2008, 14:55
Taris

While i've been a loyal R4 fan since joining the homebrew scene, this latest move is just another reason in a mounting avalanche of reasons to switch to a new card. If this turns out to be true, it's time to get myself an R6.
July 4th, 2008, 16:23
m-p{3}

Wow, if this is true, I'm dumping my R4 and I'm switching of adapter. Screw this kind of practice.

I bought an R4 because of it's reputation, but I might probably drop it for the same reason.
July 4th, 2008, 20:32
limming

I hope my R4 wasn't a fake, but I doubt it is. Actually, letting my R4 brick my DS will be a great excuse to buy a new one! I've had my DS phat since the Christmas after launch...

I honestly don't care that the R4 team is doing this. If it was me, I'd probably write I code to brick the fake card instead.
July 4th, 2008, 22:05
nightblade36

Alright, I've said it before and I'll say it again: This is ONE person's (Brakken from "Tehskeens") interpretation of a poor translation done by the R4 team. For all we know, Brakken might just have another flashcard and is being one of those asses that likes to make other cards sound or look bad.

I highly doubt they'll actually do what the news source is thinking. Just read the ACTUAL quote by itself.

Quote:

1. After 15 September, Team R4 will do something for the fake card, original program(firmware) with Fake R4 may damage your DS machine (brick), original R4 will have no problem with this program.

2. Make sure you have buy a original R4 (see photo below), if you brick your DS with fake R4, please go ask the selling shop and Team R4 will not admitted this liability.

Keep in mind that these two statements are seperate:
"After 15 September, Team R4 will do something for the fake card..."
What is this 'something'? I don't know, but I highly doubt it's intentionally trying to brick machines that use the fake R4s.

AND

"...original program(firmware) with Fake R4 may damage your DS machine (brick)..."
Note that they say MAY and not WILL, and that brick is in parenthesis, as in it being a prospective outcome rather than one set in stone.

To me, this sounds more like a warning than a threat, and I'm taking it that way. Regardless, twisting words around to make the bad translation sound like a threat is pretty recockulous. I've checked some pictures and it would seem I have an official R4. Really, even if they did start bricking some DSes, then the news would spread way too fast to do too much damage.
July 4th, 2008, 22:31
juiceface

glad I have a dsone
July 5th, 2008, 05:59
anteopimp

I have a simply... that's like Canada to America (R4)... what happens to us?
July 5th, 2008, 19:42
agenericperson

I'm glad I ditched my R4 for a better card. First the spring broke, then it fell apart.

I can't believe they'd brick the DS though. That's just asking for trouble.
July 6th, 2008, 09:15
sarkwalvein

Quote:

Originally Posted by nightblade36

Alright, I've said it before and I'll say it again: This is ONE person's (Brakken from "Tehskeens") interpretation of a poor translation done by the R4 team. For all we know, Brakken might just have another flashcard and is being one of those asses that likes to make other cards sound or look bad.

I highly doubt they'll actually do what the news source is thinking. Just read the ACTUAL quote by itself.

Keep in mind that these two statements are seperate:
"After 15 September, Team R4 will do something for the fake card..."
What is this 'something'? I don't know, but I highly doubt it's intentionally trying to brick machines that use the fake R4s.

AND

"...original program(firmware) with Fake R4 may damage your DS machine (brick)..."
Note that they say MAY and not WILL, and that brick is in parenthesis, as in it being a prospective outcome rather than one set in stone.

To me, this sounds more like a warning than a threat, and I'm taking it that way. Regardless, twisting words around to make the bad translation sound like a threat is pretty recockulous. I've checked some pictures and it would seem I have an official R4. Really, even if they did start bricking some DSes, then the news would spread way too fast to do too much damage.

I think this is a bad interpretation based in a crappy google translate... But don't take it on Brakken, he is very serious in his posts, but just this time I think he is not right...

About the bricking, I will quote myself from the tehskeen forums:

"I believe the original text may say something like that if you use a new firmware and a fake card your ds may brick, because they are doing something that pushes the hardware to the limit, and they've seen this happening before (like the n5 and r4 clones bricking NDS in the past, without any weird firmware from R4), so they are saying they are not responsible if that happens.... Well, I think that because I want to hope that is the case, but I can't read chinese, so it's just my opinion."

"I think they can't write the BIOS if you don't modify your DS internally (I think nintendo secured all the firmware of new consoles after that incident... I've readen something like that here: http://www.ndshb.com/modules.php?nam...pid=40&page=10)... I think they are talking about that case when the R4 clones and the N5 (that is an R4 clone) electrically brick your NDS... I don't know if they short circuit it or drain to much current, but I've heard about that happenning in the past, look here: http://www.ds-scene.net/?s=viewtopic&id=1798 "
July 7th, 2008, 02:58
imadosser

I say boycott the company incl any other products they have, for being the fash!
July 9th, 2008, 19:56
epson_stylus

my cart has all the signs of a real cart. If my DS is bricked by their "malware" update, are they liable if my cart is determined to be official.
July 14th, 2008, 13:25
Seven7

Quote:

Originally Posted by epson_stylus

my cart has all the signs of a real cart. If my DS is bricked by their "malware" update, are they liable if my cart is determined to be official.

Doubtfull, as they tend to put the blame away from themselfes in incidents like that, calling it user error. And most of the time it is actually user error. On top of that, it's doubtfull Nintendo could help you should your DS actually brick, not without a nice fee anyway.

Having said that, i'm calling BS on this one. Regardless of weither or not it's possable, this is not a smart bussness move, nor is it practical. Not to mention we don't have a solid translation anyway.

I have a white R4, the kind with the spring in it. I like it, i'm glad i purchased it. All this moaning about boycotting thier products...all 1 of them. Assumeing your conspirosy theroy is right, it dosen't help those who already own a R4. And besides, the R4 team wanting to combat the clone carts is one thing, but i sevearly doubt they'll take out thier anger on NIntendo's flagship handheld directly. If it happens, then me and others who think so will be forced to shut up. Untill then, i'll remain sceptical of this.

I may buy another R4 just to have it. I do plan on getting a second DS sometime this year anyway...dunno if that plan'll come through or not tho...

Edit: sorry for the 5 day bump if it's a problem, I don't retract what I've said though.